Eileen Hazel Phelan (née Grimshaw) is a Street Cars employee, a Coronation Street resident since 2001, mother of Jason and Todd Grimshaw, older half-sister of Julie Carp, and the second wife of Patrick Phelan.
Biography
Eileen as a child with her father Colin.
Eileen had a happy upbringing until the age of fourteen or fifteen, when her parents began fighting. Eileen had no idea of the cause of the conflict, and when they divorced, she blamed her mother. Their relationship remained strained until her mother's death in 1992.
Eileen had Jason by Tony Stewart and Todd by a man named Duncan and raised them on her own.
Eileen first appeared in 2000 when she was picked up by Vikram Desai to take her to a job interview at a chip shop, an interview she was being sent to by the job centre which she wasn't keen on getting. During the ride Eileen impressed Vikram with her excellent local knowledge (having worked for another taxi company for years) and he gave her the job on the switchboard at the newly-opened Street Cars. She took to the job quickly, impressing Vikram's partner Steve McDonald and she soon became a fixture of the company. A feisty single mum, she came from a family of eight. She later moved into 11 Coronation Street as a tenant of Steve with her two sons, Jason and Todd. In the early days she didn't approve of Jason's aspirations to be a runner. Some years later, her son Todd came out as being gay. She now shares her house with her son Jason and long-term lodger Sean Tully.
Eileen has had many failed relationships. Her promising relationship with Dennis Stringer failed when he left her for Janice Battersby. Following Jason and Candice Stowe placing her ad in a lonely hearts column she dated cleaner Harry Flagg for a while but they eventually decided to remain friends. She dated Ernest Bishop's killer, Ed Jackson, despite the disapproval of most of the Street. It was during this relationship with Ed, a Christian, that Eileen came to the conclusion that she was agnostic. In 2007 she met Pat Stanaway who she assumed was married and had an "affair". Pat in fact turned out to be single but was dating six other women at the time. She dated takeaway owner Jerry Morton, but dumped him in 2008 after he proved to take more of an interest in his children than her.
Eileen's sworn enemy was Gail Platt and their infamous feud peaked in several brawls in the Street. The pair constantly sparred whenever they crossed paths in Weatherfield. The feud began when her son Todd moved in with Gail's daughter Sarah, Eileen believed that she was holding her son back. Todd's revelation that he was gay caused a cat fight in the Street. The two women were at loggerheads again when they both became attracted to reflexologist Phil Nail when he started working at the Rosamund Street Medical Centre, Gail was the one who eventually won his affections. Their rivalry resulted in Eileen being the prime suspect when Gail was stalked by someone claiming to be serial killer Richard Hillman in 2006. Eileen was eventually revealed to be an innocent party, with Gail's son David being revealed as the hoaxer. Gail and Eileen became related after Sarah and Jason married in October 2007.
On Christmas Day 2006, Eileen got a surprise when a woman called Emma dropped a baby off, claiming Jason was the father. Eileen took responsibility to look after the baby, whom they called Holly because she arrived during the Christmas period.
Jason initially didn't approve of the child and tried to convince Eileen that the baby wasn't his, but Eileen disagreed and Jason eventually called Social Services in desperation. He later admitted to calling them, but admitted he had grown fond of baby Holly.
However, Eileen was due for yet another shock on 9th April 2007 when Holly's mother returned, claiming that Jason's deceased employer, Charlie Stubbs, was in fact the father, after she found his picture in the paper. She claimed that when she met Charlie, he told her that his name was Jason Grimshaw. Holly's mother, Emma, asked Eileen for the baby back but Eileen refused and threw her out of the house, threatening to call the police. Social Services became involved in the situation, and a desperate Eileen decided the best thing to do was to "run away" with the baby. Eileen's arch-nemesis Gail Platt discovered her plan and talked to her, finally getting her to realise that the best place for Holly was with her real mother. A tearful Eileen handed Holly over on 25th April 2007.
On 12th December 2008, her father Colin Grimshaw arrived and met Peter Barlow in the bookies. As he placed a bet Eileen phoned him, he lied to her and told her that he was still on the bus to Weatherfield. He was known for his betting and drinking, and this led to a row between the pair when they met.
Colin settled into the Street, and Eileen tried to accept his new love with Rita Sullivan. At the same time, she coincidentally reunited with old friend Paula Carp through Paula's daughter Julie. Eileen hadn't seen Paula since her friend fell pregnant at the age of 14 and left the area. Paula had told her that the father was a teacher, but to Eileen's horror, at Colin's 70th birthday party, Paula admitted that Colin was Julie's father, and that they'd had a brief relationship. Initially Eileen blamed Paula for seducing her father, but soon raged at him for taking advantage of a child and for turning her against her mother. Eileen shut Colin out of her life, but after he suffered a stroke, Eileen reluctantly allowed him to stay in her home. The police stopped by after Paula reported him, and he died of a second stroke. In spite of Eileen's revulsion and anger towards her father, she gave the eulogy at his funeral.
Eileen began dating children's entertainer Jesse Chadwick. In spite of Eileen not getting along with his family, her relationship with Jesse progressed enough to where she let him move into her home, and she put up with his annoying parrot. However, Eileen was not happy when Jesse began using her newfound sister Julie as his sidekick. He agreed to fire Julie, but continued working with her in secret. Eileen got Eddie Windass to spy on their activities and soon forced Jesse to fire Julie for real. Eileen and Jesse dated for a few more months, but when he balked at Jason and his fiancée Tina McIntyre moving back into the spare room where he kept his party supplies, Eileen responded by moving them outside. Eileen was then delighted to learn that when Jesse bet on the horses to take his mind off their conflict, he won thousands of pounds. She was even more delighted when she found travel brochures for Egypt... only to learn that he was planning to take his parents on the trip. Eileen dumped him.
Other information
- In 2011 Eileen discovered she was a distant relative of Elsie Tanner (who also resided at 11 Coronation Street seventeen years prior to Eileen moving in) and thus a relation to Dennis Tanner who returned to Coronation Street after a 43-year absence.
- Eileen briefly worked at the Rovers in 2015, but the management let her go as she lacked experience and annoyed the customers.
Quotes
"I'm not most people" (First line)
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"Oh, shut up. Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" (To John the parrot)
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"You treat this house like a hotel!" (To sons Jason and Todd, along with lodgers Sean Tully, Marcus Dent and Eva Price)