Gary Windass is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, portrayed by Mikey North. The character first appeared on 14 November 2008, along with his parents, Eddie (Steve Huison) and Anna Windass (Debbie Rush).
In the show, the character was romantically involved with Izzy Armstrong (Cherylee Houston), Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) and Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien). The character was also engaged in feuds with Sarah's brother David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd), Izzy's father Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies), and most prominently, with Anna's rapist Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre).
Gary's story-lines include his conflict with PTSD after joining the army, forming a business partnership with Owen, bonding with his parents' adopted daughter Faye (Ellie Leach), a brief custody battle against ex-girlfriend Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) after she becomes their surrogate and gives birth to Gary and Izzy's son Jake, a close friendship with Faye's biological father Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine), helping Sarah's daughter Bethany (Lucy Fallon) overcome her troubles with bullying in school and being subjugated to child grooming and sexual exploitation by her pimp Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper), a one-night stand with Phelan's daughter Nicola Rubinstein (Nicola Thorp), which results in her giving birth to their son Zack and appointing Faye's boyfriend Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni) to become his apprentice.
In 2019, Gary became the show's main antagonist when he was revealed to be the culprit who caused the death of Alya's sister-in-law, Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia), by sabotaging the Underworld Factory roof in his attempt to sort out his debts to loan shark Rick Neelan (Greg Wood). This led to the collapse of the factory roof and Rana being killed from the incident as a result. The character later killed Rick in self-defense when the latter tried to murder him in the woods, subsequently taking over his criminal empire as a result. Soon afterwards, Gary proceeded to establish a relationship with David's colleague Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon), clash with Rana's brother Imran Habeeb (Charlie De Melo) over the circumstances behind his sister's death, become enemies with ex-girlfriend Sarah's boyfriend Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson) after growing jealous of their newfound romance, develop a feud with Maria's love interest Ali Neeson (James Burrows), hospitalise Ali's brother Ryan (Ryan Prescott) after beating him up for unintentionally stealing his money and blackmail his own client Derek Milligan (Craige Els) into taking part in his scheme to invest the factory - which ultimately sparked the event of Derek instigating a lethal Christmas siege that culminates in his own death, though not after accidentally killing Ali's stepfather Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill) and shooting David's wife Shona Platt (Julia Goulding) in the resulting impact.
Creation The character of Gary was created as part of a new family unit that new producer Kim Crowther introduced to the soap opera, consisting of a mother, father, son and uncle. They were originally billed as a storyline device for the established character David Platt. An ITV spokesperson said of the character and his onscreen family: "The Windass family are very rough and ready, always ducking and diving. Early on they get involved with David Platt when he helps to fit a new kitchen in the Windass family home. However, Anna thinks the work is shoddy and refuses to pay for it. David goes round, rips out the kitchen and sets fire to it outside the family’s house." fellow actress Debbie Rush said of their entrance and choice of surname for the family, that they would be prepared for the public taunts they would receive for their surname. The character was originally called Carl Windass but was changed last minute to Gary Windass after a series of name changes to all the members of the family since their inception, but before appearing on screen.
Upon their on-screen arrival, it panned out almost as planned seeing him arrive as the son of Eddie and Anna Windass. Gary and his uncle Len went after David Platt and Joe McIntyre after David menaced his parents into handing over the money they owed for a new kitchen. Even though he has been brought up by his parents Gary looks up to his uncle who has had a heavy impact on his personality and his antics on the wrong side of the law.
Development The character of Gary is quite one-sided at first with him being presented as a typical bad boy. Actor Mikey North who portrays the character told the Scarborough Evening News that he is a hard nut type of guy but has plenty more side to come out stating: "Gary has a lot of sides to him. He is a bit of a hard nut, but also a charmer with the ladies.". Also he calls his character a lovable rogue. His traits and personality are based on what his onscreen uncle tells him to act like and in an interview with media website Digital Spy he talks about this saying: "He gets it all from his uncle Len, who in a way is his idol. Gary copies his uncle and wants to be like him, even though he realises that it's not the best thing to do." In the same interview he also speaks about the fact that Gary is in love with himself and thinks he can get any girl he wants with his own one-liners and the fact he loves to know that he is succeeding in winding people up with his antics. Popular Corrie coverage website Corrieblog described the character as cunning in the 'thick way' as he knows he would have to face consequences for fighting after he continually wound fellow character David Platt up.
After six months of the character being on screen, North commented more about his character saying: "The first time you step onto the Street you have to stamp your mark as to what kind of character you are. At first, Gary was shouty and happy to be aggressive, but the more you see it, his nicer side is coming out. In the run-up to the court case, you see him showing affection towards his family. He fears the worst. He thinks he's going to go down. He's worried about his mum too."
