Coronation Street newbie Sean Ward has admitted he has joined a gym to bulk up so that he looks more intimidating as the street’s new bad boy.

Sean plays Kylie Platt’s (Paula Lane) ex and the father of her son Max, and is back in her life dragging her back into a drug habit while he plans to fight Kylie’s husband David (Jack P Shepherd) for custody of Max.

But Sean told The Sun he worried he was too slight to be a convincing villain and so had been pumping iron: “You can’t have a skinny bad boy.

Coronation Street
Callum will make life miserable for David (ITV)

“I’ve been waiting for a job to give me the kick up the bottom to get in the gym, and this is it. I need to get in now before I start getting recognised too much, so that when I’m pushing these really small weights, no-one knows me.”

Sean added of the trouble Callum will cause for David: “I’m a massive thorn in David’s life and I’ll be gently tweaking it back and forth, widening the wound.

“I watched him growing up on my screen at home and I’ve seen him cause havoc for the people on the street, so I’m just thinking, ‘This is for all the people you’ve done over.’”