Coronation Street star is declared bankrupt for second time after failing to pay large tax bill
Coronation Street star Philip Middlemiss has been declared bankrupt for the second time.
The 62-year-old, who starred as Des Barnes in the ITV soap for eight years from 1990 to 1998, filed for bankruptcy after failing to pay off a large tax bill.
Mr Middlemiss’s latest bill included interest and is believed to be ‘a hefty five figure sum’, according to the Sun.
It is the second time he has been forced to file for bankruptcy, having first done so in 2012.
At the time he blamed financial difficulty spiralling from a film which he was directing in Ghana grounding to a halt after more than three years.
‘[The film] was partly-funded by myself but I didn’t have the money to fund the rest of the film,’ he said.
‘Filming came to a grinding halt. It was nearly three-quarters of the way along the line. It has been a difficult time. Three-and-a-half years is a long time to fund myself without any income.
‘I have had to get money from family and friends.’
Coronation Street star Philip Middlemiss has been declared bankrupt for the second time
The former soap star was falsely sought by police in Ghana over an alleged £5million air bribery in 2020.
Prosecutors named the actor, who denied any wrongdoing, among four people they wanted to question in relation to the £50million sale of three Airbus C-295 military planes to the country.
Mr Middlemiss, who had travelled to Ghana to make a film, claimed to have befriended the brother of the country’s vice-president, before heading back to the UK.
Ghana’s special prosecutor Martin Amidu stated he was believed to have been a project manager for Airbus, which sold the planes, when the alleged bribery took place.
It was also alleged that he incorporated a company in the UK in 2010 through which he assisted Airbus with the suspect deal.
But he was never charged and was formally cleared by investigators, later stating the ordeal turned his life upside down.
The actor made his TV debut in 1986 on the show Ladies In Charge and also appeared in The Bill and Waterfront Beat.
During his Coronation Street days, the actor starred as newlywed Des Barnes who arrived on the famed cobbles alongside on-screen wife Steph, played by Amelia Bullmore
He played his first role since 2014 as DI Travis Lennox in the final series of the BBC series Doctors last year.
His most notable post-Coronation Street role was as David Buckley in the ITV drama Where The Heart Is which he starred in from 2000 to 2006.
During his Coronation Street days, the actor starred as newlywed Des Barnes who arrived on the famed cobbles alongside on-screen wife Steph, played by Amelia Bullmore.