Ian Bartholomew says his children don't watch him as 'Corrie' villain

Soap star Ian Bartholomew has said his children don’t watch him on Coronation Street when his twisted character is up to his evil tricks.

Corrie fans have watched in horror as villain Geoff Metcalfe has become increasingly abusive towards his wife Yasmeen (Shelley King), convincing her she has an alcohol problem, monitoring her movements and harassing her until she is scared to leave the house without his permission.

Geoff’s campaign of abuse even saw him killing Yasmeen’s pet chicken, Charlotte Bronte, and making her eat it.

Portsmouth-born Bartholomew, 65, has two children but according to What’s On TV he says Geoff’s darker scenes are off limits.

Read more: Corrie fans urge Yasmeen to murder Geoff

“They started to watch Coronation Street, and when dad started to turn nasty, they said, ‘No, can’t watch it now, dad’ and I quite understand that,” he said.

“If they want to watch it I’ll say, ‘You can watch this episode because this one’s alright, but I don’t want you watching that episode, because daddy’s not being very nice’.”

He said although his children “know it’s not really dad”, they “don’t want to see somebody who looks like dad, being horrible”.

Read more: Coronation Street welcomes back a much-loved character

The actor joined the ITV soap in 2018 and has previously admitted playing such a vile character has been a challenge.

As Geoff’s dark behaviour ramped up, the Mirror quoted him as saying: “I’m finding it hard and there are uncomfortable scenes, such as when he pushed his phone into Yasmeen’s face to film her.

“I have to put Geoff in a box and open it when I need it.”

The actor’s other TV credits include Minder, Spooks and Marcella.

His children with wife Loveday Ingram were born in 2005 and 2007.