Coronation Street legend Sean Wilson has claimed the soap is in "crisis" in a new interview.
The former Coronation Street star, who appeared in the ITV soap as Martin Platt from 1985 to 2005, has spoken out about why he thinks ratings are down.
He told The Daily Star, "I think the world of soaps is a different vehicle nowadays. I think I was part of the British soap industry at the best time, the halcyon years when there was 18 or 21 million people watching it.
"You could walk down the street on a Wednesday or a Friday and you could hear people laughing with their windows open because of the great writing and the great acting was really speaking to the nation. I don't think it does that so much nowadays.
When questioned why he thinks people aren't as invested in Corrie anymore, the actor went on to say: "There's lots of different reasons. There's too many channels to choose from which means there's a lot of choice. People don't have to watch it anymore.
Sean went on to say that he feels there's been a shift from humorous plots to issue-based storylines, such as Seb's murder and Paul's Motor Neurone Disease (MND) diagnosis.
He continued, "They were all segwayed together; you were five minutes from laughing and five minutes from crying. Nowadays it seems very much issue-centric, they're trying to solve the world's issues, which they're not going to do."
The actor went on to say that, in his experience, viewers enjoyed storylines around affairs. Sean's character Martin had an affair behind his wife Gail's back. He told the publication, "During my marriage to Gail, they would have me having an affair or two, and they would last a year. The whole affair would last a year and it would always culminate around Christmas time."
Tune in to the next episode of Coronation Street on Wednesday 7th January to see what's next for Sarah and the residents of Weatherfield.
Coronation Street airs hour-long episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8 pm on ITV — see our TV Guide for full listings.
You can also catch up on episodes on ITVX.
