Gray O'Brien: "Coronation Street Was Bonkers"

Gray O'Brien will be best known to us Coronation Street fans as Tony Gordon.

But he's now appearing in the new ITV drama The Loch which will be on our screens this Sunday.. It's a six-part murder mystery, filmed at Loch Ness, Glencoe and Glasgow last summer, centres on a serial killer stalking a remote Highland town.

In a good, long interview with The Herald Scotland, Gray says this about his time on Coronation Street.

“Coronation Street was a game-changer for me. You know how big that character was. It was absolutely bonkers.”

But after he left Corrie when  Tony Gordon was killed off in 2010, Grey found himself in resting actor limbo. “For the first six months I didn’t even think about work because I knew the phone wasn’t going to ring,” he recalls.

“Then the next six months it didn’t ring either and going into the second year it still wasn’t ringing. When it gets to five and six years you are thinking: ‘What is going on?’ People feel they can’t touch you because you are just too well known as that character.”

The Loch begins on STV, Sunday, at 9pm. Find out more about it here.

Read more Corrie news, interviews and spoilers here

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Top 25 Favourite Corrie Males - No. 19

TONY GORDON (51 VOTES)

Duration: 2007-2009, 2010

Played by: Gray O’Brien

2012 character poll position (men): 14

Of Scottish descent, Tony was introduced as a client of Underworld’s who was clearly smitten with Carla and they became business partners and later lovers.

His ruthless attitude in business infuriated many like Kevin, Norris, Roy and Jed Stone. When Kevin refused to sell the garage to him so he could expand Underworld, Tony tried to sabotage the business. He evicted Jed Stone from his home.

While engaged to Tony, Carla embarked on an affair with Liam. When he found out, Tony arranged for a hitman to run Liam down on Tony’s stag night. Liam was killed: both Carla and Liam’s widow Maria were devastated.

Tony and Carla later married. Jed Stone came to the street and lodged with Emily. When he threatened to tell the police about Tony’s involvement in Liam’s murder, he strangled him. Jed survived but moved to Wigan and kept quiet.

Carla later found out that Tony was responsible for Liam’s death and confronted him. She managed to escape his clutches and left for America. Maria, who at first accused Tony of Liam’s murder, began to soften towards him and they began a relationship. He even helped her give birth to Liam’s son!

Tony later suffered a heart attack. Thinking he was dying, he confessed his evil deeds to Roy. When he survived, he tried to drown Roy. But he jumped in and saved Roy and later confessed to the police and was jailed.

He returned in 2010 hell-bent on revenge. He kept Carla, Hayley and Maria hostage and set Underworld on fire. The hostages escaped and he perished.

A fan of Tony?

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Corrie's Hotting Up

I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but after the highs of the Norris/Mary storyline I've not found Corrie very inspiring lately. I was saddened by the ruining of John Stape in the utterly implausible Fishwick fiasco a few weeks back, with plot-holes you could drive a tank through, and my ears are still hurting from straining to hear Gail in the "Joe's a Good Man" carry-on. The addition of Tracy Barlow as Gail's nemesis, divulging that the rolling pin was the supposed "murder weapon" (and yes, I do realise that Gail didn't do it!) was dire. (The two coppers are good, mind!) Tina McIntyre is driving me up the wall - yes, I know she's just lost her dad, but her face would curdle milk just now. I'm not liking her embryonic relationship with Graeme, either, much. The adoption storylines - well, they seem to be on the back-burner just now and thank goodness for small mercies.

So, what does Corrie have going for it at the moment? The upcoming hostage and fire storylines sound highly entertaining. Okay, they're sensationalist and very OTT by Corrie standards, but the excellent actors involved will make it worth watching as far as I'm concerned. Gray O'Brien has always been a class act on Corrie. As a bog standard Corrie fan with no insider knowledge, I don't know who's for the chop this week, but I for one would be very sorry to see him go. Alison King has also been terrific, and I don't want to lose her either (I want to see if her voice can get any more nasal! and what was she like, tottering across the cobbles on those heels?!). And on the humour/day to day life level which Corrie does so well, the Windasses are terrific, so here's hoping they've got their asbestos suits handy.

On a controversial note, I'd be happy to see Hayley go. I'm finding her annoying these days. But, that seems unlikely given the rumours earlier this year of a big Roy/Hayley wedding. I'd also happily wave goodbye to Becky Macdonald, but that ain't gonna happen either. Whatever, I'm going to be glued to ITV at 9pm every night this week.

Tony Gordon's back on the Street

As one Coronation Street resident weeps in her jail cell, another one escapes and returns to the cobbles. Yes, Tony Gordon and his dodgy eye are back on the Street soon and he'll be seeking revenge on Carla Connor.

The Sun reckons that Tony (Gray O'Brien) feigns a heart attack in a staged fight in the big house and as he's being taken to t'hospital, his new hit man threatens the guards at gunpoint before securing Tony's escape.

Gray O'Brien gets his kit off

What's a villain to do when he's left the cobbles before he goes into panto? Gray O'Brien who plays Coronation Street's Tony Gordon, headed off to Mexico for some sun, sea and supersize shorts. You can read all about Gray's Mexico trip at the Daily Mail online. Gray stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel on the Paseo de la Reforma.

