Schmeichel

Schmeichel
Born	2004
Died	14th November 2011
First appearance	23rd April 2004
Last appearance	14th November 2011
Duration	2004-2011
Played by	Schmeichel, Magnum + 2 other dogs

Schmeichel was discovered on Tyrone Dobbs's doorstep in April 2004, left by Maya Sharma, who felt guilty after abducting his greyhound Monica. He and Jack Duckworth bestowed the name on the dog. Upon finding his missing greyhound, Tyrone found it difficult to cope with looking after two dogs. When Chesney Brown took a liking to Schmeichel, Tyrone took the chance to offload the puppy and allowed Schmeichel to remain with Chesney. Schmeichel once climbed into Les Battersby and Cilla Brown's bath, causing it to plunge through the floor and into the room below. Cilla sold Schmeichel to Yana Lumb in 2005, though he was eventually returned to Chesney. Later that year, Schmeichel was run over by a bus driven by Claire Peacock, which devastated Chesney, though Schmeichel survived after undergoing a life-saving operation. Chesney took Schmeichel with him when he ran away from home in 2007. Schmeichel was taken to the RSPCA in 2008 when Chesney was taken into care after being poorly treated by Kirk Sutherland. But he was later returned to Chesney when he was taken care of by his sister Fiz.

Schmeichel and Chesney were still close friends. In 2011 when Fiz's premature baby Hope was able to come home, she wanted Schmeichel out as she thought he would be a risk to the baby. Chesney was upset, so decided move into 14a Victoria Street with girlfriend Katy Armstrong. When Fiz was kept in remand when accused of helping her killer husband John Stape, Chesney, Schmeichel and Katy moved back into 5 Coronation Street.

In November, Schmeichel was diagnosed with liver cancer. Despite him wanting to keep him alive, Chesney finally accepted it was best he was put down so he didn't have to suffer any longer. Cradling Schmeichel, the dog was put to sleep and passed away.

Miscellaneous information

• Schmeichel was a pure breed Great Dane named after Denmark and Manchester United footballer Peter Schmeichel, who had himself appeared in Coronation Street in an uncredited non-speaking role in Episode 4631 (18th June 1999).
• Schmeichel was played by four dogs during the character's time on the programme. The first Schmeichel - who was also named that in real life so as not to confuse him - retired due to ill health and a second one called Magnum took over. All the dogs to play the character were owned by the same person, who was a friend of a member of staff at Granada.