It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that David Neilson is a legend of Coronation Street. The actor has spent an incredible 27 years playing the ITV's soap's much-loved Roy Cropper. The cafe owner made his debut on the cobbles back in July 1995.
He started out living in the Crimea Street flats alongside fellow tenant Deirdre Barlow. He ended up working at Jim's Café in Rosamund Street but after a year, Roy bought Alma Baldwin's majority share of the business and renamed it Roy's Rolls, as it still remains today. Roy was initially a 'secondary character' but was given a more prominent role in 1997.
In the years since, Roy has been featured in numerous high-profile storylines, most notably marrying the first transgender character in a British soap opera, Hayley Patterson, played by Julie Hesmondhalgh. There was also the time when Tracy Barlow spiked Roy's drink at a wedding reception before taking him home and putting him in her bed. Tracy later announced she was pregnant with his child, leaving Hayley devastated.
