Very Sad News: Antony Cotton Heartbroken Over Coronation Street Star’s Tragic Passing at Just 38!
He was the man who brought fire to the cobbles — and now the cobbles are mourning him.
Antony Cotton — a face synonymous with Coronation Street itself — stood among a crowd of mourners yesterday, struggling to process a loss that still feels impossible. Matthew Owens, a fire safety advisor who worked behind the scenes of the ITV soap for over a decade, has died at the age of just 38.
The news has sent shockwaves through the Coronation Street family. Not because Matthew was a headline actor or a household name, but because he was the kind of person the cameras never capture — the quiet, steady presence who makes the magic possible without ever asking for recognition.
Antony took to Instagram to share a photograph of the order of service from Matthew’s funeral, held at Stafford Crematorium Chapel on July 22nd. The card bore the simple, devastating dates: Matthew Paul Owens — May 8th, 1987 to July 7th, 2025.
His words that followed were raw. Unpolished. Genuine.
“Today was a very hard day for so many people, especially Matt’s family. I still can’t quite get my head round it, to be honest. Matt was just a really, really nice lad. We met when he did the fire safety for a stunt block at Coronation Street 13 years ago and we’ve been friends ever since.”
Thirteen years. That’s not a working relationship — that’s a bond forged in shared moments, late nights on set, and the unspoken understanding between people who build something together. Matthew was, as Antony described him, a much-loved son, brother, dad, colleague, and partner. Quiet. Humble. Solid.
“I’ll miss hearing from you, Matt, out of the blue sometimes, but always with a smile. You are at rest now. No more worries, Matty boy.”
Matthew leaves behind his partner Amy and his 11-year-old son Freddy — a boy who will grow up knowing his father was the kind of man people spoke of with genuine warmth. As a mark of respect, fire stations across Staffordshire lowered their flags to half-mast. A silent salute from those who understood the weight of the uniform he wore.
Because before Matthew Owens was a safety advisor on Britain’s most famous soap, he was a firefighter. Stationed at Cannock fire station, he spent his days running toward danger when everyone else ran away. But his contribution to Coronation Street went far beyond advice and risk assessments.
He ran a company that provided fire safety training, props, and extras to the BBC and ITV. And in 2013, he found himself at the center of one of the most unforgettable storylines the cobbles has ever seen.
The Rovers Return fire.
Matthew was tasked with setting the iconic pub ablaze — safely, of course — for a stunt block that would keep viewers on the edge of their seats for weeks. He didn’t just oversee the flames. He trained actor Tony Hirst — who played Paul Kershaw — to perform a fireman’s lift convincingly on camera. A real firefighter teaching an actor how to be one. The line between reality and fiction blurred in the smoke.
The storyline was brutal. The Rovers fire trapped Stella Price and Sunita Alahan inside. Karl Munro, Sunita’s husband and the man who started the inferno, left her in the cellar to die. She survived initially — pulled from the flames, rushed to hospital, clinging to life. But Karl finished what the fire started, removing her breathing tubes in a cold, calculated act of murder so she could never tell anyone the truth.
It was Coronation Street at its most gripping. And Matthew Owens was there, in the thick of it, making sure the fire burned exactly as it should — and that nobody got hurt in the process.
“It’s all a bit surreal being there on the set and on camera,” he told the Express and Star at the time. “At one point we were standing outside the Rovers Return, just watching it burn. Normally as firefighters, we’d get to the scene and be putting the fire out. It was unreal just watching the fire, especially at such an iconic pub.”
He described three grueling weeks on set, from February 11th onward. The first week alone meant working through the night — 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. — ensuring every flame, every spark, every moment of television drama was achieved without crossing into real danger.
Matthew Owens lived a life split between two worlds. In one, he was a firefighter — a man who saved lives. In the other,