Tony Hirst - wikipedia Tony Hirst For the academic and blogger, see Tony Hirst ( blogger ). For the Australian rules footballer, see Tony Hirst ( footballer ). Tony Hirst Hirst in the short film Pickpocket Anthony Hirst ( 1967 - 01 - 21 ) 21 January 1967 ( age 51 ) Manchester, England Occupation Actor, theatre director, voice - over artist Years active 1991 -- present Known for How it 's Made ( 2001 -- present ) Hollyoaks ( 2006 -- 2010, 2016 -- 2017 ) Coronation Street ( 2010 -- 2013 ) Benefits Street ( 2014 -- 2015 ) Partner ( s ) Sue Hirst Children 2 ( inc. Kate Colgrave Pope ) Anthony `` Tony '' Hirst ( born 21 January 1967 ) is a British actor and theatre director, best known for playing Mike Barnes on the soap opera Hollyoaks and in Coronation Street as Paul Kershaw, the love interest of Eileen Grimshaw. Hirst also narrates the UK version of How It 's Made, shown on Quest and the Discovery channels, and various programmes for Channel 4. Tony is the narrator on all seven series of HISTORY 'S Swamp People. Contents 1 Filmography 2 Other TV appearances 3 Theatre 4 Personal life 5 References 6 External links Filmography Hirst 's acting roles include Mike Barnes from Hollyoaks, Martin Gooch from The Ghost Squad and Steve Kingsley from Holby City. He has narrated TV documentaries such as Blueprint for Disaster, 2005, The Garage, Smash Lab, and How It 's Made since 2001. He also narrates some of the programme trailers on Fox and Channel 4. Hirst appeared as a fireman called Paul on Coronation Street during the show 's 50th anniversary in December 2010. Paul returned to Coronation Street as a regular character during October 2011. It was revealed on 24 February 2013 that Hirst would be leaving Coronation Street in 2013 at the end of his contract. In 2014, Tony Hirst narrated two seasons of Food Factory and in 2015 narrated season 1 of Home Factory both on Discovery science. Other TV appearances Hirst appeared on Ready Steady Cook, on BBC Two on 5 March 2008, and lost to Zoë Lister, who played Zoe Carpenter in Hollyoaks. He played the part of Rom, a Roman man, on CBBC children 's history programme The Romans in Britain shown on BBC2 and `` Uncle Jake '' in the BBC children 's programme `` The World Around Us ''. He played the part of a policeman in the first series of the Channel 4 show Shameless. He appeared on the Channel 4 show No Angels as an `` ambulance chaser '' in the first series. Hirst narrates Benefits Street and the UK versions of Mike Rowe 's Dirty Jobs and How It 's Made on Discovery channels. Hirst portrays a man sent back from the future to warn of an impending alien invasion in an ad being aired on Discovery Science to promote their Out of this World campaign. Theatre Hirst produced two one - man shows touring the UK during the summer and autumn 2008, including four weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The first play `` Wombman '', written and performed by Ricky Payne, which Hirst also directed and the second `` Wacker Murphy 's Bad Buzz '' written and performed by Edwin Mullane. Personal life Hirst lives with partner Sue and they have two children, actress Kate Colgrave Pope and a son Jack. Hirst has an MSA Competition Licence and competed in the 2012 Silverstone Classic Celebrity Challenge race. References Jump up ^ `` Tony Hirst reprising Hollyoaks role after Corrie exit ''. Digital Spy. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2017. Jump up ^ `` Tony Hirst 's return to Corrie ''. The Sun. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2017. Jump up ^ `` Coronation Street : fireman Paul Kershaw to exit soap ''. Radio Times. Retrieved 7 September 2017. Jump up ^ `` Zoe Lister and Tony Hirst ''. OK ! Magazine. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 2010 - 01 - 29. Jump up ^ `` Silverstone Classic 2012 : Celebrity race ''. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2017. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tony Hirst. Tony Hirst on IMDb Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Hirst&oldid=838845154 '' Categories : Living people British male television actors 1967 births British theatre directors Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from July 2013 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2014 Pages to import images to Wikidata Articles with hCards Articles with unsourced statements from September 2017 Commons category without a link on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 29 April 2018, at 17 : 19. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who does the voiceover on how it's made
Answer: Anthony "Tony" Hirst