List of Coronation Street characters introduced in 2022
Coronation Street is a British soap opera first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960. Following is a list of characters introduced in 2022, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the programme's series producer, Iain MacLeod. Frank Bardsley joined in May as a love interest for Sean Tully. Jodie Prenger was cast as [|Glenda Shuttlworth], the sister of George and began appearing in August, followed by Dee Dee Bailey who debuted in September. Cait Fitton made her debut in November as Lauren Bolton, as part of a racial violence storyline, and Ciarán Griffiths and Andrew Still made their first appearances as characters Damon Hay and Justin Rutherford in December. Several other characters appeared throughout the year.
[|Ted Spear]
Edward "Ted" James Spear, played by comedian Duggie Brown, is an elderly man that Faye Windass accidentally hits with her car whilst she is learning to drive. Faye and Emma Brooker, whom she was driving with, check up on Ted and insist he goes to the hospital, but he claims he is fine. The pair later visit him and find out he has died. Emma later meets Ted's grandson, [|Jon Spear] at Ted's funeral and the two end up dating. Jon tells Emma how close he was to his grandad, and how he hopes that whoever was responsible for his death does not get away with it, leaving Emma unnerved. Faye eventually tells Jon what happened and Jon is happy to hear that someone was there for his grandfather when he died. He and Emma later fall in love and leave for Australia to run a bar on Bancoora Beach together. Fans recognised Brown from many other roles, including two previous parts in Coronation Street in 1997 and 2004. Brown is also the real life brother of actress, Lynne Perrie who previously played series regular Ivy Tilsley in the soap.Teddy Thompkins
Teddy Thompkins, played by Grant Burgin, first appears when he bumps into his old school friend, Jenny Connor, in the hospital waiting room. It is revealed that he is the father of Leo Thompkins, whom Jenny is in a relationship with. Fans recognised Burgin from his many other soap roles, including as a site foreman in Coronation Street in 2017. Teddy's guest appearance on 26 January 2022 is extended when he returns a few months later to confront Jenny in the pub after finding out that she kissed Stephen Reid. Teddy tells Leo that she is bad news. Leo tells his dad to back off, but afterwards, Leo is murdered by Stephen, it is assumed that Leo took his father's advice and went to Canada alone. Later, Teddy discovers that text messages he received from Leo were not sent from Canada, but from Weatherfield. He becomes suspicious of Stephen's many questions and realises that Stephen is responsible for his son's disappearance. As he is on his way to tell Jenny, he is hit by a van and hospitalised, unable to remember anything. Teddy moves in with Jenny, leaving Stephen uncomfortable that his secret might be exposed.Burgin departs the series on 23 January 2023, when Teddy eventually remembers what happened. He confronts Stephen, who hits Teddy over the head with a hole puncher, killing him. Stephen puts the body in a roof box and dumps it in a canal. Burgin made a final appearance on 2 March 2023 as a hallucination alongside Leo after Stephen drinks tea he laced with LSD to drug Carla Barlow. Teddy's body is found by police officer, Craig Tinker in August 2023, after the roof box surfaces. The experience is described to be a "grisly body discovery" for Craig.
Jon Spear
Jon Spear, played by Jordan Ford Silver, makes his first appearance on 28 January 2022. Silver announced his casting earlier that day by posting on Instagram: "Thrilled to be joining the cast of Coronation Street - Catch my first ep on the cobbles tonight at 7:30pm." He is introduced as the grandson of Ted Spear, and is first seen talking with Emma Brooker at Ted's funeral. Unbeknownst to Jon, Emma and Faye Windass are partly responsible for Ted's death as Faye, who as a learner driver was driving her father's taxi under Emma's supervision, struck Ted with her car. Jon tells Emma how close he was to his grandad, and that he hopes the person responsible for his death does not get away with it, leaving Emma unnerved. Faye eventually tells Jon what happened and Jon is happy to hear that someone was there for his granddad when he died. He and Emma later fall in love and leave for Australia to run a bar on Bancoora Beach together.Dean Turnbull
Dean Turnbull, played by Anthony Crank, is Abi Webster's drug dealer who first appears on the show on 4 March 2022. He has stolen a car from Websters Motors; Abi manages to get into the passenger seat while going into labour. Dean pulls over and once Abi leaves the car, he seizes this opportunity to speed off. Dean returns to the show on 21 August 2023 as part of Cassie Plummer's storyline, in which she is struggling to get her life back on track after years of addiction. He meets up with her to claim the money she owes him, and assaults her; Abi warns him off, and he departs again on 6 September 2023.It was reported on 13 November 2023 that Crank had been seen filming scenes, and Dean returned on 9 January 2024 to supply Abi with morphine, which she buys for Paul Foreman who is suffering from motor neurone disease and wants to take his own life by overdosing before his condition worsens. On 13 May 2024, it was announced that Dean would return again. He first approaches Abi at the garage, asking her for help. She then discovers that sex videos that allegedly include her have appeared on the web; however, this is later proven untrue. "Assuming Dean is responsible, Abi confronts him with a wrench in hand. Dean insists he has no idea what she's talking about, but a furious Abi doesn't believe him. As Dean is taken in for questioning, Abi learns that four more videos have been uploaded, but as she studies the footage she realises they are deepfakes. The deepfakes turn out to be the responsibility of Stefan Brent.
