Eileen Grimshaw

Eileen Grimshaw is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She is portrayed by Sue Cleaver. Her first appearance was on 3rd May 2000.

Early Life
Eileen had a happy upbringing until the age of 14 or 15, when her parents began fighting. Eileen had no idea of the cause of the conflict, and when they divorced, she blamed her mother. Their relationship remained strained until her mother's death in 1992.

Eileen had Jason and Todd by two different men, and raised them on her own.

Storylines
Eileen first appeared in 2000 when she successfully applied for a vacancy at Street Cars, the new cab company opened by Steve McDonald and Vikram Desai. A feisty single mum, she came from a family of eight. She later moved into Steve's house as a tenant with her two sons, Jason and Todd. In the early days she didn't approve of Jason's aspirations to be a runner. Some years later, her son Todd came out as being gay. She now shares her house with Jason and lodger Sean Tully.

Eileen has had many failed relationships since the character's introduction. Her promising relationship with Dennis Stringer failed when he left her for Janice Battersby. Following Jason and Candice Stowe placing her ad in a lonely hearts column she dated cleaner Harry Flagg for a while but they eventually decided to remain friends. She dated Ernest Bishop's killer, Ed Jackson, despite the disapproval of most of the Street. It was during this relationship with Ed, a Christian, that Eileen came to the conclusion that she is agnostic. In 2007 she met Pat Stanaway who she assumed was married and had an "affair". Pat in fact turned out not to be married but dating six other women at the time. She dated kebab shop owner Jerry Morton, but dumped him in 2008 after he began taking more of an interest in his children rather than her.

Eileen's sworn enemy is Gail Platt and their infamous feud has peaked in several brawls in the Street. The pair constantly spar whenever they cross paths in Weatherfield. The feud began when her son Todd moved in with Gail's daughter Sarah, Eileen believed that she was holding her son back. Todd's revelation that he was gay caused a cat fight in the Street. The two women were at loggerheads again when they both became attracted to reflexologist Phil Nail when he started working at the Rosamund Street Medical Centre, Gail was the one who eventually won his affections. Their rivalry resulted in Eileen being the prime suspect when Gail was stalked by someone claiming to be serial killer Richard Hillman in 2006. Eileen was eventually revealed to be an innocent party, with David Platt being revealed as the hoaxer. Gail and Eileen are now related after Sarah and Jason married in October 2007.

On Christmas Day 2006, Eileen got a surprise when a woman called Emma dropped a baby off, claiming Jason was the father. Eileen took responsibility to look after the baby, whom they called Holly because she arrived during the Christmas period.

Jason initially didn't approve of the child and tried to convince Eileen that the baby wasn't his, but Eileen disagreed and Jason eventually called Social Services in desperation. He later admitted to calling them, but admitted he had grown fond of baby Holly.

However, Eileen was due for yet another shock on 9th April 2007 when Holly's mother returned, claiming that Jason's deceased employer, Charlie Stubbs, was in fact the father, after she found his picture in the paper. She claimed that when she met Charlie, he told her that his name was Jason Grimshaw. Holly's mother, Emma, asked Eileen for the baby back but Eileen refused and threw her out of the house, threatening to call the police. Social Services became involved in the situation, and a desperate Eileen decided the best thing to do was to "run away" with the baby. Eileen's arch-nemesis Gail Platt discovered her plan and talked to her, finally getting her to realise that the best place for Holly was with her real mother. A tearful Eileen handed Holly over on 25th April 2007.

On 12th December 2008, her father Colin Grimshaw arrived. Where he met Peter Barlow in the bookies and as he placed a bet Eileen phoned him, he lied to her saying he was still on the bus to Weatherfield. He is known for his betting and drinking, this led to a row between the two when they met.

Colin settled into the Street, and Eileen tried to accept his new love with Rita Sullivan. At the same time, she accidentally reunited with old friend Paula Carp through Paula's daughter Julie Carp. She hadn't seen Paula since Paula had gotten pregnant at the age of 14 and left town. Paula had told her the father was a teacher, but to Eileen's horror, at Colin's 70th birthday party, Paula admitted that Colin was Julie's father, that they had had a brief relationship. Initially Eileen blamed Paula for seducing her father, but soon raged at him for taking advantage of a child, and for turning her against her mother. Eileen shut Colin out of her life, but after he suffered a stroke, Eileen reluctantly allowed him to stay in her home. The police stopped by after Paula reported him, and he died of a heart attack. In spite of Eileen's revulsion and anger towards her father, she gave the eulogy at his funeral.

Eileen began dating children's entertainer Jesse Chadwick. In spite of Eileen not getting along with his family, her relationship with Jesse progressed enough to where she let him move into her home, and she put up with his annoying parrot. However, Eileen was not happy when Jesse began using her newfound sister Julie as his sidekick. He agreed to fire Julie, but continued working with her in secret. Eileen got Eddie Windass to spy on their activities and soon forced Jesse to fire Julie for real. Eileen and Jesse dated for a few more months, but when he balked at Jason and his fiancée Tina McIntyre moving back into the spare room where he kept his party supplies, Eileen responded by moving them outside. Eileen was then delighted to learn that when Jesse bet on the horses to take his mind off their conflict, he won thousands of pounds. She was even more delighted when she found travel brochures for Egypt...only to learn that he was planning to take his parents on the trip. Eileen dumped him.

Quotes
"I'm not most people" (First line)