Coronation Street is reportedly set to kill off Craig Tinker as Colson Smith exits the cobbles after 14 years as the local police constable.

It was confirmed in January that Colson would be leaving the ITV soap after more than a decade, with the actor himself sharing the news with fans.

‘Autumn last year I was told that Craig Tinker’s time on the Cobbles is to come to end in 2025,’ he wrote on Instagram at the time.

‘I’ve loved every single second of my 14 year stay as a resident on the greatest street in the world. I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up in, on and around Coronation Street.

According to The Sun, Craig will be killed off, with the long-running soap intent on giving him a hero’s goodbye.

‘Craig has grown up on the street and he’s become part of it so it was a tough decision to make but one that will be worth it,’ a source told the publication.

‘PC Tinker will meet his maker in heroic circumstances this summer and there won’t be a dry eye in the house when it goes out.

‘Colson is taking it well and there’s a real feeling that this chapter is closing for him and there are bigger and brighter things ahead.

‘He’ll film his final scenes later this month and then he’ll say goodbye to Craig once and for all.’

Metro has reached out to Coronation Street for comment.

Addressing the reception he received in the wake of his exit, Colson revealed that he’d received a message from Barbara Knox, who plays Rita Tanner.

‘She said: “People come and go all the time… and there’s some people who are there who love the show. You’re one of those people and I just want to say thank you for all the time that I’ve spent with you and the way that you treat me”.

A huge fire has ripped through a building in central London filling the area with smoke.

Smoke can be seen across London’s skyline after the London Fire Brigade were called to a blaze at mixed-use building near Tottenham Street in Fitzrovia this morning.

The LFB said six fire engines and 40 firefighters were in attendance, and urged people to avoid the area.

One local resident named William, who lives on an adjacent street, told Metro: ‘We woke up to the smell of fire and smoke in our house.

‘At first, the street was filled with a thick yellow haze. When we went outside, we saw a building—possibly a nail shop—on fire.

‘Even as I was leaving for work, the area was still covered in heavy smoke, and fire brigades were actively working to contain it.’

One witness @weberolivier wrote on X: ‘It absolutely stinks here in Oxford Circus. The air is hazy with smoke.’

Hannah, who works on the street, told Metro there is still a heavy emergency services presence in the area.

She said: ‘There were still remains of smoke when I came into work later this morning.

‘But there were still lots of fire engines and other emergency service vehicles about.’

Ambulances were also pictured at the scene.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

The LFB said: ‘Half of the ground floor is alight.

‘One of the Brigade’s 32-metre turntable ladders is being used at the scene to help fight the fire from above.

‘Control Officers took the first of 14 calls at 0743 and mobilised crews from Soho, Euston, Islington and surrounding fire stations to the scene.

A Rangers supporter has died in a road accident in Istanbul ahead of the club’s Europa League tie with Fenerbahce.

The club said it is ‘devastated’ to have learned of the death, which happened overnight ahead of their last-16 first-leg tie with the Turkish side.

A statement on the Rangers website said: ‘Rangers FC is devastated to have learned of the passing of one of our supporters in a road traffic accident overnight in Istanbul.

‘The immediate thoughts of everyone at the club are with their family and friends at this incredibly difficult time

‘We are remaining in constant contact with both the Turkish and British authorities over this tragic incident.’

The man involved in the incident has now been named locally as Christopher Potter, who is understood to have been in his forties.

According to local reports, Potter was initially hit by one vehicle before being run over by another as he crossed a road which was red for pedestrians. Two motorists have been detained in connection with the incident.

It is understood he had just withdrawn money from an ATM and was returning to his hotel. Ekol TV reporter Çağdaş Evren Şenlik said the incident occurred at around 4.30am local time, as per the Daily Record.

Fenerbahce, meanwhile, shared their condolences with the Scottish club after the sad news in a statement of their own.

It read: ‘We have learned with deep sorrow that a Rangers FC fan who came to Istanbul to support his team in the first match of the UEFA Europa League last 16 round, where Fenerbahçe will host Scottish representative Rangers FC, passed away as a result of a traffic accident.

‘We would like to express our condolences to the family of the deceased fan, the Rangers club and the community.’

Thursday’s game marks Barry Ferguson’s first match in Europe for Rangers since replacing Philippe Clement after he was sacked last week.

Ferguson oversaw a 4-2 comeback win over Kilmarnock last Wednesday but his side then lost 2-1 at home to Motherwell on Saturday.

Fenerbahce, meanwhile, sit second in the Turkish league – four points behind leaders Galatasaray – and are unbeaten in their last 18 matches in all competitions.

Jose Mourinho’s side came through their Europa League playoff with a 5-2 aggregate win over Anderlecht, while Rangers progressed automatically to the last-16 having finished eighth in the league phase.

A woman has admitted causing the death of her nine-year-old son by dangerous driving.

Zac Roe, from Andover, died at the scene of a three-car crash in East Woodyates, north Dorset, on March 25 last year.

His mother Barbara Roe, 39, today pleaded guilty to causing his death when she appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court.

In a statement released after Zac, from Hampshire, died, his father Josh said: ‘Words cannot describe the pain I’m feeling, my heart is broken.

‘You are my little angel. I love you more than anything in this world, you are my best buddy.’

