Chris Golding was a journalist who worked for the Weatherfield Gazette and who wrote a piece about the way in which Fiz Stape had been dumped by Tyrone Dobbs for Alina Pop - a "younger model".
Tyrone's infatuation with Alina had been growing since January 2021 when he and Fiz allowed her to lodge for a short while in 9 Coronation Street, with him declaring his love for the young girl three months later. Fiz had been devastated by the betrayal but by the July had decided to move on with her life and, encouraged by Beth Sutherland, had agreed to allow her to create a profile for herself on an online dating site. Fiz insisted the data was honest and upfront about her situation and was surprised to receive a reply from "Chris" a few hours later asking to meet.
With the approval of Tyrone's gran, Evelyn Plummer, Fiz met "Chris" at the Viaduct Bistro and was surprised to see that the lady in front of her looked nothing like the bearded man in her profile picture. Chris was upfront about the reason for her deception, saying that they needed to call men out on their actions and offered to tell her truth to the world, even if the piece was anonymous as to her specific identity. Fiz initially refused but friend Maria Connor pointed out that an article would allow her to let off some therapeutic steam as well as giving the world her side of the story. Fiz subsequently met Chris again at the bistro where she gave her an interview, using agreed pseudonyms for the individuals involved. Despite that precaution, everyone easily recognised the people referred to in the published piece.
Chris and Fiz met again to discuss the success of the article with the journalist telling her that other women had been in touch about their own experiences and asked if she would be interested in a follow-up article, this time for a fee. Fiz refused, wanting to put the interests of her daughters first. Meanwhile, Tyrone tried to write a rejoinder piece and sell it to the Gazette but was unable to raise any interest with Chris helpfully telling Fiz what her ex was up to.
Meanwhile, Laura Neelan, the neglectful and often absent mother of teenager Kelly Neelan had returned to the area, some three months after her daughter had been remanded on bail for her part in the unprovoked attack on Nina Lucas and Seb Franklin which had resulted in the latter's death. Hard up, she obtained a cleaning job at Underworld where she heard about the article and the speculation that Fiz had been paid for it. She summoned Chris and offered to sell her a story about her daughter, even without her child's knowledge. Chris took down the details but easily saw through Laura's motives. Hearing that James Bailey had been offered £30,000 for an interview by a gay magazine about coming out as professional footballer, Laura demanded the same sum from Chris who warned her that because of Kelly's age, they couldn't publish anything until after the trial and payment wouldn't be forthcoming until then.
Bumping into colleague Daniel Osbourne in the street, Chris was warned that Laura had been a neglectful mother and she decided she wouldn't want to get her fingers burnt by such a story, advising Daniel not to do the same if Laura shopped around for the highest bidder. In turn, he told Kelly's foster parents Toyah Battersby and Imran Habeeb what Laura was up to and they warned Kelly, who put a stop to her mother's actions by reporting her to social services for child cruelty.
By the October, Kelly had been jailed for life for the murder of Seb while Corey Brent, the true murderer, had been acquitted. Wanting to correct the miscarriage of justice, Nina met Chris at the bistro and asked her to write an article for the Gazette telling the truth. Chris told her that due to the court verdict, any such article would be libellous, and she was unwilling to accede to the request.
A month later, it was an environmental matter which brought Chris back to the area when Maria Connor protested against the council's plan to build a bypass across the Red Rec. With her son Liam already suffering from asthma caused by increased traffic pollution, Maria made a statement for Chris which she recorded on her phone. Tracy McDonald interrupted the process, trying to publicise her Preston's Petals business in the background and then making insults about Maria's complicated past love life. A furious Maria made a passionate speech about climate change which Chris put on social media, and which subsequently went viral.
Maria kept up the pressure by organising a residents' protest outside the Victoria Street Community Centre where the councillors were holding a planning meeting. Chris interviewed Maria and her photographer took snaps but Chris warned her that a new angle was needed to keep the story in the media. When Phill Whittaker suggested to Maria that she put herself on the ballot sheet in the May 2022 elections, Maria realised she had just the sort of hook that Chris would be interested in.
The following January, Chris handled a video for the paper's website, interviewing Yasmeen Metcalfe about the re-opening of Speed Daal after a fire the previous month. She had just made the discovery that her grandson Zeedan had not only stolen £50,000 from his father-in-law Hashim Elamin, but had also laundered illicit funds from Hashim through her restaurant's books when threated to do so by the aggrieved man. Zeedan's sister, Alya, had been Zeedan's partner-in-crime in the money laundering, desperate to get Hashim off their backs. Devastated by their criminality, Yasmeen used the interview to speak of her father back in Lahore and the values he had tried to instil in her. He words had a strong and intended double meaning for all concerned in the matter, but Yasmeen reached the stage where she couldn't continue and walked out, leaving her grandchildren to hurriedly offer their services in answering any further questions that Chris might have.
Two months later, Chris was covering the local election campaign and interviewed candidate Bernard Barnes in the Viaduct Bistro. He was expressing his views that Weatherfield Borough Council had gone too far in satisfying the environmental lobby at the expense of local businesses and people when rival candidate Maria Connor walked in. She had been campaigning on the environment and council worker Phill Whittaker had given her a confidential report from two years ago which Bernard had helped suppress proving that the council were covering up the dangers of local air pollution increasing as a result of a new planned bypass. She handed the report to Chris, who instantly made it clear that her sympathies were with Maria and asked for a comment from the cornered man. He walked out with a snide dig at the Gazette and Chris was later to report to Maria that the story would be up on the website within the hour.
Four days later, with Maria successfully elected, Chris sought out Maria for an interview about what she now hoped to achieve in office.
List of appearances[]
2021
- Mon 12th Jul (2)
- Wed 14th Jul (2)
- Mon 19th Jul (1)
- Fri 23rd Jul (2)
- Mon 26th Jul (1)
- Mon 4th Oct (2)
- Mon 1st Nov (2)
- Wed 3rd Nov (2)
2022