List of Coronation Street characters (2001)


The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 2001, by order of first appearance.

Adam Barlow

Adam Barlow is the son of Mike Baldwin and Susan Barlow. The role was originated by child actor Iain De Caestecker in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but upon the character's return in 2004 he was recast with former model, Sam Robertson. Robertson reprised the role in November 2016. In November 2016, on his return to Weatherfield, Adam is caught in Underworld by Johnny Connor and Aiden Connor. He, Peter and his aunt Tracy Barlow visit Ken in hospital after he suffered a stroke. There, they meet Daniel Osbourne, who reveals he is Ken's son. Adam joins his family for a meal and defends Tracy against Robert Preston. Adam gets revenge on Robert by calling environmental health. Daniel is suspected of stealing Adam's car when Tracy and Adam visit his flat and find student debts. Adam spends the night with Maria Connor.

Todd Grimshaw

Todd James Grimshaw is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera, Coronation Street. He made his first appearance on 14 January 2001, and is played by Bruno Langley. He is the son of Eileen Grimshaw and brother of Jason Grimshaw, both of whom made their first appearances in 2000. Todd is perhaps best known for his relationship with Sarah-Louise Platt, before realizing that he was actually gay. Todd left the soap in 2004, but made two brief returns in 2007 and 2011. He returned to Coronation Street, as a regular, from November 2013 to December 2017.

Sunita Alahan

Sunita Alahan is a fictional character from the long-running ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. She is the wife of Dev Alahan and mother to Aadi and Asha Alahan.
Sunita's storylines have included: escaping an arranged marriage, being diagnosed with a brain tumour and an aneurysm, falsely imprisoned, being held hostage, falling pregnant with twins, becoming a single parent after divorcing her husband Dev, surviving an almighty tram crash, embarking on an affair with Karl Munro, becoming trapped inside The Rovers Return Inn fire and later dying in hospital of a cardiac arrest caused by Karl.

Jayesh Parekh

Jayesh Parekh is the brother of Sunita Parekh and followed her to Coronation Street in March 2001 when she fled her family and their attempt to force her into an arranged marriage in India. Sunita worked for Dev Alahan in his shop in Swinton and turned to her employer in her hour of need. Dev housed her in the Corner Shop flat and denied knowing her whereabouts when visited by her parents Suresh and Mena. Jayesh though was less trusting of Dev's innocence and parked himself outside the shop, seeing the curtains in the windows of the flat twitching. He confronted Dev who told him that the flat was used for stock and an employee was up there working. When Jayesh hammered on the door to the flat, it was Deirdre Rachid who answered the door and she joined in the deception, however the fugitive's brother was unconvinced by the stories he was being given and left Sunita's photo in the Rovers asking to be contacted should anyone see her.
A couple of days later, Jeyesh returned with a friend and they pushed their way into the flat, trying to physically force Sunita to return with them. Dev threatened the police and brother and sister sat down calmly to talk. Jayesh himself had entered into an unarranged marriage which had failed and Sunita took this as evidence that this was why he was on the side of their parents' plans. Jayesh warned her that his parents would turn their back on her and he would have no choice but to support them. Sunita ended up having no contact with her family for over three years.
By September 2004, Dev and Sunita's friendship had developed into love and the two were engaged. The thought of her upcoming wedding prompted Sunita to ring her mother but the phone was put down on her. It did prompt Jayesh to visit the Street though and the ice between brother and sister was quickly broken. He revealed that he had married for a second time - arranged this time as per cultural tradition - to Rhea Gujarati and the year before they had had a daughter. However he warned a tearful Sunita that her name was a forbidden word at home and that she was dead to her parents. Nevertheless, he tried to intercede on her behalf with her father and he agreed to meet his daughter in a local park but failed to turn up on that occasion. A month later, Jayesh returned and Sunita met her niece Jaya for the first time but she was upset when Jayesh made it clear that he wouldn't be attending the wedding and that the family did not approve of Dev. Dev walked in on the middle of their argument and he managed into talking Jayesh into being there for his sister at the wedding.
He did turn up as promised and brought with him an extra surprise - Sunita's parents. Mena's initially frosty countenance disappeared and she and her husband joined in with the Hindu rituals but there was a self-declared spectre at the feast: Maya Sharma, Dev's previous fiancée, intent of revenge for being dropped by him, had carried out an elaborate plan of impersonating Sunita and taking part in six sham marriages to illegal immigrants in her name, followed by a tip-off to the police. They arrested the happy couple and although Dev was released after questioning, Sunita was refused bail and imprisoned on remand pending trial. Jayesh and Mena visited Sunita in jail and from their attitude, made it clear that they suspected Dev of being guilty and not Maya who they had met and found "charming".
Jayesh was last seen in February 2006 when, following the birth of his twin nephew and niece, Aadi and Asha, Sunita decided to leave Dev. Jayesh came and picked her and the twins up in his car and drove them away.
Jayesh did not attend Sunita's funeral in April 2013 nor did the rest of her family, as they believed that Sunita started the fire at The Rovers Return, killing herself and a firefighter Toni Griffiths, bringing shame on the family. However, the real culprit was actually Sunita's former lover, Karl Munro.

