Top 25 Favourite Corrie Males - No. 1

STEVE MCDONALD
(440 VOTES)

Duration: 1989-

Played by: Simon Gregson  

2012 character poll position (men): 2

Having led the race since the second week, Steve McDonald is at No.1!! I believe his popularity soared when he married Karen in 2001 and thus making him one of the show’s all-time favourites.

Over the course of 26 years, Steve McDonald has gone from a mischievous teen who caused trouble for Alf Roberts to a father, cab firm owner and pub landlord loved by millions. He arrived on the Street with parents Jim and Liz and twin brother Andy. 

For a man who’s only in his forties, Steve has been married six times! First wife Vicky Arden was wealthy and he only married her for her money. When he got into hot water criminally, he blamed her and she quickly filed for divorce. He married second wife Karen Phillips for a bet in 2001 but they fell in love and became popular with fans due to their fiery arguments. The marriage ended due to Karen’s affair with Joe Carter and Steve’s one night stand with Tracy Barlow – resulting in the birth of his daughter Amy. After a few months, Steve and Karen reunited and remarried in 2004 but the marriage soon collapsed and Karen left the Street and they divorced in 2006. 

After relationships with Tracy, Ronnie Clayton and Michelle Connor, Steve married Becky Granger in 2009. Their marriage was also tempestuous with both making mistakes which resulted in their divorce in 2011. Steve then married Tracy when she became pregnant with twins. But when she miscarried, she accused Becky of pushing her down the stairs, a lie to gain Steve’s sympathy. Becky got her revenge though and announced that Tracy was lying and had medical evidence that showed she had had a miscarriage. A furious Steve divorced Tracy. He then returned to dating Michelle. After a tough relationship with Steve hiding his depression from her, they eventually married in 2015.

Steve owned the Rovers between 2006 and 2012 and has been since 2013 (albeit a brief period in 2015) and has been running cab firm Street Cars since 2000, enjoying a wonderful camaraderie with Lloyd Mullaney and Eileen Grimshaw. When he wanted money to start the cab firm, he borrowed from drug dealer Jez Quigley. When Steve failed to pay him, Jez sought revenge and beat him up and left him for dead. Steve’s dad Jim sought revenge on Jez by beating him up and this resulted in Jez dying of a punctured lung. 

Steve is of course known on this Blog for his gurns!

Should Steve be at no. 1? Are you a fan? 

Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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Top 25 Favourite Corrie Males - No. 2

ROY CROPPER (408 VOTES)

Duration: 1995-
Played by: David Neilson
2012 character poll position (men): 3

For the first week of the polls, Roy was in first place but then settled for second place. 

Roy was brought into the serial in 1995 as the eccentric neighbour of Deirdre Rachid at Crimea Street. A secondary character for two years, he became a regular in 1997 when he became Gail Platt’s partner at Jim’s Café. As he was the major shareholder he renamed the café Roy’s Rolls. He later bought Gail’s share and relocated from Rosamund Street to Victoria Street. 

Known for his shopping bag, Roy was and still is a popular character, known for his quirky conservations filled with facts and for being a bit serious. Soon after he became a regular he was paired off with Hayley Patterson. She was no ordinary woman – she was a transsexual. But this didn’t stop their romance and they had a blessing ceremony and Hayley changed her name to Hayley Cropper. In 2010, due to a change in the law, Roy and Hayley could get properly married, which they did. For more than a decade, Roy and Hayley established themselves as one of Corrie’s classic couples, side by side to the Duckworths, Ogdens and Barlows and they were well loved by fans. In 2013, Hayley received the devastating news that she had cancer. Over the next few months, the Croppers spent time ticking off Hayley’s bucket list like re-visiting the lake where they first kissed and dancing in the ballroom in Blackpool Tower. Hayley made the controversial choice of wanting to kill herself by taking an overdose. Roy was devastated when she drank the cocktail and slowly passed away.

