Neville Delamere was the father of Curtis, who in 2021 was briefly engaged to Emma Brooker.
When Curtis was a child, his parents' marriage deteriorated and became an endless series of rancorous arguments, leaving Curtis feeling isolated and unloved. At the age of thirteen, he fell ill, needing an operation to fix a hole in his heart. During this period, Neville and his wife entered into an undeclared truce as they concentrated all their attention on their ill son who enjoyed feeling cared for and nurtured for once. After his health returned, the parents resumed their animosity to each other, eventually getting divorced. In the meantime, Curtis developed a factitious disorder in which he convinced himself he was ill to gain positive attention from people. Refusing to admit that this was his true illness, he firmly believed he had physical ailments which were untreatable, leading to him losing a succession of family, friends and girlfriends once they realised the uncontrollable extent of his condition.
Knowing nothing of this, Emma fell for Curtis when they met in May 2021 and she and all around her fully bought into the web of lies he span around him. These included him saying that he had an untreatable heart condition which was genetic and had killed his father. The two became engaged in the November and Emma happily planned their wedding. Curtis told her that he was estranged from family and wanted none of them at the ceremony. Meaning well as always, Emma made contact with Curtis's cousin Anne who alerted Neville to the upcoming nuptials. Although his contact with his son had for some time been non-existent, Neville rushed to Coronation Street to find out what was going on in his son's life. He quickly realised that nothing had changed, and that Emma was entering into a situation that would overwhelm her. Before he could get to see her, Curtis begged for two minutes talk alone with his father and they went to the Viaduct Bistro. There, Curtis repeated his claim that he had developed a serious heart condition which his father instantly disbelieved. Emma suddenly interrupted them, and Curtis introduced Neville as his stepfather. Neville himself was shocked to hear from Emma that she believed that Curtis's real father had died and had to leave the table after going along with the story, later telling his son that the only reason he did so was to give him time to tell his fiancée the truth himself, pointing out that like everyone else she would inevitably find out.
Neville met up with his son again the day after, when Curtis told his father that he had been upfront and honest with Emma who had promptly dumped him. Neville begged Curtis to come home where he could get him the proper help but was refused. The man was in tears as Curtis told him he was leaving the area, would not tell him where he was going and he'd never be able to find him again.
Emma started to discover the truth a couple of weeks later when Ruby Dobbs took one of Curtis's heart pills and was rushed into Weatherfield General, only for the doctor to tell her that they were harmless vitamin pills. She began to investigate and asked Neville to meet her in Roy's Rolls. He was surprised to discover that the engagement wasn't off and advised her to get out of it while she could. If that statement shocked Emma, it was nothing to the revelation that Neville was Curtis's real father and had not died. Curtis subsequently admitted the truth to Emma and began a course of counselling to address his mental health. However, a computer mistake concerning the bank transfer of funds for a charity in memory of Emma's deceased half-brother, Oliver Battersby, led to Curtis being suspected of theft and their wedding ceremony was suddenly abandoned when he was arrested by the police, with the two subsequently separating. When Emma discovered that he was innocent, she began to look for him and on New Year's Eve found him by chance at Weatherfield General. He told her he was there for his latest appointment with his psychologist but minutes later she witnessed him being aggressive with a receptionist in the cardiology department, still insisting he had a heart condition. Emma called Neville to come and take his son away and try again to help him find a cure for his problem. Neville arrived and was a witness to a sad goodbye between the two youngsters who admitted they loved each other but it was never going to work between them.
List of appearances[]
2021