Ted Page

Ted Page is the long lost father of Gail Platt. Just a week after his arrival, Ted revealed that he is gay. He'd recently lost his partner of twenty years, James. He began a friendship with local street resident Ken Barlow, which made Ken's mother-in-law Blanche Hunt suspicious, believing Ken is now gay.

Ted gave away his daughter Gail at her wedding with husband Joe McIntyre.

1940-2008: Early Years
In the past Ted was a soldier. When Audrey tried to prove she was grown up enough, she got herself pregnant to Ted with Gail. However when he was about to propose to her, she realised she didn't love him and turned him down and didn't tell him about the pregnancy. Ted left for the army and wasn't seen again until 2008. He had met a woman later in his life called Iris, but the relationship didn't work out and he was left heartbroken. Somtime in the 1980s, he met a man called James and they started a relationship together. They remained together until James' death in January 2008.

2008 onwards: Reuniting with Audrey
Ted first turned up in Coronation Street as Audrey Roberts's old flame, got in touch with him. They agreed to meet, and talk about what had happened in the fifty years they had been separated. Audrey, before splitting up with Ted, discovered she was pregnant with Gail and did not want to tell him.

When Gail was born, she grew up and told her children that fathers didn't matter, as of what Audrey had pressurised on Gail at a young age, as Gail's partners had both split from Gail in one was or another. Ted became agitated as he realised he had missed out on fifty years of his daughters life and had never seen his grandchildren, Nick, Sarah and David Platt or his great grandchildren, Bethany and Billy, he was very angry with Audrey and Gail but soon after he met Gail and they bonded almost instantly, he initially thought that Gail's son David Platt's girlfriend Tina was granddaughter Sarah, but Gail protested and reminded him she'd moved to Italy a few months ago. Ted supported David when he was going to his job interview at a salon (going so far as to write a letter of recommendation using Audrey's name) while Gail was away as Ted was keeping an eye on David meanwhile, when Gail returned she found the house had been cleaned and Tina and David had had a party whilst Gail being away, and was willing to support and lie for them, previously even led to Ted redecorating the house.

Ted started a friendship with local street resident Ken Barlow. This caused Ken's acid-tongued mother-in-law Blanche Hunt to suspect he was gay, and started rumours which made Ken's wife Deirdre suspitious that her husband wasnt up to no good. When Blanche noticed Ken's weird taste in reading material, she instantly believed he was turning gay and starting a relationship with Ted. This was however proved wrong, but Blanche still loved to make comments about Ken and Ted being together.

Ted found out about Ken's affair with actress Martha Fraser in 2009, but supported Ken through his decisions. Ted even stood by Ken when Audrey became suspitious when she caught Ken chasing Martha, who split from Ken. Ken resumed his relationship with Martha and was planning to leave with her, but changed his mind.

Ted's grandson David Platt planned to frame rival Gary Windass for robbery, by sending him to Audrey's house to rob it, although Gary was unaware of whose house it was. Audrey had left with Gail to visit Gail's daughter Sarah and grandchild Bethany in Milan and Ted was doing housekeeping with Audrey. While Gary was in the house robbing the place, he was shocked when Ted arrived. Ted caught him and chased him away, and later phoned the police. He moved into the Platts but had a heart attack due to the stress. David was later found out and Ted was disgusted with him, but later felt sympathetic as David was upset over losing Tina and was scared Gary and trying to take her away.

Ted returned in November 2009 when Gail was planning on marrying Joe. He wasnt happy when Gary made nasty comments about the poppies, which represented men who died in the war. But after talking to Gary, Gary had a change of heart and decided to join the army.

On Gail's wedding in January 2010, Ted gave her away. He later left the street and returned to London. Gail was under suspition of murder in March 2010, shortly after Joe attempted to fake his death and died. She was later arrested and held in custody until her trial in July 2010. Ted was mentioned to have had flu as he couldnt make it to support Gail, and has hardly been mentioned or been in contact since the incident. He had phoned her in June 2010 after Gail was found not guilty.

Background Information

 * Before his first on-screen arrival in 2008, Ted had actually been mentioned in the show as far back as 1979.

Quotes
"Either you were the younger sister of Audrey Potter, or I was involved with a minor" (First Line to Audrey after meeting her for the first time in nearly 50 years)