John Thomson set for full-time Coronation St role

John Thomson set for full-time Coronation St role (Image credit: PA Archive/PA Photos)

John Thomson is to join the cast of Coronation Street permanently. The Cold Feet actor - who appeared in three episodes of the ITV1 soap before Christmas - returns to Weatherfield in the spring, according to reports in The Sun. John, who played electrician-turned-children's entertainer Jesse Chadwick, joked: "I knew I was coming back this time because they gave me a surname!" John character will soon get involved with Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver), before moving in with Peter Barlow (Chris Gasgoyne). A source told the paper: "Producers went the extra mile to get him. He's worked with Chris and Sue before and the chemistry between them was perfect." Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk’s new weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop Get all the latest soap gossip delivered straight to your door. Subscribe to Soaplife magazine today

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.