Coronation Street’s Rob Mallard addresses new career move as he battles health issue | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV
Coronation Street’s Rob Mallard has revealed that he’s taken on a new role outside of the ITV soap due to his “debilitating condition”.
Rob, who plays Daniel Osbourne, is keen to raise awareness of his life-long health condition through the new venture. The actor struggles with essential tremors, a neurological disorder often mistaken for Parkinson’s disease, that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking.
He has now been appointed as a patron for young people for The National Tremor Foundation (NTF). He said of the move: “I am thrilled to be joining the NTF.
“As someone who has been living with ET for most of my life, I am acutely aware of the importance of their work and I’m proud to join them in spreading awareness and understanding of this debilitating condition.”
Kitty Reilly, the charity’s chair of the board of trustees, added: “The National Tremor Foundation is absolutely delighted to welcome Rob Mallard as a patron of the charity.
“It can affect almost any part of the body, but the trembling usually occurs most often in someone’s hands.
“With Rob’s lived experience of essential tremor and TV popularity, this will certainly go a long way to raising awareness of people living with neurological tremors and the impact this has on their lives.”
The 31-year-old previously shared in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk that since age 14, when he first had a slight tremor in his hands, his condition has continued to worsen.
The soap star, who has been on the Cobbles since 2016 and won a British Soap Award for Best Newcomer back in 2017, was diagnosed in his mid-20s.
“I first noticed I had a slight tremor in my hand when I was 14 and it steadily got worse as I got older,” he said. “I went to the doctors and they said it is an essential tremor but that there was nothing they could do. I left it for years and then it got worse again.
“And I went back [to the doctors] and that was when I realised that it was a lifelong, progressive thing. I didn’t realise it was gonna keep getting worse.”
Despite this, Rob never lets the condition affect his work as an actor, with the production crew and cast of Coronation Street all aware of it.
Explaining how he personally copes with the condition, on and off set Rob said: “I manage it with humour really, because if you don’t, it can get frustrating.
“You get very wound up in yourself so I just kind of take it with a humorous perspective.
“With work, they’re all aware of it. If there’s something that comes up or if I need to do something I’ll usually just practice and practice and practice. But if I do shake and it’s very obvious I’ll just stop and say, ‘Can I go again?’”
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV at 8pm.
