List of Coronation Street Characters (2003) - Charlie Stubbs

Charles "Charlie" Stubbs was a builder. He arrived in November 2003 and was a regular for three years until his murder in January 2007. Charlie was portrayed by Bill Ward.

Charlie Stubbs first appears along with another builder in 2003, needing a parking space for his bulldozer, but Mike Baldwin refuses to move his car so Charlie lifts Mike's Jaguar up with the bulldozer in response. Mike only just manages to stop his car being smashed.

Charlie initially seems to be a nice person, although a bit of a ladies' man. He flirts with Deirdre Barlow on learning that she works for the council so she'll recommend him for building contracts and has a casual relationship with Bev Unwin. Unfortunately Bev feels more for Charlie than he does for her so she doesn't take it well when he ends their relationship. Particularly as his next girlfriend is her daughter, Shelley Unwin, causing trouble between Bev and Shelley. Struggling to cope with this, Bev leaves for a while and Charlie's relationship with Shelley is happy for a time but slowly Charlie's true nature emerges. Although he rarely hurts her physically, Charlie isolates Shelley from her family and friends and as part of a campaign of psychological abuse, Charlie tells Shelley that he has heard Sunita Alahan, her best friend, insult her behind her back.

One day, he walks into the Rovers back room just as Shelley is leaving, accidentally giving her a black eye. Knowing what people will think, Charlie asks Shelley to stay out of sight until it heals. She agrees and stays in her bedroom and wanting to make her comfortable, Charlie moves the sofa and television up from the back room but this makes Shelley agoraphobic. Initially thrilled that Shelley is now solely dependent on him, he soon gets bored. Feeling bad about herself, she refuses to sleep with Charlie so he starts cheating on her. He kisses barmaid Violet Wilson, despite her dating his employee, Jason Grimshaw, and takes another woman to the Rovers, sleeping with her in the back room, and on his stag night. Shelley's mother, Bev Unwin, despises Charlie as he destroyed their mother-daughter relationship and does her best to split them up. Eventually, Charlie asks Shelley to marry him. She is over the moon and instantly agrees. The wedding takes place in September 2005, but Shelley jilts Charlie at the altar, delighting many Weatherfield residents who are convinced he is abusing her.

They split up and Charlie begins dating Tracy Barlow in December. After a brief relationship, Charlie invites Tracy to move in with him but is not pleased when she brings her daughter, Amy, with her. Charlie refuses to allow Amy to live with them so Tracy leaves Amy with her parents, Ken and Deirdre, but Tracy plans to manipulate Charlie to allow Amy to move in. She tells him she is pregnant, much to his horror, so he gives her the money for an abortion but she spends it on shoes. Following her 'termination', Tracy claims that she needs her daughter so Charlie allows Amy to move in. After Steve McDonald's girlfriend tells him she saw Tracy in a posh shoe shop when she was supposed to be having the termination, Charlie confronts Tracy, who admits her lie. Charlie doesn't end the relationship but Charlie takes revenge by throwing away one of the shoes and warns her never to cross him again.

Charlie makes an enemy of pensioner Keith Appleyard, who refuses to pay a roofing bill, feeling it is too expensive so Charlie removes the roof tiles and on learning that the house is for sale, meets Keith's landlord to make him an offer which is accepted. Charlie triumphantly evicts Keith, forcing him and his grandson, Craig, to leave Weatherfield. When Keith leaves, Charlie plans to renovate the property and sell it but Tracy convinces him that they should move in and rent out the flat, to which he eventually agrees.

In summer 2006, Shelley is leaving to start a new life in Derbyshire but Charlie plans to sleep with her to prove that he will always have a hold over her. He succeeds and gleefully informs Shelley of his motives following their one night stand. A guilty Shelley reveals the fling to Tracy, who slaps her on finding out. Charlie denies it but Tracy doesn't believe him. However, at her leaving party, Shelley's mother, Bev, is heartbroken when she finds out and attempting to calm Bev, Shelley tells her it was a ploy to end his relationship with Tracy. On finding out, Tracy humiliates Shelley in front of a packed Rovers before reuniting with Charlie. Shelley returns in September and reveals that she is pregnant with Charlie's baby. Tracy finds out, resulting in another fight between her and Shelley. A furious Charlie threatens Shelley to have an abortion but Shelley refuses, telling him he will know nothing about her child and leaves for good, leaving Tracy and Charlie's relationship in tatters. Tracy eventually forgives Charlie but warns him that if he ever cheats on her again, she would make him suffer. Charlie doesn't take her seriously though and rents his flat to hairdresser Maria Sutherland and they begin an affair in August 2006. Charlie lies about the state of his and Tracy's relationship and stages a burglary, attempting to make her depend on him but he loses control when troublesome teenager, David Platt, then infatuated with Maria, discovers the affair. David attempts to blackmail Charlie so Charlie tries to drown him in the bath but Maria walks in and rescues David. Horrified, Maria ends the affair and tells Tracy the truth, leading to a catfight on the Street. Enraged that Charlie has betrayed her again, Tracy begins plotting Charlie's downfall, coming up with a plan to make it look like he is domestically abusing her and succeeds in convincing Claire Peacock, their next door neighbour.

In January 2007, Charlie's final days came. When Tracy gets neighbour Claire Peacock to keep a diary of times when Charlie bullies, threatens or hurts her, her family and the police get involved so Charlie asks Tracy to leave but she refuses, threatening to have an affair of her own so when he finds Tracy's brother, Peter Barlow, in the shower, Charlie thinks Tracy is having an affair and assaults him badly and is jailed for a night. He wakes up in the cells the next day and while he's at his trial, Claire and Tracy talk about the 'abuse' but Charlie catches her in the house and throws Claire out. Later, Charlie says he's got five days of community service before getting drunk to the song 'Whatever' by Oasis. Tracy turns up the music so Claire thinks that Charlie's being mean to Tracy and chasing her up and down the stairs. Just as Charlie is about to throw Tracy out, she lures him into a lap-dance. Charlie then becomes passionate with Tracy. He sits to watch the dance, but Tracy hits him over the head with an iron statue, but the first hit merely stuns him. Charlie attempts to get up but falls to his knees and Tracy tells Charlie how much she hates him for what he's done to her and hits him again, knocking him unconscious. Tracy then grabs a large knife and places it in Charlie's hand, stabbing herself and trashing the room to make it seem that they had a fight. Unfortunately Tracy's plan isn't as successful as she wanted and the police interview her about her version of events and arrest her as Charlie is in fact, still alive, and she fears that Charlie will wake up and tell everyone the truth. However, he dies later that week and despite putting on a good front for the lawyer specialising in domestic abuse, is found guilty and is sentenced to 15 years. Much to everyone's surprise, Tracy's conviction is later quashed after it is revealed that the chief pathologist on the case is discovered to have fraudulent qualifications.

On 9 April 2007, it is revealed that Charlie Stubbs is the father of Holly Grimshaw. Holly's mother, Emma, gives Eileen her baby on Christmas Day 2006, thinking Jason is the father. Emma later reveals that Charlie gave a false name on the night of Holly's conception. Consequently, Emma delivers her baby to the Grimshaw residence, believing she is leaving her child with the father. However, after reading about Tracy's trial in the press, Emma realises her mistake and Holly is returned to her.

Although primarily remembered as a villain, Charlie did occasionally show a more good-natured side of his personality - most notably, when he risked his life to save Sunita Alahan by running into a burning building and rescuing her after she and Dev were held hostage by Maya Sharma, and then running out into the road to prevent Maya from running Dev over minutes later.