Take Me Out's Paddy McGuinness starstruck by Corrie's Ken Barlow

The Take Me Out host will be making his Corrie debut in August, where he’s set to play a character called Dougie Ryan, who will cause mayhem for Tyrone Dobbs and Kirk Sutherland.

“Dougie is basically a shirt and tie worker in everyday life and four times a year he goes off being a survivalist kind of guy,” Paddy explained.

“He bumps into Tyrone, Fiz and the family and slowly takes over their whole weekend. The girls really like him and the guys really hate them.”

The TV funnyman went on to say he was slightly starstruck seeing the likes of Bill in the flesh.

“You’re walking around and all of a sudden Ken Barlow walks around the corner. Obviously it’s William Roache but you know so much of that character, that I had to be careful in case I call him Ken,” he said.

“It was weird seeing characters who you’ve seen on telly for years in the flesh.”

One of his other projects will see him doing a behind the scenes on Periscope for Pizza Hut Restaurants.

“I’ll go in the kitchen and show people how pizzas are being made live and I’ll sample a couple of cocktails, naturally,” he joked.

Luckily for fans, Paddy – who is married to Christine Martin – says he has no plans to follow in the footsteps of comedians like Chris O’Dowd and head to the United States.

“Believe it or not, I’m not that ambitious,” he said, “I probably should be but, I’ve always been the same. I’m the kind of person, as long as my mortgage is paid and I can still see my friends and family and go on a couple of holidays every year, I’m quite happy.

“I’m very fortunate, I’ve been in this job for 18-19 years and l’ve always been fortunate enough to find work.”

You can join Paddy McGuinness on Twitter @PaddyMcGuinness and Periscope on July 24 at 11am for an exclusive reveal of the new look Manchester Kingsway Hut, by Pizza Hut Restaurants