List of Coronation Street Characters (2002) - Joe Carter

Joe Carter was played by Jonathan Wrather.

Upon his release from prison in May 2002, after serving two years for fraud, Joe Carter is picked up by factory owner Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) and brought to Coronation Street to work as factory manager in Underworld. He immediately clashes with Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) when he asks his ex-girlfriend Geena Gregory (Jennifer James) out on a date. Dev later tries to warn Joe off accusing him of being a crook just out of jail. Joe is angry and threatens Dev.

Joe successfully woos Geena with his charm and they start going out much to the indignation of Dev. He is infuriated when the factory girls discover that he has been in prison, due to Dev making it public knowledge, in an attempt to split him and Geena up. However, Dev's efforts amount to nothing when Geena gives Joe a second chance. Joe has another enemy in the form of knicker-stitcher Karen McDonald (Suranne Jones), who originally wanted the management position herself. He infuriates her further when he sacks her from the factory.

Joe's relationship with Geena suffers when he is trying to constantly outdo Dev in business matters. In September 2002 when the factory do business with Dev's cousin Naveen Alahan (Parvez Qadir), problems begin to arise when Naveen's cheques keep bouncing. Joe makes some calls and finds out that Naveen's business is about to go into receivership. Without Naveen's money, Underworld is in dnager of going under so Joe takes matters into his own hands. Enlisting the help of Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), both men take a van to Naveen's warehouse. Joe explains to Steve that they are going to break in and get Mike's unpaid for stock back, which Steve is not happy about. They manage to retrieve the stock and flee after they trigger the security alarm.

However, the robbery backfires for Joe when police turn up at the factory to do a routine enquiry. Mike is furious about Joe's reckless actions as he could be an accessory to the crime as he has lied to the police about the missing stock. When Mike points out that there are no buyers to purchase the stock that Joe has retrieved, he decides to con Naveen. He tricks Naveen into buying the knicker order originally meant for him and makes him pay cash. Naveen is furious when he realises what has happened. Dev tells Geena about Joe breaking into the warehouse stealing underwear. Geena confronts Joe and is shocked when he is angry with Dev for telling her. This leads to a violent fight in the Rovers between the two men and Geena breaks up with Joe.

When Geena tells the police that Joe threw the first punch in the fight, Joe manipulates her by saying that her testimony will be the deciding factor in him being sent back to prison. Naive Geena gets back with Joe, not realising that he is using her to get Dev to drop the charges. Dev agrees, on the condition that she ends her relationship with Joe, who in turn suggests to Geena that they pretend that they have broken up. He then goes further by instructing Geena to get back together with Dev, in an effort to consolidate the lie. However, Dev realises that Geena is merely setting him up and throws her out. Joe is getting increasingly worried about the police arresting him and puts it to Dev that if he drops the charges he will dump Geena. He agrees to publicly dump Geena in the Rovers that night. Later on, Dev tells Geena about his deal with Joe and how he has already dropped the charges and says it is up to her what she decides to do. When Joe breaks up with her, as he had promised to Dev, Geena is devastated and leaves Weatherfield.

In February 2003, a drunk Mike offers Joe a share in the factory profits if he will agree to become his partner. After more negotiating, Mike gives control of the factory over to Joe. After he sacks Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh) from her position as supervisor and gives it to Karen instead, Steve becomes suspicious of the relationship between Karen and Joe and accuses them of sleeping together. Over time the factory girls begin to also speculate about the pair, especially after they go clubbing together after a staff night out. Steve's suspicions are once again aroused. Convinced that Karen is having an affair with Joe, Steve punches him and tells him that he is welcome to Karen. However, the McDonalds reconcile, much to disappointment of Joe, who has fallen for Karen. When Joe deliberately flirts with other women to make Karen jealous, his ploy pays off. Joe steps up his campaign to have Karen for himself when he takes her to a business conference in Wolverhampton, where he comes on to her. Although she initially turns him down, she eventually sleeps with him, after her marriage to Steve breaks down when he is unfaithful.

Joe has a master plan that involves Karen. He explains to her that he intends to ruin Mike and take over the factory and asks her to help him to do it. When Joe tempts her with the lure of the possibility of a plush apartment, Karen agrees to the scam. Joe tells Karen that as partner in crime she will have to get Mike to sign cheques to his bogus company, Artrec (an anagram of Carter). Instead, however, Karen forges Mike's signature on Artrec cheques, much to Joe's delight. Just after Mike has signed the final cheque to seal the deal for the couple, he suddenly announces that he is conducting a full stocktake of the factory, much to their horror. Joe and an ex-con friend, Frank Marsden (Martin Walsh), burgle the factory stockroom so that Mike will never know that no stock from Artrec was ever delivered. Joe then takes Mike to a deserted warehouse pretending that this is Artrec's address. They speak to a bogus security guard, Frank, who tells them that Artrec disappeared a few days ago. Frank describes the owner as an Asian man, which makes Mike think that Naveen Alahan is behind the con.

With the factory in fiscal crisis and redundancies being made, Karen's guilty conscience gets the better of her and she confesses everything to Mike. Mike drags Joe into the office and lets him know that he's uncovered the whole scam. Karen overhears Joe telling Mike that the only reason he started a relationship with Karen was so that he could use her for forging cheques. Karen is hurt and angry. To Joe's horror Karen gives Mike a list of every detail pertaining to Artrec that he requested and tells him that she's transferred all the money they stole from him back into his account. To avoid being a laughing stock in the rag trade Mike agrees not to call the police but tells Joe he never wants to set eyes on him again. Joe and Karen row as Joe packs his things to leave. Karen wants to know if he ever loved her at all, to which Joe coldly replies that she had her uses, before leaving Weatherfield.