Corrie: Tony Gordon upsets the huns!

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Exclusive: Coronation St bosses drop anti-Rangers jibe from script
Oct 4 2008
By Paul English

FURIOUS Rangers fans have forced soap bosses to drop anti-Gers jibes. They flooded ITV switchboards after Coronation Street's Tony Gordon, played by Gray O'Brien, had a go at the Ibrox team. Now the producers of the long-running soap have dropped plans for Celtic-supporting Tony to return to the attack in next Wednesday's episode.

Last week, "dozens" of Gers fans rang in with complaints after Tony told fiancee Carla: "I could no more be interested in Rosie Webster than I could support Glasgow Rangers." Chiefs at the soap were stunned by the hail of complaints last Monday. And they have reacted by deleting a line recorded for next Wednesday's episode.

Ayrshire-born actor O'Brien had been scripted to tell Tony's bestman Liam Connor that he's allergic to "warm beer, the English national anthem and Glasgow Rangers". The producers' decision to edit the show to delete the Rangers reference is highly unusual. But Corrie producers were keen to avoid antagonising fans further.

Internet messageboards on both sides of the Old Firm divide went into overdrive following the scene, with Ibrox fans incandescent that their team were taking a kicking on national TV. But online Hoops fans celebrated and even composed a song about the Celtic-daft Corrie character.

The controversy comes just months after scenes of Rangers fans rioting in Manchester at the UEFA Cup Final brought shame to the Glasgow club. But ITV denied the jibes in the Manchester-based soap were in any way connected to the scenes of violence on the city's streets. A spokeswoman for the channel confirmed they received "dozens" of complaints from angry fans following the scene.

She said: "Both comments were in keeping with the character of Tony Gordon. But we have to bear in mind that it does seem to have caused some upset, so the decision was made to take the line out. It doesn't compromise the drama of the episode, and if it did, then the line definitely wouldn't have been taken out. We also felt in the absence of a character balancing things up on the other side of the Old Firm, it was a line not worth repeating."

O'Brien, a Celtic fan in real life, who quit Scottish soap River City last year for Corrie, last night admitted he was surprised by the uproar. He said: "I have no input into the scripts, but I've had to explain the implications to people at Corrie. I certainly wasn't going out of my way to antagonise any Rangers supporters."

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haha, what a bunch of idiots these huns are to phone in and complain about a line that's entirely natural for a bloke from the West of Scotland to say. Though when I heard the line I thought 'ah crap, they've made the baddie into a Celtic fan!'.

[pirtybirdy]

That's true. It just rings true for a character who likes sports to voice who he likes. It's normal banter. Even a guy in the elevator started talking about the local Florida team here, like ah, they won last night, hope they take the series in 4 games....blah blah blah. What he didn't know was that I didn't give a shit, but no need to make unpleasantries in an elevator...lol If the Tony character watches sports, it's natural he'd talk about his favorite team and trash mouth the competition. I think it's natural people would call and complain, but I think the Corrie people should have stuck to their guns and left it in the script.

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I'm boss of an underwear factory.. but fans never send me any knickers
Oct 22 2009
Tim Oglethorpe
dailyrecord.co.uk

HE'S the Coronation Street heartthrob who owns an underwear factory ... but saucy fan mail isn't something Gray O'Brien has enjoyed during his time on the cobbles. The Scottish actor, currently at the centre of a "Does he live or die" storyline, laughed: "I've seen Tony Gordon described as a sex symbol and, playing someone who runs a knicker factory, I thought I would at least get some knickers in the post. But I've had nothing like that, which is slightly disappointing."

"On the plus side, nor have I had any threats from the public, which I think is because most people are wise enough to know I'm not Tony and he's not me. In other words, I'm just a bloke earning a living as an actor, not a psychopathic businessman. Mind you, I did have a guy in a white van pull up next to me the other day, open his window and say: 'Isn't it about time you picked up your P45 and left Coronation Street?' There was no answer to that."

Gray is talking as Street fans are left wondering whether Tony will survive a heart attack, brought on by living with the fact that he arranged the murder of his estranged wife's lover. Tony thought he had got away with Liam's death and, in a bizarre twist, is now engaged to Liam's widow, Maria. But his past came back to haunt him this week in the shape of wife Carla, played by Alison King. She knows the truth and viewers have already seen her taunting Tony. He eventually has a heart attack and, believing he is going to die, confesses to cafe owner Roy Cropper.

Playing scenes in which his character is facing a premature end in a hospital bed have been tough for Gray. "They'll certainly be close to home for a lot of people who have lost friends to heart attacks," he said. "We seem to have lost sight of our quality of life because we're all too busy and stressed. That's where the health problems come in. I know there will be people who will be only too glad to see Tony suffering. But I also hope the storyline makes people think about their health and maybe chill out a bit more, take a bit more exercise."

But it didn't take this storyline to alert Gray to the potential dangers of a stressful life. "I've always tried to get down to the gym as much as I can because I am aware that I've got a potentially stressful lifestyle, which needs keeping under control," he said. "It's why I make a point of living in a country cottage a long way from Manchester where I film Coronation Street, locking the door, turning off the phone and playing my guitar whenever I can."

But our stress-ridden, 21st-century lives meant there were plenty of people to consult when it came to researching this dramatic storyline. "I come across an awful lot of taxi drivers in Manchester who either have suffered heart attacks or know of people who have," said Gray, who has a nine-year-old son, Connor, from a marriage which ended in divorce. "I've also got a mate who had a heart attack earlier this year. What l gathered from talking to people is that heart attacks are not necessarily the wham-bam, sudden affairs you sometimes see in movies, but gradual sensations of pain and tightness across the chest, which either get worse or get treated. One of the guys I spoke to likened it to indigestion. So Tony's heart attack isn't melodramatic.You just see him trying to cope with increasing waves of pain, not to mention his guilty conscience at having had Liam murdered."

