Darryl Parkins was the absent father of Craig Tinker and the husband of Beth. Darryl and Craig met for the first time in September 2016, shortly after Craig's 18th birthday.
A career criminal, Darryl was initially imprisoned for a bank job after Beth shopped him to the police. Upon his release, he found it difficult to find legitimate work so continued to break the law to fend for himself. Beth gave birth to their son Craig in September 1998, however Darryl remained absent and continued going in and out of prison for the next eighteen years.
Craig first learned that his father was a criminal when he applied to join the Special Constabulary in 2016 and got turned down because of his father's past. When Craig contemplated meeting his father, his friend Faye Windass wrote to Darryl at Highfield Prison. Darryl sent a visiting order which Craig received a few days later. Craig was determined to visit his father despite stepfather Kirk Sutherland urging him not to do so, and soon met Darryl face-to-face. Although the pair initially got on well, when it came time for Craig to leave, Darryl asked him to sneak in drugs on his next visit. Craig was angry that Darryl was only really interested in using him as a drug carrier. Darryl then told Craig that he and Beth had never actually got divorced, making her a bigamist and her marriage to Kirk void.
- Darryl was initially referred to in Episode 8192 (16th August 2013).
His name was shown on a prison visiting application in Episode 8989 (12th September 2016) where his forename was misspelled "Daryl".