While it's safe to say Cel Spellman was thrilled to land the part of Adam's son Matthew in Cold Feet, he wasn't thrilled about having to betray his beloved Manchester City...
Cel Spellman admits that having to pretend to support James Nesbitt’s beloved Manchester United in the new series of Cold Feet was ‘awful’.
Cel, 21, plays Matthew Williams, the teenage son of James’s character Adam, and in Monday night’s second episode of the ITV drama, Adam tries to create some bonding time with his son by taking him to watch Manchester United play at Old Trafford.
But as a die-hard supporter of United rivals Manchester City (who beat United 2-1 away at Old Trafford on Saturday), Cel, 21, told What’s on TV that he was NOT impressed…
"It's awful and probably the best bit of acting I've ever had to do," joked Cel. "Having to wear that United shirt, I would only ever do it for acting. I wanted to keep it afterwards to set it on fire!
"I tried to do my best to turn James into a City fan and show him the light, but he didn’t see it, so we’ll agree to disagree on football."
Football rivalry aside, Cel did describe working with James as 'an absolute dream'.
"Just to be able to share a set with somebody like Jimmy and to learn from him. He was so welcoming, so kind and good with me and just so funny, I had such a laugh with him. It’s been an absolute dream and an honour."
Fans of the original Cold Feet will know that Matthew's mother, Adam's wife Rachel (Helen Baxendale), was tragically killed in a road accident when he was just an infant.
Now, 13 years on, Matthew and Adam are trying to rebuild their distant father-son relationship, which has its challenges, as Cel explained…
"You meet Matthew at a point in his life where, like most teenagers, he’s just trying to work out who he is really," he said.
"Him and his dad used to be so close but, as his dad's moved away and Matthew’s gone to boarding school, he's been on his own and trying to get through teenage life with nobody guiding him, helping him or to talk to, which is quite a lot for a 15-year-old boy really. So you see what happens when he tries to reconnect with his dad. It's a massive learning curve for them both."
Cel has enjoyed a successful career as an actor, TV presenter and radio presenter, but is arguably best known to TV fans as tormented Harry Fisher in the long-running BBC drama Waterloo Road.
"Matthew's got a lot more going on 'up here' than Harry and he's a lot more independent," said Cel. "But they're both teenagers, they're both trying to work out who they are and they're both trying to navigate through school, friends, growing up and girls as well – though Matthew is more of a hit with the ladies than Harry ever was!"
Cold Feet continues on Monday at 9pm on ITV.
