HIS last appearance on Coronation Street saw Steven Arnold ending up below TV’s most famous cobbles.

Steven finished his time on Britain’s favourite soap saving half the cast by bravely holding up the roof of the Street’s bistro.

Unfortunately, even the fit butcher’s boy could not prevent a Weatherfield tram crashing through the roof and onto his long stint as one of Corrie’s favourite stars.

Since that day six years ago, Steven has been inundated with work and his latest stage show will see him travel to The Brewhouse in Chaplin: The Charlie Chaplin Story.

“I left Corrie and I started working the next day,” he smiles.

“I did Dancing on Ice and then panto and then it was job after job.

“I chilled out for three or four months but I’ve been working ever since.

“I’ve done panto which was amazing.

“I’ve been so fortunate. I’ve been working for different companies and they keep asking me back. It’s been like a domino effect.”

Steven, 41, says he is looking forward to swapping life up t’north for the rolling Somerset hills.

“I haven’t been to Taunton before so I hope to have some spare time to have a look around.

“It looks a lovely town. In fact, the south west is an amazing place and I’m really looking forward to coming down.”

In the Chaplin story, Steven plays six different characters from the comic’s brother, Sydney, to director Mack Sennett.

The musical tale weaves through Chaplin’s modest and troubled childhood growing up in the gutters of Victorian London. It focuses on his relationship with his mother who, after being admitted to an asylum, was forced to put her sons into the workhouse.

It then moves through Chaplin’s early showbiz career on the Vaudeville stage, through the primitive years of early Hollywood and finishes with Chaplin discovering his big breakthrough film which made him a household name - The Kid.

“It’ a really big challenge and a fantastic opportunity for any actor. I just absolutely love doing this show,” adds Steven.

“I fell in love with the script as soon as I read it. It’s such a great piece. We’ve got six actors that play more than twenty characters between them.

“That challenge of playing multiple characters was really appealing to me. When I left Coronation Street I wanted to do as much stage work as possible.”

He is full of praise for actor Brian Hodgson who plays Charlie Chaplin.

“This lad blew me away with his presence - he’s mesmerising. He will make a lot of people cry.

“It’s emotional but it has a lot of funny parts.”

Steven’s main character in the play is ‘king of comedy’ Mack Sennett.

He was founder of Keystone Studios where Charlie Chaplain made his name.

Steven added: “All of the characters have different accents and different postures and there is a lot of throwing jackets and hats on. It keeps you on your toes.

“I didn’t know much about Charlie Chaplain before this and discovered he had a hard life as a kid.

“He was close to starvation at times. He was separated from his mother and his brother and he was sent to a workhouse.

“By the time he was 14 he’d lived in 15 different homes. He just joined this team of actors and got picked out by Mack Sennett and ended up in America becoming the biggest movie star of his time.”

The Brewhouse. Tuesday, July 19 at 7.30pm. Box: 01823 283244.