Tony Gordon

Anthony "Tony" Gordon was a villainous character, who arrived as a love interest of Carla Connor, eventually marrying her in December 2008, after murdering her brother in law, Liam. When she discovered Tony's dark secret, she had left him and fled to Los Angelas, leaving him behind in Weatherfield. A distraught Tony started picking up the pieces and started a friendship with Liam's widow Maria Connor, later helping her give birth to her and Liam's child Liam Connor Jr. This led to them having a more serious relationship, and he proposed to her on the anniversary of Liam's death on the 16th October 2009.

But his wife Carla returned to Weatherfield and told Tony to leave Maria and leave the street as he has taken everything too far, which led to Tony sending a hit on Carla, using the same hitman who killed Liam. But Tony ended up saving Carla and sent her back to Los Angelas. But when suffering a heart attack later and confessing to Roy Cropper about murdering Liam, Tony later tried to kill Roy by throwing him in the canal, but decided to save him. He then handed himself into the police and confessed all his crimes, shocking Maria and everyone else.

But even behind bars, Tony wasnt going to let things lie and escaped a few months later with his cellmate Robbie Sloane. He took Carla and Hayley hostage, and briefly Maria. He let Hayley and Maria go, and set fire to the factory but ended up killing himself after Carla escaped.

1971-2008: Relationship with Carla Connor and Empire
Tony was born in 1971 and has a brother called Pat. Tony witnessed his father die of a heart attack, but did nothing to help and just left him to die, believing his mother was better of without him. Some years later, Tony met his first wife Lindsay but they got divorced in 2006, although she believed Tony would come back to her.

Tony arrived in Coronation Street as the owner of a clothing firm, giving a contract to Carla Connor and her brother-in-law Liam, owners of the underwear factory Underworld. However, he was more interested in Carla than the business. Tony was unpopular with the rest of the residents in Coronation Street when he commissioned development for flats in the area, and also killed a colony of bats. Liam was suspicious of Tony, and discovered he had an ex-wife called Lindsey. She told Liam that Tony was only really interested in money and mostly himself, but Tony just told Carla that his ex was "crazy". Tony proposed to Carla in 2008 and she accepted, although she still had feelings for Liam, but he went on to marry hairdresser Maria Sutherland.

Tony planned on expanding Underworld and offered to buy The Kabin off Rita Sullivan, she started to like the idea. Tony also tried to buy Kevin Webster's garage, but Kevin refused and took an instant dislike to Tony. Tony then hired his friend, another mechanic, Jimmy Dockerson to sabatage Kevin's business and steal his customers.

Tony began to menace pensioner Jed Stone in August 2008, and wanted him evicted from his home in order to redevelop the place. Jed refused however, and kept closing the door in Tony's face. However Tony returned one day and barged in, and the stress caused Jed to collapse with a heart attack. Tony dumped Jed's cat on the Street, and called an ambulance, although he was tempted before just to leave Jed to die. He got Jason Grimshaw to board up the house, although Jason was wary as there where still money about and food in the fridge. Tony told the paramedics that Jed was about to sign over the house. Jed was distraught by losing his cat and home.

2008-2009: Killing Liam Connor and Involvement with Maria
Tony had suspicions that Carla was having an affair with Liam, so got Rosie Webster to video them. His suspicions were proven when Rosie showed a video of them kissing. Tony decided to have Liam killed in revenge. In early October 2008, Tony invited Liam and Maria to come with him and Carla for a weekend away. Tony took Liam to an underground cave and asked him to be his best man. Tony claimed he and his brother Pat had fallen out. Liam agreed to be Tony's best man at the wedding.

On the night of 16th October 2008, Tony hired his friend Jimmy to run Liam over on his stag night. Tony stole Liam's wallet and when they headed to a men's club, Liam thought he left his wallet back at the pub, so Tony convinced him to head back. When Liam stepped onto the road, Jimmy raced round the corner in his car and hit Liam, killing him on impact. Tony held Liam in his arms while the other men called an ambulance, and told him "the best man lost". Tony dumped Liam's wallet in the canal later that night after taking money out of it.

After the funeral, Carla decided to have a break and called off the wedding, before leaving for Los Angeles, much to Tony's annoyance. However, she later returned and they got married in December 2008. Jed also returned to the Street when Emily Bishop gave him a room at her home. Jed began to blackmail Tony for money. When Maria suspected Tony had murdered Liam after seeing the video of Liam and Carla kissing, and discovering Tony knew about the affair, she tried to convince everyone he killed Liam. Jed teamed up with her and told Maria about Tony evicting him from his home.

On Christmas Eve, Jed confronted Tony and after Tony accidently told Jed about Liam's killer Jimmy, Jed threatened to go to the police, which resulted in Tony strangling him. Thinking he killed him, he stuffed Jed's body into a Christmas hamper, and returned the next day to discover he was still alive. Tony took Jed to Wigan, telling him never to return to Weatherfield.