Storylines
Gary arrives in Weatherfield with his uncle Len (Conor Ryan). Together, they steal tools that belong to local builder Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale). Shortly afterward, Gary and Len steal and burn out a sports car that Joe's stepson David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) and his friend Graeme Proctor (Craig Gazey) had been driving. Gary is later furious when David smugly informs him that the car was already stolen. Gary and the rest of his family later move next door to the Platts' where their quarrel continues to heighten.
On Christmas Eve 2008, he flirts with Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan) in The Rovers Return Inn. The pair then get drunk on Rosie's birthday champagne and end up in bed together that night much to the annoyance of her parents, Kevin (Michael Le Vell) and Sally (Sally Dynevor). The following day, Gary virtually ignores Rosie when he arrives at the Platts' Christmas dinner party. He then gets into a fistfight with David after telling him he has set his sights on his girlfriend - Joe's daughter Tina (Michelle Keegan).
On New Year's Day 2009, Gary constantly pesters Tina, which results in Joe warning him off. In spite of the tension, Gary shares a relatively friendly relationship with Tina and enjoys winding David up by repeatedly bragging that Tina was soon going to be his girlfriend.
After Gary nearly brawls with Joe, he talks Len into helping him steal expensive copper piping from Joe's workplace. Joe is initially the prime suspect, but David tells the police he had seen Gary and Len laughing and driving away the night of the theft. Gary is thrilled to learn that Tina believes he is innocent, as this drives a further wedge between her and David.
In January 2009, Gary continually follows and taunts David following him down the street. During an altercation, Gary mentions several things from David's past, including him driving into the lake in a suicide attempt, and accidentally pushing his mother Gail Platt (Helen Worth) down the stairs. Things escalate when David enters his house, having seen Tina approaching, Gary blocks him from shutting the door and tells him "Come out and fight me like a man or are you scared?" David shoves Gary back and after a few more words the pair fight. Gary gets the better of it and David is left on the floor after the fight, later it emerges that he has a broken nose and concussion. After the fight, Gary flees but he is arrested upon his return. Tina lies to the police after David asks her to; the story also received media attention ahead of the air date.
Gary starts to become very worried that he is going to prison as Tina continues to persist with her claims. He gets very angry when he discovers that Len has been intimidating Tina into changing her story and apologises to her for Len's behavior. On 2 March 2009, Gary's court hearing takes place, during which Tina admits to the prosecution that she had been lying about who started the fight. Gary is cleared of the assault charge much to his relief and his family's delight.
A few months after the verdict, David begins plotting against Gary. He steals tools from Kevin's garage which belonged to Kevin's father Bill (Peter Armitage) and lets Gary take the blame for it, only to defend him, this is a way for him to make Gary believe the air is cleared between the pair as they shake hands and makeup. David tricks Gary into buying stolen goods from him - but they actually belong to Graeme. In June 2009, David takes full revenge on Gary when Gail and his grandmother Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) go abroad. He tricks Gary into robbing a house - which is Audrey's - David steals the keys and hides all photos of his family so Gary will not know whose house he is burgling. While David deliberately stays home during the burglary, he asks Graeme to spy on Gary as he goes to the house, Gary is about to go home when he hears that David is not coming, but instead goes into the house. Graeme tells David about this via phone and David tells him to call the police. However, David's grandfather Ted Page (Michael Byrne), who is house-sitting, arrives at Audrey's. Gary sees him and pushes him as he tries to make a run for it, while Ted chases him. Ted recognises him and calls the police. Gary returns to the Street only to see a police car outside his house. He has no choice but to run away. David's plan to frame Gary and get rid of him has tragic consequences as Ted later has a heart attack, which he survives. Len offers Gary an alibi, but Gary is still arrested, only to be released later. Gary realises that David has set him up and attacks him, warning him not to cross him again. Gary had told his parents and the police that he wasn't robbing Audrey's house, however, he later tells his parents the truth and decides to confess to the police.
Gary apologises to Ted for what happened - although this is halted by David - Ted accepts the apology and even helps build bridges between Gail and the Windass family. However, the Windasses have since been shunned by the rest of the Street; when Gary goes to the corner shop, he is ignored by Tina and taunted by Minnie Chandra (Poppy Jhakra), although Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns) is less judgmental. Gary and his father, Eddie Windass (Steve Huison) are told to get out of the kebab shop by Tina and are later ridiculed by Janice Battersby (Vicky Entwistle) and Sean Tully (Antony Cotton). On 26 June 2009, Gary is sentenced, much to the delight of David, however, Gary tells the police about David's involvement in the burglary and David is the one who is shunned as a result. While Gary is incarcerated, David is beaten up on the street by an unknown attacker. When Gary is released, he gleefully reveals to David that he organised it.