Kelly Neelan, played by
Millie Gibson, made her first appearance in episode 9807, first broadcast on 28 June 2019 and her last appearance in episode 10,752, first broadcast on 23 September 2022. Kelly is introduced as the teenage daughter of
Rick (
Greg Wood) and
Laura Neelan (Kel Allen). When Rick fails to show up for Kelly, she visits his office and bumps into
Gary Windass (
Mikey North). Gary pretends to be a client of Rick's; unbeknownst to Kelly, he has killed Rick in self-defence. Gary pays for Kelly's school fees, although she later attends Weatherfield High School, to Gary's surprise. Kelly is involved in leaking a nude photo of her friend
Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey), which leads to Asha being bullied.
Toyah Battersby (
Georgia Taylor) and
Imran Habeeb (
Charlie De Melo) begin fostering Kelly, after much persuasion from her. Kelly hangs out with a group of friends, including Asha,
Corey Brent (Maximus Evans) and
Summer Spellman (
Harriet Bibby). Shortly after Summer leaves,
Nina Lucas (
Mollie Gallagher) and her boyfriend
Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni) arrive; after her group of friends pressure her, Kelly slaps Nina. Seb and Nina run away, but are attacked by Corey and his friends. Appalled at what she has started, Kelly tries to stop Corey, but he kicks Seb several times in the head while his friends assault Nina. Nina is left with serious injuries and Seb later died. Corey and Kelly are later charged with murder. Imran supports Kelly through her police interview and represents her when the case goes to trial; when Nina remembers that Kelly had tried to prevent the attack and help Nina and Seb, Nina attempts to help her be cleared of murder. However, Corey is cleared and a devastated Kelly is found guilty. She attempts suicide that night, but survives after being rushed to hospital. Nonetheless, later that month Kelly is handed a life sentence, with a minimum of 15 years to be served and the prospect of not being paroled until her early thirties. Kelly's ordeal ends weeks later when Nina and Asha, with the help of a homeless man
Stu Carpenter (Bill Fellows), obtains Corey's bag from the night of the attack – containing his blood-stained tracksuit. After a failed attempt at fleeing the country foiled by Gary, Corey pleads guilty and Kelly is released. In her time in prison, Imran and Toyah have split and had fostered a young child,
Elsie (Arabella Berkeley). Gibson was initially contracted for a five-episode guest stint in the summer of 2019. She was later brought back in April 2020 as a regular character, with her reappearance being explained that Kelly had begun attending Weatherfield High School, the local secondary school. It was stated by
Digital Spy that due to attending the local school, she would "become more closely involved" with
Coronation Street due to "her new links with the teen characters". In September 2020, series producer Iain MacLeod revealed details of an issue-led storyline involving the teenage cast that would be featured on the soap throughout 2021. He confirmed that the "hard-hitting" storyline would be the "central focus" of the year, and would star Kelly, Asha, Nina and
Aadi Alahan (Adam Hussain). Gibson and her character were listed in an
Inside Soap special feature intended to praise the new stars of soaps. They described Kelly as a "wild child" and wrote that she has made a "massive impression" on the soap since her arrival. For the feature, the magazine interviewed Gibson. She admitted that Kelly is a tricky character for viewers to like and sympathise with, but said that she loves Kelly due to understanding her tragic childhood. She opined that Kelly is not a bad person, but is instead a "typical teenager trying to show off". Gillatt likened her to iconic female characters of
Coronation Street, noting that despite being a unique and original character, there is something similar about Kelly that he appreciated. He also praised Gibson, as he felt that she brought life to the character. In August 2022, it was announced by the
Daily Mirror that Gibson had quit
Coronation Street and that Kelly would exit in an "explosive" storyline. Gibson or producers did not reveal anything about Kelly's exit and would not confirm whether she would be able to return in the future or not. Kelly's final scenes were broadcast on 23 September 2022. ==Ray Crosby==