CORONATION street rebels David Platt and Aiden Critchley chatted with Bolton youngsters about life in the limelight, from being chased by girls to getting abuse hurled at them in the streets.

David, alias 14-year-old Jack P Shepherd, and Aiden, played by Dean Ashton, aged 16, told youths from the Generation Access Project (GAP) in Halliwell about the ups and downs of fame when they met at the launch of a teenage advice service in Manchester.

At the event at the Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse, Lee Fields, aged 16, from GAP, asked the two actors if they were treated any differently because they appeared on TV.

Dean -- whose character teen tearaway Aiden recently left Sarah-Louise fighting for life after crashing Ken Barlow's car -- said people often mistakenly thought he was like his character in real life.

He said: "People do really think that I am a bad guy and that I'm really cocky in class, but I am the complete opposite. In the street people have started hurling abuse at me."

Jack, who lives in Leeds and has been in the soap for two years, said: "My family and friends don't treat me any differently -- my brother still beats me up!" But he added that he had been chased by girls and once so many people were following him that a bodyguard from a Next store had to hide him. Youngsters from across Greater Manchester quizzed the two actors for 20 minutes at the launch of Connexions Greater Manchester. The government's new co-ordinated service will provide youngsters with trained personal advisers and aims to help 13 to 19-year-olds make a smooth transition to adulthood and working life. Dean said: "Never give up believing in your dreams, they will come true."

And Jack advised anyone who wanted to become an actor to join a drama group and find a good agent. He explained that he landed his first TV role in Where The Heart Is after he was spotted by an agent at a drama group who put him in for an audition. About 10 young people from Halliwell's GAP project -- which aims to get youths back into what is perceived as mainstream education or employment -- came to the launch. Lee, who is from the Deane area said: "I was a bit nervous about meeting them both. I watch Coronation Street, they look quite different in real life."