Coronation Street star unrecognisable with new rugged look three years after soap exit

Coronation Street's Sam Retford looked unrecognisable as he showed off his new rugged look - three years after leaving the ITV soap

Former Coronation Street actor Sam Retford, who played Curtis Delamere, has left fans stunned with his new rugged look on Instagram, three years after leaving the soap.

The 25-year-old actor, also known for his role as Cory Wilson in Channel 4's Ackley Bridge, shared a series of snaps from his time in Scotland, showing off windswept hair and an untrimmed beard.

He simply captioned the post: "Summer in Scotland." Naturally, fans flocked to the comments to gush over Sam's new look. One swooned: "OMG the beard is definitely doing things." Another echoed: "The beard. It's so hot." While someone else added: "Wow, I almost didn't recognise you. Looking so good. Miss you in Corrie."

It comes after the actor candidly spoke about his first experiences with bullying as a child as he had a "really weird voice". Sam was born in Gosford, New South Wales, Australia but his family made the decision to up sticks and relocate to England. Shortly after arriving in the north, he and his family lived in Crewe, Cheshire, where he also attended school.

Despite settling into life in England, Sam admits he rapidly lost his accent in order to "stay under the radar" due to standing out against his schoolmates. In recent years, Sam has been working alongside The Diana Award and their #BackToBullying campaign in memory of the late Diana, Princess of Wales to back anti-bullying campaigns.

Recalling his own experiences, he told the Mirror: "I came over from Australia and moved to a really tiny town in Cheshire, I don't think they'd heard anyone speak Australian before, I had a really weird voice as a kid. I remember some of my first instances of bullying – I very quickly lost my Australian accent because I thought 'I better stay under the radar a bit more if I want to avoid that'.

"So I lost the accent pretty quickly but then when I grew older, it sort of meant a lot to me that I was working somewhere where I wasn't from, it meant a lot." The actor, who also appeared in S.A.M, admits he feels lucky he's been able to take on several roles which have tackled issues including poverty, abuse and coming to terms with the character's sexuality.

In his final Coronation Street scenes, Curtis' ex Emma Brooker (Alexandra Mardell) was left heartbroken after Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) accused him of stealing £100k from his late son Oliver's charity fund.

However, it was later revealed that there had been a delay in transferring the money, meaning Curtis hadn't stolen it. Despite this, Emma told her dad she would never forgive him for his theft.

She was shocked when Curtis arrived at her doorstep to fight for their relationship. As Emma left the flat, she found her dad in the middle of a photoshoot with a huge £100k cheque, realising he had lied about the theft. A furious Emma then desperately searched for Curtis, who was planning on leaving Weatherfield.

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