Roy struggled to move on with his life without Hayley but with the support of friends Carla, Anna, Fiz, Tyrone and Chesney he eventually came to terms with it. A year after losing Hayley he befriended Cathy Matthews on his allotment and their friendship blossomed into courtship.

Roy has starred in many storylines over the years including being tricked by Tracy Barlow; taking in various waifs and strays; being suspected of dealing drugs with Ken Barlow; finding about Hayley having fathered a child; nearly murdered by Tony Gordon; and reuniting with mum Sylvia after many years of estrangement. Not one to show his emotions, Roy showed his caring side when looking out for Becky McDonald, who fondly called him ‘Royston’ and saw him as a father figure.

Should Royston be at 2? Are you a fan? 

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Top 25 Favourite Corrie Males - No. 4

TIM METCALFE (229 VOTES)

Duration: 2013-
Played by: Joe Duttine
2012 character poll position (men): Not included

A male character who has definitely become popular since his relationship with Sally Webster. 

Introduced as the estranged father of Faye Windass, Tim worked as a builder. Despite Faye’s adoptive mother Anna’s initial disapproval, Tim kept in contact with Faye when he got a job with Jason Grimshaw.

Both Anna and partner Owen Armstrong attempted to force Tim out of Weatherfield but he began a relationship with Sally. 

When work dried up with Jason, he established himself as a window cleaner – continuing the lineage of street window cleaners (Stan, Eddie, Jack). His down to earth attitude is a stark contrast to the snobbery of Sally and they are a reminder of Richard and Hyacinth Bucket. In 2015, Tim employed Craig Tinker as his assistant. It was revealed in 2014 that Tim was dyslexic but he has overcome this problem by now.

Surprisingly, Tim has a formed a close friendship with Sally’s ex Kevin. This is a contrast to Kevin’s animosity towards Sally’s men. But this provides and interesting dynamic to the Webster household. Kevin was even best man at Tim and Sally’s wedding in 2015.

Tim is definitely in the mould of Corrie’s classic hapless men – Stan, Jack, Les and Steve and has to be one of the brightest stars of Corrie in recent years after the departures of many classic characters.

Are you a fan of Tim? Are you a fan of his relationship with Sally?

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Top 25 Favourite Corrie Males - No. 5

PETER BARLOW (205 VOTES)

Duration: 1965-1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1986, 2000-2003, 2007-2014, 2015

Played by: John Heannau, Christopher Dormer, Mark Duncan, Linus Roache, Joseph McKenna, David Lonsdale, Chris Gascoyne

2012 character poll position (men): 7

One of the twins born to Ken and Valerie Barlow fifty years ago. After appearing sporadically over 21 years, he was re-introduced in 2000 and it is this Peter that has won fans’ hearts.

After Val’s death in 1971, Peter and his sister Susan were packed up to Scotland to be raised by their maternal grandparents. Peter later joined the navy and married Jessica Midgeley in 1990.

Newly divorced Peter returned to the street in 2000. He wooed both Shelley Unwin and Lucy Richards and married them bigamously. He was never punished by the law, only by a punch from Shelley. Lucy gave birth to Simon in 2003 although she refused access to Peter. Peter then left.

He returned in 2007 with Simon, who Peter had to take on after Lucy’s death and bought the local bookies. Struggling with fatherhood and women, Peter became fond of the drink and ultimately became an alcoholic. With the support of his family and girlfriend Leanne Battersby he sobered up. But when Leanne briefly left the street, he nearly killed himself and Simon when he drunkenly left a cigarette to burn in his flat.

Peter also escaped death when a tram crashed into the street. Afraid that he was going to die, he married Leanne. Unknown to Peter, Leanne had been having an affair with her ex Nick Tilsley. When Peter found out he confronted her at their marriage blessing. The marriage survived but Peter then had an affair with Carla Connor.

Peter and Leanne divorced and Peter got engaged to Carla. But then the Barlow gene hit again as he embarked on a fling with Tina McIntyre. Peter and Carla did marry but the marriage ended when the affair was exposed. 

