Stephen Reid

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Villain Overview Gallery

Evil-doer
Full Name	Stephen Reid
Alias	Stephen Potter
Origin	Coronation Street
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Powers / Skills	Charisma Deception High intelligence Hand-to-hand combat prowess Wielding wheelie bins Wealth
Hobby	Spending quality time with his family. Hiding his darker side from those around him.
Goals	Embezzle thousands of pounds from his mother Audrey to pay off his ex-wife. Murder Leo Thompkins to stop him revealing the truth to Audrey. Cover up Leo's murder (all succeeded). Kill Teddy Thompkins in hospital to stop him revealing the truth to Jenny (failed). Kill Teddy Thompkins to stop him from going to the police about him killing Leo. Get Rufus Donahue to sign a contact with Underworld by using blackmail. Convince Carla to let him take control of Underworld by convincing her she is mentally unwell. Murder Rufus Donahue to get him out of the way (all succeeded). Murder Elaine Jones to get her out of the way. Murder Tim Metcalfe for discovering his crimes. Escape to Thailand with Jenny Connor (all failed).
Crimes	Breaking and entering Embezzlement Identity theft Vandalism Conspiracy Murder Theft Burglary Arson Stalking Criminal damage Fraud Incrimination Assault Blackmail Drugging Psychological abuse Extortion Trespassing Abduction Attempted kidnapping
Type of Villain	Opportunistic Businessman

Stephen Reid is a fictional character and major antagonist of the ITV British soap opera Coronation Street.

In his characterization, Stephen Reid is the half-brother of Gail Platt and the son of their mother Audrey Roberts. He was an affluent Canadian entrepreneur who initially lived in Milan, whereupon he married a woman named Gabrielle in 1999. Sometime between 2015 and 2022, however, their marriage broke down to the point where Stephen had dire financial straits and ended up stealing Gabrielle's money before fleeing to Milan. He returned to Coronation Street for false reasons and began to settle with his family, but it soon turned out that Stephan's intent was to steal Audrey's money in order to pay off Gabrielle after she tracked him down - which in turn led to Stephen developing a darker and more antagonistic side with traits similar to that of Gail's late villainous husband Richard Hillman.

He was portrayed by Todd Boyce.

Biography

Background information/prior to villainy

Stephen Reid was born as the illegitimate child of Audrey Roberts in 1957. Because of the stigma of single mothers around that time period, she was forced to give Stephen up, and he was adopted by a family next door called the Reids. The family moved to Canada around 1960, but Audrey maintained contact with them. She gave birth to a daughter named Gail, although she would shield Stephen's existence from her and other people for over twenty years. The truth came out in 1988, when Audrey was informed by Stephen's adoptive father, Malcolm Reid, that Stephen was involved in a car accident, with Audrey flying over to see him.

Stephen visited the street from 1996 to 1997 and met his family, and his nephew Nick Tilsley moved to Canada to work for Stephen. He married Gabrielle off-screen in 1999. He visited the street again in December 2007 to see his family near the festive holidays and offered his troublesome nephew David Platt a job at Stephen's expanding business in Milan. After David was caught with drugs on him, the job was offered to his niece Sarah (who had set David up), and she relocated to Milan with her daughter Bethany. Sarah was fired by Stephen in 2015 for failing to file an important document at work, so she returned to Weatherfield with a now-teenaged Bethany.

Return to the street

In June 2022, Stephen would return to Coronation Street for this first time in almost 15 years after he was contacted by his niece Sarah Barlow telling him that his mum Audrey Roberts was going on a downwards spiral and had developed a drinking problem. The moment Stephen arrived on the street he imminently discovered that Audrey had been in a terrible accident in the barbers and quickly rushed her into hospital and was fuming with rest of the Platt family. Afterward, he would have several arguments with his sister's family, especially his nephew David Platt, but they eventually made up after realizing they all want what's best for Audrey - or so we thought.

