Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart is the former partner of Eileen Grimshaw and father of Jason.

Background
Tony and Eileen had a short-term relationship in the early 1980s which resulted in the birth of Jason in June 1983. Tony had rarely much to do with his family and Eileen quickly moved on with her life. After another similar relationship, she gave birth to her second son Todd in January 1985. Tony maintained little contact over the years and did not play much of a part in his son's life, leaving Eileen to bear most of the responsibilities.

2003
In March 2003, Tony crossed paths with Eileen and Jason when out drinking with his girlfriend Merle Jackson at the Rovers in Coronation Street. He later later bumped into Jason at Roy's Rolls and Tony attempted to convince his son to talk to him. Jason agreed to meet his father for a drink and the pair got along well. Tony decided to help Jason by getting him a job at the building site he worked on, but Eileen didn't trust Tony and tried to warn Jason away from him, A row soon ensued as Jason accused her of not giving Tony a chance. After moving out of 11 Coronation Street, Jason turned up at Tony and Merle's house and much to their horror, announced his intentions of staying with them. Merle wasn't happy as it was her house and demanded that Tony got rid of Jason but he couldn't bring himself to do so. After much pressure, Tony persuaded an upset Jason to move back home. During this period Tony and Eileen became involved in a war to win over Jason's affections, and battled against each other. Eileen was pleased when Jason turned down another offer to have a drink and hang out with Tony, instead opting to take the new car she had purchased for him out for a test drive.

In July, Tony and Jason rewired Todd's flat so the electricity ran from Barlow's Bookies downstairs. Shortly after breaking his leg in a car accident, Merle threw Tony out of their house and he moved into No.11 with Eileen, although she quickly tired of having him around. When landlord Peter Barlow discovered that Tony had rigged the flat's electricity supply he demanded his money back, and Eileen ordered Tony to leave her house. Saying his goodbyes to her at Street Cars, Tony stole £700 of the company's takings and left. Eileen was being accused of the theft by Dev Alahan and he called the police. Jason tracked Tony down to a new address and got the money back, later clearing Eileen's name.

2013-
Despite the incident, Tony kept in contact with Jason, however this was mostly just a phone call over Christmas periods rather than meeting in person. When Jason failed to contact Tony in late-2013, he become worried and turned up in January 2014 to find out what the problem was, although he received a frosty reception by the Grimshaws. Tony and Jason headed to the Rovers where Tony admitted he had been a lousy father and wanted to make it up to him, but Jason was still reluctant.

Tony attended a meeting with Jason - who was now self-employed, on a project to build a new gym on Victoria Street for Dev Alahan and his business partner Kal Nazir. Jason secured a deal with them, but Tony wasn't satisfied when he learned that Jason had given them a cheaper quote, and convinced him not to give them "mates rates". After much discussion with his son and backing from Jason's girlfriend Eva Price, Jason gave Dev an inflated job costing. This led to Kal's father Sharif to hire Graham Naisby. Jason was angry with Tony for making him change his mind. Wanting to make it up to Jason, Tony then broke into the builder's van and stole his tools rendering him unable to do the job, and Jason regained the contract. He began dating Liz McDonald, the landlady of the Rovers, but was given the cold shoulder by her son Steve who hadn't forgotten about the theft from Street Cars or how Tony had left Eileen to take the rap. During a confrontation however, a worried Steve gave his approval of their relationship.

Tony began dealings with Rob Donovan and Tracy Barlow by selling them stolen second hand goods for their business Barlow's Buys. In May 2014 he purchased the Builder's Yard on Victoria Street from Owen Armstrong for Jason.

In October, Tony broke off from Liz when he discovered that she was visiting her former husband Jim behind his back in order to prevent Jim from harming Peter Barlow for Deirdre's sake. However they reconciled later in the month and Tony moved in with Liz at the Rovers. Tony began an affair with Tracy in December after Rob was convicted of murdering Tina McIntyre and sentenced to 25 years. With Rob out of the way, Tony saw Barlow's Buys as a good moneymaker, offering his share in the business, knowing that Tracy was struggling to cope on her own. When she refused, Tony arranged for the premises to be trashed and burgled. Tracy was upset to discover that because her last payment on the insurance premium had bounced, she wasn't eligible to make a claim so gave in and allowed Tony to have 50% share of the business.

Tony and Tracy continued their affair over the next four months, although Tracy was annoyed that Tony was unwilling to leave Liz. He began to feel used when Liz became reliant on him for financial support; firstly agreeing to pay Steve's £10,700 tax bill from the Inland Revenue and then felt obliged when she asked him to pay for all of Steve and Michelle Connor's forthcoming wedding costs. Now tired of their relationship, Tony agreed to help Tracy when she suggested they found a way to get the Rovers from Liz in order to run the pub together. Tony persuaded Steve to sell his half-share of the pub to Travis Limited, however this was a false company set up by Tony himself. He then worked on getting Liz's share by making plans with her to start a new life in Spain, however Michelle's former sister-in-law Carla Connor put in an offer herself to buy Liz's share of the pub, thus scuppering Tony and Tracy's plans for complete ownership of the pub.

On Steve and Michelle's wedding day, Tony was blissfully unaware that Liz had already been informed by Tracy earlier that day about their affair and plans to takeover the Rovers. When Tony drove Steve and Michelle to the airport for their honeymoon, Liz left Tony a message telling him not to bother returning home as she knew about his deceit. With that Tony then disappeared without informing anyone. Tony did in fact return to the area in July 2015, attempting to seek forgiveness from Liz and Jason however they weren't so forgiving for his deceit and disappearance. Tony showed his more vulnerable side during the following month when Jason was badly beaten up in the ginnel. Sarah Platt informed Tony that her ex-boyfriend Callum Logan was involved after Callum's son Max Turner had witnessed an attack, and when a conscious Jason admitted to his father that he'd heard Callum's voice, Tony plotted his revenge. Tony grabbed Callum and dragged him into the ginnel and gave him a beating, with Callum pleading him to stop and dropping his tough guy act. Tony was eventually stopped by Liz when she told him that the last thing Jason needed was for Tony to be imprisoned. Callum eventually scarpered after making threats, and Tony returned to Jason's bedside.

Other information

 * In June 2014 it was revealed Tony had a brother.

Background information

 * Tony Stewart was played by Alan Igbon (pictured right) in his 2003 appearances. Igbon had previously played soldier Steve Baker in 1974 and 1975.
 * In November 2013, it was reported that the character was to be re-cast and that actor Terence Maynard was to take over the role. He was also tipped off to become a new love interest for Liz McDonald (played by Beverley Callard). Producer Stuart Blackburn commented on Tony - "His arrival is going to cause massive ructions for the Grimshaws. He is a man who can be your best friend or your worst enemy - and with a long history of lies and betrayal, this is a guy who has an awful lot of making up to do." Tony's reappearance was to tie in with more focus to be brought on the Grimshaw family, especially as Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) returned to the series full-time in November 2013. Terence made his on-screen debut in Episode 8292 on 3rd January 2014.