McDonald, MPG's head of broadcast, triumphed in a live audition for the part held on-stage by Ant and Dec. After the duo had lifted three names out of the hat, McDonald found himself competing against Walker Media's Jon Horrocks and OMD's Peter Belkin for the walk-on role in the Rovers Return.
Joined on-stage by Samia Smith (Maria in the soap) and Michelle Keegan (Tina), the three media boys were handed the task of playing unwelcome drunks at the Rovers bar, before falling down in a plastered heap. Method acting came to the fore as Horrocks put in an impressive performance, only to be upstaged by the ability and rather camp facial expressions of McDonald.
McDonald, who puts his triumph down to "high levels of wine in the blood" rather than any history of acting ability, can't wait to get filming. "I'm looking forward to telling my mum. She's a big fan," he says.