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Toyah Laverne Habeeb (née Lee, previously Battersby) is a former Rovers Return landlady, stepsister of Leanne Battersby and widow of Imran Habeeb.

Born as the result of a teenage fling between Janice Lee and Ronnie Clegg, Toyah grew up not knowing her father. She was raised by Janice and Les Battersby along with Les's daughter Leanne, who she considered a sister. Toyah was the brains of the family, idealistic but impressionable. Shortly after moving to Coronation Street in 1997, she fell for eco-warrior Spider Nugent. They were together for a while but when he quit his job at the DSS and went to India, Toyah stayed behind.

Toyah studied journalism and art at college while working at the Rovers as a barmaid. In 2001, she was raped by Phil Simmonds, a former neighbour she had helped fight eviction. She left the street in 2003 after finding out that her boyfriend John Arnley had cheated on her with her best friend Maria Sutherland. Reuniting with Spider, Toyah spent some time running a juice bar with him in London. By 2016, she was in Liverpool working as a drug rehab counsellor. That Christmas, she left her husband of five years Toby Chapman for Peter Barlow, returning to Weatherfield.

In 2017, Toyah and Peter bought the Rovers and became the pub's new landlords. She longed to be a mother, but failed to get pregnant with IVF, and their surrogate, Jacqui Ainsworth, later miscarried. Toyah struck a deal with Eva Price to pass off her newborn daughter Susie as the baby Jacqui had carried, but the guilt of separating mother and daughter led her to return Susie to Eva. Peter then finished with Toyah and sold the Rovers.

By the end of 2018, Toyah was living with her new partner Imran Habeeb. They began fostering in 2020 and married in 2022, with the hope of creating a family unit with their foster daughter Elsie and Imran's son Alfie. In order to facilitate this, Toyah had forgiven Imran for being unfaithful to her with Abi Franklin, but when he confessed that he'd lied in court about Abi relapsing into drug abuse in order to gain custody of Alfie, she deliberately crashed her car, killing him. At the resulting trial, Toyah was cleared of murder. She later moved back in with Leanne at 12 Victoria Court and reconciled with Spider, gaining employment as a waitress at the Viaduct Bistro. They were briefly engaged before splitting up again, with Spider choosing his undercover police work over Toyah.

Biography

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1982-1997: Growing up

Battersby family

1997: The Battersby family's arrival.

Toyah Laverne Lee was born in Oldham on 28th May 1982 to teenage parents Janice Lee and Ronnie Clegg. Ronnie was a useless father and Janice did most of the work involved in looking after Toyah as well as holding down a job while Ronnie did a stint in prison. Janice finally had enough of Ronnie and threw him out of the house when Toyah was only two years old; for the next few years she would raise Toyah as a single mother. Janice struggled to get by but did the best she could for her daughter.

Janice later began a relationship with Les Battersby and they were married in 1994, with Toyah officially adopting Les’s surname at the same time. In addition to a stepfather, Toyah gained a stepsister, Leanne, who was a year older than her. The Battersbys were an anti-social family and prone to disputes with neighbours, which led to them regularly being rehoused by the council.

1997-2003

In July 1997, Toyah and her family moved into 5 Coronation Street. Toyah was a fairly typical schoolgirl who was struggling with the normal ups and downs of teenage life. As the family moved in, Toyah stole a drill from Bill Webster's van and gave it to Les as a 'present'. She soon developed a crush on her neighbour, Spider, who introduced her to environmentalism, as well as the occasional cannabis joint. It was Spider who helped Toyah save Theresa the turkey from the Battersbys' dinner table at Christmas. Toyah became very enthusiastic about the "eco-warrior" lifestyle; so much so that she poured anti-freeze all over the freezers in a grocery store while protesting the sale of prawns in the said shop.

Toyah and Spider eventually became a couple after spending the night together on the Red Rec while watching the solar eclipse (amongst other activities). They lived together at Emily Bishop's house for a short while, but she put them out after they disobeyed the rules regarding sex in the house. They pitched a tent on the Red Rec to live in but unsurprisingly, this did not last long. They wound up living in Linda Sykes's old bedsit at Flat 3, 6 Arnica Street, and for a while, Spider paid the rent with the money he was earning at the benefits office. When Spider left his job on principle, he decided to take a trip to India. Toyah couldn't face going that far away and Spider left without her.