His true intentions are revealed

After Audrey's accident, she put a lot of trust in Stephen and even suggested opening up a trust fund for all her money, which Stephen loved the idea of even though the rest of the family objected to it. It became more clear as the weeks went on that Stephen's true intentions were to get his hands on all of his mom's money, as he appeared to have gone broke after he split from his wife. He would then make several attempts to get Audrey to sign the trust fund papers, but she was slowly going cold on the idea, which angered Stephen, and he was left fuming when she told him she wouldn't be going ahead with it anymore, and so Stephen took his anger out on some bins.

Seducing Jenny Connor

After concluding that his plan to obtain Audrey's money has failed, he must seek alternative sources of funding as his funds are rapidly depleting. And so he was delighted to find out that the Rovers' Returns landlady, Jenny Connor, was recently single, so he took this opportunity to seduce her and get his hands on her money instead. This initially worked, as he managed to get into the back room with Jenny, and they shared a kiss before Gemma Winter walked in and caught them in the act. Afterwards, Jenny's ex-boyfriend, Leo Thompkins, proposed to her, which she accepted, and she then told Stephen their kiss was an accident and he shouldn't say anything to anyone, and Stephen, with yet another plan of his failings, reluctantly agreed.

The Return of Gabrielle

In September, Stephen was shocked to see his ex-wife Gabrielle arrive on the street and demand money from him. It was then revealed that when the pair separated, Stephen stole a bunch of money from Gabrielle, and now she wants it back. Stephen needed a new plan, so he went back to his plan to get Audrey's money, so he sent her and Gail to a spa one day and planned to get an estate agent round to sell Audrey's house and give the money from it to Gabrielle; however, this plan also failed when the estate agent arrived early and saw Audrey. Stephen quickly brushed this off to Audrey, explaining it was a mistake; however, Leo wasn't so sure and became suspicious of Stephen. Later, Stephen promised Gabrielle he'd get her the money despite Leo getting in the way.

The Murders of Leo & Teddy Thompkins

Now needing a new drastic plan to get the money, Stephen began threatening Gabrielle to stay away, but she wasn't backing down, and Leo began to get more and more suspicious. One day Leo confronted him in the Rovers, only for Stephen to reveal his kiss with Jenny, resulting in Leo punching him in the face and making Leo look like the bad guy. Still determined to catch Stephen out, Leo pretended to work for Stephen to get answers about the house situation and found out that Stephen had indeed been lying; he then followed Stephen into the Underworld, where he overheard a conversation between Stephen and Gabrielle revealing everything. After Leo made Stephen know he knew everything, they had a heated confrontation on the gantry of Underworld, and when Leo told Stephen he was going to tell the police and Audrey, a fight was insured. With Leo being the much younger and fitter man, he brushed Stephen off, only for Stephen to hit Leo over the head and dump him over the gantry into a massive bin, killing him.

Stephen initially freaked out because he couldn't believe he had killed someone, but when Sarah came into the bin yard and invited him to the bistro for dinner, he had no choice but to leave Leo in the bin. Luckily, the bin men didn't arrive that day, so later that night, he returned to the scene of the crime and took care of Leo's body by transporting him from the bin into the back of his van. The next day, after presumably getting rid of Leo's body, Stephen breaks into the backroom of the Rovers and steals Leo's passport and his suitcase full of his clothes. He then goes to a distant field and burns everything, getting rid of all evidence of his murder. With everyone seemingly thinking that Leo has emigrated to Canada, Stephen has now gotten away with murder.

Later, Leo's father, Teddy, reached out to Jenny with some news about Leo, which sent Stephen into panic mode. So when Teddy returned to the street, he told Stephen that he knew Leo never arrived in Canada and then accused Stephen of having something to do with Leo's "disappearance," but as he threatened to tell Jenny, he was crossing the road and he was obliterated by a van, much to Stephen's delight. While Teddy initially survived, Stephen attempted to kill him in the hospital by squeezing his oxygen tubes but was stopped by Jenny, who fortunately for Stephen didn't see anything.

