Tina McIntyre

Tina McIntyre is a former Coronation Street resident, currently working part-time at newsagent the Kabin and takeaway Prima Doner. Since arriving in the street in 2008, Tina has had an on-off relationship with David Platt, but recently split up with him after David pressured Tina to lie for him in court.

At the moment, Tina lives with her mum Anna McIntyre.

Biography
Tina McIntyre was born on 18th February 1991. By 2008, her parents Joe and Anna McIntyre had split up and Tina was living with her mum and stepdad in Weatherfield.

Meeting David and abortion
Early that year, Tina had a chance encounter with David Platt while in the Coronation Street area to visit the local health centre about her tennis elbow. Tina was unaware that the receptionist there who she had been having trouble with was David's mum Gail. The pair started dating and within a week of the relationship had sex with David at his house, taking his virginity.

After a few weeks, Tina found out she was pregnant. She was becoming tired of David's jealousy about her remaining friends with her ex-boyfriend Matt and decided to confide in Gail about the baby. Gail suggested that Tina have an abortion and they agreed that David didn't need to know about it. To avoid a wait, Gail paid for a private abortion and went along to support Tina when she had had the procedure. David was perceptive enough to notice the change in Tina's behaviour afterwards but wrong assumed that she had gone off him, so decided to save face by finishing with her first.

When David found out about the abortion he confronted Tina and suggested they run away together, but as news came out that Gail had fallen down the stairs, David confessed to Tina that he had pushed her during an argument about the abortion, and that he needed her to tell the police that he was with her when Gail fell, taking advantage of the fact that Gail had no memory of the incident. Tina was deeply unhappy at having been asked to lie to everyone but did as David asked, and as Gail's memory returned, the pressure became too much for Tina and she moved back into her own house, finishing with David for good. In Tina's absence, David was confronted with the truth by Gail and vented his anger in the street, smashing windows and damaging property. He was sentenced to two months in the Young Offender's Insitute.

In May, Tina fell out with her mum and got sacked from her job at the pound shop for poor timekeeping. Tina moved into No.8 and got a job at Jerry's Takeaway, the local kebab shop. She also visited David in prison and got back together with him upon his release.

Unfortunately, David's pettiness soon ended the relationship again. Tina was furious to discover that David had been reading her e-mails to see what she had been saying about him to her friends. David tried to win her back by going out with Amber Kalirai to make Tina jealous. He was able to convince Tina to give their relationship another go.

In October, Tina started work at newsagent the Kabin after quitting her job at the kebab shop. When Dev Alahan bought the takeaway he offered Tina a part-time job. Tina kept both jobs on.

Trouble with the Windass family
Later that year, Tina secured an unemployed David a job for her dad Joe's kitchen fitting business. When the Windass family refused to pay for their new kitchen, Tina, David and Graeme Proctor ripped it out and burned it while the family weren't at home.

Within weeks the Windasses were the Platts' new neighbours. Gary Windass fancied Tina and persistently tried to flirt with her, winding David up. In 2009, David punched Gary, who had been harrassing him, however David was quickly on the receiving end of a beating. Again, David called upon Tina, the only witness, to lie to the police, to tell them that Gary threw the first punch. Tina initially did so but as the court date got closer first the Windasses then Joe tried to persuade Tina to tell the truth. The pressure became too much and Tina left, returning only hours before court. In the middle of her testimony, Tina decided she couldn't lie for David and said that David started the fight. The result was Gary being found not guilty.

In the aftermath of the court case, Tina broke up with David (again), and David found out that Joe had been putting pressure on Tina because he had a kitchen deal with Len Windass, which had saved his ailing business. Tina moved back into her mum's house.

Personality
Tina is confident, assertive and brassy. She handles herself well in an argument but doesn't cope so well with emotional pressure. With a mother who mostly ignores her and a father who struggles with depression, Tina has become accustomed to dealing with problems herself, and usually refuses help from others even if it's for the best. She can appear quite standoffish to strangers but is warmer to her friends.

