Eddie Windass
| Eddie Windass | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coronation Street character | |||||||||||||||||
 Steve Huison as Eddie Windass (2011) | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Steve Huison | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2008–11 | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 14 November 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 25 April 2011 | ||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Kim Crowther | ||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances | Romanian Holiday (2009) | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Edward "Eddie" Windass is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Steve Huison, the character first appeared on screen during the episode airing on 14 November 2008. On 5 December 2010, it was announced that Eddie is to leave Coronation Street in spring 2011 after being axed by producer Phil Collinson.[1] Huison made his final appearance as Eddie on 25 April 2011. This was Huison's second role in the soap; he previously played criminal Andy Morgan in 2003.
Creation
Background
The character of Eddie 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 established character David Platt.[2] 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."[3] Fellow cast member Debbie Rush spoke about their odd surname and stated they were expecting comments when seen in public about it.[4] Producers also revealed that they had high hopes for the family compared to what happened to Number 6's previous tenants The Mortons.[5]
Development
Personality and identity
Speaking of his character Huison said: "Eddie’s a great character to play, he thinks he’s hard and head of the family, but he’s always one step behind Gary and Len. Eddie is always up to silly scams. He uses crutches but you may notice he doesn’t always limp with the same leg…" [6]
Storylines
The character's storylines start immediately after his first onscreen appearance when David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) and his boss Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale) confront him and his family about a bounced cheque that they had used to pay for their fitted kitchen. Several weeks later, the Windasses move into Coronation Street after renting number 6 from Jerry Morton (Michael Starke).[7] After Anna nags him to find employment, Eddie gets a job as a taxi driver at Streetcars, but is reluctant to hand over any paperwork to Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), due to fiddling Incapacity Benefit.
Eddie plans to start up a darts team, but once he collects the money from the team, he tells them he has been mugged and lost the money. Anna is disgusted and accuses him of going back to his old scheming ways.,[8] Eddie's plan backfires when Kirk Sutherland (Andrew Whyment) approaches him a few days later, telling him that he has spoken to everyone and they have agreed to keep the team going, since it means so much to Eddie. The Rovers' team consists of Dark Destroyer Eddie, Kirk, Kevin (Michael Le Vell) and Bill Webster (Peter Armitage), Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) and Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles). Eddie's ruse is uncovered when a visiting darts team arrive at the Rover's to play against his team. The rival team's captain recognises him as Eddie had tried a similar scam two years before and the team chase him.
In May 2009, Eddie overhears Roy Cropper (David Neilson) giving employee Anna the Roy's Rolls password and account number for the Cash 'n' Carry. He deviously takes the details from Anna's handbag and buys alcohol under the pretence that he is working for Roy. He is the Cash 'n' Carry's millionth customer and wins a city break to Europe. He tells Anna that he is taking her away for a romantic break and that he has been putting money aside to pay for it. However, Eddie's scam is exposed when Roy's wife Hayley (Julie Hesmondhalgh) sees a cardboard cut of Eddie as the millionth customer at the Cash n' Carry. Eddie is then banned from the Cafe by his wife. In July 2009, it is revealed that Eddie and Anna are not in fact married, as he proposes to her. She rejects him and it becomes clear that he has proposed many times previously.
Eddie and Anna deal with son Gary for most of 2009. He goes to prison after a robbery setup, orchestrated by David Platt, and after his release, becomes interested in joining the army. Eddie is reluctant to show emotion but bakes a cake to show Gary how proud he is. Several months later, Gary goes AWOL after a friend loses limbs in battle. Eventually Eddie calls the military police and tells them Gary is at home, because he feels his son needs to face up to his responsibilities. When Gary is away from home, Anna begins keeping an eye on Chesney Brown (Sam Aston) when he's having family problems. Anna decides she wants to adopt a child, and warms Eddie to the idea. They begin a competition with Steve and Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly), who also want to adopt.
In early 2011 Eddie and Anna begin fostering nine-year-old Faye Butler (Ellie Leach). Faye proves to be a handful for the Windasses as she doesn't take to her new home right away, her presence leads to tension between the couple and Eddie reveals he never wanted to adopt. Eddie pleads with Anna to send Faye back, but Anna refuses to give up on her. When Len offers Eddie a job in Germany, he gives Anna an ultimatum to choose between him or Faye. Anna is appalled Eddie has placed her in such a position, and tells him that given the choice, she'd choose Faye every time. With this, the couple end their relationship and Eddie packs his bags before saying goodbye to Gary and leaving for Germany.
Reception
Grace Dent of The Guardian slated the character because of his scrounging ways and shoddy appearance stating: "Gary's dad Eddie has no positive attributes to speak of. None. He's six feet tall with a collapsed orange Sideshow Bob hairdo and an ambidextrous limp which switches from left to right leg depending on which Social Security officer is spying on him. He has a permanently fuddled expression which could be down to Temazepam, plain idiocy or the fact all his good brain cells are engaged in working out how to rob your wallet."[9] Tony Stewart of The Mirror also describes Eddie's character as a scrounger.[10] MSN branded Eddie and his family as chavs and being perfect guests for the Jeremy Kyle show, and going onto to calling them a million miles away from lower class yobbish families 'The Mortons' and 'The Battersbys'.[11] Whereas Simon Swift of Soaplife magazine commented on the fact that on first looks he couldn't help feeling that Eddie and his clan are a bit too much like original neighbours-from-hell the Battersbys.[12] Ben Ashford of The Sun newspaper compared the real life fraud crimes of The Peters family, who came up with a range of illnesses including agoraphobia and alcoholism to swindle state handouts, as that mirroring Eddie and his onscreen family branding both units as 'scroungers'.[13] Kris Green of media website Digital Spy praised and commented on the fact that the Windass clan had 'settled in so well, in such a short space of time', with fellow actor Mikey North stating that their success is down to the good writing and many plotlines the family received in the short time period.[14]
Upon the airing of Eddie's final episodes in April 2011, Jane Simon of The Daily Mirror wrote that she is "gutted" to see the character depart the show and adds that she hopes "the Corrie bosses see sense and decide to glue the Windass family back together before too long".[15]
References
- ^ "Steve Huison to leave Coronation Street".
- ^ Kris Green (124 September 2008). "Corrie's Windass clan and other cast changes". Digital Spy. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Debbie gets fame rush". Heywood Advertiser. M.E.N. Media. 20 November 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Blog Editor (28 October 2008). "Meet Anna Windass". Corrieblog. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Sara Nathan and Jen Blackburn (29 September 2008). "New family oust Mortons at No.6". The Sun. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Emma Clayton (11 December 2008). "Steve set to rock the Corrie boat!". Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Kris Green (14 November 2008). "David confronts the Windass family". Digital Spy. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Kris Green (23 January 2009). "Maria lashes out at Tony in The Rovers". Digital Spy. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Dent, Grace (21 February 2009). "Grace Dent's world of lather". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Tony Stewart (8 November 2008). "Coronation Street: Kitchen sink dramas". The Mirror. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Soaps Editor (7 December 2008). "EastEnders' Tony Is Found Out". MSN. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Simon Swift (4 December 2008). "Meet the Asses". Soap Life. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Ben Ashford (5 February 2009). "Real Windass family milking us". The Sun. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Kris Green (12 May 2009). "Windasses joke about potential plot twist". Digital Spy. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ Simon, Jane (25 April 2011). "We love soaps - Emmerdale, Coronation Street, EastEnders". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 25 April 2011.