Steve McDonald

Steven James "Steve" McDonald, played by Simon Gregson, has been on Coronation Street since 1989.

Storylines
Steve arrived in Coronation Street at the age of fifteen in October 1989, with twin brother Andy and parents Jim and Liz McDonald. From the start, the lads were high-energy tearaways initially causing aggravation for Alf Roberts. Steve and Andy got up to a lot of mischief, including a joyride in an industrial earth mover, breaking Alf's shop window. The lads were brought up mainly by their mother because ther father Jim was in the army and away more than he was home. When he was home, the hot tempered Jim, whose tirades were often fueled by whiskey and beer, had boys fearing and resenting him. Steve grew up with little respect for his father but a great deal for his mother. It didn't stop him from getting into scrapes, no matter how much it worried his mother. Schoolboy pranks turned into illegal activities when Steve was sure he could pull off a scam or two only to find out that the long arm of the law was only a few steps away. Steve was caught selling stolen car radios, and falling into a bad lot which got his brother, Andy, beaten up. Steve ran away with a teenage love to the Lake District and had to be retrieved and defended against Jim by his mother. The McDonalds didn't have a lot of money and this seemed to fuel Steve's ambitions, always looking for a way to make money.

He married young to Vicki Arden, the granddaughter of Rovers Return Inn landlord Alec Gilroy, who had come into a bit of money when her parents died. This seemed to be nothing more than another scam to get his hands on the cash, something Alec could never convince Vicky of, but, as predicted, it didn't last long. He got caught in possession of stolen booze and this time, he went to jail. Vicky divorced him and left town.

Steve started working with Jim in a building business but Jim was drinking a lot and during an argument and scuffle on scaffolding, Jim fell into a skip and was paralyzed for a time. After Jim's recovery, things started to improve between father and son. They seemed to come to an acceptance of each other.

Steve was a bit of a rogue within his family, serving two short prison sentences. He became involved with local gangster Jez Quigley, from whom he borrowed money to invest in a mini cab firm with friend Vikram Desai. When he couldn't pay it back when Jez demanded it, Jez had him beaten up very badly. Jim went after Jez and beat him up, Jez later died from the injuries he sustained in the attack. Jim confessed and went to jail where he served a jail sentence until his release in late 2007. Steve is now regarded as a rehabilitated and respected member of the community, co-owning the local taxi firm Streetcars, first with Vikram Desai, later with Dev Alahan and currently with Lloyd Mullaney.

Steve has been married to Vicky McDonald and Karen McDonald (twice). During his separation from Karen in 2003, he had a one-night stand with Tracy Barlow, consequently making her pregnant.

Amy
Tracy Barlow gave birth to their daughter Amy Barlow], though she initially was named Patience by [[Roy Cropper when he was deceived into believing Amy was his daughter. Tracy later decided she wanted to bring up her daughter herself, and revealed that Steve was the baby's father on Steve and Karen's second wedding day. Karen was horrified but later forgave him. Tracy was persistent in causing disruption for Steve and Karen which lasted from February 2004 to December 2004, until Steve finished his relationship with Karen on Christmas Day, admitting it was getting too much for him. In March 2005 he began dating single mum Louise Hazel but the dalliance soon fizzled out partly due to Tracy's presence on the Street. For a brief period shortly after, he dated Tracy, but his intentions were to try and secure his name as the father on Amy's birth certificate, not because he had feelings for Tracy. Tracy became aware of Steve's scheme, and attempted to prevent Steve access to Amy. The case was taken to court, where Steve was granted legal rights to see his daughter.

Ronnie
In 2005, he started dating Streetcars employee Ronnie Clayton, a local gangster's estranged wife. In 2006, she tried to frame him when she accidentally ran down a pensioner in her taxi, but she was eventually caught. Steve's alibi for the crime was that he spent the night with his new business partner Lloyd's girlfriend Kelly Crabtree. This led to the temporary closure of Streetcars, when Lloyd refused to work with Steve. Lloyd eventually decided to forgive Steve for his deception, and they were able to re-open the business. Later that year, Steve bought the Rovers Return pub from Fred Elliott and installed his mother Liz Tomlin as landlady and stepfather Vernon as cellarman.

Michelle and custody of Amy
Tracy Barlow, Amy's mother, started a relationship with Charlie Stubbs. During their relationship, Tracy made out that Charlie was abusing her. She convinced people that this was happening as she locked herself in a room, stayed indoors on Christmas Day and became best friends with Claire Peacock. Her accusations were taken to the police but no action was taken until Charlie was murdered. She was arrested and Amy was placed in her father Steve's care. Tracy was sentenced to fifteen years in prison and Steve took on Amy. He sometimes finds it hard to look after her as well as owning the Rovers but has developed a good relationship with Amy.

Steve and Michelle
Steve has recently started a relationship with barmaid Michelle Connor and is now looking after her stepdaughter Amy full-time, following Tracy's imprisonment for the murder of Charlie Stubbs. During a brief strain in his relationship with Michelle they separated for a while which resulted in Michelle going back to Ireland for a period while he went on holiday to Malta with his Streetcars employee Eileen Grimshaw. Wrongly believing that Michelle had lost interest in him, he took a shine to a female tourist who later revealed herself to be a transvestite. On returning to the Street Steve reunited with Michelle. He and Michelle have continued their relationship and it has developed into a strong one. Steve's father, Jim, returned to the street in late 2007 close to ex-wife Liz and Vernon's wedding.

Feuding with Dan Mason
On 4th June 2008, Norris Cole scratched Steve's car by accident, Steve, outraged by this, blamed Dan Mason for what happened. On 6th June 2008, he began feuding with Dan. He stole Dan's mobile phone from his car and refused to return it if he did not pay the bill for his scratched car that Kevin Webster gave Steve. Dan refused to pay the bill because he did not scratch the car. Steve locked Dan in the alcohol cellar over night. The following morning Michelle caught Steve shouting down the cellar to Dan, however Dan was unconscious and Steve thought it was all a big trick and Steve then told Michelle that it was a rat. Michelle acted quickly and went out to buy some rat killer. Steve carried on shouting down the cellar, he was next caught by Ryan, who seen Dan. Michelle later returned and discovered about this. Ryan called an ambulance as Dan appeared to have a ruptured spleen. The paramedics arrived and took Dan into care. Harry Mason followed. As Dan arrived in hospital, Leanne Battersby, Dan's girlfriend arrived to see him after Carla Connor informed her. Steve was later arrested for attempted murder.

Dan dropped the charges against Steve and he scarpered off to Spain after a one night stand with Becky Granger.

Becky Granger/false proposal to Michelle
On 11 June 2008 Steve cheated on Michelle and had a one-night stand with Becky Granger after he and Michelle had a row and Jason Grimshaw kept avoiding Becky. The following morning they were caught by Roy and Steve claimed that he'd lost his keys for The Rovers and that Becky had offered him a stay. Roy later found out about the night but agreed to keep quiet. Becky and Roy later row concerning Steve and Becky gets thrown out. Lloyd Mullaney told Michelle that Steve had a plan to propose in order to explain Steve's strange behaviour. This put Steve under pressure to follow through with this story, and so Steve proposed to Michelle. However, Michelle found out that the proposal was "false" and Steve later reveals that the "slept on a girls couch" (but claims he didn't sleep with her). Michelle responded by throwing Steve out of his own home and chucking the expensive engagement ring that cost £7500 in a skip.