When Rob Donovan pushed Tina off the balcony of the builder’s yard, he framed Peter who spent months in prison. It was Rob’s confession that led to Peter being released. 

Peter left the street once more in 2014 only to return briefly when Deirdre died in 2015.

A fan of Peter? Should he return once more?

Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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Top 25 Favourite Corrie Males - No. 6

MIKE BALDWIN (193 VOTES)

Duration: 1976-2006

Played by: Johnny Briggs 

2012 character poll position (men): 5

The cheeky Cockney who bought the old warehouse on Coronation Street in 1976 and turned it into a denim factory that employed many over the years. Mike was introduced as an attempt to close the North/South divide between viewers. He quickly became a hit.

He became a Casanova to rival Ken Barlow. Over 30 years he had 18 girlfriends and four wives. His conquests included Bet Lynch, Deirdre Barlow, Maggie Dunlop, Gloria Todd and Penny King. His four wives were Susan Barlow (1986), Jackie Ingram (1991), Alma Sedgewick (1992) and Linda Sykes (2000). It is debatable who his true love was: was it Alma or Deirdre?

Fond of whiskey, he fathered three sons: Danny (who he thought was his nephew), Mark and Adam. Mike didn’t have a lot of luck with his offspring. He only got to spend a few years with both Danny and Adam; and Mark had an affair with Linda.

Apart from romantic life, Mike’s main storylines involved the boom and bust nature of his business. He sold Baldwin’s Casuals in 1989 and established Underworld in 1996. His capitalism clashed with many, mainly Ken Barlow and Don Brennan. Ken detested Mike’s outlook on life and how he treated women. But their rivalry deepened when Mike embarked on an affair with Deirdre and later married Susan. They would later clash over both Alma Sedgewick and Maggie Redman and over Adam’s custody. 

Mike and Don’s rivalry on the other hand was more sinister. Don was a gambler and during a card game he managed to almost bankrupt Don. The rivalry reached its head when Mike sold the street’s failing garage to Don which led him into further debts. Don plotted revenge by setting Mike’s factory on fire; trying to kill Alma; and trying to kill Mike. His last attempt drove him literally to his death. Both Mike’s rivalries are remembered for how both Ken and Don would coldly call him ‘Baldwin’. 

In 2005, Mike began to behave strangely and he was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It was heart-breaking to see a once powerful man now so helpless and lost. He died on the cobbles in the arms of arch-rival Ken.

Were you a fan of Michael Vernon Baldwin?    

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Corrie's Mithered Men

Coronation Street has a well established history of strong women whose talk, camaraderie and resilience springs from its very foundation. An organic offshoot of such female representation has proven to be the beleaguered male; never too far from a telling off, apparently unable to get anything right despite his best efforts, getting away with what he can when he can, and usually to comic effect.
Names such as Stan Ogden and Jack Duckworth immediately spring to mind, but what of the current men of Coronation Street?

Courtesy of a recent set of Friday episodes, we were presented with a window on how men are perceived by some contemporary Corrie women. The double episode of the 9^th of August opened with Sally and Gail strolling along the street, the former complaining about Tim putting fun ahead of work, and the latter offering the following observation:

“The problem is that most men are on the laziness spectrum. Top end’s lying on the settee all day watching re-runs of Bullseye and eating last night’s kebab, and well, the bottom end is just leaving the lid off the coffee jar, that sort of thing. I think it’s just inherent in men, laziness.”

It wasn’t necessarily laziness that saw the men of that Friday’s Corrie fall foul of its women, but nevertheless, they were undoubtedly playing second fiddle.

