Donald Michael "Don" Brennan was Ivy Tilsley's second husband. He was a Coronation Street resident from 1988, when he married Ivy, until 1997.
Don's first wife Pat died in 1981. He met Ivy when she was a fare in his taxi and for a few years they were happy together, but in 1991 he was driven away by Ivy's forceful personality; she was ruled by the ghosts of her past and sometimes treated Don like an afterthought. He had an on-off affair with Julie Dewhurst and crashed his car in a suicide bid when she broke it off. Don survived but his left foot was amputated.
After a short time living alone, Don moved back in with Ivy, as she'd turned to drink in his absence. Their marriage was effectively over and in 1994 Ivy decided she couldn't take any more and moved to a religious retreat, where she died the following year.
Over the next two years, Don's life went from bad to worse; he bought MVB Motors with his partner Josie Clarke but she left him when the garage went bust. He became fixated with Mike Baldwin, who'd sold him the garage, and kidnapped Alma to make her see how Mike had wronged him. His taxi ended up plummeting into Weatherfield Canal but both passengers survived. Don then made Mike his target, trying to run him over with his own car, but he missed him and crashed into the viaduct. The car exploded in a ball of flame, killing him instantly.
Biography
Personality
Relationships
Background information
Before debuting as Don in September 1987, actor Geoff Hinsliff had previously played two minor roles in Coronation Street. He first portrayed Vincent, a friend of Jerry Booth's, in October 1963, before returning to the programme as scaffolding erector Eric Bailey in July 1977. Don first appeared in September 1987 as a new long-term relationship for the widowed Ivy Tilsley. This came after writers struggled to find storylines for Ivy that did not revolve around her son Brian and his wife Gail, so decided to marry her off again.
Don was among a clutch of characters axed by new producer Brian Park upon his taking charge in 1997. Don's slow-burning exit storyline saw him descend into madness after being ripped off by nemesis Mike Baldwin, resulting in him kidnapping Mike's wife Alma and driving them both into the canal. These events were depicted in an hour-long episode broadcast on 18th April 1997, watched by 17 million viewers.
After going to prison awaiting trial, Don was absent on-screen between May and September 1997. Geoff Hinsliff's final reprisal of the role, for eight more episodes, showed him escaping from hospital after being diagnosed with a terminal illness and attempting to murder Mike, only killing himself.
First and last lines
"Ah, no sweat. Next fare's not till nine. Off on town then?" (First line, to Vera Duckworth)
---
"It's no good talking to you, is it Baldwin? You've got no conscience, you've got no shame. You're vermin, Baldwin. You're nowt but a nasty little bit of crawling vermin. There's only one way to deal with you, and that's just crush you, to smash you till there's nowt but a smear left." (Final line)