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IT HASN'T BEEN A SECRET THAT THE ACTOR COLSON SMITH WOULD BE LEAVING THE ITV SOAP THIS YEAR, HAVING JOINED IN 2011 AS CRAIG TINKER 21:23, 21 May 2025 Coronation Street star Colson Smith

has said that he knew his 'time was up' in the long-running show before describing as he brutal exit as 'perfect'. It hasn't been a secret that the actor would be

leaving the ITV soap this year, having joined back in 2011 as Craig Tinker. Colson was introduced as the son of Beth Tinker. In 2012, Beth and Craig came to Weatherfield when Beth gained

employment at the Underworld factory. His character's storylines have included a battle with OCD, and his relationship with Faye Windass, played by former Corrie star and Strictly Come

Dancing winner Ellie Leach. It was in 2016, he applied to join the Weatherfield police force and the following year he was accepted as a trainee. He later played a big part in bringing

corrupt policeman Neil Clifton to justice. But it ended up being his job, in the end, that resulted in his death after he was subject to a horror attack at the hands of an out-of-control

Mick Michaelis. At the start of a special week following the stories of both Craig and Kit Green, viewers of the ITV soap saw the police officer excitedly heading to Weatherfield Police

Station for his latest placement with CID. He was instructed by DS Lisa Swain to shadow DC Green and was eager to get stuck in. But it's fair to say Kit had other things on his mind,

having discovered that Brody Michaelis could be his biological son. He was soon seen getting on the wrong side of childhood pal Mick Michaelis once again, before dropping a comment about his

wife, Lou, not being as 'loyal' as he'd like to think, sending Mick into an aggressive spiral. Later, having not got much support from Kit, a despondent Craig was seen

telling Lisa that he didn't think Kit rated his work. Unimpressed by Kit, Lisa urged him to put his uniform back on and prove Kit wrong - but to let her know if she had any more bother

with the detective constable. So when Fizz Dobbs called 999, Craig was in the right place at the right time - or later the wrong - as he headed to investigate the disturbance she had called

in about, seeing it as his chance to impress Kit. But when Craig arrived at Mick and his wife Lou's home, Lou denied there being anything wrong, with Mick nowhere to be seen. But after

he left, Mick emerged and furious with her comments to the officer due to his anger towards Kit over the news he may be their son Brody's biological father, he lashed out. With screams

heard after he had left, it was clear Lou had been assaulted by her husband, leaving her with a head wound, before he fled. Having been spotted by Craig, he rushed off in his van, while Lou

was soon seen nursing a nasty-looking head wound. Meanwhile, Craig called back in the job and went on patrol. After, Craig was seen giving Lisa a call, but when she didn't answer, as

she declined his call to take a new statement from Sean Tully over his own violent attack at the hands of Mick, he left her a message in which he was hyped himself up about making it to CID

one day. But he was soon distracted and after, was seen pulling Mick over in his van and wanting to breathalyse him, having pursued him under suspicion of him being a drunk driver. However,

Mick became convinced that Craig was in corrupt Kit's pocket and knocked the breathalyser out of the officer's hand. Craig once again sprang into action and wanted to arrest Mick.

But as Mick headed to his van and pulled out a baseball bat, Craig tried to talk him down, but Mick brutally used it to attack him. He ordered him to get up but when he didn't move, he

took his bodycam and fled the scene, leaving a motionless Craig bleeding on the ground. It was then in Wednesday's (May 21) Corrie that viewers saw Maria Windass find Craig in the

precinct before calling for help. She stayed with him and called out as the ambulance pulled up to the scene. Asha Alahan leapt into action. Sarah Platt then stumbles across the incident and

rushes over. She questions what has happened while a shaken Maria is seen covered in Craig's blood. As he stirs, Craig struggles to explain what happened to Asha and soon after, DS

Lisa Swain arrives and is shocked at the severity of his injuries. They wasted no time in getting Craig to the hospital, where he was joined by Lisa, who promised to stay by his side as she

blamed herself for encouraging him to go back on the beat. When Asha returned to Craig’s bedside at the end of her shift, she agreed to stay with him while Lisa headed back to the station to

try and catch his attacker. Later, things appeared positive for Craig when he woke up and seemed ready to give his colleague, Jess, his official statement. However, he wasn't able to

give her the information she needed as his condition suddenly deteriorated, with the doctors forced to perform CPR. When it became clear that the CPR wasn’t working, Craig was officially

declared dead, marking the tragic end of PC Tinker, while Jess, Maria and Kirk Sutherland watched on with devastation. Now, Colson has spoken about the meeting he had with producer Kate

Brooks about leaving Corrie after almost 14 years in the role of Craig, and revealed he had two questions for her during their late-night chat. He told the Manchester Evening News:

"When I was in the chat with Kate, I'd already braced myself for what was about to happen. I'd been in that building since I was 12 years old so I knew exactly how it works.

So I knew that my time was up and I knew that Craig had backed himself into a corner that would be really hard to get out of. "I fully expected the chat to go that way, and in the

conversation with Kate, there'd been about 20 minutes of Kate talking to me, but we hadn't touched on when or how or who or what. So I kind of stopped Kate and said, 'I have

two questions... One is when, and two is do I get killed?' "She kind of stopped and stumbled a bit, and I said, 'If it makes it easier for you, the right answer is yes'.

For me to go, I'd want to die. I would want the door to be shut so that I could know in my head that Corrie has been this, Corrie has done that, and it is now done, and Craig's

journey is over." He added: "So in a really weird way, it was the right thing for me to be killed. I didn't want that, 'We might have you back', knowing it would be

very unlikely and knowing it would feel like unfinished business and an unfinished job. So I think Craig dying in the line of duty, that kind of hero's death, was by far the most

perfect story for the exit." But Colson has admitted that he does have a sense of 'grief' over leaving the soap, but that he felt like he got all his emotions out following

the initial conversation about his exit. The 26-year-old said: "It's weird because I think from that night at the end of October, it was almost that night, that moment, where I

said, 'Okay, cool!' I think it was that night where any emotions that I had or any emotions that I had, that's when it played out. That was the most difficult bit. "The

most difficult bit was going back to work and working through the thing, the rest of the building finding out and seeing other people's emotion and understanding of things. That's

the toughest bit." He went on: "Do I feel like a part of me has died? I feel like I will miss Corrie, like I do miss Corrie. I miss going to work, i miss having a job and I'm

accepting of knowing nothing will ever replace that. "I can do anything in the rest of my career, the rest of my life, and I'm fully aware that I'll never get what I've

got from Coronation Street from anywhere else. That's the thing I'm going to ponder for, that's the thing I'm going to miss." Colson added: "I just know it

won't be Corrie and it's that bit. That's my like grief as such, that it's not Corrie. That's done and that's over. That chapter's shut." And

he's not gone away empty handed. "My house is literally full of Coronation Street to the point where i'm going to have to curate what I keep," Colson revealed. Article

continues below "In my downstairs toilet I have Craig's police hat. Costume framed my epaulettes so I've got, 'PC Tinker 2011-2025' framed. I've got so many

random bits but his police hat and epaulettes are the main bits that will stay."