Joseph Peter Brown is the son of Chesney Winter-Brown and Katy Armstrong, and older half-brother of Aled, Bryn, Carys and Llio Winter-Brown.
Born in 2011 to 17-year-old parents, Joseph was one year old when Katy left Chesney, taking Joseph with her. In 2015, Katy and Joseph emigrated to a new life in Portugal. Following Katy's death in a car crash two years later, Joseph was returned to Chesney's care in Weatherfield. He now lives at 5 Coronation Street with Chesney, his stepmother Gemma Winter-Brown, their quadruplets, and Gemma's mother Bernie. Linda Hancock, his maternal grandmother, also keeps an eye on him and pays for his tuition at Oakhill private school.
Biography
Teenage couple Katy Armstrong and Chesney Brown decided to try for a baby in 2011, shortly before Katy completed her GCSEs. A month after getting pregnant, Katy contemplated an abortion but was talked out of it by Chesney. Katy went into labour on 23rd December 2011 while playing Mary in a school nativity, having agreed to take on the role at the last minute when Faye Windass had stage fright. The birth took place on the stage and the baby was named Joseph. In the weeks after the birth, Katy struggled with motherhood and would sometimes leave Joseph in the house alone, leading to an incident where he was locked indoors during a grill fire, which in turn prompted Katy to run away out of shame. However, she soon returned and was able to adjust to her new family life. Katy and Chesney's relationship ended in March 2013, when Katy started an affair with Ryan Connor. As Katy started a more serious relationship with Ryan, she was accused by Chesney of neglecting Joseph. Chesney began dating Sinead Tinker around the same time, which initially added further complications towards the co-parenting as Katy didn't trust Sinead. Katy separated from Ryan in July 2013. In early 2015, Katy was reunited with her estranged mother Linda Hancock who offered for her and Joseph to move to Portugal with her. Katy initially turned down the offer, as she didn't want Joseph to be separated from Chesney. However, after Chesney gave his blessing, Katy changed her mind and emigrated to Portugal with Joseph in March 2015.
In October 2017, Katy died in Portugal in a car accident. Chesney quickly flew over to retrieve Joseph to live with him at 5 Coronation Street, becoming his full-time parent. Chesney was now engaged to Sinead, but had a love rival in the form of Daniel Osbourne. Joseph was traumatised by his mother's death and was unable to speak to anyone, until Daniel brought him out of his shell. When Chesney and Sinead's wedding took place in January 2018, Chesney was unable to go through with it because he realised that Sinead would eventually leave him for Daniel, and didn't want to put Joseph through more stress. Chesney later began a relationship with Gemma Winter who moved in with him and Joseph in 2019. In October 2019, Joseph became half-brother to Chesney and Gemma's newborn quadruplets Aled, Bryn, Carys and Llio. The quads' arrival often made Joseph feel neglected due to the amount of attention they needed.
Relationships
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Background information
Joseph as played by Lucca-Owen Warwick
Joseph was played by twins Ronny and Tommy Cheetham from his birth in December 2011 until January 2014, followed by Lucca-Owen Warwick from August 2014 to March 2015, when he was written out alongside Katy, with the characters having moved to Portugal within the show's narrative. In Episode 8899 (9th May 2016), Joseph's voice could be heard in the background of a video call. It is unknown who provided the voice as no credit was given and it may have been a stock sound.
The character was reintroduced in October 2017, when he was sent to live back with Chesney following Katy's offscreen death. For his return, Joseph was recast with William Flanagan taking over the role, whose twin sister Isabella had made her debut as Joseph's cousin Hope Stape two months earlier, while his elder sister Amelia was an actress in Emmerdale. Of his casting, Flanagan said: "I’m absolutely loving my new job, to be able to act alongside my sisters is really fun, we all learn scripts together and we all help each other out when we practice our lines. The audition was hard I had to have a first audition and then come back and do a screen test. The people at Corrie are really fun to work with especially Sam who plays my Dad." [1]
Joseph was absent between May 2020 and June 2021, save for a solitary appearance in the November, due to restrictions imposed on child actors in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the lengthy absence, Joseph wasn't written out of the programme and remained living at No.5 during that time.
Appendices
List of addresses
| Address | Duration |
|---|---|
| 5 Coronation Street | 23rd December 2011 to 15th March 2013 |
| 6 Coronation Street | 15th March 2013 to 28th May 2013 |
| 18a Victoria Street | 28th May 2013 to 10th July 2013 |
| 6 Coronation Street | 10th July 2013 to 1st June 2014 |
| 19a Victoria Street | 1st June 2014 to 20th March 2015 |
| Portugal | 20th March 2015 to 30th October 2017 |
| 5 Coronation Street | 30th October 2017 to present |