If the relationship between Tony and Carla has been poisoned, not so the one between Alison and Glasgow-born Gray. The two actors have become firm friends over the last couple of years, each picking on the other one's weaknesses to raise a laugh. "Alison tries to do this Glaswegian accent whenever we're together in the green room at Coronation Street. "It's the most shocking thing you've heard, not a bit like me," laughed Gray, 41. "I take the mickey out of her remorselessly for it, although she knows how to get her revenge. I'm appearing in panto in Manchester this Christmas, in Aladdin, and the billboards, showing me in full costume with full eye make-up as the evil Abanazar, are just across the road from where we film Coronation Street. There've been there since March so you can imagine the stick I've taken from Alison and others in the cast."

Alison is back on the cobbles after maternity leave and is liable to look a little misty-eyed if you mention her seven-month-old daughter, Daisy May. But is her Corrie character a killer by association? Carla's return to Weather field prompts the rapid deterioration in the health of her estranged husband, which may, or may not, end in his premature death. A nation could be about to shout "Good riddance" if the heart attack Tony suffers proves fatal. But how much blame should attach itself to Carla?

"She's definitely the one who has helped put him under real pressure," admitted Alison, 36. "She may well have known his father and grandfather died prematurely from heart attacks. By returning toWeatherfield and threatening him with the police if he doesn't come clean about arranging for the murder of Liam, the pressure she puts on him may be intolerable. But murderess, cold-hearted killer? That's probably putting it a bit strongly. Butter wouldn't melt in Carla's mouth any more than it would melt in mine." Alison says this with a knowing smile on her face.

She may be a quietly-spoken actress suffering from sleep deprivation due to the night time wailings of her baby daughter, but she is well aware that her character is a whole different kettle of fish. "She's a bitch and she always manages to shake up Weatherfield when she clicks down those cobbles in her high heels," said Alison. "But I think, in her heart, she still loves Tony and probably wouldn't want to see him dead, just very scared. Mind you, when you consider some of the things he's done to her over the years, not least having her lover killed, maybe that love has pretty much evaporated."

Alison, who lives in Cheshire with Corrie sound technician partner Adam Huckett, 30, admits she has "got away lightly" when it come to abuse from the fans. "Carla is probably not a woman you would want to do business with and definitely not somebody you would want to cross," she said. "But I think people admire her, especially women. She doesn't take any bullshit and speaks her mind. I think that kind of no-nonsense attitude makes her a bit of a hero in the eyes of viewers and means I don't get any stick from the public. Mind you, if they reckon Carla was responsible for lovable heartthrob Tony's heart attack, it might be a different story."

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[SpursFan1902]

Ok, I am sorry, I know that some would think Tony Gordon handsome..(personally he is too clean cut for me, he looks too comfortable in a suit) and I am sure that some would relish his bare chest, but don't the hospitals in Manc land have gowns??? Good God, you would think now that all the monitor wires were off, they would cover him up. He's going to catch his death from a cold!!

[faceless]

haha yeah and he didn't even have any monitors on him - when I was in hospital with that wee heart problem last year they had me hooked up for almost a week to make sure it wasn't recurring.

I wish I'd shaved my chest though - taking those sticky tabs off was a killer!

[SpursFan1902]

Ooohh ouch...I can just imagine. Bet you didn't confess to any murders, did ya, Face?

[faceless]

nah - guilt is for wimps! haha

[pirtybirdy]

I didn't start out thinking Tony Gordon was hot, especially since I sometimes have no fucking idea what he's saying(fuhgeddaboutit), but like most of the Corrie cast, he's grown on me, and I've enjoyed watching his gentler side with Maria. He's cutish now for me. I'd do 'im.

[SpursFan1902]

He's too GQ for me...I'd do him, but I would make sure he was gone before breakfast! Seriously, I don't trust him and that makes him unattractive in my book.

[SpursFan1902]

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Maria Connor learns Tony's secret
10 November 2009

Maria Connor "goes crazy" when she finds out Tony Gordon killed her ex-husband in 'Coronation Street'. Samia Smith has told of how distraught Maria is when she finally learns the truth that the man she has recently become engaged to is actually the murdered of Liam. She said: "She goes crazy when she finds out Tony was really behind Liam's death. She feels betrayed, shocked, and physically sickened that she could've loved this man and let him into her family."

Tony (Gray O'Brien) had previously confessed his secret to cafe owner Roy Cropper after suffering a heart attack, who had in turn told his wife Hayley and then the police - who subsequently re-opened the case of Liam's death. Tony was directly responsible for the murder, a hit and run accident carried out by a hitman under orders from the evil factory boss.

Samia also explained how Tony lies to Maria right to the bitter end, when all is revealed to her by police officer DC Smith. She added: "Maria's been at a day spa, but she returns home to find out that the police are looking into Liam's murder again. She slips out of the house because she wants to find out what's going on from Tony. It doesn't matter what he tries to say to her, though - she doesn't believe he's telling her the whole truth, and rushes over to the cafe to talk to Hayley."

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Fireworks!

She was running about like a mad woman when she thought Tony had killed Liam before, so this should be tasty!

[pirtybirdy]

Her in laws Helen and Barry will have her for luncheon meat for this one. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to fight for custody by saying Maria is a poor judge of character, but this could only happen in the soap world, so not sure if Corrie would go that route or not.

[SpursFan1902]

Yeah, the mil was something else! I don't know what this Liam looked like, but he would have had to be able to stop traffic in order for me to put up with that woman!!

[faceless]

It's all on for tonight... I think it will be the most-watched episode for a long time.

[SpursFan1902]

Yippie!! I can' wait!!