Eddie Windass - my favourite anti-hero

He's not gone yet but we do know that Eddie Windass is waving goodbye to the cobbles in March next year. I know I'm not the only person to be very saddened by this.

Eddie Windass has given me more laughs on Coronation Street than just about anybody barring Blanche Hunt. He's truly one of my all-time favourite characters.

I think I can remember the first time the Windasses (and by the way - apologies to any "real" Windasses out there, but with a name like that, you're not really meant to take them one hundred per cent seriously, are you) were mentioned on Coronation Street. I'm pretty sure it was by David Platt. "The Windasses from the sink estate" - appropriate given what was about to happen with Joe McIntyre's kitchen. The moment I heard him say that, I thought to myself, this is going to be good.

When they arrived I wasn't disappointed. They were all horrible. Anna was screechy, Gary was obnoxious and Eddie was spectacularly dreadful. He looked awful, hobbling around on crutches with a bandaged hand, claiming disability benefits for "a bad back". They were a caricature. Everyone's worst nightmare as neighbours. A family you could really love to hate.

Eddie's frequently been shoved in the same box as Les Battersby. Nope. Different league altogether. I'm not even going to go there. Les wasn't even "Eddie lite". Eddie's horrible side was balanced by comedy, and that's what made him so satisfying and likeable to watch.

I wish the Corrie producers had left Eddie alone. He was at his best as a shiftless layabout. Once they started "redeeming" the Windasses with the adoption carry-on and in the build-up to Gary's Afghanistan storyline, I felt the writing was on the wall. Gradually Eddie went soft and developed a "nice" side, and personally I don't think it suited him. Good as the Afghanistan storyline is, I think they should have kept both Eddie and Gary as nasty, petty crooks, getting up to nefarious goings on with the fabulously evil uncle Len. (Nobody else seems to appreciate Len but me. I thought he was brilliant!)

I'd like to have seen Eddie in the Rover's more, waxing horrible on a bar stool, and in the Streetcars cab office, eating fry-ups in Roy's and not paying for them, nicking lead off roofs, digging up the cobbles and flogging them on Ebay - anything really.

Here are a few of my top Eddie moments.

1. When Eddie started "recycling" his rubbish via other people's bins (see photo). Sadly, we only saw "the dressing gown" on one occasion *sigh*. Loved Kevin Webster's line, "If I catch him doing it I'll slit him open and stuff him with his own rubbish." His face!

2. When he stole Roy's cash and carry card, and ended up setting all the alarms off at the check out, by winning a holiday

3. When he baked a cake in the shape of a grenade/bomb, to mark Gary's joining up.

4. When he refused to help lift something for £5, "it's me back you see", then suddenly sprang into action when offered a tenner.

5. When he ate his breakfast straight out of the frying pan

6. When he lost his cheese (best not to ask)

7. His "Robert Plant" moment

8. When he scammed money from the darts team

9. When he got involved with John Stape in the furniture shop, and started haggling for a cut price sofa. This was a wonderful episode in the black comedy farce that is the Stapewick saga.

10. When the Stapes came round for tea. I love John and Fiz, so this was a dream Corrie moment for me. I thought the Windasses and the Stapes worked really well together, and was desperate for it to turn into an on-going black comedy storyline. There could even have been a spin-off! But there wasn't. Oh well.

He's been wasted as a character recently, but overall, I've just loved it when Eddie's appeared, and I could think, what on earth's he going to do - or wear - next?

A huge thank you to Steve Huison, and the writers, for loads of entertainment. I'll go off and cry into my gin now.