Mr Stoppard was a property surveyor who valued 7 Coronation Street on behalf of the Castlewell Building Society when Alan Bradley applied for a £15,000 mortgage on the house. Intending to expand his burgeoning security business, Alan applied for the loan without the knowledge of the house's owner, Rita Fairclough, and used the name of her late husband Len on the application.
Mr Stoppard was late for the appointment, however this turned out to be fortuitous for Alan as when the man arrived the house, Alan had only moments before got rid of his daughter Jenny by sending her to the Builder's Yard to take a phone call for him. Mr Stoppard was a by-the-book but affable man, responding to Alan's attempt to fish out of him the likely outcome of the survey by telling "Mr Fairclough" that he probably had nothing to worry about.