Stu Carpenter, played by
Bill Fellows, made his first appearance on the 6 October 2021. Stu was introduced as a homeless man who
Corey Brent (Maximus Evans) gives his backpack to following his murder of
Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni).
Nina Lucas (
Mollie Gallagher) and
Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey) ask him about the backpack and he later gives them bloodstained clothing from the backpack belonging to Corey, which allows Corey to be charged with Seb's murder. He tells this proudly to
Kelly Neelan (
Millie Gibson), who he finds to be homeless, unaware that she had an involvement in the murder. He encounters
Yasmeen Metcalfe (
Shelley King), who contributed heavily to a local soup kitchen and also offers Stu a job as a chef in Speed Daal. However, one day when Stu was at Speed Daal,
Zeedan Nazir (
Qasim Akhtar) unaware Stu was in the building, allowed his brothers-in-law in to start a fire in the restaurant as part of an insurance scam imposed by his blackmailing and threatening father-in-law
Hashim Elamin (
Vincent Ebrahim). Stu attempted to put the fire out, but was overcome by the smoke and left unconscious. He was rescued by Zeedan, but remained in critical condition in Weatherfield General Hospital. For a time, Stu was the prime suspect for starting the fire, albeit accidentally, though he swore he was innocent of the charge. When Hashim died suddenly of a heart attack, Zeedan was able to point the finger of blame at Hashim and Stu was exonerated. Yasmeen, who had strongly believed Stu was guilty, felt beholden to him for her mistrust and offered him a room at 6 Coronation Street. In July 2022, he decided to reach out to his daughter
Bridget Woodrow (Beth Vyse) again after having no contact since his imprisonment but she turned him away. When Yasmeen stepped in to defend Stu, Stu's ex-wife
Lucy Woodrow (Lynda Rooke) informed her about his conviction; however, Stu reveals that he was innocent, so Stu, Zeedan and
Alya Nazir (
Sair Khan) decide to reopen the case, until the 14 October when Bridget confesses to Stu that it was in fact her that committed the murder and her mother helped her cover it up and frame Stu. After she confesses, Stu decides not to go to the police; however, once Alya had enough evidence to convict Bridget and Lucy, she reported them to the police, and both Bridget and Lucy were arrested for perverting the cause of justice and murder respectively and
Eliza Woodrow (Savannah Kunyo) was placed in care until an assessment could be made on Stu after which she began living with him and Yasmeen. Regarding the storyline, Fellows told
The Mirror: "There are loads of twists and turns. Obviously people are guessing what's gonna go on, but there is so many permutations. No one wins and there are loads of people who get affected by this, and none of it has a happy ending in the end. It's quite tricky." In August 2023, Eliza's father,
Dom Everett (
Darren Morfitt) re-entered her life and wanted to gain custody, leading to a custody battle between him and Stu. However, Eliza wanted to live with her father, causing Stu to feel upset. He phoned Bridget in prison, who was against Dom having contact with Eliza, due to him not being involved or interested in her beforehand. Stu hires a private detective to find out information about Dom, but this went against Yasmeen's wishes. In March 2024, Eliza ended up moving to Germany with Dom, so she could meet her half-brother, Ben. Fellows commented on the storyline regarding the custody battle between Stu and Dom: "Eliza gets upset over wanting to live with Dom and she basically disappears, so Stu wakes up the next morning and she's gone. Stu thinks Dom has come and taken her but it's not true, she's actually freely gone to Dom, it leads to a big confrontation between them and Dom is basically like, if you're not gonna give me that money I'll make sure you suffer." and that Fellows "plans to move on to pursue other roles as his three-year contract comes to an end."
The Sun reported that Stu would depart in an "explosive storyline", Stu departed
Coronation Street on 14 October 2024 to move to Germany to live with Eliza. Fellows discussed his departure: "When I first started it was a six-month contract but with options that took me over three years. I am used to playing lots of different characters and three years seemed a long time to play the same character." Adding that he "needn't have worried", he said: "The three years have flown and this felt like the right time to go, I always knew I would go at the end of the three years." Fellows said that he has "no regrets at all" about his time on Corrie, explaining that "it is the right time to go for me and for Stu". He continued: "I will look back with fond memories and I wouldn't rule out coming back in the future. But Stu has evolved, we started off with a homeless guy who was wrongly accused of murder and then we get to the point three years later where this guy's got almost a quarter of a million pounds and has cleared his name and made a life for himself. I'm really pleased with the story, because it's been fully, fully formed." Speaking about Stu's final weeks in Weatherfield, Fellows revealed that he has been pleased to see Stu coming "full circle" by trying to help Mason make a fresh start after his prison stint: "I was glad that we have revisited the original Stu and his history," he said, recalling Stu's introduction in 2021 as an ally for Kelly Neelan when she was briefly homeless after leaving prison. Now he is trying to help someone else who he believes should be given a second chance," he added. "So we have come full circle. He believes that people should have a chance to redeem themselves, he wouldn't write someone off because they have been in prison." The actor added that the door is being left open for a potential return for his character in the future, saying that "it is good to know that Stu is out there somewhere helping people". Fellows also revealed that he almost played an entirely different
Corrie character before landing the role of Stu: "I auditioned for the role of Roy's brother, Nina's dad, before I got the role of Stu," he said. "I wasn't right for the part but it was for three weeks so it was fate really, because I got this part and stayed three years. I am so proud to have been in Corrie." ==Hashim Elamin==