Coronation Street actor becomes Tesco delivery driver as pandemic halts work
Watch Charlotte Gay's report
Former soap star Bill Ward has swapped his acting roles for a stint as a Tesco delivery driver during the pandemic.
The Bristol-based actor is perhaps best known for his roles as bad boy Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street and he also played James Barton in Emmerdale.
He was on the Corrie cobbles for 418 episodes between 2003 and 2007 before Tracy Barlow sought revenge, attacking Charlie with an ornament which saw him later die of his injuries.
Bill Ward is now an accomplished photographer as well as an experienced actor, but when the pandemic hit he joined thousands of others in the arts industry having to adapt.
"How an earth am I going to earn a living?" are the words the father-of-two says echoed around his head as his normal work stopped.
He told ITV News West Country: "I've done all sorts of things this year, I've given lots of photography talks, done the odd voice over here and there and I've also been a delivery driver for Tesco over the last six months too which has been brilliant for me in terms of keeping some regular money coming in."
He said the job has been "great fun", adding: "When you explain what's going on and you go 'well the theatres are shut that's why I am here' people get it.'
"At the branch of Tescos I work at, there's an aircraft engineer, there's a translator there's an ex CID detective, there's all sorts of walks of life."
The actor has published a book of his theatre photography to raise money for the struggling theatre world.
Theatres in Danger is a collection of photos from his tours, with all the proceeds going to the Theatres Trust.
There are extremely tight margins for venues to run profitable shows. Reduced capacity to allow for social distancing is having a huge impact on how financially viable it is to run a show.
The Theatres Trust is helping performance spaces to reopen by providing sneeze screens, hand sanitisers, digital thermometers and e-ticket scanners.
The charity has been running the #SaveOurTheatres campaign to protect the most vulnerable venues from closure.
The Kings Theatre is one of those crowdfunding through the charity campaign.
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