Anthony "Tony" Gordon was a Scottish businessman and co-owner of Underworld between 2008 to 2010. He was married to Carla Connor and was responsible for murdering her ex brother-in-law Liam Connor after finding out about an affair they had while engaged.
After confessing to Carla, she had fled Weatherfield and Tony embarked on a relationship with Liam's widow Maria, even helping give birth to Liam's son, Liam Jr. They got engaged, but Tony suffered a heart attack and confessed to Roy Cropper, and attempted to kill him before handing himself into the police. Tony later perished when he escaped prison and burnt down Underworld.
Tony was known to have evil tendencies when not getting what he wanted, and normally did anything to cover his acts, which almost led to murder on some occasions. He attempted to kill Jed Stone who discovered his deceit, and tried to murder Carla twice, once when she returned to Weatherfield after her time away to blackmail the factory out of him, and when he kidnapped her during the Underworld siege in 2010, Tony also attempted to kill Roy Cropper with a kitchen knife, although in some instances he got others to help with his work, such as his henchman Jimmy Dockerson who killed Liam for him, and fellow cellmate Robbie Sloane, who Tony turned on and killed during the siege.
Biography
1971-2008
Tony was born in 1971 and had a brother called Pat. Tony witnessed his father die of a heart attack, but did nothing to help and just left him to die, believing his mother was better off without him. Some years later, Tony met his first wife Lindsey but they got divorced in 2006, although she believed Tony would come back to her.
Tony arrived in Coronation Street as the owner of a clothing firm, giving a contract to Carla Connor and her brother-in-law Liam, owners of the underwear factory Underworld. However, he was more interested in Carla than the business. Tony was unpopular with the rest of the residents in Coronation Street when he commissioned development for flats in the area, and also killed a colony of bats. Liam was suspicious of Tony, and discovered he had an ex-wife called Lindsey. She told Liam that Tony was only really interested in money and mostly himself, but Tony just told Carla that his ex was "crazy". Tony proposed to Carla in 2008 and she accepted, although she still had feelings for Liam, but he went on to marry hairdresser Maria Sutherland.
Tony planned on expanding Underworld and offered to buy The Kabin off Rita Sullivan, she started to like the idea. Tony also tried to buy Websters' Auto Centre garage, but Kevin Webster refused and took an instant dislike to Tony. He then hired his friend, another mechanic, Jimmy Dockerson to sabotage Kevin's business and steal his customers.
Evil Tony terrorises Jed Stone and later has him evicted from his home (August 2008)
Tony began to menace pensioner Jed Stone in August 2008, and wanted him evicted from his home in order to redevelop the place. Jed refused however, and kept closing the door in Tony's face. However Tony returned one day and barged in, and the stress caused Jed to collapse with a heart attack. Tony dumped Jed's cat on the Street, and called an ambulance, although he was tempted before just to leave Jed to die. He got Jason Grimshaw to board up the house, although Jason was wary as there where still money about and food in the fridge. Tony told the paramedics that Jed was about to sign over the house. Jed was distraught by losing his cat and home. Tony had suspicions that Carla was having an affair with Liam, so got Rosie Webster to video them. His suspicions were proven when Rosie showed a video of them kissing. Tony decided to have Liam killed in revenge. In early October 2008, Tony invited Liam and Maria to come with him and Carla for a weekend away. Tony took Liam to an underground cave and asked him to be his best man. Tony claimed he and his brother Pathad fallen out. Liam agreed to be Tony's best man at the wedding.
Tony has Liam killed on his stag night.
On the night of 16th October 2008, Tony hired his friend Jimmy to run Liam over on his stag night. Tony stole Liam's wallet and when they headed to a men's club, Liam thought he left his wallet back at the pub, so Tony convinced him to head back. When Liam stepped onto the road, Jimmy raced round the corner in his car and hit Liam, killing him on impact. Tony held Liam in his arms while the other men called an ambulance, and told him "the best man lost". Tony dumped Liam's wallet in the canal later that night after taking money out of it.
