Coronation Street star Colson Smith has been on quite the weight loss journey over this past year, and his new documentary is set to shed some light on it all.
Smith – a regular on Manchester’s most famous cobbles since 2011 playing Craig Tinker – has regularly shared updates of his fitness journey on social media since the start of 2020 and most-notably received an outpouring of support from stunned fans after taking to Instagram to share a post-run picture back in May.
While he largely chose to keep to himself, has made the decision not to share the amount of weight lost, and wanted to hide his progress from the public, now 18-months down the line, the 22-year-old actor is set to release a documentary on his journey.
‘Bored Of Being The Fat Kid’ will be released in full on Colson’s YouTube channel next Wednesday 2nd June.
Colson shared a teaser post for the documentary on Instagram this morning.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CPPzNl8Dd4h/
The documentary will see him tell the story of his weight loss journey in his own words, but instead of focusing on a number on the scale or the amount he has lost, it will give a real look into his thoughts and feelings as he found his love of running and went from “the 10-year-old being best mates with the dinner lady so he got more food to being the 22-year-old who is now putting himself first and wants to get the most out of his life.”
Colson said he grew up being “the fat kid”.
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He told a selection of the media that being called the “fat kid” was something he experienced within all walks of life, and that it was “kind of the identity I ended up with”.
After joining the soap in August 2011 when he was just 11-years-old, Colson found himself seeing comments about his weight online, adding: “You search your name [and] you search ‘Craig Corrie’ to see what people are saying about your character, your acting and all they’re saying is about your weight and the way you look.
“I was exposed to just being branded the fat kid, the this, the that from day one”.
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Instagram – @colsonjsmith
It wasn’t until Colson turned 21 that he realised he wanted to “mix it up” and change the identity he had lived with for much of his life.
He decided to live his life with “no regrets”.
The documentary will also touch upon the “difficult” challenge he faced with people congratulating him on his weight loss, adding: “When people started to realise and I started to get the attention and be congratulated, I found that difficult because I was being congratulated for not looking the way I looked”.
Colson admits that we should “expect nothing” from the documentary after originally setting out to just film it for himself as a way of looking back on his progress, but it becomes clear to audiences that he his transformation is not just physical, but also mental – and one worth sharing.
“I go from this kid who clearly doesn’t like himself, to growing in confidence”, Colson adds.
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“I learned who Colson is. I’ve learnt to like myself, to trust myself, to believe in myself and I now enjoy life.”
You can watch the trailer for the documentary here.
‘Bored Of Being The Fat Kid’ will be released in full on Colson’s YouTube channel next Wednesday 2nd June.
Flashbacks: The timelapse of the Trafford Centre construction that’s gone viral
Danny Jones
The Trafford Centre might look like some decadent Roman emperor’s palace or as if it was plucked from the heart of Ancient Grecian city, but as anyone old enough to remember it’s opening and/or construction will tell you, it seems strange to think its not even been around for three decades yet.
As Greater Manchester’s and one of the North West’s most famous shopping centres full stop, the iconic attraction first began being built back in 1996, when John Major was Prime Minister, Manchester United were still Premier League champions, Britpop was at its peak and George Michael was number one.
It’s fair to say that a lot has changed since then and although Oasis might be back come 2025, The Trafford Centre and surrounding area are pretty unrecgonisable compared to nearly 30 years ago.
All told, it took approximately 27 months to erect the neo-classical epicentre of all things shopping, leisure, food and fanciness – and here’s what the process looked like:
With the initial 14 million sq ft shopping centre being completed in September 1998 following approximately 810 days of work, The Trafford Centre debuted to the Manc public and beyond.
It took more than 3,000 builders to bring the 60 hectare site to life at the peak of construction and since then the plot has only grown bigger, bolder and more ambitious over time.
Present day, it has everything from cinema screens and a mini Legoland to a Sea Life location, multiple bowling alleys and countless other forms of entertainment beyond just rows of shops and restaurants – hence why it remains busy pretty much year-round.
Back then, British celebrities, popular local names of note, politicians, dignitaries and prominent figures from the retail industry got to visit as part of exclusive preview events in the days before its launch date.
You can see the spectacle and fascination surrounding the official opening event here:
Seems surreal watching this today but the construction of the Trafford Centre was a huge moment not just for 0161 but all of the North.
But of course, the entire complex itself has seen multiple extensions over the years, including massive developments such as Barton Square and The Great Hall.
At the outset, it cost more than £600 million to build The Trafford Centre; the major renovations mentioned above which took place in 2008 cost another £100m and the Trafford Palazzo revamp around a decade later came in at around £75m.
There has and always will be lots of money put behind this intruguing monument to modern consumerism, and big brands will continue to flock to open units within the huge expanse whenever they can: some of the most recent being Archie’s, Flying Tiger, Sephora, Tiffany, Gymshark and more.
We’ll admit the aesthetic still makes us double-take from time to time (though not as much as confused Londoners visiting for the first time), but it’s not like this part of the world hasn’t boasted plenty of other curiosities in the past…
Featured Images — Charles Bowring (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group
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‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Emily Sergeant -
24th May 2021 