Alfie Franklin
Alfie Franklin, portrayed by twins Carter and Oakley Razak Townsend, is the son of established characters Abi Webster and Imran Habeeb, conceived during a one-night stand. When Abi's husband Kevin Webster learns of Abi's pregnancy, she lies and says that the father of her late son Seb Franklin, Tez Wyatt, is the father. Kevin discovers the lie when he sees Alfie's birth certificate.Alfie is born prematurely and Abi abandons him in the hospital when she panics about what will happen next. Imran hires paralegal Ben Chancellor to follow Abi and take photos that suggest she is using drugs again. As a result, Imran is awarded custody of Alfie and Abi is only allowed supervised visits. In June 2022, Imran dies in a car accident and Abi is awarded custody of Alfie; however, he at first resides with Wendy Crozier, who is assessing Abi's ability to look after Alfie after her history of drug abuse and her abandonment of Alfie at birth. Alfie later lives with Abi, Kevin, and Kevin's son Jack Webster at 13 Coronation Street.
Ben Chancellor
Ben Chancellor, played by Jon-Paul Bell, is a paralegal who appears between 18 April and 30 May 2022. He is hired by Imran Habeeb to spy on Abi Webster to find evidence of drug abuse so that Imran will be awarded custody of his son, Alfie. He lies in court when he sees Abi giving money to a friend, and claims that she had drugs in her hand. As a result, the court rules that Alfie will be safer living with Imran, with Abi allowed supervised visits. Chancellor's character has been described as a "dodgy paralegal." Leeds Live reported that Chancellor was part of a "dramatic storyline" who was introduced as part of Imran's exit storyline.Aaron Sandford
Aaron Sandford, played by James Craven is the ex-boyfriend of Summer Spellman who rapes Amy Barlow. He first appears as a member of a diabetic support group and bonds with Summer on her first visit. They begin to see each other outside of the group, but when Summer confides in Aaron about her bulimia, he informs her that he prefers to only see her in the support group, leaving her disheartened. They eventually begin a relationship.Later, he contacts his ex-girlfriend, Mia Penrose, and the pair stay up late into the night talking, which is overheard by his flatmate, Amy. Summer discovers that the pair were talking and is unhappy to learn that Aaron has discussed their personal problems with Mia. Aaron and Summer argue, during which he gets drunk and flirts with Amy. Amy is initially receptive to the sexual advances, but falls unconscious and whilst unable to further consent, Aaron rapes her. Aaron repeatedly denies the rape while Amy takes to social media, revealing his crime. Aaron's father sues her for libel. Eventually, the libel charges are dropped and Aaron departs from Weatherfield with his dad.
Speaking to Radio Times about Aaron's exit, Craven commented: "Yeah, I think I was always hoping that he would admit it or have some sort of admittance. I liked that there wasn't anything particularly overly dramatic about it, and I think unfortunately that is quite realistic because there are so many of these cases in real life where people don't face justice and people aren't prosecuted for it. So I think whilst that's obviously quite a hard thing to come to terms with for Amy, it is sadly quite realistic. I never wanted him to get away with it but I think it's one of those things that he's now got to live with it, knowing what he's done." He also explained how he felt about leaving the soap: "It's obviously very sad. It's been a lot of fun and I've really, really loved my time there. I met so many great people and I've made so many good friends for life. But I'm excited, I'm really, really excited to get on and go on and do other things."
Frank Bardsley
Frank Bardsley, played by Simon O'Brien, makes his first appearance on 27 May 2022. O'Brien began filming for Coronation Street in March 2022, with his casting announced two months later. It was confirmed that O'Brien had been contracted as a guest star and would be appearing for a "couple of months". O'Brien, having appeared on the Channel 4 soap Brookside as Damon Grant in the 1980s, said that returning to a soap opera was difficult and a "learning curve" for him since the industry had changed so much. It was confirmed by Digital Spy's Daniel Kilkelly that Frank would be a love interest for established character Sean Tully and that Frank has hidden depths. His backstory involves a childhood connection to George, "who knows details about his past and is wary of him". Kilkelly wondered if Frank would still be the same person George knew or if he had changed. This connection was later revealed as Frank having bullied George in school. Jenny Connor urged Sean to pursue his relationship with Frank, but Digital Spy's Susannah Alexander hinted that their relationship will not be "plain sailing".Sean and Frank meet whilst Sean is working at the Rovers Return Inn and Frank begins flirting with him. Sean is initially reluctant to go on a date with Frank but eventually overcomes his insecurities and they begin a relationship. When it emerges that Frank bullied Sean's housemate, George Shuttleworth whilst they were at school together, Frank claims to be remorseful for his actions while George is unconvinced. Despite warnings from George, Sean continues to date Frank until he catches him bullying his son, Dylan Wilson and immediately breaks up with him.
O'Brien told Inside Soap that throughout his career, he has always wanted to "have a pint in the Rovers" since he felt it is an iconic landmark for the acting industry. Sarah Ellis of the magazine asked him if he was enjoying playing Frank, to which he said that he could not think of a better character to play. He explained that he loves playing light and comedic scenes, which he felt were the "basis of Corrie", but appreciated that below that, Frank is a flawed character, which he enjoyed from an acting perspective. He was also asked if he was worried about a negative reception from viewers. O'Brien admitted that he feared backlash from fans of both George and Sean and joked that he "may have to lay low for a while".