Tommy Silcock was the owner of Silcock's Shirts factory in Weatherfield and father of the gregarious Sue.
Tommy inherited his business from his father Sammy Silcock, who had built it up from scratch and he predominantly raised Sue singlehandedly. Such success facilitated a move from a modest terraced house in Paradise Street to a much larger property, where he employed Mrs Phillips to housekeep.
When Fairclough and Langton did a job at Silcock's in June 1972, Ray Langton wooed Sue into going out with him. A few days later, Sue introduced Ray to Tommy. More down-to-Earth than his daughter, Tommy got along famously with Ray, bonding with the lad by taking the mickey out of Sue's poshness.
Tommy was surprised and delighted that Sue had gone for someone like Ray and, passing through Coronation Street, decided to find out more about him from his friends and neighbours. His first stop was the Rovers Return, where he found out from Annie Walker that Ray had a dubious past and wasn't universally liked. From his boss Len Fairclough, Tommy learned of a spiky relationship between Ray and Jerry Booth, however Len praised Ray's resilience and dedication, telling him about the time Ray spent in a wheelchair after the coach crash in 1969. The true purpose of this character study was to assess Ray's suitability for a job at the firm and, reminded of himself at that age, Tommy offered a position to Ray, starting at the bottom and learning the ropes. Ray seemed likely to accept, but before he could give an answer, Sue broke off their relationship, and so he decided to remain at Fairclough and Langton.