In January 2009, Maria still tried to prove Tony was her husband's killer. When she looked for Tony in the empty factory, he confronted her. He then told Maria he murdered Jed Stone at Christmas, much to her disgust. She tried to tell everyone about his confession, but people thought she was still grieving and going crazy. After a failed attempt to tell the police, an upset and distraught Maria hit Tony with her car before crashing it. Tony was seriously hurt, but decided to stop Maria once and for all, and later took Jed back to Coronation Street and into the pub, making Maria look even crazier, which humiliated her. Carla however began to get suspicious of Tony when he saw him telling Jed never to return to Coronation Street again, or it will be the last thing he does. Carla followed Jed back to Wigan to confront him and discovered the marks on his neck. Tony tried to claim that they were marks when Jed tried to kill himself, but Carla was still suspicious and confronted Jimmy. When Jimmy failed to answer her questions, she knew that Tony must have had Liam killed.

Tony locked her in the factory in February, and Tony confessed to the murder, which led to Carla managing to escape and flee to Los Angeles, leaving Tony behind crying in the rain.

After a short relationship with Natasha Blakeman, Maria began to soften towards Tony when she saw him mourning at Liam's grave. They later became good friends with the previous events of her accusations completly forgotten about. Tony helped Maria deliver her and Liam's son, who she called Liam after her late husband.

In late 2009, ,,,,Tony and Maria started a romantic relationship, and on 16th October 2009, one year since Tony had Liam killed, he proposed to Maria at Liam's graveside. She happily accepted.

However, Carla returned from America and told Tony that he had gone far enough, telling him to leave Weatherfield after signing his shares of Underworld over to her, and to never return. Tony hired Jimmy to kill Carla, but later changed his mind and raced over to his flat where Carla was waiting. However, Carla knocked Jimmy out with a candlestick. Tony fooled her into thinking she had killed Jimmy. Carla packed and left again, and Tony told a well and alive Jimmy to leave the area.

When Maria went over to Cyprus to visit her parents with baby Liam, Tony decided to stay behind with Ozzy the dog to finish up some business and then head over in a few days. However, Tony suffered a heart attack when he left the factory and collapsed against the wall, and was later found by Roy Cropper. He was rushed to hospital where it was thought he wouldn't survive the night. Tony then cofessed to Roy about his involvement in Liam's death, before going into cardiac arrest and needing to be revived - Tony survived. Maria returned to Weatherfield and was grateful to Roy for helping Tony. Roy kept following Tony and told him he should go to the police and confess but Tony got fed up with Roy's interfering.

2009-2010: Downfall and Arrest
Tony went round to Roy's Rolls one night to confront him. Tony threatened him and told him to keep away from him. A scared Roy and Hayley Cropper went to the police to report Tony's threat, which led to Tony being questioned by the police. However, he was released due to lack of evidence, and when Maria discovered what happened, she got scared and began to wonder if it was all really true. An angered and upset Tony felt he lost everything and headed to the canal at night where Roy was bat-watching and decided to murder him. Roy found Tony with a bloody knife (Tony took it from the café earlier when hiding there, and accidently dug it into his hand when he heard an upset Maria talk to Hayley whilst discovering about Tony). Roy thought that he had hurt Hayley, and Tony smiled and made out that he did kill Hayley, which angered Roy who attacked him. Tony then threw Roy into the canal when discovering he couldn't swim. However, he changed his mind at the last minute and dived into the canal to save Roy and dragged him out. Tony then walked into the police station and confessed to murder. When Maria discovered Tony's secret, she was sickened and told him she wanted him to die. Tony had also given his friend Jimmy's name forward as the hitman, and Jimmy was later arrested.

In November 2009, Tony had his court hearing and was to be kept in custody until his trial on 4th January 2010, and would not be granted remand. Carla had returned to Weatherfield and watched Tony get sent down. Maria had also left Weatherfield to start a new life in Ireland with Liam's parents, Barry and Helen Connor.

Tony sent Carla a visiting order in December, and she decided to visit him to see what he wanted. He told her that he had hired Jimmy to kill her, and that she hadn't actually killed him. She called him a bastard, and Tony asked if Maria would ever forgive her, with Carla replying "Not a chance". Carla then left the station, leaving a broken Tony behind.

2009-2010: Final Revenge


In May 2010, Tony began to plan his prison escape along with his cellmate Robbie Sloane so he could get revenge on Carla and Roy, as he blamed them for his downfall. He bribed his cellmate with a lot of money for his part in it. Tony managed to get a sim card smuggled into the prison so he could contact Robbie from inside the jail when he got out. When Robbie was released, he began to keep an eye on Carla and Roy, and phoned Tony through a hidden phone and told him he would see him the next day.

When Tony was having lunch in the prison lunch hall, he wound up a prisoner which led to him being punched and beaten. Tony then faked a heart attack and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. It was however pulled over by Robbie in a black van, and he used a gun to get a policeman to release Tony. They then locked the paramedics and the police officer in the back, before heading off on a motorbike Robbie had. Tony arrived on the Street and lurked around the back alleyways, where he was spotted by Sunita Alahan. She thought he was mugged, but Tony slipped out the back when Sunita's husband Dev came round after hearing of Tony's escape. Robbie managed to take Carla and Roy's wife Hayley hostage, much to Tony's pleasure. After an argument over money and Robbie beginning to not trust Tony, Tony then shot Robbie dead. Maria had then arrived and Tony took her hostage, but she later escaped. Tony decided to release Hayley, as he wanted to die with Carla. He proceeded to set the factory on fire, and lit a match and set the place up. Carla managed to get untied, and shot Tony with his gun when he attempted to stop her. She escaped, and Tony decided he would rather die and walked back into the flames, and perished when the factory exploded.

