DS Lisa Swain is a single mother and detective who has juggled fronting many investigations relating to the residents of Weatherfield and parenting her wayward daughter Betsy.
Biography[]
Career[]
Swain serves with the Weatherfield CID and had risen to the rank of sergeant by 2021.
Her first encounter with the residents of Coronation Street came in May 2021 following the assaults on Nina Lucas and Seb Franklin which led to the latter's death. Swain secured a confession from Corey Brent that he was present at the crime scene, but he stated that he was trying to help Seb. Kelly Neelan was also implicated as she had slapped Nina earlier in the same evening, and a voicemail message from Seb to his mother Abi sent just before the attack occurred included the sound of a girl laughing. The CPS charged both teens with GBH and murder, and in September Swain was a key witness at their trial, giving evidence that the forensics indicated that they were at the scene of the crime. The jury found Kelly guilty, while Corey was acquitted.
2021: Justice is served when Gary Windass commandeers Corey Brent's getaway van, leading him to DS Swain
Two months after the trial, the rucksack containing Corey's clothing from the night of the attack was discovered and handed into the police by Nina and Asha Alahan. Enough evidence was found for the police to re-arrest Corey, but they found that he had fled with his father Stefan Brent before this could happen. Their getaway van was intercepted though and brought to Weatherfield Police Station by Gary Windass, and Corey was charged with murder.
In 2022, Swain led the investigation into Imran Habeeb's death. Imran had suffered a cardiac arrest after being in a car crash, and his wife Toyah, who was behind the wheel, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving when CCTV showed that she'd made no attempt to slow down. The charge was raised to murder when the police obtained a final phone message from Imran to Toyah confessing that he had committed perjury, threatening their adoption of Elsie and giving his wife a motive. To assist with the case, Swain ordered Spider Nugent - an old flame of Toyah's, now an undercover detective - to obtain evidence to nail his ex. Spider agreed to spy on Toyah but didn't pass on any useful information to his superiors, and with the evidence inconclusive the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
Swain next visit to the street occurred in January 2023, when she arrested Max Turner on suspicion of incitement to murder. Teenager Blake Myers had claimed that Max's far right viral videos had influenced him into attempting to stab Maria Connor for championing the rights of refugees. Max was later charged with incitement of terrorism and sentenced to ten months at the Greenford Secure Training Centre.
Two months later, Swain was on the scene after Justin Rutherford threw a vial of acid at Daisy Midgeley and Ryan Connor, severely scarring the latter. As she took a statement from Daisy, Swain was upbraided for ignoring her multiple warnings that Justin was dangerous, though the police were able to apprehend him later that day and charge him with GBH with intent.
In the same week, Swain interviewed Amy Barlow when she reported Aaron Sandford for raping her. The detective brought up the fact that Amy was in photos with Aaron the day after the alleged rape with no signs of anything wrong, and the CPS ultimately decided that there was insufficient evidence against Aaron to press charges. Swain later followed up a report of harassment against Amy from Mia Penrose, Aaron's new girlfriend, warning her to stay clear of Mia in future. In November, Amy was arrested when she spray-painted a police car in protest against Mason Radcliffe being released without charge after provoking her during an anti-spiking demo, but a sympathetic Swain released her without charge. When Amy herself was accused of drugging Dan Morris, she retorted that she was the intended victim of a sex pest and had switched the drinks in order to give Dan a taste of his own medicine. Swain didn't charge her, but warned the young woman against taking the law into her own hands.
In October, Carla Barlow shared her suspicions with Swain that her Underworld co-manager Stephen Reid had been spiking her drinks with LSD and may have been involved in the death of businessman Rufus Donahue. Tim Metcalfe later found the body of Teddy Thompkins in Weatherfield Canal, a month after his son Leo's corpse was uncovered at the Bankford Development building site. The police were able to link all three deaths with Stephen, but before Swain could make an arrest, Stephen was fatally struck by Peter Barlow's cab as he threatend Jenny Connor with a broken bottle. The detective later overheard Sally Metcalfe remark that Stephen had dropped the bottle before Peter hit him, and therefore Jenny was no longer in immediate danger. However, as it was unclear whether Peter was aware of this fact, he was never charged with any crime.
