Coronation Street's Roy Cropper is renowned as a Weatherfield legend.
The character has been played by David Neilson on the ITV show since 1995. Roy endured a dramatic start to 2023 as he found himself in danger.
He arranged to meet Nina Lucas at the bat group meeting in the woods. However, the meeting was cancelled and Nina had no way to get in touch with Roy after he discarded the mobile phone gift he received for Christmas.
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Roy was missing in the woods and Nina found herself in a life threatening situation when she hit her head on a rock as she attempted to find him. Roy has since realised the error of his ways and resolved to make sure he had a mobile phone to avoid a similar situation in the future.
Corrie boss, Iain MacLeod, told the ECHO and other press he thought about hiding from David after he pitched the plot. He joked: "I did hear rumours when I first arrived on Coronation Street that David Neilson's one red line was that Roy would never have a mobile phone so when we storylined this I was kind of hiding from David thinking when he reads this script he's going to go mad.
"In the end he didn't and he obviously appreciates the comedy behind it." Iain spoke to the ECHO and other press at the grand opening of the Weatherfield Precinct.
Roy is set to play a major role in the new location as he will run the charity shop alongside Evelyn Plummer. Although Roy will continue to play a major part in the soap, the actor's real life is very different to his life in Weatherfield.
Corrie is filmed in Manchester, but the 73-year-old has previously told Mirror Online how he actually lives in Barcelona in order to escape the fanfare from the show. He explained: "I need to get away from Roy and be myself and they don’t know Roy in Barcelona.
“If I’m in Spain for a few days I forget what I do for a living, which is the important thing. It means when I come back and someone shouts ‘Roy’, for a moment I forget they’re actually talking to me. And it’s only a couple of hours on the plane so I can commute to Manchester easily enough. “
"Another reason we moved was for excitement. I like to do different things and it’s been good to learn a language and get into a different culture. Our son Daniel had left for university and we were in Bristol in a big house and we thought, ‘What shall we do?’”
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