Later, Teddy wakes up from his coma but suffers from amnesia, so he fails to remember anything from before his accident, much to the delight of Stephen. Jenny invites Teddy to move into the Rovers while he recovers in the hope that he'll recall something from the accident, but eventually he decides to go back to Canada to try and speak to Leo. Stephen tells him not to, however, in a bid to stop him from uncovering the truth, and at first this works, but after speaking to local vicar Billy Mayhew, Teddy's memory comes back to him. Teddy then confronts Stephen outside the Underworld and tells him he knows everything, so Stephen quickly invites him inside. Once inside, Teddy tells Stephen he thinks he killed Leo in order to have Jenny to himself and announces he's going to the police, so an angry Stephen picks up a hole puncher and whacks Teddy over the head with it, which kills him instantly. Now claiming his second victim, Stephen panics and grabs Audrey's roof box and stuffs Teddy into it, and Teddy is loaded on top of Audrey's car with the help of oblivious residents Tim Metcalfe, Kevin, and Abi Webster. But after having a conversation with Jenny inside the factory, Stephen came out to shock and horror as he found the car gone, and Sarah told him that Audrey had taken the car to the Peak District with Teddy's body lying on top. The next day Stephen franticly waits for his mom to return home but is horrified to learn that the car broke down and had to be taken to a garage, but luckily for him Audrey returns home with the car (and Teddy). However, more disaster strikes when the car doesn't start and David takes it to the repair shop. Stephen is now convinced Teddy's body is about to be discovered and begins to admit defeat by drinking himself into oblivion, but he has another stroke of luck when David returns with Teddy's corpse still safely locked away in the roof box. So Stephen quickly springs into action and takes the car to the canal and dumps Teddy's body in there by making it sink to the bottom with rocks, and Stephen has now gotten away with another murder.

Drugging Carla Barlow

Now convinced he's gotten away with his two murders Stephen plots to takeover Underworld but there's just one person standing in his way, Carla. Being the iron lady she is Carla makes life difficult for Stephen at the factory which includes belittling him in front of his co-workers and bossing him around on regular basis which aggravates him. Stephen then plots with Sarah and her business partner Michael Bailey to bring Underworld and Carla down by starting their own rival clothing business. He manages to strum up a contract with local rich business man Rufus Donahue and Stephen excitedly gets ready to tell Carla where to stick her job, however this all goes up in a puff of smoke when Carla speaks to Rufus and explains to him that all Michael's designs are actually owned by Underworld so it would be illegal to proceed with them and so Rufus declines his offer and leaves which makes Stephen hungry for revenge. The next day Carla instructs Stephen to go and get Rufus to sign a contract to work with Underworld and so he travels to his hotel. When there Rufus seems completely uninterested and instead offers Stephen some cocaine, he declines and Rufus goes to snort it in the bathroom. While Rufus is getting high Stephen discovers some LSD in his briefcase and pockets it and when Rufus comes out of the bathroom he suffers a heart attack and collapses so Stephen has to call for an ambulance. After the paramedics take Rufus to hospital, Stephen attempts to forge his signature on the contract however he has no luck and then he hears a knock at the door only to discover an escort named Candice who Rufus had hired. He is quick to correct her but after she threatens him he strums up a deal with her that he says will benefit them both. Later at the hospital he asks Rufus again to sign the contract but he refuses and mocks Stephen which he doesn't take to kindly to so he blackmails Rufus by saying if he didn't sign the contract he'd tell his wife about Candice and so he finally signs the contract.

Later in the week, Stephen arrived at work only to discover that Carla had demoted him in order to reinstate Sarah. He was livid, so he came up with a plan to get his revenge. After saying he was fine with the demotion, he began to spike Carla's drinks with the LSD he got from Rufus' briefcase, which slowly sent her loopy and made her question if her psychosis had returned. Her husband Peter blamed the stress of working at the factory; however, she shrugged it off and went back to work the next day. However, Stephen continued to drug her drinks with nobody suspecting a thing, and later she discovered she had missed an important business meeting thanks to Stephen messing with her diary to further convince her she was mentally ill. She then jumped into an Underworld van after Abi refused to give her her car and drove erratically down the street, only to crash into Paul Foreman, who was riding Peter's motorbike. Paul turned out to be fine after later getting checked out at the hospital, but this made Peter question Carla's mental health further and tell her she shouldn't return to the factory for a while. Carla later told Stephen that she would be taking a step back and asked him and Sarah to take over for a while, which he gleefully accepted, and after she left, he let out a sinister smirk after realising his sinister plan had worked.