After the funeral, Carla decided to have a break and called off the wedding, before leaving for Los Angeles, much to Tony's annoyance. However, she later returned and they got married in December 2008. Jed also returned to the Street when Emily Bishop gave him a room at her home. Jed began to blackmail Tony for money. When Maria suspected Tony had murdered Liam after seeing the video of Liam and Carla kissing, and discovering Tony knew about the affair, she tried to convince everyone he killed Liam. Jed teamed up with her and told Maria about Tony evicting him from his home.
On Christmas Eve, Jed confronted Tony and after Tony accidentally told Jed about Liam's killer Jimmy, Jed threatened to go to the police, which resulted in Tony strangling him. Thinking he killed him, he stuffed Jed's body into a Christmas hamper, and returned the next day to discover he was still alive. Tony took Jed to Wigan, telling him never to return to Weatherfield.
2009-2010
In January 2009, Maria still tried to prove Tony was her husband's killer. When she looked for Tony in the empty factory, he confronted her. He then told Maria he murdered Jed Stone at Christmas, much to her disgust. She tried to tell everyone about his confession, but people thought she was still grieving and going crazy. After a failed attempt to tell the police, an upset and distraught Maria hit Tony with her car before crashing it. Tony was seriously hurt, but decided to stop Maria once and for all, and later took Jed back to Coronation Street and into the pub, making Maria look even crazier, which humiliated her. Carla however began to get suspicious of Tony when he saw him telling Jed never to return to Coronation Street again, or it will be the last thing he does. Carla followed Jed back to Wigan to confront him and discovered the marks on his neck. Tony tried to claim that they were marks when Jed tried to kill himself, but Carla was still suspicious and confronted Jimmy. When Jimmy failed to answer her questions, she knew that Tony must have had Liam killed.
Tony locked her in the factory in February, and Tony confessed to the murder, which led to Carla managing to escape and flee to Los Angeles, leaving Tony behind crying in the rain. After a short relationship with Natasha Blakeman, Maria began to soften towards Tony when she saw him mourning at Liam's grave. They later became good friends with the previous events of her accusations completely forgotten about. Tony helped Maria deliver her and Liam's son, who she called Liam after her late husband.
In late 2009, Tony and Maria started a romantic relationship, and on 16 October 2009, one year since Tony had Liam killed, he proposed to Maria at Liam's graveside. She happily accepted. However, Carla returned from America and told Tony that he had gone far enough, telling him to leave Weatherfield after signing his shares of Underworld over to her, and to never return. Tony hired Jimmy to kill Carla, but later changed his mind and raced over to his flat where Carla was waiting. However, Carla knocked Jimmy out with a candlestick. Tony fooled her into thinking she had killed Jimmy. Carla packed and left again, and Tony told a well and alive Jimmy to leave the area.
When Maria went over to Cyprus to visit her parents with baby Liam, Tony decided to stay behind with Ozzy the dog to finish up some business and then head over in a few days. However, Tony suffered a heart attack when he left the factory and collapsed against the wall, and was later found by Roy Cropper. He was rushed to hospital where it was thought he wouldn't survive the night. Tony then cofessed to Roy about his involvement in Liam's death, before going into cardiac arrest and needing to be revived - Tony survived. Maria returned to Weatherfield and was grateful to Roy for helping Tony. Roy kept following Tony and told him he should go to the police and confess but Tony got fed up with Roy's interfering.
Tony went round to Roy's Rolls one night to confront him. Tony threatened him and told him to keep away from him. A scared Roy and Hayley Cropper went to the police to report Tony's threat, which led to Tony being questioned by the police. However, he was released due to lack of evidence, and when Maria discovered what happened, she got scared and began to wonder if it was all really true. An angered and upset Tony felt he lost everything and headed to the canal at night where Roy was bat-watching and decided to murder him. Roy found Tony with a bloody knife (Tony took it from the café earlier when hiding there, and accidently dug it into his hand when he heard an upset Maria talk to Hayley whilst discovering about Tony). Roy thought that he had hurt Hayley, and Tony smiled and made out that he did kill Hayley, which angered Roy who attacked him. Tony then threw Roy into the canal when discovering he couldn't swim. However, he changed his mind at the last minute and dived into the canal to save Roy and dragged him out. Tony then walked into the police station and confessed to murder. When Maria discovered Tony's secret, she was sickened and told him she wanted him to die. Tony had also given his friend Jimmy's name forward as the hitman, and Jimmy was later arrested.