The night before Easter Sunday in 2001, Toyah was having a night out with mechanic Sam Kingston. While on her way home alone, Toyah was raped and left for dead in the ginnel, only to be discovered the next morning by Jason Grimshaw, out for an early morning run. Toyah was forced to tell her mother what had happened and relive the event while relating her story to the police. Matters were complicated because Toyah was only semi-conscious at the time of the attack, and therefore did not know who her attacker was. After much finger-pointing at various male residents of Coronation Street, it was discovered on 30th April 2001, that Toyah's rapist was Phil Simmonds, a man she had befriended after meeting through Spider. Phil had come over to her house to comfort her after the ordeal but when he called her name while she was in the kitchen, Toyah had a flashback and realised that her attacker was sitting in her living room. Toyah tried to pretend that everything was alright, but Phil realised that she had remembered what he'd done to her and grabbed her around the throat. Toyah was saved when Peter Barlow (who had himself been accused of the crime, but was ruled out by DNA evidence) heard her screams and broke down the door. Phil was eventually sent to prison, but Toyah was traumatised by everything that had happened to her.

Toyah Battersby

Toyah in 2003

After the ordeal, Toyah returned to college, moved in with Fiz Brown and Maria Sutherland in the flat above the hairdressers' and tried to move on with her life. In 2002 she started dating one of her former professors, John Arnley. Toyah left him after discovering that her best friend Maria had had a one-night stand with John in January 2003, which resulted in her falling pregnant by him. Despite the fact that Maria had an abortion, Toyah couldn't handle John's infidelity and left for a new life in Sheffield, before reconciling with her ex-boyfriend Spider Nugent and moving to London with him, as he had started his own juice company there.

2003-2016

After her departure, Toyah was mentioned numerous times by the Street's residents, mainly by Janice and Leanne. At some point after leaving the street, her and Spider split up. She married a man named Toby Chapman in 2011 and went to stay with him in Liverpool. Leanne was upset when Toyah was unable to make her 30th birthday party that July due to missing her train.

In October 2013, Leanne went to stay with Toyah for a week or so after discovering her husband Nick's infidelity.

On the day of Tina McIntyre's funeral in June 2014, Leanne was called away to attend to Janice at Toyah's flat in Liverpool. While looking after the property, Janice had injured herself trying to climb through a window after locking herself out.

2016-

In mid-2016 Toyah began having an affair with Leanne's ex-husband Peter Barlow after the pair had met at a bar. The pair of them continued to correspond and when Peter returned to the street in November he didn't disclose the relationship. Toyah returned to the street herself the following month on Christmas Day, having left Toby. When Leanne asked what happened, Toyah claimed that Toby got angry which forced her to flee. Toyah and Leanne witnessed a fight between Peter and Nick in the street, as the latter accused Peter of still fancying Leanne. In order not to disclose his secret with Toyah, Peter claimed he still cared for Leanne. Later that evening, Toyah met Peter at a hotel and they slept together.

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Personality

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Relationships

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Hobbies and interests

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Background information

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Toyah Battersby was introduced to Coronation Street as part of the roguish, "family from hell" Battersby clan. The role went to 17-year-old Georgia Taylor, a student of the Willpower Youth Theatre. It was Taylor's first professional acting role; she had originally auditioned for the part of pregnant teenager Zoe Tattersall, which ultimately went to Joanne Froggatt. Toyah first appeared, debuting alongside her stepfather Les and stepsister Leanne, in Episode 4223 broadcast on 4th July 1997, her mother Janice having first appeared seven months previously.

The character of Toyah was named after actress and singer Toyah Willcox who was at the height of her popularity around the time that the character would have been born. Willcox granted the producers permission to name the character after her.

In 1999, Taylor was nominated for Best Dramatic Performance at the inaugural British Soap Awards for her role as Toyah, but lost out to Emmerdale's Kelvin Fletcher. However, she was nominated for the same award two years later in 2001 - hot on the heels on a storyline in which Toyah was raped by Phil Simmonds - and this time walked away with the prize. A few months later, Taylor also won Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards.

In January 2003, Toyah was teased to be murdered by Richard Hillman via ITV1's Killer Corrie promotion. In the trailer she was very briefly seen (alongside Archie Shuttleworth, Audrey Roberts and Emily Bishop) as Richard spoke about his murderous intentions. This was a red herring, as the eventual victim was Maxine Peacock, not seen in the trailer. Toyah departed from the programme, very much alive, the following month.

