Craig Alexander Harris (previously Nelson) was the son of Tommy and Angela Harris, younger brother of Katy, and first love of Rosie Webster.
Originating from Sheffield, the Harrises moved to Weatherfield as part of the witness protection programme in 2002, when Craig was twelve years old. They lived under the name "Nelson" until 2003, when their cover was blown and Andy and Nick Morgan, who were after the family, were arrested by the police. The family then continued to live in Coronation Street under their true identities.
Over the course of 2005 Craig lost his entire family as Katy killed Tommy in a moment of rage, Angela took the blame and Katy committed suicide, unable to live with what she'd done. While he awaited Angela's release from prison for perverting the course of justice, Craig remained at No.6 in the care of his maternal grandfather, Keith Appleyard.
Meanwhile, Craig began seeing Rosie and the pair became goths. When they started having underage sex, Keith and Sally tried to separate them, but their bond proved unbreakable and when Keith left the street for Bournemouth, Craig moved in with Roy and Hayley Cropper to remain near Rosie. In late 2006, they decided to run away to Berlin together, but at the last minute Rosie got cold feet and let Craig go on his own.
Biography[]
1990-2003: Witness protection programme[]
2002: The "Nelsons" move into No.6 on Coronation Street under their secret identities
Craig Harris was born to Tommy and Angela Harris on 18th September 1990, and was the younger brother of Katy Harris who was born in 1986. The family resided in Sheffield until 2002 when they were placed into a witness protection programme for their own safety after Angela witnessed a murder committed by gangster Tom Morgan and testified against him in court. Under new aliases, the "Nelsons" moved into 6 Coronation Street in November 2002 and tried to assimilate into their new lives with Katy and Craig enrolling at Weatherfield Comprehensive.
On his first day at the new school, Craig befriended fellow classmate David Platt and soon caught the eye of Rosie Webster. Despite their efforts to fit in, the Nelsons aroused suspicion with their neighbours. Katy and Craig overheard Doreen Fenwick slagging off their family and reported back to their parents who acknowledged that they had received a frosty reception at Kevin and Sally Webster's wedding. Kevin was the first to discover the truth about the family when he learned from David that Craig had wrote his name as "Craig Harris" on his exercise book at school. Kevin recalled an incident where he fired Tommy from Coronation Street Garage when he claimed a wallet under the name of "Tommy Harris" which apparently didn't belong to him. Kevin confronted Tommy who came clean about the witness protection programme. Kevin reinstated him and agreed to keep the secret to himself.
A further threat to the Nelsons' secret came when their neighbour Richard Hillman was exposed as a serial killer and brought press attention to the street. Craig caught a photographer lurking outside the house one day and Tommy warned him off. When Jack and Vera Duckworth sold their story about Richard stealing their life savings to the press, Tommy was furious when Craig inadvertently appeared in a picture of them that was published in the paper as he feared that it would expose their location.
In March 2003, Craig falsely claimed that he had landed the lead role in his school production of Bugsy Malone. He enlisted Rosie's help to practice the performance to show his parents, who would otherwise be unable to attend the actual play, but his performance was lacklustre. Katy was aware of Craig's lie and used it to her advantage when she wanted to attend a concert with her friend Louise Crawley from Sheffield by saying that she was helping him with his dress rehearsal. Tommy and Angela discovered the truth about Craig's lie and headed out to look for Katy. Meanwhile, Katy had returned home from Sheffield and had been followed by Tom Morgan's brothers Andy and Nick who confronted her while she was home alone. Kevin revealed that he had seen two men entering the house and the police were alerted. Tommy forced his way into the property and during a struggle he was shot in the arm. In the aftermath, Tommy was taken to hospital, as was Katy who was suffering from lack of insulin due to her diabetes, and Nick was placed in police custody while Andy escaped.