Tina has formed friendships with David Platt, Darryl Morton and Graeme Proctor but none of the girls of the street, however she is generally not flirtatious and seems to prefer male friends. She dresses to appear sexy but refuses to flaunt herself, having once quit a job after being asked to "act like a tart" for the customers' benefit.

Tina doesn't tend to make long-term plans, taking each day as it comes.

Family
The McIntyre family have had their share of problems. In 2004, Joe was diagnosed with clinical depression, and he has struggled with depression ever since. Tina is close to Joe but isn't afraid to stand up to him whens he thinks he's in the wrong. In 2008, Joe started seeing David's mother Gail, but Tina didn't approve of the relationship as Joe was lying to Gail about his financial situation, unable to admit to her that his business was struggling to such a degree that he was living in his lockup having been evicted from his flat. Tina didn't tell Gail but made her opinion clear to Joe. When the truth came out, by which time Joe had accepted an invitation to live at No.8, Joe was humiliated, but a sympathetic Gail persuaded Joe to remain at No.8 even though they were no longer together. Tina thought the arrangement was ridiculous and was tired of Joe leeching off other people.

Tina's mum Anna doesn't take much interest in her life but did try to force her back home when she found out Tina was living at No.8 and going out with a jailbird.

David Platt
Tina's on-off relationship with David Platt has been frought with problems because of David's pettiness and jealousy. David claims to love Tina but can't stand to think of her with anyone else to such an extent that, when he heard about her chatting with her ex-boyfriend, he got a tattoo with her name on it to prove his love. During their relationship, Tina wished David was more spontaneous. When Tina didn't lie for David in court, David couldn't understand why she didn't support him, and was convinced he would be able to win her back.

Creation and development
The character of Tina McIntyre was written into Coronation Street as the short-term girlfriend of David Platt, to help change his evil ways. In an interview with The Mirror, actress Michelle Keegan spoke about her character's duration on the show stating that: "Tina came in to the show just to change David into a nice character, and then to get to the point where he pushed his mum down the stairs. I was supposed to be out of there after that. But they've kept me on. They needed a bit of a ballsy character, I think. She's moved into the Platts' now and she's getting a family base around her, so hopefully she's around for the long haul. I didn't think I was staying, so I'm very lucky".

As the character's introduction and personality were portrayed onscreen, bosses and viewers were impressed with the character and actress which resulted in Tina becoming a more permanent fixture. After Tina's initial storyline had played out, her character was built up further with the introduction of Joe McIntyre, who first appeared in Episode 6826 on 26th May 2008.

Reception
Ian Wylie of Manchester Evening News spoke upon the fact that Michelle Keegan was nominated for 'Best newcomer' at The British Soap Awards 2008 and her portrayal of the character saying: Coronation Street's Michelle Keegan is nominated as Best Newcomer, fully deserved even after just a few months on screen" and "Teen rebel Tina McIntyre, played by Michelle, reminds many of a young Suranne Jones as Karen McDonald." Actress Michelle Keegan went onto win the 'Best Newcomer' award at the 2008 British Soap Awards for her portrayal of Tina, which she was voted for by a panel. Jon Wise of The People observed her as bolder than Liz McDonald's make-up and brassier than Leanne Battersby. Michelle has also been nominated at the National Television Awards for Best Newcomer.

Miscellaneous information

 * Tina's childhood pets included a goldfish and a dog called Susan.
 * Tina is a big fan of music band The Courteeners.

Key episodes

 * Episode 6726 (7th January 2008) - First appearance
 * Episode 6727 (9th January 2008) - Meets David Platt
 * Episode 6772 (12th March 2008) - Aborts David's baby without his knowledge
 * Episode 7024 (2nd March 2009) - Fails to lie for David in court
 * Episode 7025 (4th March 2009) - Splits up with David following the court case