In November 2009, Tony had his court hearing and was to be kept in custody until his trial on 4th January 2010, and would not be granted remand. Carla had returned to Weatherfield and watched Tony get sent down. Maria had also left Weatherfield to start a new life in Ireland with Liam's parents, Barry and Helen Connor.
Tony sent Carla a visiting order in December, and she decided to visit him to see what he wanted. He told her that he had hired Jimmy to kill her, and that she hadn't actually killed him. She called him a bastard, and Tony asked if Maria would ever forgive her, with Carla replying "Not a chance". Carla then left the station, leaving a broken Tony behind.
Tony escapes prison with the aid of his new henchman Robbie.
In May 2010, Tony began to plan his escape from Highfield Prison along with his cellmate Robbie Sloane so he could get revenge on Carla and Roy, as he blamed them for his downfall. He bribed his cellmate with a lot of money for his part in it. Tony managed to get a sim card smuggled into the prison so he could contact Robbie from inside the jail when he got out. When Robbie was released, he began to keep an eye on Carla and Roy, and phoned Tony through a hidden phone and told him he would see him the next day.
When Tony was having lunch in the prison lunch hall, he wound up a prisoner which led to him being punched and beaten. Tony then faked a heart attack and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. It was however pulled over by Robbie in a black van, and he used a gun to get a policeman to release Tony. They then locked the paramedics and the police officer in the back, before heading off on a motorbike Robbie had.
Tony attempts to take Carla down with him after setting Underworld alight.
Tony arrived on the Street and lurked around the back alleyways, where he was spotted by Sunita Alahan. She thought he was mugged, but Tony slipped out the back when Sunita's husband Dev came round after hearing of Tony's escape. Robbie managed to take Carla and Roy's wife Hayley hostage, much to Tony's pleasure. After an argument over money and Robbie beginning to not trust Tony, Tony then shot Robbie dead. Maria had then arrived and Tony took her hostage, but she later escaped. Tony decided to release Hayley, as he wanted to die with Carla. He proceeded to set the factory on fire, and lit a match and set the place up. Carla managed to get untied, and shot Tony with his gun when he attempted to stop her. She escaped, and Tony decided he would rather die and walked back into the flames, and perished when the factory exploded.
Personality
Tony was a control freak and always wanted to get what he wanted, and possessed a jealous streak. When he realised Carla had an affair with his rival Liam Connor, he went as far as to have Liam run over and killed. Tony didn't like people getting in his way and would go as far as almost killing just to get his own way. When Jed Stone attempted to blackmail Tony over Christmas 2008, Tony went as far as to almost kill Jed. He has attempted to murder before - in 2009 he sent his henchman Jimmy Dockerson to kill his wife Carla when she blackmailed him to leave town or she would expose him being Liam's killer, and tried to kill Roy Cropper when he found out about Tony's dark secret. This hunger for revenge even led to Tony breaking out of jail and attempting to kill Carla and Hayley, but only ended up burning himself in the factory.
Despite his murderous evil streak, Tony has shown (on the outside anyway) to have nicer traits and sometimes doesn't go along with the attempted murders (although there was normally something in it for him). He let Jed leave Weatherfield and gave him a new flat, and saved Carla from being killed the first time, and even jumped in the canal and saved Roy Cropper. Tony showed a more caring side when looking after Maria and even helping her give birth to her baby boy Liam Jr. and appeared to show guilt for killing Liam. Even when planning on burning down Underworld, he released Hayley and only wanted to kill himself and Carla as he blamed her for ruining his life.
Tony was a liar as well, and was able to stay calm in situations which is why he managed to get away with Liam's murder for so long. Even when he handed himself into the police, he admitted that if he had never done that, they would never have caught Liam's killer.
