Chesney Eric Brown (previously Battersby-Brown) is the brother of Billy Brown and Fiz Stape and son of Cilla Battersby-Brown. While his upbringing was not as traumatic as Fiz's early years, Chesney was often left home alone and had to put up with the many "uncles" Cilla brought to their flat. Chesney found some stability with Les Battersby, but Les abandoned the family after a few years, with Cilla soon following. An increasingly bitter Chesney was left to be taken care of by Fiz, but her relationship problems often overshadowed her duties as guardian.
Storylines
Chesney arrived in late 2003. Cilla's boyfriend Les Battersby took them in and Chesney soon bonded with Les and saw him as the father figure he never had. Chesney also got on well with Fiz's then boyfriend Kirk Sutherland who was also a lodger at 5 Coronation Street at that time.
In early 2004, Chesney smashed Rita Sullivan's shop window with a football, and stole some sweets from inside The Kabin. Eventually, Rita had had enough of Chesney and when she caught him shoplifting again, she clipped him round the ear. Chesney fell against some shelving and hurt his head. He wasn't hurt badly but when Cilla learned of the incident she spotted an opportunity for compensation. She happily made the most out of her son's injuries. The family had Chesney checked up at Weatherfield General, with Cilla prompting her son to complain of fake symptoms so that he would be certified with extreme concussion as a consequence of Rita's 'abuse'. Rita was arrested and charged with assaulting a minor and Cilla set about trying to ruin Rita's reputation. Cilla coached Chesney into saying the 'right' answers and Rita was ordered to pay £500 in damages to the family and £500 in court fees. Rita continued to hate Cilla, but beared no ill-will against Chesney, she even took him in one night when he had nowhere else to go and later employed him to do the paper round. Chesney attempted to run away after his mum left without him but Les took him back in. He was given a pure breed Great Dane dog, Schmeichel, named after Danish footballer Peter Schmeichel, by the Duckworths. He also made friends with Sophie Webster. Later that year, Cilla started to abuse Chesney, such as threatening to hit him if he told Les about her affairs and also running away with him as she taunted him about nobody loving him. Eventually, Cilla was good to Chesney.
In 2005, he conned several residents at Easter into giving him chocolate eggs after claiming that Cilla had no money. That August, Schmeichel was run over by a bus driven by Claire Peacock, leaving Chesney devastated, but his companion pulled through. Later that year, Chesney accidentally walked in on Sally Webster when she was in the shower. Chesney sought revenge on Les, after Les told everyone about him seeing Sally, which threatened his friendship with Sophie. Nevertheless, Chesney and Sophie remained close friends. In the summer of 2006, the pair started hanging out with Chesney's schoolmate Cameron McIntyre. Chesney was first to see that Sophie was in love with him, and was secretly disappointed that she prefered Cameron over him. The trio made mischief such as prank-calling Sally's friends and watching horror films at Sophie's house, which often got them into trouble. When Sally learned that Sophie smoked cigarettes stolen from Cameron, Chesney was to blame as he attempted to hide the cigarettes. Soon afterwards, Sally became even more infuriated as £5 went missing from her purse, and again Chesney got blamed for something he didn't do. However, it was Sophie who stole the money to buy some cigarettes for her and Cameron, and she confessed to what she did to everyone. Cameron left the street after the incident to avoid getting into trouble, and later that year Chesney was saddened at the news that Cilla had cancer. He stayed strong though, and even got involved in a scam with Sophie, tricking the residents into thinking they were physic after finding a diary in the attic of No. 5. It belonged to the late Ivy Brennan, so the pair read all of its contents and repeated what was inside. Around Christmas time, Chesney was disgusted when he discovered that Cilla had exaggerated her illness and refused a holiday with her. In the meantime he stayed with Fiz and Kirk.
The next two years were hard for Chesney. In January 2007, Cilla returned but she and Les failed to make Chesney feel at home, so Cilla lured him back with promises of treats, and eventually Chesney softened. In May, Les mysteriously vanished, but it later turned out he went to work as a roadie. Aside from the occasional phone call, he had no contact with Chesney. Having been closer to Les than anyone, Chesney had a hard time adjusting to Les' absence. By October, Cilla also chose to leave Weatherfield for Las Vegas because she had received £45,000 from the sale of a necklace that pensioner Frank Nichols had given her whilst in her care before his death. Chesney was meant to leave with her but Cilla said he should join her at a later date. Chesney got £1,000, and was upset, but has become used to his mother always putting herself first. He spent a third of his money on an Xbox, angering Fiz as she wanted some money as Cilla left her with nothing. In March 2008, Chesney was saddened that Les was still not returning. Later, Chesney was taken to a foster home as Kirk couldn't take care of him properly. Neighbour Claire Peacock later revealed that she reported them to Social Services, having Chesney's best interests at heart. Chesney was later allowed to return home after Fiz agreed to move into No.5, though with much reluctance, as Kirk, was living there as well. Chesney later began to sense Les not coming home again, and it made him angry. Later, Chesney was dismayed to see the return of Fiz's ex-boyfriend John Stape who cheated on her with Rosie Webster.