Even after succeeding in his plan to takeover the factory Stephen still continued to spike Carla's drinks by paying visits to her in her flat but after she takes a funny turn Peter calls a doctor to have a look at her as he fully suspects her psychosis is back. Eventually she checks herself into a mental health ward and officially hands the factory over to Stephen and Sarah, this is made even more certain when the factory staff put a vote of no confidence into Carla in order for her to focus on her health.

Killing Rufus Donahue

Just as Stephen thought that all his schemes had finally paid off with Leo, Teddy, and Carla out of the way, he ran into another problem with Rufus. After Stephen previously blackmailed Rufus in order to get him to sign a contract, the tables are now turned on him when Rufus tells him that he saw Carla and has come to the conclusion that Stephen has been spiking her with his LSD, and Rufus then reveals that he and his wife have separated so he can no longer be blackmailed by Stephen. Rufus used this opportunity for payback on Stephen by saying he wanted ownership of Underworld's Nippersnapper American deal or he'd tell everyone what he's been doing to Carla. Stephen reluctantly agreed and was forced to pull out of his current deal, which cost him and Underworld a lot of money. Later, when Rufus was in Stephen's office discussing his demands, Stephen picked up the same hole puncher he used to kill Teddy and looked to do the same to his new nemesis, but he was stopped when Michael arrived. Michael then started digging around and managed to get the original American deal back on, and when Rufus found out about this, he decided he was fine with it, but he wanted 25% of all the profits, which Stephen had to accept.

Rufus then reappeared the next week and now demanded 50% of the profits, which enraged Stephen, but he had no choice but to accept if he wanted his secrets safe, and to make Stephen even more infuriated, he offered Michael a job in London, and later on, Michael quit working at Underworld and insulted Stephen in front of the whole pub, and so Stephen, now more angry than ever, stormed over to Rufus' house with a killer's intent. Once inside, he proceeded to get Rufus heavily drunk, and when he wasn't looking, he slipped some of his famous LSD into Rufus drink, which caused him to get even more intoxicated, and finally, he launched a premeditated attack by pushing Rufus into his swimming pool and holding his head under the water, causing him to drown. By doing this, Stephen had claimed his third victim, officially making him a serial killer.

Demise

In October 2023, Stephen's crimes were finally exposed as his dark secrets gradually came to light after his family and closest ones learn the truth about his illict antics. He was ultimately killed by Carla's husband Peter Barlow when the latter incidentally ran him down during his last-ditch attempt to escape Weatherfield.

Victims

Murders

• Leo Thompkins - Dumped off the Underworld gantry.
• Teddy Thompkins - Bludgeoned with a hole puncher.
• Rufus Donahue - Forcibly drowned in his swimming pool.

Attempted Murders

• Teddy Thompkins - Tried squeezing his oxygen tubes whilst he was in hospital.
• Carla Barlow - Tried to set her flat on fire while she was sleeping.
• Elaine Jones - Left her to die after he drugged her with caffeine tablets which caused her to bang her head on a table.
• Tim Metcalfe - Hit him over the head with a pipe, then attempted to strangle him.

Trivia

• The character was born in 6th February 1957, over three years before the show had first begun in 9th December 1960.
• Stephen is the longest time a villainous character has appeared to be initially good/neutral before evolving into an antagonist. It was 26 years between 1996 to 2022 in which Stephen was portrayed as fine before his true colours were shown to the audience (or 34 years if you count his first mention back in 1988). Most villains are revealed to be bad either during or shortly after their debut on the show, such as Alan Bradley, Pat Phelan, Richard Hillman, Jez Quigley, Tony Gordon or Karl Munro as examples.