Relationships
Family
The only family of Tony's to ever visit him on the Street was his brother Pat, who arrived as his best man for his wedding to Carla in December 2008. However Tony never actually invited Pat, it was his fiancée Carla. Tony was worried about his arrival as he claimed to Liam Connor that he had fallen out with his brother, in order to get him to the stag night to kill him, and also didn't want Maria Connor, Liam's widow, to discover who Pat was. There seemed to be a problem for the two brothers in the past due to Pat having an affair with Tony's first wife Lindsey, many years before Tony's arrival on the street. Pat didn't seem too surprised that Tony had many enemies on the Street, including Kevin Webster, Jed Stone and Roy Cropper. Pat left the Street shortly after the wedding and subsequently disowned Tony when it was discovered that he murdered Liam Connor and was sent to prison.
Tony's father died of a heart attack, which Tony witnessed, however failed to get help as he believed that he and his mother were better of without him.
Carla Connor
Carla was one of the loves of Tony's life, and he also knew her late husband Paul Connor as they were friends at the golf course. Tony fell for Carla, and they began dating, much to the disapproval of Carla's ex-brother in law Liam, who loved Carla. When she accused him of being jealous of her new relationship, Liam immediately went and proposed to pregnant girlfriend Maria Sutherland.
In March 2008 at a dinner that Tony set up at Carla's flat with Steve McDonald, Michelle Connor, Liam and Maria, Tony proposed to an embarrassed Carla in front of everyone. She however accepted, but he became wary and proposed to her the next day when they were alone and Tony was delighted when she still accepted. Later in the year, Tony bought Liam's shares of Underworld after Carla blackmailed Liam into doing it.
Tony found out Carla was having an affair with Liam after Rosie Webster took a video of them kissing on her phone, which led to Tony having Liam bumped of on his stag night. A devastated Carla took a break away, which upset Tony as it wasn't what he planned. However she came back and they got married in December 2008. But Carla later became suspicious of Tony when Maria began accusing him of murder and when elderly Jed Stone, who Tony evicted from his home and almost killed over Christmas, showed that he was scared of him. Tony then confessed to murdering Liam to Carla, and stated it was for her. However she fled Coronation Street for Los Angeles, leaving a broken Tony behind.
In October 2009 after discovering Maria and Tony were in a relationship and engaged, Carla returned to blackmail Tony into selling his shares back, or she would tell everyone about him killing Liam. Tony then hired henchman Jimmy Dockerson (the same man he got to bump of Liam) to kill Carla. However, he changed his mind and disrupted Jimmy, who got hit over the head by Carla in self-defence. Tony then made out she killed Jimmy, causing her to flee once again. She returned when Tony confessed to murder a month later and was sent to prison, and she visited him once, telling him there would be no chance of Maria forgiving him.
Tony terrorises Carla during the factory siege in 2010
After planning revenge over the months he was in prison, Tony broke out with the aid of his cellmate Robbie, who took Carla hostage along with Hayley. After shooting his henchman dead over a disagreement with money, Tony proceeded to torch the place, but let Hayley go after Carla convinced him to. As he set fire to the factory, Carla broke free and got hold of Tony's gun and shot him. She managed to flee the factory, leaving her husband to perish in the explosion.
Businesses
Tony had his own business known as "Gordon Catalogues" a clothing company and he was contracted with Underworld, although he was more interested in Carla Connor. In 2008 after beginning a relationship with Carla, he bought Liam Connor's shares, and Carla had blackmailed Liam to do it or she would tell his wife Maria about an affair they had.
Tony was into property developing and was part of the Victoria Court apartments which where opened in August 2008. He owned properties at other locations in Weatherfield, but had problems selling them due to the recession. He began evicting residents in nearby Nightingale Terrace (but giving them money for the trouble) so he could convert the properties into flats. One of the pensioners was Jed Stone, but Jed refused to move until a stroke put him in hospital. By October that year, the development still hadn't got off the ground.
