Coronation Street star Rob Mallard, who has starred as Daniel Osborne on Coronation Street for almost a decade, has opened up about a real-life condition he suffers from and why it might have to be written into the scripts20:55, 01 Jun 2026As his character Daniel Osborne’s life spirals out of control, Corrie actor Rob Mallard has revealed that there may be a day when his tremor has to be written into scripts.‌Preferring to keep his life off-camera private, it was a massive decision to reveal to fans that he has essential tremor - a hereditary neurological condition affecting more than a million people in the UK. Diagnosed, aged 14, he went public a few years ago, to counter speculation he had a drink problem, explaining: “I decided to be open about it, because it’s just become harder and harder to hide.‌“I think it’s a lot more obvious than it is. There’ll be scenes where I’ll think my hand was shaking really badly. Then I’ll watch it and you can’t really see anything at all. But it was making me close off in front of the camera, because my entire concentration was on, ‘just don’t shake, don’t shake’. I realised I couldn’t do the job and try and hide the tremor at the same time; I needed to be open about it.‌“Also, around the same time, I did a TV interview and had two coffees before we started. All that was in my system, so my tremor was going like the clappers.“Afterwards some people online started to speculate that I’d got a drink or drugs problem and I realised I needed to be honest about what it was.”‌He also has to face the fact, his tremor - essential tremor is characterised by involuntary shaking that typically affects the hands, but also sometimes the legs, head and voice - may also need to become part of Daniel’s life one day He says: “It’s a progressive disease and it’s worse now than it was ten years ago. So, there may come a point where it has to be incorporated into the character, because it will eventually get to the point where I can’t hide it.“But if it is folded into the character, it’s awareness raising - I get a lot of young people come up to me and put their hands out and say ‘look, I’ve got it too.’” Rob, who is a patron of the National Tremor Association, continues: “Corrie are brilliant and just let me handle it my way. If I’m drinking a pint in the Rovers, I support my elbow and barely hold the glass, so you can hardly see the tremor.”But Rob does find the attention from going public about the condition - which is eight times more prevalent than Parkinson’s - quite difficult. He says: “It’s not my natural lane. I’m not an activist or a campaigner – that’s not my thing – but I’m happy to be associated with the Tremor Association.”‌Meanwhile, troubled Daniel’s life is seen spiralling out of control in Corrie this week, as his little boy accidentally sets his flat on fire and he elbows Ken Barlow in the face.Joining Coronation Street in November 2016 as Ken Barlow’s long-lost son from his relationship with hairdresser Denise Osbourne, Rob was convinced his role would be short-lived.‌After a massive whodunnit storyline in which Ken (Bill Roache) was pushed down the stairs, he recalls: “I got a phone call from the producer and she said ‘it’s going to be you.’ I said ‘oh, so I need to get my CV back out there’ I thought that was going to be my exit. "But she said they were going to redeem me. I said ‘how do you come back from almost killing Bill Roache!’ “I also had to rugby tackle him. Bill was 84. It was very physical and, obviously, I was worried about doing it. I think he could see that and he put me at ease and said that he used to play rugby when he was younger, so I was just to go for it.“It was one of those surreal moments where you think ‘if you’d told me six months ago that I’d be rugby tackling TV legend Bill Roache on to a sofa I wouldn’t have believed you!’”On Wednesday night, at a Barlow family pow-wow about Daniel -who tomorrow night drunkenly passes out on the sofa, only for Bertie to accidentally set the flat on fire while attempting to cook his own dinner - elbows Ken in the face, while lashing out at Adam.‌Rob says: “It’s an accident, but it’s still shocking and a sobering moment where Daniel realises that he’s out of control "We had a fight coordinator and Bill was insistent on doing it all himself. He stacks it backwards and lands on the Barlow sofa.“We had to do it multiple times – you wouldn’t believe he was 94. I know people 20 years younger who don’t have his mobility.” Rob explains how Daniel’s anger stems from mounting humiliation.He says: “He went to a prostitute and asked her to dress up as his dead ex-wife, then he got cheated on and then duped by his girlfriend Megan, who was having a relationship with a schoolboy.‌“I love the storyline. It feels very much like it’s going back to the roots of the character. He was a lot weirder when he first joined. “It’s justified anger, but he’s quite self-pitying and he’s not putting Bertie first. There is a real risk that he could temporarily lose custody of him.” Rob, who grew up in Oldham, Lancashire, made his TV debut in 2015 in the police drama series No Offence.He says: “I went through a spate of playing rent boys. I thought to myself ‘is this what they call typecasting?’ “In No Offence I had one scene where I was discovered by the police in some bushes with an older man.‌“I’d told my grandma I’d got an acting job and then I was like: ‘oh s**t, how am I going to explain this?’ “She watched it and said ‘very good, well done.’ I said ‘did you get what was going on?’ She said no. I think she did, she just didn’t want to talk about it!”The same year, Rob was cast in Emmerdale as a rent boy hired by Robert Sugden to seduce his father-in-law, Lawrence White. But landing Daniel Osbourne the following year broke the cycle.Rob, who lives in rural Cheshire with his cockapoo puppy Poe (named after American mystery writer Edgar Allan Poe) says: “I like slow living.‌“I lived in the city for ten years and by the end of it I was desperate to get away for some fresh air, hills and grass. I found it hard being recognised. That’s part of the reason I live out in the country. The fame aspect is not my favourite part of the job. I’m quite introverted and shy.”Told Daniel was essentially Ken Mark II when he joined Corrie, Rob says: “It’s a really nice place to work. I like the 9-5 aspect of it, so I can absolutely see myself in the show when I’m in my 70s and 80s.” Like Ken, Daniel’s track record with women has been pretty dreadful.Rob says: “His next partner should be an older woman. I’d love him to have an affair with Maggie. I love Pauline McLynn.Article continues below“They had a scene once where Maggie goosed him. We had so much fun doing it that now, whenever we’re in scenes together, we always try to get one in, without any explanation, just to see how long we can get away with it! Coronation Street airs weekdays on ITV at 8:30 PM and ITVX at 7 AM