Will, the hospital Chaplain was called on duty in Weatherfield General to conduct an emergency wedding ceremony between Peter Barlow and Leanne Battersby after the groom was badly injured when Coronation Street was rocked by an explosion from The Joinery bar, followed by a derailed tram from the wrecked viaduct in December 2010. Peter was one of the people trapped in the bar but Nick Tilsley and Ashley Peacock managed to get him out to the rescue service, although Ashley lost his life in the process. The doctor who examined Peter reported to fiancée Leanne that he had internal bleeding in the membrane around his heart and that a specialist had been called for to undertake an operation. The doctor stressed that the matter was serious and that Leanne should prepare herself for the worst. When it became apparent that Peter would probably die, the doctor informed the family that an emergency wedding ceremony could be arranged for him and Leanne and Peter indicated that this was what he wanted. When Will arrived, he made it clear to Leanne that Peter had to be conscious enough to understand his vows. Despite his exhaustion, Peter made it through his responses. Immediately afterwards, the monitors indicated that Peter had died but the hospital staff managed to revive him and send him for his much-needed surgery.
Later in the month, Will called in to see John and Fiz Stape as they were watching over their premature baby Hope in her incubator. Despite John’s assertion that he was an atheist, Will agreed to conduct a blessing for the baby. Chesney Brown, along with Roy and Hayley Cropper attended the service which Will told them was named “The Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child.”
- Credited as "Chaplain" on his first appearance and "Hospital Chaplain" on the 24th December episodes, the character was named in dialogue in his second appearance.
List of appearances[]
2010