Backstory Prior to arriving in
Weatherfield, Tony was born in
Glasgow in 1971, followed by his younger brother Patrick. His father had a
heart attack aged 39. Tony, however, had witnessed this, but didn't phone an ambulance as he felt his mother was better off without him. His grandfather had died aged 42 from a heart attack. In 1998, Tony married Lindsay (
Susie Amy), who later had an affair with his brother, Patrick. Tony was a womaniser and only cared about money and mostly himself. He had run a business known as "Gordons Catalogues", and was also a property developer. In 2006, Tony and Lindsay divorced although she thought that he would eventually come back to her.
2007–2010 Tony arrives in
Coronation Street in September 2007 as the owner of a clothing firm, giving a contract to
Carla Connor (
Alison King) and
Liam Connor's (
Rob James-Collier) lingerie factory Underworld. He was unpopular with local residents for commissioning a new housing development in the area, destroying a bat roost in the process, much to the anger of bat enthusiast
Roy Cropper (
David Neilson). Planning to expand the
Underworld factory, Tony attempts to convince shopkeeper
Rita Sullivan (
Barbara Knox) and mechanic
Kevin Webster (
Michael Le Vell) to sell their properties to him. When Kevin refuses, Tony enlists his friend
Jimmy Dockerson (
Robert Beck) to sabotage his business and persuades Kevin's daughter,
Rosie Webster, to give him the garage accounts. He also bullies elderly resident
Jed Stone (
Kenneth Cope) out of his home, wanting to redevelop the site. Tony begins a relationship with Carla, unaware she has romantic feelings for Liam. She breaks up with him in order to prove her feelings to Liam, but they later reconcile, becoming engaged. However, Rosie is aware of Carla and Liam's feelings for each other and tries to seduce Tony, but he makes it clear that he is not interested; so she shows him footage of Carla and Liam kissing the morning after their one-night stand. In revenge, he hires Jimmy as a hitman to kill Liam, running him over on Tony's stag night. A distraught Carla briefly leaves the country; but marries Tony upon her return. Upon discovery of Carla's affair with Liam, his widow
Maria (
Samia Ghadie) begins to suspect Tony's involvement in his death. She confides in Jed Stone, who threatens to go to the police. Tony strangles Jed and initially believes him to be dead. He plans to dispose of his body, initially concealing his body inside a clothing container in
Underworld, but is shocked to discover that Jed is in fact, still alive when the staff return and hear him shouting for help. He offers him a new flat in
Wigan and £3,000 as hush money to leave Weatherfield and keep quiet. Maria begins a vendetta against Tony but he attempts to depict Maria as mentally unstable, raising Carla's suspicions in the process. When Carla eventually confronts Tony and demands the truth, she tells Tony that she loved Liam more than him, and Tony admits to having him killed. Carla escapes and flees to
Los Angeles. Tony has a short-lived relationship with hairdresser
Natasha Blakeman (
Rachel Leskovac). Maria begins to soften towards Tony when she finds him at Liam's grave. They become friends, and Tony supports her during her pregnancy and delivers her son, who she names Liam Anthony; his forename in honour of his late father and middle name as a tribute to Tony. Liam's parents disapprove of the developing relationship, leading Tony to threaten that if they do not leave Maria alone, they will never see their grandson again. Eventually, the relationship becomes romantic and Maria and Tony become engaged. Carla returns to Weatherfield, and instructs Tony to sell his shares in
Underworld to her and leave the country; or she will tell the police what he did. Tony hires Jimmy to kill her but changes his mind at the last moment. Carla escapes from Jimmy by knocking him unconscious but Tony makes her think she has murdered him, leading them to call a temporary truce. Carla then leaves the country yet again. While Maria visits her parents in
Cyprus, Tony suffers a
heart attack. He is taken to hospital by Roy, with whom he had previously clashed over the new housing development and confesses Liam's murder to him. He tries to buy Roy's silence but it doesn't work so he begins threatening him. Roy and his wife
Hayley (
Julie Hesmondhalgh) report him to the police and Roy decides to go bat spotting at the canal. When Maria comes looking for answers, Hayley tells her everything, unaware Tony is hiding behind the café counter with a knife. This upsets Tony even more and he goes to the canal and tries to kill Roy, but Tony's mobile phone rings alerting Roy of his presence, so he pushes Roy in the water due to him being unable to swim but has a change of heart, rescues him and confesses everything to the police. On 11 December 2009, Carla visits Tony in prison where he admits that Jimmy is still alive. He asks her if she thinks Maria will forgive him and she tells him that she never would and that he would be going to hell on his own, before leaving. Tony reappears on 28 May 2010, as he plots his escape from prison with the help of cellmate
Robbie Sloan (
James Fleet). Tony feigns a heart attack after initiating a riot at the prison and is quickly taken to hospital by ambulance. Robbie runs the ambulance off the road and frees Tony and they head for Weatherfield on a motorbike. Together, they plan to take Carla and Hayley prisoner in the factory. Robbie tricks Carla into entering the factory with him alone, holds her at gunpoint and then leaves her tied to a chair and gagged with duct tape while he lures Hayley to the factory too. Tony appears, taking the tape off Carla's mouth allowing her to speak, announces his intention to kill them, double-crosses Robbie by revealing that he never intended to pay him the full amount that he promised, and after tricking Robbie into giving him his gun; shoots him dead. Maria gets caught in the siege after she goes into the factory and Tony holds her prisoner too. However, he lets her go and she goes to the pub and tells everyone that Tony is holding Carla and Hayley hostage.
Becky McDonald (
Katherine Kelly),
Gary Windass (
Mikey North) and
Steve McDonald (
Simon Gregson), amongst others, arrive outside the factory to try and help. Becky attempts to break the door down with a large pole. Tony later releases Hayley after Carla pleads with him, pushing her out of the door and causing her to fall over before setting fire to
Underworld, after dousing the floor of the premises with petrol, determined that he and Carla would die together. However, Carla manages to untie herself and, after a violent struggle, manages to escape, shooting Tony in the process. Tony walks into view, looks out of the open factory doors at the crowd watching from the street and then deliberately walks back into the fire. The factory explodes and Tony is killed. His and Robbie's bodies are removed from the building the following day. ==Reception==