On Chesney's 14th birthday, John bought Chesney a bike which he rejected when he found out who it had come from. In a fit of rage, Chesney broke the wing mirror on John's taxi. However, later on Chesney had picked up a postcard from Cilla and 'Les Battersby' via post. Les had reverted to just Battersby and dropped the Brown at that point. They sent Chesney and Kirk invitations to join them in South Africa. Kirk and Chesney agreed to go, however Fiz was dismayed at the decision. When they arrived at the airport, they found out that 'Les' was not their Les, but a South African fraudster named Lesedi. Cilla revealed that she had placed their names in a competition to win the "South African sunshine family" award and had got to the final, with a chance to win half a million South African dollars, angering Chesney as this was another scam. After Chesney announced that he was having a terrible time in South Africa, Cilla made a personal plea to her daughter to join them. Fiz arrived and confronted Cilla about her scheme, but Chesney revealed that Cilla would 'return' to Weatherfield if they won, so Fiz agreed to help by dressing up as a nun. Later, his family got stuck in a bush surrounded by lions but were saved by Kirk. At the awards ceremony, Chesney announced that he was not really disabled after realising that Cilla had no intention of returning to Weatherfield after all and the Battersbys were disqualified.
In 2009, Chesney noticed one of Les' old Status Quo buttons. Chesney gave it away, finally accepting that Les was no longer part of his life. Later, Chesney was horrified to find out that Fiz had been consulting John Stape about his education, and regularly visited him in Highfield Prison. This lead to a falling out between the pair, as Chesney was angry that his sister cared more about a "psycho" than she did him. Chesney later found out that Fiz and John were engaged and, in a fit of rage, he stole Fiz's engagement ring and crashed Rosie Webster's new car, almost running over Anna Windass in the process. In the end, Chesney went to John and Fiz's wedding. In the summer of 2010, Chesney met Katy Armstrong and was instantly attracted to her. He had since been seeing her, much to the annoyance of Katy's father, Owen. In December 2010, Fiz gave birth prematurely after a tram crash, Chesney supported Fiz through the birth. Fiz named the baby Hope.
In early 2011, Fiz and Chesney discovered that baby Hope had a hole in her heart and were shocked by this but eventually, she was cured. Chesney comforted Fiz after John went into hospital after a breakdown. In March 2011, Hope came home and Fiz told Chesney he had to get rid of Schmeichel, so he and Katy moved out and Katy suggested they have a baby of their own. While cooking dinner for Chesney, Katy told an ecstatic Chesney that she was pregnant with his baby, and they decided to keep it a secret. Chesney began to grow suspicious of John, so went to see Charlotte Hoyle's parents, who told him that John (who they called Colin) was engaged to Charlotte, and he made the decision to switch her life support machine off, much to Chesney's horror. He later confronted John, who denied any involvement in Charlotte's death and Joy Fishwick's suspicious death. John realised that Chesney was starting to work out the truth, and took him to the Hoyle's house, to sort it out. It was revealed that John was holding them hostage in their cellar, and before Chesney could run, John tied him up too. John lied to pregnant Katy that Chesney ran away, leaving her devastated. Chesney managed to untie himself and the Hoyles a few days later, after the bar they were tied to broke. They tried to break the door down, but John locked it. Dorothy Hoyle suggested that maybe John left, but unknown to them, he had dug up the body of Colin Fishwick, which he buried a few months earlier.
Chesney later escaped after his sister, Fiz, worked out the truth about John and followed him to the Hoyles house, and Fiz revealed to a horrified Chesney that Katy was about to have an abortion, and Chesney raced to stop her. He got there just in time, and he apologised for his absence, and the police arrived to arrest John, who attacked Maria Connor while she is looking after baby Hope. In November 2011, Schmeichel got poorly and was diagnosed with liver cancer. Chesney didn't want to put him to sleep, but the vets said he had no choice but to put Schmeichel down. Chesney then said goodbye to his partner, devastated. On 23rd December 2011, it was a race against time for Chesney after he found out from Fiz that Katy had gone into labour at the nativity play, so Anna Windass had to deliver the baby. Chesney was stranded in the middle of nowhere with Gary Windass after they had cut down some Christmas trees to be delivered. After the pair stole some bikes that weren't properly locked up, Chesney managed to make it in time to see the birth of his son, Joseph Peter. In early 2012, Katy began to struggle with looking after Joseph so she kept abandoning him. On one occasion, she went to the bank without Joseph and Chesney returned home just after Katy rushed back. After the pair talked things through, Chesney said that Katy was a good mum and told her to stay, to which she agreed. In August, Katy's sister Izzy had a miscarriage so Katy wanted to be a surrogate mother. This angered and hurt Chesney a lot that he almost fell out with the Armstrong family. Eventually, Chesney and Katy's family had second thoughts and they all called a truce. Days later, he intended to see Cilla and her new boyfriend, but couldn't due to his minor problems.
In early 2013, Chesney was left heartbroken by Katy after she had an affair with Ryan Connor behind his back. Chesney immediately threw Katy out, and started drinking out of depression. Fiz and Kirk eventually stopped Chesney's problem, and they advised him to try and win Katy back. This worked and when it seemed that Chesney and Katy were making progress, Katy began sleeping at Ryan's flat so Chesney was left upset once again. He began drinking and skiving off work again, much to the annoyance of Fiz. However, after meeting Sinead Tinker, Chesney realised he had to man up and get over Katy. Chesney purchased lots of clothes and gym equipment to look more manly, and Sinead seemed impressed by it. Unfortunately later on, doubted Sinead began having second thoughts about rushing into things so Chesney rejected her. Weeks later, Sinead and Chesney made up but she became fed up of being messed around by Chesney so she left him for a while. When Katy begged for another chance of a reunion, Chesney agreed but soon regretted having her back. After another row, Katy moved out so Chesney re-united with Sinead after promising not to mess her about. Days later, Fiz decided it was time to move out and live with her partner Tyrone Dobbs, leaving Chesney and Sinead to live on their own. Soon, Chesney learned from his fellow market trader that his stock was stolen, much to the annoyance of him and Sinead. Things later got worse when the insurance company refused to pay out for the stock.
Quotes
"You took your time." (First line to Fiz Brown)
See also
- Full list of appearances