Just before Stephen's death, Michael Bailey was duped into authorising the manager's access to Underworld's bank account, allowing him to steal £250k from the company. Michael was suspected of being Stephen's accomplice when he was found by Swain in possession of a bag of money he couldn't account for, but his solicitor Joel Deering obtained proof that the money was Ed Bailey's gambling winnings, getting Michael off the hook. The police eventually dropped the investigation.
2024: Swain and a forensic team investigate an apparent murder scene at Lauren Bolton's flat
A notable case was opened in March 2024 when the police found blood spatter stains at Flat 4, Weatherfield Precinct, home of Lauren Bolton until her recent disappearance. Due to the amount of blood present, the police treated it as murder. Ryan Connor informed Swain that Lauren had been stripping off on her Ovidz account, despite being underage, while Max Turner informed her that Lauren had a secret boyfriend, postulating that it might be Daniel Osbourne. However, Roy Cropper emerged as the prime suspect due to his generous financial support of Lauren and the fact that he had cleaned the crime scene. This was challenged by an account from Bobby Crawford that he'd seen a man wearing a dark coat and balaclava around Lauren's flat on the night of her disappearance, but Swain had doubts about the truth of the statement and in May, Roy admitted that it was a fabrication, causing Bobby to be charged with perverting the course of justice. However, both this and the murder charge against Roy were dropped when one of Lauren's hairs was found in Nathan Curtis's van, and he was charged with her murder instead. When Lauren turned up alive in Warrington, she confirmed to Swain that Nathan was the one who assaulted her, but refused to make an official statement and or have her newborn son Frankie - also apparently Nathan's - DNA tested.
In August, Swain began investigating Joel Deering when her teenage daughter Betsy reported that he'd been texting her. Joel downplayed their interactions, but finding out that he had acted for Lauren, Swain started to suspect that he was her attacker. She got her chance to question him when Lauren and Dee-Dee Bailey reported him for drugging a pregnant Lauren to induce labour and locking her in her flat, but Joel managed to wriggle out of it by implicating Lauren in procuring an illegal abortion and without further evidence, Swain was ordered by her superior DI Costello to wind up the case. Lisa continued to investigate him off-the-books, and was able to charge him with administering a noxious substance with intent to cause harm when Betsy confessed to ordering the labour-inducing pills on Joel's behalf, providing evidence of his involvement. When the police found his car under a viaduct, it was assumed that he had opted to commit suicide rather than stand trial.
The case continued. When a search of Joel's laptop found threatening texts from him to Betsy, Lisa was removed and replaced as lead detective by Kit Green. Within hours, three lads spotted Joel’s trussed-up body in a river and the police found he was killed by a crowbar or similar. Lisa tried to aid the investigation by tracing a red car which caused some damage in the street outside Joel's flat on the night of his murder. Meanwhile, Betsy saw bruises on her mother and found painkillers which dated from the day after Joel's death. Lisa told Carla Connor that she was hit by a fleeing robber's car.
Personal life[]
Lisa has a teenage daughter, Betsy, who she is raising as a single mother with the death of her wife Becky in 2021. While still grieving, she has had to deal with Betsy's unruly behaviour, including one incident where she threw Becky's old clothes in a skip.
In May 2024, during a difficult day at the office, Lisa was overheard arguing with Betsy on the phone by Carla Barlow, who invited her to share her domestic troubles with her. Lisa obliged, dropping her frosty professional demeanour. Feeling a sense of kinship with Lisa, Carla offered to help by giving Betsy work experience at Underworld. In October, Lisa intervened when Carla was threatened by Tom Robby, and the two talked afterwards about their mutual loneliness but Lisa panicked when Carla stroked her hair. The two agreed to stay friends. In late November, Lisa absent-mindedly forgot that it was her late partner's birthday and guilt-ridden, got drunk in the Rovers. Carla left her to sleep off her hangover on her sofa, but upon her return, she and a semi-dressed Lisa kissed before sleeping together. Lisa once again decided it was better they kept their distance so she could work on prioritising her relationship with Betsy.
Personality[]
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Background information[]
The character was credited as "DS Swain" until Episode 11137/8 (15th December 2023) and as "Lisa Swain" thereafter.
First and last lines[]
"Okay. I understand that neither of them have woken up yet?" (First line, to Abi Franklin and Sally Metcalfe about Seb Franklin and Nina Lucas)
Appendices[]
Employment history[]
| Role | Institution | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Detective Sergeant | Weatherfield CID | Current role |