And the CORONATION Street legend is set to return to acting after ten years.
Phil Middlemiss, 60, was a mainstay on Corrie in the 1990s and is about to appear in another popular soap.
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Phil Middlemiss played Des Barnes in Coronation Street from 1990 to 1998. Credit: Rex
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One of the character’s later storylines was his marriage to Natalie Horrocks (Denise Welch) Credit: GRANADA TV 
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Phil went on to star in other ITV series Where the Heart Is Credit: Anglia Television
His character Des Barnes arrived on the famous cobbles as a newly married couple alongside his on-screen wife Steph, played by Amelia Bullmore.
Although the character of Steph left the regular cast in 1991, Des enjoyed a longer stint with the bookie who remarried Natalie Horrocks (Denise Welch) in 1998.
Love rat Des met a tragic and untimely end by intervening to stop a group of men from attacking his stepson Tony Horrocks (Lee Warburton).
After passing out, Des appeared to be recovering in hospital only to die of a heart attack.
In the real world, actor Phil is set to take on a new role, a decade after his last TV appearance.
Replacing Weatherfield with Letherbridge, he will enter another soap, the popular BBC series Doctors, taking on the role of Inspector Travis Lennox.
As it happens, his last on-screen acting role was also in an episode of The Doctor.
The actor appeared as the character Frank Pickard in a 2014 episode.
In the years since leaving Coronation Street, Phil previously starred in fellow ITV series Where the Heart Is from 2000 to 2006, playing David Buckley.
Fellow soap actors who also appeared in Where the Heart Is include Corrie co-star Sarah Lancashire and current Emmerdale actress Lesley Dunlop.
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Phil has also performed as himself in shows including Blankety Blank and Noel’s House Party.
In 2010, he triumphed in an episode of Celebrity Come Dine With Me, which also featured fellow former Coronation Street stars Julie Goodyear, Ken Morley and Tupele Dorgu.
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Phil (as Des Barnes) with Beverley Callard (as Liz McDonald) in Coronation Street Credit: Rex
Two years later, the actor actor faced bankruptcy after the film he invested his life into in 2008 failed to take off due to the financial crisis.
This forced Phil to take money from family and friends as he told the Manchester Evening News: “I financed part of it myself, but I didn’t have the money to finance the rest of the film.
“Filming stopped. It was almost three-quarters of the way through. It was a difficult time. Three and a half years is a long time to finance myself without any income.
“I had to get money from family and friends.”
Shock in Coronation Street is released in 2024
Corrie said goodbye to several actors this year. Let’s clarify who left the famous soap opera:
Eliza Woodrow (Savannah Kunyo) said goodbye to Corrie to start a new life in Germany.
The girl moved in with her father Dom Everett, who returned on a £10,000 bribe offered by Eliza’s grandfather Stu to keep him out of her life.
Paul Foreman will quit the soap this summer when he loses his battle with motor neurone disease (MND) in tragic scenes.
After being diagnosed last year, the fan favorite, played by Peter Ash, was devastated to learn he only had months to live.
Viewers know that he plans to take his own life to end his suffering.
Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby) left the cobbles after being offered the chance of a lifetime to study in America.
Although she struggled to make up her mind given the imminent death of her stepfather Paul from MND, she was convinced that she had to live her life to the fullest.
Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) struggled with the sudden departure of his father Peter from the cobbles.
The Weatherfield legend left his family and loved ones behind on Boxing Day 2023, when his wife Carla Connor encouraged him to travel around the world with a friend.
Simon has been on a downward spiral ever since and his exit could end in tragedy.
Alya Nazir is set to leave the cobbles as actress Sair Khan prepares to go on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her first child.
She looks set to head to Dublin after landing a lucrative new job, ditching a colleague and ditching Adam Barlow.
Show host Eileen Grimshaw is taking a break to star in the UK tour of Sister Act The Musical.
She had to leave the street immediately after her son Jason broke his back after falling off a moped in Asia. She will return to recording in May after her tour dates are over.
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