Fiz Brown

Fiona "Fiz" Stape is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera, Coronation Street. She is played by Jennie McAlpine, and made her first on-screen appearance on 20 April 2001. Fiz first appeared as the foster child of Roy and Hayley Cropper, aged 15. Fiz was only supposed to appear for 5 episodes, but McAlpine's contract was extended and Fiz became a regular character. Fiz was eventually involved in a murder storyline in which her lover, John Stape, committed three murders and Fiz helped him dispose of the bodies. She gave birth in the live 50th anniversary episode, with McAlpine becoming the first actress in soap to give birth live.

Shelley Unwin

Shelley Victoria Unwin is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera, Coronation Street, played by Sally Lindsay. She made her first appearance on 9 May 2001. Shelley's storylines have included a marriage to Peter Barlow and an abusive and controlling relationship with Charlie Stubbs, who later left her pregnant. Her mother was Bev Unwin, played by Susie Blake respectively. Shelley left the street in 2006, making her last appearance on 29 September 2006.

Richard Hillman

Richard Charles Hillman is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera, Coronation Street. He was played by Brian Capron, and made his first appearance on 20 June 2001. He is first seen attending his cousin Alma Halliwell's funeral after she died from cervical cancer. He then began a relationship with Alma's best friend Gail Platt and the two were soon married on 28 July 2002. By then, Richard had become the show's main antagonist - as his character was developed into being a serial killer. Throughout the duration of his story arc, Richard left his business partner Duggie Ferguson to die after witnessing him fall through a banister; murders his ex-wife Patricia with a shovel; kidnap Gail's friend Norris Cole to stop him from investigating the truth about his financially bankrupt property company, "Kellett Holdings"; sets his mother-in-law Audrey Roberts' house on fire before going on to convince her that she has Alzheimer's disease; and attempts to kill Norris' roommate Emily Bishop with a crowbar for money — but ends up killing local landlady Maxine Peacock and subsequently framed his stepdaughter's ex-boyfriend Aiden Critchley for her murder.
The character ultimately confessed his crimes to Gail in a two-handler episode on 24 February 2003 and soon departed from the show on 14 March 2003; Richard drove himself and his step-family into a canal after abducting them in a last-ditch familicide attempted, but they survived whilst he himself drowned and was later pronounced dead.

