Rodney "Rod" Whitworth was a student friend of Flick Khan's at the Poly who spent a few nights on 7 Coronation Street's sofa in 1990.
When Rod was kicked out of his lodgings at Mrs Johnson's flat, Flick tried to convince Jenny Bradley to let him kip with them at No.7 for a night or two. Having been entrusted with No.7 by Rita Fairclough and keen to keep it tidy, Jenny said no, but Flick installed him there that evening anyway.
Rod was a stereotypical student; constantly surrounded by cigarette smoke, he was extremely lazy, spending most of his time either sleeping or doing nothing while listening to blaring music while mess accumulated around him. After getting off to a bad start with the girls by using Flick's file as an ashtray and boring them with intellectual hypotheses, Rod promised to make it up to them by spending the day tidying up and cooking dinner, for which Jenny granted him a stay of eviction for two nights. When the girls got home that evening, Rod hadn't moved all day and had to borrow £10 from Flick to get them a takeaway. By that point, both girls wanted Rod out, but Flick's original insistence on letting him stay and Jenny's sudden change of heart caused each of them to think that the other fancied Rod and so neither of them said anything.
Another few days of Rod revealed more bad habits, including putting his dirty docks over the stove, lining up his toenail clippings along the side of the bath, and leaving his dirty clothes in the washing machine without switching it on, while Vera Duckworth and Ivy Brennan grumbled about his loud music. When Vera complained to Jenny and Flick, they realised that neither of them liked Rod and decided to take action. The next day, they gently asked him to leave, telling him the house wasn't big enough. Rod took the news well and agreed to look for somewhere that day, but hours later he was still there, claiming that it had slipped his mind. When the girls complained about their immovable lodger to Mark Casey, Mark immediately went over to No.7 and told Rod to leg it or get a thumping. More defeated than fearful, Rod left right away, telling Jenny and Flick as he went to get his things that he would have gone quietly tomorrow.
Just over four months later, Rodney moved in with his girlfriend Paula in Ardwick Road. His presence caused Paula's flatmate, design student Angie Freeman, to look elsewhere for lodgings. After a tip from Flick, Angie ended up at No.7 sharing with Jenny, who was amused to hear that her ex-lodger's talent for getting his feet under the table had not diminished.