John was one of four journalists who took part in an online press conference from the Chariot Square Hotel in June 2021 to announce the promotion of James Bailey to the coveted No.9 shirt of Weatherfield County FC following the retirement of Tommy Orpington.
James had been the subject of discussions before on social media about his sexuality, and the rumours again resurfaced after he and old flame Danny Tomlinson had met at the Viaduct Bistro where two lads sat at a nearby table took images of their get-together and posted them online. Despite the best efforts of the club's publicist, Sammy Farr, to keep the questions focussed on football, John and the other journalists wanted to discuss James's personal life. John asked how James intended to navigate through a turbulent time ahead in light of the rumours abounding and Sammy had to step in and remind John that such questions were off the agenda and that the club would not be making any statements on the issue. As the conference proceeded, James came to a decision and confirmed that he was gay, that he had his family's full support, and that he did not have someone special in his life.
In June 2022, together with a cameraman, he waylaid councillor Maria Connor in Victoria Street when an initiative of hers to have an extra recycling bin for glass caused a strike by refuse collectors who were angry at the increased workload. He began by asking her a loaded question about whether she was taking on the workers to force them to adopt her green agenda. Maria made a passionate speech about the matter and walked off, only for the recorded interview to bite her back when a disgruntled resident tweaked it to have her saying "put me in your waste disposal for our children's future" and uploaded it online.
A few days later, he was at a press conference she called at the Chariot Square Hotel to try and get her initiative across but also there was Jimmy Dixon, the leader of the union binmen. He began heckling Maria until he was asked to leave by PC Jess Heywood but he had incurred the anger of Gary Windass who suspected him of being RedPilled100, an online abuser who had made death threats against Maria. Gary went for Jimmy as the journalists took pictures and eagerly captured the story. Gary was taken away as John and fellow journalist Jess Turner asked Maria if Gary was her husband and if she condoned his actions. As they twisted her words round and round, she gave up and left the venue to see to Gary.
- The character was named in dialogue in his first episode when he only appeared on a conference screen and not in person.
List of appearances[]
2021
2022