Family
The only family of Tony's to ever visit him on the street is his brother Pat Gordon, who arrived as his best man for his wedding to Carla in December 2008. However Tony never actually invited Pat, it was his fiancee Carla. Tony was worried about his arrival as he claimed to Liam Connor that he fell out with his brother, in order to get him to the stag night to kill him, and also didn't want Maria Connor, Liam's widow, to discover who Pat was. There seemed to be a problem for the two brothers in the past due to Pat having an affair with Tony's first wife Lindsey, many years before Tony's arrival on the street. Pat didn't seem too surprised that Tony had many enemies on the street, including Kevin Webster, Jed Stone and Roy Cropper. Pat left the street shortly after the wedding. He disowned Tony when it was discovered that he murdered Liam Connor and was sent to prison, and never visited the street again, even when Tony escaped Underworld and blowed the factory up after a siege.

Tony's father died of a heart attack, which Tony witnessed, however failed to get help due to believing him and his mother where better of without his dad. It was unknown what happened to Mrs Gordon, if she is alive or passed away.

Carla Connor
Carla is one of the loves of Tony's life, and he also knew her late husband Paul Connor as they where friends at the golf course. Tony fell for Carla, and they began dating, much to the disproval of Carla's ex-brother in law Liam, who loved Carla. This caused Liam to go and propose and later marry pregnant girlfriend Maria Sutherland.

In March 2008 at a dinner that Tony set up at Carla's flat with Steve McDonald, Michelle Connor, Liam and Maria, Tony propsed to an embaressed Carla in front of everyone. She however accepted, but he became wary and propsed to her the next day when they where alone and Tony was delighted when she still accepted. Later in the year, Tony bought the shares of Liam for Underworld after Carla blackmailed Liam into doing it.

Tony found out Carla was having an affair with Liam after Rosie Webster took a video of them kissing on her phone, which led to Tony having Liam bumped of on his stag night. A devestated Carla took a break away, which upset Tony as it wasn't what he planned. However she came back and they got married in December 2008. But Carla later became suspicious of Tony when Maria began accusing him of murder and when elderly Jed Stone, who Tony evicted from his home and nearly killed on Christmas, showed that he was scared of him. Tony then confessed to murdering Liam to Carla, and stated it was for her. However she fled Coronation Street for Los Angeles, leaving a broken Tony behind.

But in October 2009 after discovering Maria and Tony where in a relationship and engaged, Carla returned to blackmail Tony into selling his shares back, or she will tell everyone about him killing Liam. Tony then hired henchman Jimmy Dockerson (the same man he got to bump of Liam) to kill Carla. But he changed his mind and disrupted Jimmy, who got hit over the head by Carla in self-defense. Tony then made out she killed Jimmy, causing her to flee once again. She returned when Tony confessed to murder a month later and was sent to prison, and she visited him once, telling him there will be no chance of Maria forgiving him. After planning revenge over the months he was in prison, Tony broke out with the aid of his cellmate Robbie, who took Carla hostage along with Hayley. After shooting his henchman dead over a disagreement with money, Tony proceeded to torch the place, but let Hayley go after Carla convinced him to. As he set fire to the factory, Carla broke free and got hold of Tony's gun and shot him. She managed to flee the factory, leaving her husband to perish in the explosion.

Quotes

 * Carla. Pity its not in happier times. (first line)
 * Father, son, brother, roadkill! Looks like the best man lost! (To Liam after having him ran over)
 * Oh Fiesty, thats why I fell in love with you! (Final line)

Background Information

 * For Liam's murder, three alternative endings where filmed to keep fans guessing which event would occur. Endings filmed where Tony pushing Liam from a balcony at one of the Victoria Flats, shooting Liam with a real gun during a paintballing session and having him run over. The third murder was used in the narrative.
 * When leading up to Tony's exit in 2009, three videos where put on the Coronation Street website named "Tony's Mind". The three videos showed Tony taping a message on a recorder to Maria and confessing to everything. Each video showed an outcome that Tony was planning on doing, which was either committing suicide, killing Roy Cropper or handing himself in, and allowed fans to speculate which outcome was going to be used.
 * Tony Gordon's absence from November 2009 to May 2010 was due to actor Gray O'Brien doing panto work. Although it was orginally intended for Tony to leave in 2009, producers offered Gray a contract to return for another storyline in Spring 2010 as they liked the character.
 * Tony is many characters available to collect in the facebook game Corrie Nation.

Other Information

 * Tony's family has a history of heart disease (from his father's side). His dad and grandfather had heart attacks and died when they where only in their 40s. Tony suffered a heart attack in 2009, however survived.
 * Tony once owned his own clothing firm called "Gordon's Catalogues".