Former Coronation Street star Joe Layton has broken his silence following his dramatic exit from the soap.

First appearing on the ITV series as the villainous Mick Michaelis back in February, Mick’s time in Weatherfield was a short but eventful one as he had run-ins with several residents.

After Mick was imprisoned for beating Craig Tinker to death, he broke out of prison to wreak havoc one more time, before being arrested again and exiting the soap for good – at least for now.

Taking to Instagram following his departure, Layton s

hared a video montage of his time on the cobbles, which he captioned: “What a six months!”

In the post, Layton thanked the cast and crew for making him feel welcome on the set, saying they made him “feel at home from the moment I walked in”.

Mentioning his co-stars and director Duncan Foster, Layton’s post continued: “Feel very lucky to have worked alongside so many brilliant cast [members]… I had such a fantastic time.”

“It was genuinely a privilege to walk the cobbles, and doing it in Mick’s dodgy steel-toe-cap trainers was the icing on the cake,” he added, before thanking the “lovely” fans for their continued and “overwhelming” support throughout his stint.

Meanwhile, the soap itself created a humorous take on Layton’s exit, sharing a video of him in character as the thuggish Mick, who appears to be walking a big dog.

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As the video cuts to the end, the dog is revealed to be Layton’s real-life pet, a tiny fluffy dog, who Layton proceeds to cuddle lovingly.

They captioned the post: “With Mick well and truly locked away, we’d like to say thank you to Joe Layton for being such a great villain! (Shoutout to Joe’s dog Hiccup for playing a great part in this).”