I’d rather crash and burn rather than wondering what if?

The multi-award winning actor, Bill Ward

FROM ADVERTISING TO CORONATION STREET: BILL WARD

When I look back on my early years, I realise how much those formative experiences shaped everything I’ve done since.

Being away at boarding school before the internet meant long stretches without family, but it also gave me time to discover new passions. One day, the headmaster walked into the dormitory, pointed at me, and declared, “Ward, you will learn the clarinet.” I did, and it stayed with me for life. That chance moment, along with sport, drama, and music, laid foundations that still anchor me today.

After university, I went into advertising, one of the two careers I’d ever dreamed of. I started at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, a creative hothouse at the time, and later moved to Saatchi & Saatchi.

The work fascinated me because it wasn’t just about selling products—it was about understanding people. Advertising, like history, is less about the facts and more about the “why.” Why do humans choose what they choose? Why do we respond to certain stories? That curiosity about the human condition has been a thread running through everything I’ve done.

But still I found myself asking, “Is this all there is?”

I loved the intellectual rigour, but a voice inside pushed me toward something deeper. I’d acted throughout school and university, and whenever I stepped back into a rehearsal room, I felt alive. It was a seed I couldn’t ignore. Eventually, at 32, I made what many thought was a reckless leap: I left advertising and put myself through drama school.

Coronation Street took a huge punt on me

An actor with little television experience, and they cast me as Charlie Stubbs. It was daunting, stepping into a world watched by nearly 14 million people, but it was also extraordinary. I learned fast, on the job, and discovered the responsibility that comes with being part of a story so important to so many lives. Playing Charlie, an abusive man, demanded research, empathy, and discipline—but it also deepened my fascination with what drives human behaviour.

For me, the risk would never have been in leaving advertising, it would have been in not leaving.

I knew I couldn’t go through life always wondering “what if.” I’d rather face uncertainty than live with regret. That decision—to step out, to find out—has shaped everything since.