Antony Cotton has appeared to criticise Coronation Street for having too many "issue-based" storylines.

The actor, who has played Sean Tully since 2003, called on the soap to return to its comedy roots and introduce long-running plotlines "that aren't issue-based".

"We used to do stories when I first joined the show in 2003 that were belly-laugh brilliant," Cotton told the Daily Star.

"They weren't based on any agenda or issue. I don't want to do an agenda storyline where we think about the rights and wrongs of something.

"I would like to see long-runners that aren't issue-based, that aren't to do with death, that aren't to do with illness.

"Things are shorter nowadays because people have shorter memories because they are easily distracted. I think we should go back to an element of long-runners as a whole."

Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV.