Theatre: Nigel Pivaro goes from from Coronation Street to The Commitments

Despite having a memorable role in Britain’s best-loved soap, Nigel Pivaro decided he wanted a change of pace.

As lovable rogue Terry Duckworth, he had been part of some of Weatherfield’s biggest storylines, but he decided it was time he wrote his own story and quit acting to become a journalist.

Now, he’s been lured back to the acting world to play the role of Da in Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments, but he hopes to be able to find a balance between both careers moving forward.

“I felt I needed a change,” Pivaro admitted. “It seemed like everything wasn’t particularly falling into place. The deciding factor came when I worked out all the periods of time I’d been out of work over the course of 20 years and it added up to nearly five years – which is very good for an actor, but still, I thought, blooming heck.

“Serendipitously, I walked past a sign at Salford University that read, ‘It’s never too late’, so I made some inquiries and ended up doing an Honours degree in history and a Masters in international relations. Afterwards, I wondered how to utilise the four years of academic graft and I thought journalism, which I’ve always had an admiration and interest in, was the obvious choice.

“I had a chance straightaway to work at a national but I turned it down because I thought they would use my celebrity, so to speak, and I felt I’d be better learning the ropes from the bottom.”

Beginning at a local paper, Pivaro was recognised when out on jobs for his previous work in Corrie, but he said it often proved advantageous.

“On my first week at the local paper, I was sent out to a fire call. I went to the door and the last thing the residents needed was me turning up after the night they’d experienced, but when the gentleman opened the door to me, he said, ‘Look who it is’, and we got chatting, and he gave me the story and I got a front-page splash.

“After that, I told myself not to be frightened that I was known for something else and to make a virtue of it, and that’s what happened on nearly every occasion and it broke down those initial barriers when people have recognised me.

“Now I hope I can do both. There’s nothing stopping me from writing, because I’ve built up a lot of contacts over the past 15 years and I know my way around a little bit.”

That was the advice he received from an old friend, writer Jim Cartwright, who wrote The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.

“He asked me when I was getting back into the business and I told him I was in journalism now and he said I could surely do both, and that I was missed. I took him at his word and got an agent again.”

The Commitments, a musical about a young working-class music fan who transforms an unlikely bunch of amateur musicians into an amazing live act, is Pivaro’s first stage role since 2003. It’s a tour that will keep him on the road for many months, but he’s enjoying going back to theatres and cities he’s not visited for years and meeting up with old pals.

“My character, Jimmy, has some great one-liners,” he smiled. “He’s a Mr Curmudgeon but he loves his son and wants good things to happen for him.

“I saw the movie, not knowing what to expect apart from knowing I enjoyed the music. And, like a lot of people, I was surprised and enchanted by it.

“It’s a story a lot of people might identity with. How many people, especially from the wrong side of the tracks, say they want to do something different and make their mark to show the world what they’re about? It might not be music, but people engage with other people who stick their neck out and have a go, even if they don’t become superstars.”

The Commitments, His Majesty’s, Aberdeen, Nov 21-26; Edinburgh Playhouse, Nov 28-Dec 3; Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Dec 5-10