Ben Price, who is best known for playing Nick Tilsley on Coronation Street, has opened up about his imminent exit from the soap. The 45-year-old actor said there was only one reason – his family. Ben, who has two children with his wife Alexandra Wheeler, said: "Yes, I'm going to leave. For my family. Yes, that's why. It's been amazing, love the show, amazing people, I've had extraordinary storylines. Could not have been any better. I live 200 miles away, I see my wife and children on a Saturday and I go back on a Sunday. It took me quite a while to think about, it was a big decision, but in the end it's my family and I miss them."
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Ben, who was speaking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning, first starred on the soap in 2009. His character Nick has gone through various explosive storylines, including a teenage marriage, a whirlwind one-day marriage and a car accident that leaves him brain damaged. Of his final storyline, Ben said that he prefers to stay in the dark. "I don't want to know [how it ends]," he said. "Kate [producer Kate Oates] wanted to tell me and I said don't tell me, let's just see how it rolls out. She's been amazing, just fantastic understood exactly why I had to go." He added: "I want them to decide [how I leave]. It's their show. Whatever serves the show best."
Ben Price said: "It was a big decision, but in the end it's my family"
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What fans do know is that Ben's character Nick and his love interest Leanne, played by Jane Danson, struggle to keep the identity of their baby's father a secret. "I don't want anyone to find out. It's a bit strange, I think Nick wants the perfect family doesn't he? He wants to stand by Leanne, he wants to be that guy. He wants to be the good man – I will look after you. But it's going to come out," said Ben. "I think he's always tried to make it right in the best way he can and it's not maybe going to be right."
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The soap star and doting dad only has a few months left on the show before he leaves to spend time with his family. "I'll be making papier-mâché volcanoes and reading stories to my kids and taking them to school and then we'll see. I don't know," he said of his future plans. "I've just got to go home. Yeah, it's great. I lose one family and I gain my family back and I think that's a perfect trade."