Coronation Street star to leave the cobbles after just seven months – and he’s already got another gig lined up

Coronation Street star Emrhys Cooper has quit the soap after just seven months, it has been revealed.

The actor, 39, who plays Rowan Cunliffe, made his debut on the cobbles earlier this year.

Villainous cult leader Rowan has made waves on the soap, having preyed on Leanne and manipulated her into confessing things – which he has secretly recorded and used against her.

But according to The Sun, Rowan will be exiting the soap and instead heading to the St Helen’s Theatre Royal for pantomime at Christmas – where he will play Prince Frederick in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

A source said: ‘Emrhys has been a great addition to the street but he does play a dastardly villain and so his story always had a beginning, a middle and an end.

The actor, 39, who plays Rowan Cunliffe, made his debut on the cobbles earlier this year

‘Rowan’s going to get even worse over the next few months and the story’s nowhere near it’s ending just yet but he will be saying goodbye to the cobbles.

‘The question is whether he gets his comeuppance or how many more lives he destroys before he leaves?’

Ahead of the news of his exit, Emrhys said in June that playing sinister guru Rowan Cunliffe in the soap has helped bring him closer to his father Christopher. 

Emryhs previously revealed his new age parents were once embroiled in a similar cult. 

Now Emrhys said when preparing for the role he asked his father for tips, and the pair spoke for the first time about that of their lives, during the actor’s childhood.

Telling The Sun: ‘This role has actually brought me and my dad closer. I have asked him question and I asked him advice, it’s really great’.

‘This role is particularly important to me because I hope to spread awareness about the dancers of these types of characters and organisations’. 

Before adding: ‘My goal is to make it as truthful as possible’. 

Villainous cult leader Rowan has made waves on the soap, having preyed on Leanne and manipulated her into confessing things – which he has secretly recorded and used against her

But according to The Sun, Rowan will be exiting the soap and instead heading to the St Helen’s Theatre Royal for pantomime at Christmas – where he will play Prince Frederick in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Now Emrhys said when preparing for the role he asked his father for tips, and the pair spoke for the first time about that of their lives, during the actor’s childhood (pictured with parents Christopher and Raphaela)

Emrhys grew up in Totnes with parents Christopher and Raphaela, new age hippies with an open-minded attitude regarding unconventional lifestyles. 

But his family life was compromised – almost fatally – after his free thinking parents turned to a holistic doctor, who advised his ailing mother to avoid conventional medicines.

He told The Mirror: ‘My mother had a prescription for high blood pressure and a holistic doctor basically told her that he could get her off the prescription with some herbal remedy, and she had a heart attack.’ 

Raphaela eventually suffered a severe stroke that left her paralysed, and Emrhys believes it could have been avoided had she resumed taking her regular blood pressure medication.

His parents had another bruising encounter with a London based group, but red flags emerged once they started asking the couple for money. 

He said: ‘It was actually kind of a wellness, fitness, more of a spiritual cult. And as they got further and further in, and gave more money, it became more sinister.’ 

Worse would follow when the group attempted to engage the bewildered couple in a series of bizarre sexual exercises. 

The British star grew up in Totnes with parents Christopher and Raphaela, new age hippies with an open-minded attitude regarding unconventional lifestyles

But his family life was compromised – almost fatally – after his free thinking parents turned to a holistic doctor, who advised his ailing mother to avoid conventional medicines (pictured together) 

‘Basically, the cult tried to separate my parents by doing these rather sexual exercises with other people, which my Dad was a little alarmed by because he was having to grope this woman and my Mum was having to do this thing with someone else,’ he said. 

‘So they kind of cottoned on that this exercise programme was not all it was cracked up to be.’ 

He added: ‘They got out relatively unscathed. But they’ve been in and out of different kinds of things. They’re always looking for alternative options. 

‘And they are intelligent people, they’re just, unfortunately, very open-hearted and many times they’ve been taken advantage of.