Steve Huison has become Coronation Street's unofficial portrait artist, after sketching all his fellow co-stars for a new exhibition. The soap actor - who plays cab driver Eddie Windass - is a keen artist and is currently exhibiting his work at Manchester gallery Contemporary Six, where he plans to auction off his sketches on Thursday February 17 to raise money for amateur dramatics group the Shoestring Theatre Company, of which he is co-founder. Steve said: "With these portraits I was aiming to reveal the person behind the character. All of us in the Street are fortunate enough to have become household names due to the show's popularity but not many of the fans know much about the actor behind the role, for example: where we started out, what we like, how we spend our spare time?" He went on: "These portraits not only show the profile of the actor but also try to retrieve some of their inner soul using autobiographical information alongside it to give a fuller picture." The sketches of Steve's Corrie co-stars, with their ambitions and revelations about why they went into acting written down the side, include those of Craig Charles, Keith Duffy, Simon Gregson, Sue Nicholls, a self portrait of Steve and William Roach. At the charity auction on Thursday, Boyzone star Keith, who plays the soap's Ciaran McCarthy, will be taking on the role of auctioneer, while Michelle Keegan, who plays Rovers Return barmaid Tina McIntyre, will serve the drinks to guests. Chris Gascoyne, who plays Peter Barlow, and Craig Charles were among those who came to the exhibition opening on Monday February 14 at the gallery in St Anne's Square. Steve tweeted: "Chris comes to complain about how big I've drawn his nose."