As a result of the incident, Angela feared that the family would have to relocate again. However, they were informed by DI Smith that Andy had also been captured and that both brothers were being charged with attempted murder. With Tommy and Katy on the mend, Angela rejected the offer for the family to be relocated again under another new alias and decided to stop running and revert to their previous name of Harris now that the worst of the Morgan family had been apprehended. Sally confronted Angela and accused her of putting the rest of the street in danger, Angela attempted to explain that the Morgans were only after her but Sally refused to listen. The Harrises later held a house-warming and were presented with a joke plaque for the house from Angela's colleagues at Underworld - "Dunhidin".
2003-2005: A family divided by an affair[]
In May 2003, Katy developed a relationship with Martin Platt. Tommy incorrectly assumed Tyrone Dobbs was her boyfriend and punched him leaving Angela furious that he was setting a bad example for Craig. When the truth about Katy's relationship came to light, Tommy disowned her and demanded that Craig snub her as well. Craig took Katy's room when she moved in with Martin at 18a Victoria Street and Angela was upset as she viewed this as them attempting to erase her from their lives.
Craig and his friend Bradley Diggins began causing mischief for Norris Cole and Rita Sullivan by kicking a ball against the garage door of The Kabin. Norris confiscated the ball and decided to keep it leading to the lads declaring war on him. Norris ultimately punctured the football with a pair of scissors and Tommy confronted him, demanding that he pay £20 for a replacement. Once the ball had been replaced, Craig and Bradley continued their shenanigans with Rosie joining in too and Norris felt powerless to support them as Tommy was backing their bad behaviour. Although, calm was restored when the children went back to school after the end of the half-term holidays.
As a reaction to his mistreatment of Katy and nurturing of Craig's poor behaviour, Angela left Tommy in November and moved in with Martin and Katy, much to Craig's upset. Craig confided in Tommy that he was sick of all the arguing. Angela later attempted to reconcile with Tommy and moved back home, but Tommy moved out instead when they continued to argue about Katy and Martin. Craig was later horrified to find him living in squalor and feared that his parents would never get back together. Craig and David commiserated each other about the decimation of their families as a result of Katy and Martin's relationship and worked together on a plan to split them up permanently.
In December, Craig decided to leave home and move in with his father. He and Tommy had a lads' day out watching the football at the Weatherfield Arms but Craig was embarrassed when Tommy got too drunk and confronted Martin with the pair having to be separated by Ciaran McCarthy. Resolving to sort Martin out once and for all, Craig retrieved a spanner from Tommy's toolbox and tampered with the brakes on Martin's car. Craig couldn't stand the guilt of his actions and confessed to Tommy about meddling with the brakes. When Martin got behind the wheel, Tommy gave chase - relieved to know that Katy had been dropped off and was no longer in danger - and attempted to warn him to slow down and pull over but Martin assumed that Tommy had finally lost it and began driving faster to escape him. Unable to control the car, Martin ploughed into a wall leaving him unresponsive. Tommy managed to drag Martin from the car just before it exploded and later convinced Craig to stick to a story in which he noticed that Martin's brake fluid was leaking and gave chase to warn him. Craig wanted to confess but Tommy warned that they would both end up in prison. Katy reported Tommy to the police for attempted murder and Craig fought with David who also accused Tommy of sabotaging the brakes. Tommy later confessed to Martin that he sabotaged the brakes but Craig admitted the truth. Martin lied and told the police that he was aware that he had dodgy brakes but never got round to fixing them in the hopes of ending the family feud. Tommy and Angela reunited and agreed that the constant arguments had led to Craig's actions.
2005: Craig began a relationship with Rosie Webster and the pair embarked on a goth phase
Craig started dating Rosie, much to the annoyance of her mother Sally, who was trying to get Rosie to be a star. Upon discovering the two had taken their relationship further, Sally forced Rosie to dump Craig to concentrate on her "career" but she refused to stop seeing him. When Craig told Rosie that another girl had kissed him and that he wanted to just be friends, a hurt Rosie broke up with him. Later on, the two reunited and became goths, dying their hair black and wearing goth outfits. Rosie's parents were very annoyed, but soon warmed towards their beliefs. Rosie and Craig decided to sleep together, but at the last minute thought it would be best not to. However, Tommy found a condom Craig had been planning to use and thinking his son had slept with Rosie, punched him in the face.