Gary Adams

Gary Adams, portrayed by Samuel Kane, was a man who posed as a 19-year-old boy, talking to Sarah Platt, then aged 14, through an internet chatroom. When Sarah starts to talk to strangers on the internet as a way of meeting new people, she talks to a boy called Gary who claims to be 19 years old. Gary and Sarah quickly befriend each other after they share common interests and she becomes smitten by him. After Gary requests Sarah to call him, she agrees to meet him for the first time. However, when Sarah goes to his house, she is greeted by an older man in his early 30s who claims to be Gary's father which surprises her. The man later confesses to Sarah that he is actually Gary. He justifies to an angry and a disappointed Sarah as being a lonely man who has no close family and friends. Although she rejects him, Sarah empathises with Gary and opens up to him about being a teenage mother to her baby daughter Bethany which causes many problems at home including the separation of her mother Gail and adoptive father Martin Platt due to Martin's recent infidelity. Gail and Martin learn about Sarah's arrangement and visits Gary. They both eventually leave after Gary lies to them that he has never seen Sarah whilst Sarah herself hides from them. Gary and Sarah continue their day and he tells her that she is the only girl he has only ever met from chatrooms as he is convinced that they have a special connection. Sarah begins to worry about Gary's behaviour and his intentions and calls her friend Candice Stowe to collect her. However Gary locks her in his bedroom when Candice's boyfriend Todd Grimshaw arrive; Candice and Todd then try to rescue her. A frightened Sarah realises she is in danger with Gary and tries to escape but he refuses to let her leave. Gary confronts Todd who enters into the house after Candice manages to break a back door window, but Todd injures himself on Gary's fireplace. Gail arrives with her neighbour Dennis Stringer after calling the police and they save Sarah. Dennis then punches Gary repeatedly and insults him. Gary is then taken into custody by the police but he presses charges against Dennis for assault. The police tell Gail that Gary has been charged with false imprisonment but was promptly released on bail, which disgusts and angers Gail. The following month, the police inform Gail that they wouldn't be pressing any charges against Gary.

Christie Wells

Christie Wells, portrayed by Lauren Drummond, was a teenage girl who was supposedly having an affair with sixteen year old Todd Grimshaw. Todd had a failed attempt to have an affair with his then girlfriend Candice Stowe's best friend Sarah-Louise Platt, so he asked Christie to the disco to get Sarah jealous. However, he seemed to get Christie jealous instead when Christie made jealous remarks at Sarah, causing Sarah to threaten to tell Candice what Todd was trying to do.

Ranjiv Alahan

Ranjiv Alahan is the father of Dev Alahan who first appeared in October 2001 and was played by Raad Rawi. Ranjiv first appears when Dev introduces his parents to his fiancée, Geena Gregory.
The character reappeared in February 2004, this time played by Madhav Sharma. Dev's current fiancée Maya Sharma, arranges a meeting between her, Dev and Ranjiv in a restaurant in order to introduce herself to Ranjiv, who is impressed with Maya, who works as a lawyer. Ranjiv congratulates his son for his choice of partner.

DS Tony Trafford

Detective Sergeant Tony Trafford was a local police officer.
Trafford is first seen when Eve Elliott reports the disappearance of her daughter Linda Baldwin to the police. Ashley Peacock accompanies Eve to the police station and tells Trafford that he witnessed Linda's husband Mike hit her. Trafford is initially unconcerned by the report but four days later Linda's car is discovered in a River and Trafford concludes the car was dumped there deliberately and he and his colleagues take the case more seriously, particularly when one of Linda's shoes is discovered in the car. Trafford questions Mike about her disappearance and Mike insists he does not know of her whereabouts and that he had last seen her when she had visited their flat to collect her passport. Linda's brother Ryan later tells Trafford that he believes Mike killed her as she had had an affair with businessman Harvey Reuben. Trafford later questions Mike again at the police station and tells him that they know about Linda's affair. Mike's flat is searched and Linda's passport is found and Mike tells Trafford that he had lied about when he had last seen Linda to stop people from gossiping. Trafford then arrests Mike on suspicion of murder. Mike is held overnight and questioned more the following day but Trafford is forced to release him due to a lack of evidence. Trafford later arranges for Mike to take part in an identity parade.
In February 2002, Trafford investigates the death of Duggie Ferguson. He questions Richard and Gail Hillman who discovered Duggie's body and informs them that they believe Duggie's death was an accident.
Trafford is last seen in January 2003, investigating the murder of Maxine Peacock. Trafford conducts door to door enquiries with the local residents, asking them if they saw anything suspicious. Richard, who is Maxine's killer, implicates Aiden Critchley as a potential suspect. Peter Barlow then tells Trafford that he had seen a light in an abandoned hardware shop nearby. Trafford leads a raid on the premises, which it is discovered that Aiden has been using as a squat. Items stolen from the Peacocks' house, planted by Richard, are discovered in Aiden's possession and Trafford arrests Aiden. Trafford is last seen questioning Aiden's ex-girlfriend Sarah-Louise Platt and she confirms that Aiden had alcohol with him in the squat, backing up his claims that he was too drunk to remember anything. Sarah also tells Trafford that she doesn't believe Aiden is a murderer.