Sean Wilson’s life after leaving Coronation Street: From undisclosed breakup with well-known partner to unexpected career change

Sean Wilson revealed he was axed from Coronation Street earlier this year over an unfounded sex claim.

The 59-year-old actor, known for his role as Martin Patt on the soap opera, was set to make a comeback to the show recently. He had already shot scenes with his former on-screen wife Gail, played by Helen Worth.

Sean found out he was being written out of the show while a police investigation was ongoing regarding an accusation of indecent assault dating back to 1997. No specific details of the allegation were disclosed to him at that time.

However, just a week and a half ago, the police concluded their investigation and informed Sean that no further action would be taken regarding the claim, which was made by a woman associated with the soap.

Sean has since said it has ‘been hell’ after his ‘whole world blew up’ and his ‘reputation ruined’.

Now MailOnline takes a look into Sean’s life away from the ITV soap as he rebuilds his life. 

Secret split

Sean ‘secretly split’ from his actress girlfriend Susie Fenwick after the pair started a relationship back in 2016. 

Representatives for Sean confirmed in August that the soap star and the Britannia High actress are no longer dating. 

Recent reports from The Sun revealed the relationship ended ‘a few years ago’ while a spokesperson for Sean confirmed to OK! that he and Susie split ‘a long time ago’.

Sean started dating Susie three years after his marriage with wife Gaynor, who he shares two children with, ended.

Speaking about the new romance at the time, Sean said: ‘Well I have met somebody new actually. We’ve only been seeing each other for a short amount of time but I am very happy. I feel good at the moment.’

Sean has been quietly dating girlfriend Carol Hammond for around four years. 

Sean began a relationship with Carol just before the pandemic hit in 2020, with both sharing loved-up snaps together on social media. 

MailOnline can reveal over the past four years, Sean has been in a relationship with Carol – with both parties openly sharing photos cuddled up together on social media.

While they have kept their relationship out of the public eye, Carol has accompanied Sean to cheese fairs, where has sold his award-winning dairy products.

New career 

After originally leaving Coronation Street in 2005, because producers informed him of a storyline where he would date an underage girl which he did not agree with, Sean went on to appear in several over UK television dramas, including Waterloo Road.

However soon leaving acting behind Sean trained as a chef and cooked in several Michelin-starred restaurants.

He also became a cheesemaker and started his own business Saddleworth Cheese Company alongside then wife Gaynor in 2009.

Sean went on to publish a cookbook called The Great Northern Cookbook in 2012 and the accompanying TV series was shown on Channel 5 in 2013. 

In 2018, Sean dissolved his cheese company and reprised his role as Martin Platt in Coronation Street for a few episodes.

Axed 

It was announced in July that Sean was returning to Coronation Street after 19 years for a Christmas storyline involving the departure of wife Gail. 

But ITV later confirmed his shock exit from the show but only said that he departed for ‘personal reasons’.

Sean had agreed to a four-month 10 episode contract and was looking forward to returning to the soap, which he starred on from 1985 to 2005, along with a brief return in 2018. 

But after just two weeks of filming, Sean got an email from bosses on August 1 requesting a meeting with him at Coronation Street studios.

The email partly read: ‘This is to discuss a historical allegation of a sexual nature which has been made about you in the past few days relating to when you were previously under contract to the programme. We will realise this will come out of the blue for you as it has for us.’ 

Sean went to the studios for the meeting and quickly called his partner of five years Carol Hammond and agent Katherine Stonehouse who joined via Zoom.

The actor said three executives told him they had received an allegation that Sean put his hand up a woman’s skirt and that the police had also contacted them and said they had referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Sean was not told the name of the person who made the allegation, only that it happened in 1997 and the person worked in connection with the show. 

He hired two lawyers to track down the police officer dealing with the complaint to find out of he was under investigation and also hired a media lawyer to help deal with the speculation around his departure from the show.

Sean said he attended a voluntary meeting with a detective constable on October 25 and was surprised to be told the allegation was that he had touched someone’s backside while they were wearing jeans; different to what ITV had told him. 

He said the police told him they never contacted ITV and it couldn’t have been passed to the CPS because an officer hadn’t even been assigned to the case at that point.

They also told him the name of the person he was accused of assaulting but he didn’t recognise them, saying ‘hundreds’ of people have worked on Coronation Street.

Sean was relieved when, on November 21, police told him no further action would be taken and said he cried on the call. 

The actor detailed the fall out from the allegation, saying he struggled to tell his children Callum, 26, and Maisie, 24, and hiring lawyers also came at a great financial cost.

Sean fears the allegation could damage his career, saying he’d hoped his Coronation Street return would lead to a wider showbiz comeback with potential panto appearances or maybe even an appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

He now feels he is ‘persona non grata’ and described his career as being ‘in tatters’. 

The actor was angry about the complaint and also said ITV got their facts about it wrong. 

Sean had been due to be back on screens from October but the ten scenes he filmed were all cut. His storyline was replaced with one featuring another former partner of Gail’s – Jesse Chadwick (John Thomson). 

MailOnline has contacted ITV representatives for comment.