Coronation Street star Simon Gregson has revealed his newest venture away from the cobbles, while also opening up about his mental health journey.

Appearing on Loose Women, the Steve McDonald actor revealed that he has written a children’s book, called The Dream Dragon.

‘I started it about 12 or 13 years ago because my elder two boys, Harry and Alfie, kept having night terrors,’ he told the panel.

‘So, I told them that I had a dragon called the Dream Dragon, which would beat up the nightmares and scare them off, and they believed it.

‘I had to embellish on this story often, and I was telling a couple of the ladies at work, and they said “You should write it down”, and 12 years later I did.’

He went on to explain how co-star Sue Cleaver, who plays Eileen Grimshaw in the ITV soap, encouraged him to pursue the project when he shared his doubts.

The book has already had interest from publishers, with Simon hopeful that it will be published this year.

Elsewhere in the interview, Simon opened up about his struggle with anxiety, revealing that he first noticed the symptoms in the 1990s.

‘It just hits you like a ton of bricks and makes you feel incapacitated,’ he explained.

‘It all came to a head in 2015 when I kept having panic attacks,’ he said, before revealing that he had been experiencing them throughout the day leading up to the interview.

Despite having previously ‘just got on with it’, Simon revealed the moment that he knew he needed to get to the bottom of his symptoms.

‘When I had children and they were noticing it, they started talking about how they were getting anxious.’

He revealed how he underwent a lot of tests to get to the bottom of his symptoms, before being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

He went on to discuss how being open about his anxiety helped him to cope with it, having previously used alcohol as a ‘crutch’.

Simon’s Corrie character Steve is currently involved in a big storyline that has seen Cassie Plummer (Claire Sweeney) enact a sinister plot against Ken Barlow (William Roache), in the hope of getting her hands on his money.

While employed as his carer, Cassie has been drugging Ken to keep him ill, so that he relies on her.

Her behaviour has sparked suspicion among Ken’s family, with Steve and Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) attempting to get through to Ken about Cassie’s true nature.