Despite this, Craig was devastated when his father was killed. He found out Katy had committed manslaughter after discovering Tommy had lied to her over Martin having an affair, which caused her to abort her and Martin's child. Katy confronted Tommy, who made her so angry she grabbed a wrench and hit him with it. Angela took the blame for the killing, despite seeing what Katy had done to her dad and was sentenced to prison for four years. Katy couldn't live with the guilt any longer. Katy was diabetic, so she consumed a huge amount of sugar and died two weeks later in Weatherfield General with Craig by her side. Craig then lived with his grandfather Keith Appleyard, who, having decided that Craig had suffered enough problems, chose to move to Weatherfield rather than taking Craig back to Sheffield. Craig broke up with Rosie for a while after she made an insensitive remark about his family, but they put their differences behind them and got back together again. Craig then got a part-time job working in the corner shop for Dev Alahan. He and Rosie then split again at the Oakhill School ball as Craig broke his promise about not eating meat, but they made up the following day.
Rosie and Craig decided to have sex and slept together despite being underage and Keith and his girlfriend Audrey Roberts caught Rosie trying to sneak out of the house the morning afterwards. Rosie's parents found out on New Year's Eve when Rosie's mother Sally went round to wish the pair happy New Year. Craig answered the door, assuming it was a pizza delivery, in a dressing gown. Sally saw Rosie's dress lying on the sofa, and went upstairs horrified to find a naked Rosie in Craig's bed. When Sally dragged her back home, Rosie's father Kevin was infuriated with Craig so much he threatened him on several occasions. The pair were banned from seeing each other, despite protesting heavily that they were deeply in love. Craig and Rosie went through hell as Rosie's parents did such things as whisk her away on trips, report them to the police for illegal sex and attempting to make Rosie take contraceptive pills. However, this didn't stop Craig and Rosie's relationship at all, as they got closer through their nightmare. Later on, Sally and Kevin warmed towards Craig after seeing how devoted he was to Rosie, and Kevin offered Craig an apprenticeship at his garage.
2006: Moving on from Weatherfield[]
Craig was devastated when Keith had an angina attack in the early summer of 2006, and was even more upset when Keith told him that Charlie Stubbs was evicting them from No.6. When Keith said they were going to move away to Bournemouth for a fresh start, Craig refused to leave Weatherfield as he did not want to leave Rosie while she travelled in France. Instead, he stayed behind at the Websters' house for the rest of the summer after seeing Keith off. When Rosie returned from her trip, she and Craig plotted to run away to Berlin together for a new life. When they were told they were going on holiday in Paris, Craig and Rosie decided that the trip would be a perfect time for their getaway. So on their final day in Paris, Craig and Rosie slipped away to pack their bags and headed for the train station. Rosie froze and she told Craig that she could not leave her family. After a long, tearful goodbye, Craig tore himself away from his sweetheart, telling Rosie he would always love her. Craig then got onto the train, leaving Paris, Weatherfield and his long-term girlfriend behind.
A few days after Craig left, he sent a letter to Rosie. It was mentioned that he was staying with a friend's brother and had been employed in a youth hostel because of his good English. Rosie was happy that he was okay, but still missed him terribly. On Christmas Eve and Rosie's birthday, Craig phoned Rosie to say he was doing alright. He also said it was snowing in Berlin and that he was going to "really amazing places with really cool people". In February 2007, Rosie was saddened to not hear from Craig on their first Valentine's Day apart, but Sally reassured her that there would be a specific reason why he hadn't sent a card.
Personality[]
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Relationships[]
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Background information[]
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Actor Richard Fleeshman's parents David Fleeshman and Sue Jenkins have also starred in Coronation Street; Sue played Gloria Todd and David played various minor roles.
First and last lines[]
"Come on, very funny, let us out!" (First line)
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"It's my dream. I'll always love you. Whenever I close my eyes I'll see your face." (Final line, to Rosie Webster)
Appendices[]
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