CORONATION Street fans have been left stunned at discovering Peter Ash’s first brush with fame years before his stint on the cobbles.

The actor has won critical acclaim in recent weeks thanks to his incredible portrayal of Paul Foreman on the ITV soap.

Peter even picked up the National Television Award for the Best Serial Drama Performance just a day after his character was killed off as part of Paul’s harrowing MND battle.

Paul’s health had increasingly deteriorated over the past few months before he was written out of the show when he died in hospital as a result of complications surrounding the condition.

However, eagle-eyed Coronation Street viewers have now unearthed Peter’s forgotten TV role from years before his Paul debut.

The actor appeared as a cheeky chappie in ITV’s iconic show Footballer’s Wives.

Peter played the role of Darius Fry in the programme between the second and fifth series as well as appearing in the show’s spin-off programme Extra Time.

Darius was a teen football sensation on the programme with a long-time crush on Tanya, played by Zoe Lucker.

Peter even got to cuddle up to Katie Price on the programme as he worked alongside her as she filmed her forgotten cameo on the show in 2004.

Sharing a post of that moment online this week, one TV fan gushed: “How am I only just remembering that Peter Ash was in Footballer’s Wives?!”

Another person then added: “He looks so young and adorable lol.”

The actor was just 18 when he landed the role on the ITV programme and was less than a year after he made his TV debut in Blue Murder.

Peter then went on to join Corrie in 2018 – 12 years on from his final appearance in Footballer’s Wives.

The star has been centre stage of the ITV soap this year thanks to his heartbreaking health storyline.

Earlier this week, Billy was unknowingly forced to say his goodbyes over the phone to Paul as he struggled to get to the hospital in time.

“My beautiful husband, I’m sorry I’m not there yet,” he says as he tries to catch his breath.

He continues: “I love you Paul, and I am gonna miss you every day for the rest of my life. And even though I don’t say it, I would do this a million times over because being with you and loving you has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“You just hold on, I’m coming.”

Telling his husband to hang on, Billy then races to the hospital, only to see Summer, Bernie, Gemma emotionally devastated in Paul’s hospital room.

Corrie fans were left sobbing at the emotional scenes.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one said: “Coronation street hitting me right in the heart tonight…what a storyline this has been.”

Another said: “This storyline has been acted out so well by Peter Ash and the other actors, so sad for everyone experiencing this awful disease in real life.”

“I can’t. Corrie you’ve broken my heart tonight,” said a third.

While a fourth commented: “Oh god, that’s traumatic. The phone call, pretending he hasn’t already gone. Far too relatable for some of us.”

Speaking of his emotional final scenes, Corrie star Peter admitted they were hard to film.