Nick learned that Robert was the new chef at the Bistro by finding him behind the bar, already working. Hired by Leanne, Nick had no say in the matter, and tried to exert some belated authority by introducing a trial period which all three knew held no weight. Nor did Nick offer much in the way of advice or encouragement during Carla’s intervention. In a subsequent episode it took Erica to break up with him even though he’d slept with Carla.
We had Michael at the behest of Eileen and Gail, flitting between them like a pawed mouse as he attempted, failed and was caught breaking into Barlow’s Buys. As if his situation couldn’t have been any more dismal, his tool of choice was a spatula.
And while Tony has proven himself worthy of anyone's fear, there was little he could do as an undaunted Liz stamped his flowers into the concrete outside Roy’s with a determined stiletto. We also later saw Tracy move Robert into number one with no regard for Ken who was powerless to intervene.
Perhaps the most hen-pecked of all is Tyrone who appears to be getting it from all angles of late. If Fiz isn’t berating him or fighting his battles for him, he’s under pressure from Kevin at the garage despite having an equal share, and the recent camping holiday saw him completely emasculated by alpha-male Dougie. He wasn’t the only one, but appeared to be particularly singled out for ridicule as he attempted to assert his manhood, and failed miserably.

Poor Kirk is also well used to being on the receiving end of a scolding courtesy of Beth, and as he skipped behind her through the woods, attempting to keep up while she relentlessly berated him for getting them lost, he too secured his place in the ever burgeoning Corrie catalogue of mithered men, joining other existing characters such as Steve, Dev and Tim.

While persistently making little of men is no laughing matter, and is not an activity I engage in, I think what makes it work in Corrie is the manner in which the stories are portrayed and performed. While we can sympathise with the women some of the time, these men have often been victims of ladies who aren't always in the right, and we are encouraged to align ourselves with the men, and celebrate and share in their triumphs, enjoying their antics as much as they do. Indeed, you sometimes get the impression that they wouldn't have it any other way.

With the exception of the very serious and aptly portrayed domestic abuse storyline between Tyrone and Kirsty, for the most part, instances of mithering have generally consisted of light hearted additions to storylines, or subplots which have humour at their core. What is essential is that there are plenty more male characters who don't find themselves mithered, and enough women who don't engage in talking them down to redress the balance and counter the erroneous perception that 'all men are the same'. I did feel that Steve's past treatment at the hands of Michelle and Liz overstepped the mark, and was glad to see this remedied.

Another positive element is that the hen-pecked are given the opportunity to assert themselves, as last Friday's Corrie demonstrated in two ways. Firstly, the opening dialogue saw Steve roundly discredit Michelle's arrogant assertion that Aidan wasn't used to intelligent female conversation with the line "Yeah, I often have chats about renaissance art with Beth Tinker”.

Secondly, when Mary declared cut flowers to be "a time honoured pathetic male gesture," Tim taking the bunch home as an apology to Sally affirmed her assertion. But it also interestingly succeeded in diffusing it. Tim may have skipped out on cutting the grass in favour of a lark about at an art class, but he was thinking of Sally nevertheless, and seized an opportunity to soften her anticipated anger with something he knew she would like.

We didn't see the scene, but such is the quality of the characters that we can easily imagine it play out in our heads; an initially furious Sally mildly chides him with a twinkle in her eye at the sight of the bouquet before picking her best designer vase to proudly display her floral surprise while Tim reclines happily on the sofa cracking open a beer and wondering what's for tea.

As above, there are plenty of male characters who aren't actively harangued by women. Kevin, Jason, Sean, Billy, Callum, Lloyd, Gary, Roy and Zeedan, for example, are all well capable of asserting themselves when necessary.

While I enjoy the balanced comedy which arises from beleaguered males and scolding females, I also like to see men strongly represented. I enjoyed Tony avenging his son, I pitied Jason as he experienced the indignity of talking about being beaten up from his hospital bed, I like Kevin's new found entrepreneurship and Lloyd's decision to reject Andrea. Aidan is also shaping up to be a very positive addition to the male cast.

But whatever happens, there is no denying that the poor hen-pecked Corrie male, who is of such long standing and has provided many hours of entertainment, will continue to be found sneaking off to the Rovers for the apocryphal 'swift half' for many years to come.

By Emma Hynes

www.emmahynes.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ELHynes

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