After Tony was jailed for Liam's murder in 2009, his share of Underworld was later sold to Nick Tilsley.
Other information
- Tony's family had a history of heart disease: Both his father and grandfather suffered fatal heart attacks, his father died aged 39 and his grandfather aged 42. Tony suffered a heart attack in 2009, however he survived.
- In March 2009, Tony and Luke Strong rescued Simon Barlow and his father Peter from inside a burning 9a Rosamund Street when a drunken Peter dropped a lit cigarette, setting fire to the carpet.
- Maria Connor's baby Liam Jr. was given the middle name Anthony, because of her close friendship with Tony.
- In January 2014 a dying Hayley Cropper thanked Carla Connor at Underworld for saving her from Tony, and mentioned she counted every year of her life ever since the Underworld Siege.
Background information
Murder of Liam Connor
For Liam's murder, three alternative endings were filmed to keep fans guessing which event would occur. Endings filmed were: Tony pushing Liam from a balcony of one of the Victoria Court flats, shooting Liam with a real gun during a paintballing session, and having him run over. [1] The third alternative was used in the narrative. When leading up to Tony's exit in 2009, three videos were put on the official ITV website named "Tony's Mind". The three videos showed Tony taping a message on a recorder to Maria and confessing everything. Each video showed an outcome that Tony was planning on, which was either committing suicide, killing Roy Cropper or handing himself in, allowing fans to speculate which outcome was going to be used. [2]
Contract extension and exit
Originally it was intended for Tony to be written out of the show in late 2009 at the conclusion of his storyline, in which he would have been sent to prison for the murder of Liam. However the show's bosses wished for O'Brien to reprise the role at a later date as the scriptwriters had devised a new storyline for his character. After several meetings with the bosses, O'Brien's contact was extended into 2010, although they did grant him a short break so he could partake in the pantomime Aladdin at the Opera House over the Christmas period. This was reported and confirmed by a Coronation Street spokesperson in May 2009, who went onto say: "Gray had been due to leave Corrie later this year, and so had arranged the role in panto. But scriptwriters went back to Gray to ask him to extend his contract as they have come up with another exciting storyline for his character".[3] Tony's original departure aired on 11th December 2009 in Episode 7228.
Tony's return was teased by producer Kim Crowther in February 2010, in which she described it as "dramatic". When speaking to Digital Spy on Tony's upcoming return, she went on to explain: "It'll be in the spring, around May. We'll see that while he's been locked up he's gone through quite a lot psychologically. Has he had a breakdown in the period since we last saw him? He's certainly got a plan again. He doesn't settle for things when he's not in control of them so you put Tony Gordon in a corner and he comes out with a plan." At the time, Crowther also hinted that Tony's return would tie with the other return of Maria Connor, as the character departed due to Samia Longchambon's maternity leave. Two months later in April, it was revealed that Tony's return would involve him escaping prison and holding Underworld hostage.[4]
Tony's return scenes aired on 28th May 2010 in Episode 7349, over five months after his last appearance. The 1st June saw a storyline dubbed "Siege Week" being kicked off which involved Tony (along with his cellmate Robbie Sloane as portrayed by James Fleet) kidnapping Carla and Hayley. The story was intended to run each day through the week in order to celebrate Coronation Street's debut in HD and each episode would have aired at 9:00pm between the two episodes of Britain's Got Talent. However the rest of the episodes from Tuesday the 2nd June to Friday 4th June ended up being postponed to the following week due to the Cumbria shootings, which occurred on 2nd June.
Tony's exit and death was broadcast on 9th June 2010 in Episode 7356, which depicted a stunt involving Underworld being set on fire and subsequently blown up.
Reception
At the British Soap Awards in May 2009, Gray O'Brien won an award for "Villain of the Year" for his portrayal of Tony Gordon.
Quotes
"Carla... Pity it's not in happier times." (First line)
---
"Father, son, brother, roadkill! Looks like the best man lost!" (To Liam after having him ran over)
---
"Oh feisty! That's why I fell in love with you!" (Final line)