CORONATION Street star Sean Wilson has opened up about his financial woes as he defends himself against a historic sex allegation.

The actor known to millions as Gail’s ex-husband Martin Platt. He said he was undermined He is in a brutal eight-minute meeting with soap bosses following his high-profile return to the pavements this summer.

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Last week police cleared Sean and said no further action would be taken regarding the allegation made by a woman linked to the soap.

She lost a lucrative four-month Corrie contract and had to pay thousands of pounds to lawyers.

In an exclusive interview with the Sun on Sunday, he said: “This has cost me a lot.

“Lawyers are expensive and I needed to hire them to protect me.

“ITV paid me the guaranteed minimum episode amount I was due for the film, but I lost money on future balances such as episode repeat fees.”

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Sean explained that his retaliation for the role after leaving the show in 2005 was part of a wider plan for a big return to showbiz.

He had envisioned panto, more television and even some of I’m A Celeb, but now he doesn’t know if it will ever be marketable again.

Sean, 58, said: “It was hell. I was low the whole way.

“My reputation was ruined in just eight minutes.

“My whole world fell apart.

“I had no idea who made this complaint or anything related to it, but I lost my job.”

Sean first appeared as Martin in Corrie in 1985; His character had a son named David with Gail, played by Helen Worth.

Sean, 59, sensationally left the soap after 20 years due to a plot involving his character seducing an underage girl.

But in a life-changing move, she was brought back in July for Gail’s big breakout storyline in the Christmas special.

After filming just 10 scenes, he was shocked to receive an email from series bosses on August 1 inviting him to an impromptu meeting.

He said: “When I got the call in February I jumped at the opportunity to reprise my role as Martin.

“Helen and I have come a long way and I wanted to be the person she left with, and I think the audience did too.

“Postponing our relationship was special for me and the show.

“I was having a great time on set. It was like going back years. “Until I suddenly received an email that truly astonished me.”

The email, written by an executive on the show, said: “I am writing to request a meeting with you at the Coronation Street studios.

“This is being done to discuss a historical allegation of a sexual nature made about you in the last few days, relating to when you were previously contracted to the programme… we will understand that this will come out of nowhere for you and for us.”

Sean first called his partner of five years, Carol Hammond, and then his manager, Katherine Stonehouse, who joined the meeting via Zoom call.

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He explained: “I was so confused. I didn’t have time to prepare.

“It happened 10 minutes after I answered them.

“Suddenly I was confronted by three managers who said they had received an allegation that I had put my hands up a woman’s skirt and ‘made a scene’.

“They also said the police had contacted them and told them they had referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

“I was in a daze.

“They said they had to cut the contract and keep the cast.

“I told them I knew it wasn’t happening and I deserved the chance to convince them, but they said they couldn’t do anything when it became a police matter.

“I said that I was a professional, that I had been there for 21 years and that there were no charges against me.

“I was not told this person’s name and was only told that this happened in 1997 and that this person worked on the show.”

Trying desperately not to break down, Sean took a sip of water and continued: “All I could think was that this was irrational.

“I was in complete shock.

“After a brilliant 21-year career, I was being kicked out the back door.”

Sean’s nightmare got worse when he was unable to learn any details about the allegation.

He said: “We asked ITV to give us details of the police officer who contacted them so we could start an informal, voluntary conversation with them.

“But they said they couldn’t give us that information and we had to wait for the police to call us.

“Two weeks went by and no one got in touch.”

In desperation, Sean hired two lawyers to track down the police officer handling the complaint and find out whether he was under investigation.

He was also forced to hire a media lawyer after his shock departure from Wetherfield stunned players and staff and caused intense speculation about what happened.

Insisting that his behavior on and off set was always exemplary, Sean said: “There was no way I could clear my name and save my reputation.

“ITV has issued a statement saying I am leaving for personal reasons and that I cannot speak publicly about what the real reasons are.

“My whole career was in the balance and the police had not provided me with any information.

“I told the lawyers to call police stations in Manchester.

“After weeks of trying, we finally managed to reach an officer newly assigned to the case.”

More than two months later, on 25 October, Sean attended a voluntary interview conducted by a detective constable at Longsight Park police station.

He said: “The detective said there were no eyewitnesses, the complainant did not tell anyone about this and they could not say when the incident took place in 1997.

“I too was shocked to hear that the claim was completely different to what ITV had said.

“The police once said it wasn’t about touching a woman’s skirt, but about touching the back of one’s jeans.

“The police also said they had never contacted ITV and the matter could not be escalated to the CPS as they had not even passed the case on to an officer at that point.

“They also told me a name I didn’t recognize.

“…There are hundreds of people working in Coronation Street that you’ve never met, and he was one of them.

“They don’t work there anymore.”

Sean said he was “incredibly” relieved when he received news on November 21 that no further action would be taken.

The stoic father of two, who spent much of the interview trying to keep himself from recovering, was visibly upset when he admitted: “The last few months have taken their toll as I had nothing to do for weeks and weeks. ”

He added exaggeratedly: “When I got that call it was the first time I cried in four months.

“I just released all the suppressed emotions.

“What got me out of this situation was knowing the truth.

“Sometimes I would find myself sitting in the garden, staring into space for a while, and I thought I needed to clear my head because I didn’t want to sink.

“I felt like I was under water the whole time, but I didn’t want to get depressed.”

Sean struggled to tell his children what happened but was planning to meet Callum, 26, and Maisie, 24, after speaking to this newspaper.

He said: “It is very difficult to explain such a thing to my daughter.

“How do you tell your kids that you’re being falsely accused of this? But they shouldn’t be okay with it, right? Because their father is innocent.”

Looking at his tearful partner Carol, who was sitting quietly in the corner for emotional support, Sean said: “It was going to be a beautiful, new start for us.

“I was due to appear on a flagship ITV show, there had already been two tweets before I came on the show.

“It was a very popular comeback and my manager and I were going to work on it.

“I had plans to write an autobiography, I am an aspiring writer and have written three cookbooks.

“But everything that was so exciting has been put on hold.

“I could have been earning thousands of pounds a week but instead I became persona non grata throughout this whole sad affair.

“My career is in tatters.”

Sean, who turned to cheesemaking after acting, admitted he was “angry” at the person who made the complaint and that ITV had “got the facts completely wrong”.

“It took weeks of my own investigative work to find that what ITV said was 180 degrees different from the complaint,” he said.

“I’m angry at that person too, but what can I do?”

But he later takes a more measured approach towards the broadcaster, admitting: “They had to do what they had to do.

“I don’t have any hard feelings towards them, except that things are going a little better.

“I understand there needs to be a process, but people need to understand that not everyone is guilty.

“This whole thing was incredible.

“No matter who you are or where you work, you are just a phone call away from ruin.”

Viewed by 21 million people in his heyday, Sean was one of Cobbles’ most popular characters for 20 years as nurse Martin.

Although she vowed to never work on the soap again when they parted ways, she returned briefly in 2018 as part of the David Platt rape plot.

Gail and Martin’s ten-year relationship had a brief fling in 1993 but ended in 2000 after he hooked up with nurse friend Rebecca.

Despite Martin’s womanizing ways, he is considered the most successful of Gail’s six marriages.

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