Over the next thirteen years, Toyah was mentioned by other characters; the character even planned to return for Leanne's 30th birthday party in 2011 but "missed her train". Leanne also visited her sister on multiple occasions, but always offscreen. Georgia Taylor was asked to return for a couple of episodes in 2005 as a guest at Les's wedding to Cilla Brown, but had other commitments.

In 2016, it was announced that Taylor would be returning to the show after a 13-year absence. She returned in Episode 9065, broadcast on Christmas Day of the same year.

First and last lines

"Dad...? Happy birthday!" (First line)

Appendices

List of addresses

*Temporary residence

Address Duration
Oldham May 1982 to Unknown
5 Coronation Street 4th July 1997 to 17th September 1999
3 Coronation Street* 17th September 1999 to 20th September 1999
7 Coronation Street 20th September 1999 to 3rd October 1999
A tent, Red Rec* 3rd October 1999 to 6th October 1999
3 Coronation Street 6th October 1999 to 18th October 1999
Flat 3, 6 Arnica Street 18th October 1999 to 6th September 2000
Rovers Return Inn 6th September 2000 to 15th April 2001
5 Coronation Street 15th April 2001 to 19th February 2002
14a Victoria Street 19th February 2002 to 14th June 2002
2a Coronation Street 14th June 2002 to 5th February 2003
London February 2003 to 2011
Liverpool 2011 to 25th December 2016
8 Victoria Court 25th December 2016 to 3rd February 2017
19a Rosamund Street 3rd February 2017 to 24th July 2017
Rovers Return Inn 24th July 2017 to 8th August 2018
Unknown flat, Tile Street, Weatherfield 8th August 2018 to 26th October 2018
12 Victoria Court 26th October 2018 to 3rd May 2019
19a Victoria Street 3rd May 2019 to 12th August 2022
12 Victoria Court 12th August 2022 to present

Employment history

Role Institution Duration
Waitress Roy's Rolls 1997 to unknown
Barmaid Rovers Return Inn 2000 to 2001
Landlady Rovers Return Inn 24th July 2017 to 8th August 2018
Counsellor Rosamund Street Medical Centre 5th September 2018 to 11th March 2020
Sales clerk Underworld 17th April 2020 to 29th June 2022
Waitress Viaduct Bistro 19th June 2023 to present

See also

Current characters
Ken Barlow | Rita Tanner | Gail Rodwell | Tracy McDonald | Audrey Roberts | Nick Tilsley | Kevin Webster | Debbie Webster | Jenny Connor | Sally Metcalfe | Sarah Barlow | Steve McDonald | David Platt | Daniel Osbourne | Roy Cropper | Leanne Battersby | Toyah Habeeb | Tyrone Dobbs | Dev Alahan | Eileen Grimshaw | Maria Connor | Kirk Sutherland | Bethany Platt | Adam Barlow | Todd Grimshaw | Fiz Dobbs | Simon Barlow | Sean Tully | Chesney Winter-Brown | Amy Barlow | Aadi Alahan | Asha Alahan | Ryan Connor | Carla Barlow | Dylan Wilson | Gary Windass | Mary Taylor | Liam Connor | Brian Packham | Izzy Armstrong | Max Turner | Jack Webster | Hope Dobbs | Beth Sutherland | Craig Tinker | Joseph Brown | Ruby Dobbs | Tim Metcalfe | Jake Windass | Lily Platt | Alya Nazir | Yasmeen Metcalfe | Gemma Winter-Brown | Billy Mayhew | Alex Warner | Harry Platt | Shona Platt | Summer Spellman | Abi Webster | Paul Foreman | Evelyn Plummer | Bertie Osbourne | Ed Bailey | Michael Bailey | Aggie Bailey | Bernie Winter | Aled Winter-Brown | Bryn Winter-Brown | Carys Winter-Brown | Llio Winter-Brown | Nina Lucas | Elaine Jones | George Shuttleworth | Sam Blakeman | Daisy Midgeley | Ronnie Bailey | Glory Bailey | Stu Carpenter | Alfie Franklin | Eliza Woodrow | Glenda Shuttleworth | Dee-Dee Bailey | Lauren Bolton | Cassie Plummer
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