Grandfather Chris Roe said: ‘Zac, there are just no words to find. I just want to thank you for the wonderful and fun-filled memories we shared on your short journey of your life.

‘You were taken too soon but memories will last us a lifetime. We will never stop loving you.

‘Your smile and laughter still echoes around my and everyone’s heart. Sweet dreams, our little angel.’

Barbara Roe, of Ludgershall, Wiltshire, will be sentenced on May 2. She is banned from driving in the meantime.

Judge William Mousley KC said: ‘By reason of your plea of guilty to this indictment, you are now disqualified from driving, the period for which you will be disqualified will be decided at the sentencing hearing.’

He ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

Charles Gabb, defending, said: ‘There is a detailed psychiatric report, it’s very detailed and gives important information.’

The fatal crash on the A354 Salisbury Road involved a cattle transporter truck and trailer, a white Ford Transit van and a grey Citroen car.

Pierce Brosnan has said he would be ‘interested’ in returning as James Bond.

The 71-year-old actor portrayed 007 in four movies between 1995 and 2002 – GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day – and would be tempted to reprise his role as the famous spy.

However, he conceded that it would be better for ‘fresh blood’ to lead the franchise in a new era under Amazon’s creative control, following a recent bombshell billion-dollar deal with longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.

‘Of course, how could I not be interested? But it’s a delicate situation now. I think it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, really. I think so,’ he told GQ, while confessing that it was ‘a rather romantic notion and idea’.

But while noting that ‘everything changes, everything falls apart’, the Black Adam star added: ‘I think that it’s best left to another man, really. Fresh blood.’

His comments come at a time of enormous change for the franchise following over three years of no announcements regarding the next Bond actor or film.

The character last graced our screens in 2021’s No Time to Die, where he was dramatically killed off before an onscreen credit promised that James Bond ‘will return’.

Over the years, many actors have been discussed as contenders for the part, including front-runner Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 34, who was even reported as having filmed the famous opening gun barrel sequence and as having been offered the part last March – but it was swiftly denied by insiders.

Other rising stars reportedly in the frame have included James Norton, Challengers star Josh O’Connor and Wicked and Bridgerton actor Jonathan Bailey.

Since the news of Amazon taking full control of Bond though, Harris Dickinson, 28, has become popular with the bookies, while The Brutalist star Joe Alwyn, 34, said he would ‘throw his hat in the ring’ for the role if it was possible.

Under the control of half-siblings Broccoli and Wilson, children of legendary original 007 producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, there were strong feelings that the next actor cast should be British – as well as male and in his 30s – while directors were known to have had to concede final creative say on matters to Broccoli.

This could all change now, as Amazon MGM Studios looks to confirm the bosses who will herald James Bond into his next era.

Elsewhere in the interview, Brosnan, who has enjoyed an acting career that has spanned for over four decades, described the pleasure he gets from having the freedom to be selective when it comes to taking parts.

‘I’ve always lived an artistic life. So I’ve always had the good fortune to have some piece of talent that I can polish and some kind of passion for the work to go through the rough patches,’ he commented.

‘I mean, I love what I do, and certainly now at a time in my life where I have choices and more importantly, I have the warmth and the desire to do good work, to challenge oneself, to create something that is unexpected, to create something that has value.’

Brosnan’s 1999 heist movie The Thomas Crown Affair, initially filmed in 1968 with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, is being remade once again with Michael B. Jordan in the lead role.

The Mamma Mia! star is supportive of the ‘gifted actor’s’ new take on the picture, which he insists is ‘all his for the doing and the taking’.

‘I really love heist movies, it’s why I made the remake and the timing for me was perfect in the days that were of MGM and James Bond. So, yes, good luck. I wish him every success,’ he added.

Barclays is set to pay up to £12.5 million in compensation to people who have been hit by outages over the last two years.

Customers were left angry after the outage at the end of January caused days of payment disruption.

This coincided with payday for millions of people and for those submitting self-assessment tax returns.

Then again at the end of February, other banks were all down in an ‘industry-wide’ outage.

It is expected that Barclays will pay between £5 million and £7.5 million in compensation to customers for ‘inconvenience or distress’ caused by this years outages, the Treasury Committee of MPs heard.

This is on top of £5 million for other outages from January 2023 to February 2025.

It will be the second highest amount paid out by a firm in the last two years, after the Bank of Ireland.

While Barclays has suffered issues, the nine top banks and building societies had outages totalling 803 hours, with 158 individual IT failures.

The bank with the longest outage was NatWest with 194 hours of failures.

The second longest period of services being down was at HSBC with 176 hours of disruption.

The January outage was caused by a ‘severe degradation’ in the mainframe computer, something used to bulk data processing.

This resulted in the failure of 56% of Barclays’ online payments.

The committee said it is investigating IT problems at all banks to see what the issue is.

Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP, said: ‘For families and individuals living paycheck to paycheck, losing access to banking services on payday can be a terrifying experience.

‘The fact there has been enough outages to fill a whole month within the last two years shows customers’ frustrations are completely valid.

‘The reality is that this data shows even the most successful banks and building societies hit technical glitches. What’s critical is they react swiftly and ensure customers are kept informed throughout.’