Tony Gordon's behind you? Oh yes he is!

A sprinkling of Coronation Street actors are in panto this Christmas in Aladdin at the Palace Theatre and Opera House in Manchester. Gray O'Brien (Tony Gordon) is playing Abanazar, Eric Potts (Diggory Compton) has wrote the panto and is playing Widow Twankey and Sue Devaney (Debbie Webster) is the Genie. Find out more here.

Gray O'Brien was recently at the Arndale Centre launching their charity Christmas present wrapping service.
Have a look at the video on YouTube.

Here's a full list of all ex-Corrie actors in panto this Christmas. Well, when I say it's a full list, it doesn't include Bruce Jones as King Rat. Oh yes he is.

Has Tony Gordon got one last murder in him?

There's a good post over at The Guardian website pondering who else Tony Gordon should have murdered in addition to Liam and the bats. As the article points out, Tony's court trial should be good and Blanche no doubt will blag a front row seat and a packet of lemon sherberts.

So, if Tony had one last murder in him, who would you have liked him to have got rid of before he gets locked up? My vote's for Mammy Connor, the woman does my head in.

Roy comes a Cropper (Reflections on Monday's double bill)

Hi there,

I'm new to the site, but have been writing TV previews for magazines and TV-related blogs for a number of years. Yet I've never before been able to indulge my love of Corrie. Here's my first post. Please be kind, but let me know what you think.

If only Roy hadn’t picked up the bat phone. He’d be sitting at home eating one of Hayley’s doorstop sandwiches instead of fighting for his life in the Weatherfield canal. As it is, we now have to wait until Thursday to see if a Good Samaritan will wander by, inflate Roy’s ever-present shopping bag and get him to use it as a life buoy. Why can’t we have one of those extra Wednesday episodes that ITV1 often sneaks into the schedule in order to sustain the momentum?

The tension in Monday’s double bill was pretty much relentless. I say ‘relentless’, there was the scene in which Gail does what she always does whenever she’s in a relationship: sit on the sofa and coo in the face of her fiancé as though he’s a newborn baby. Oh, and the low-rent version of Dynasty in which Krystle and Alexis, sorry Eileen and Julie, pulled at each other’s ears for two minutes. Apart from that, the two instalments were a sweaty-palmed success.

After weeks of seeing Tony stare fixedly at the door of the microwave as he waits for baby Liam’s bottle to warm up, he finally took action. Stalking Roy to a stretch of water that’s seen more death than the Red Sea, he took out a knife he’d purloined from the café and went in for the kill. As the pair battled it out, all the other week’s storylines were banished from our minds. This was the main event. And quite right too – who wanted any more scenes in which Sally channelled Mary Whitehouse and Charles Bronson in order to mete out justice? Thought not.

The other joy was, of course, witnessing Maria’s moment of realisation. It’s been a while coming, but then Maria is a woman with odd priorities. She’s the only new mum in existence who manages to find the time for make-up and French-polished nails when living a life of sleepless nights and nappy changes. Samia Smith, obviously tired of being filmed from the neck up or holding a cushion across her swelling abdomen, relished the opportunity to let rip.

In retrospect though, Maria will regret not playing the long game. Knowing Tony’s true potential, she could easily have manipulated a situation in which she handed her man in to the police only after making sure that his next victim was the loathsome Helen. Once the in-laws make a return visit at the end of the week, Maria might well be viewing it as a missed opportunity.

Tony Gordon – one hell of a villain

Reproduced with permission from fab telly blog PauseLiveAction.
Have a look at it here, it's great.

On Corrie, we’ve left non-swimmer Roy Cropper floundering in the canal while Tony Gordon watches him drown. We’ll have to wait till Thursday to find out what happens (I’m avoiding spoilers because I don’t want to know yet, but I’m betting Roy will survive).

Tony Gordon is an absolutely classic villain, and it’s because the scriptwriters and actor Gray O’Brien have carefully given him that Jekyll and Hyde duality that the best villains have. Tony’s personality is based on getting what he wants, and it’s there that his ruthless streak comes in. What makes him successful in business becomes dangerous when it spills into his personal life, when an almost sociopathic streak kicks in so he doesn’t care about the feelings of others.

I say “almost” sociopathic, because Tony clearly does care a lot about other people, but only the ones he cares about, if that makes sense. You’re either part of Tony’s world (Maria, baby Liam), in which you will experience him as the most loving and considerate person in the world, or you’re outside, in which case, watch out.

I think if he hadn’t met Carla his “evil” side might never have surfaced. Carla is a person who brings out the passion in people, and Tony fell for her in a way he’d probably never allowed himself to do before. When he realised she was actually in love with Liam and not him, Tony reacted like he would with a business rival – destroy the opposition and things will be fine again. That’s been his pattern ever since, whether with Jed Stone or now with the Croppers.

What’s most powerful is that Tony’s self-interest is all about the people he loves. He isn’t trying to silence the Croppers to avoid going to prison, he’s doing it to protect the life he has with Maria and the baby. You can always see in his face the anguish that he’s found himself on this murderous road when really all he wanted was a normal, peaceful life, and that’s what makes him so compelling to watch.

From: PauseLiveAction, a fab telly blog.

Tony Gordon: The good, the bad and the evil eye

Pop over to the official Coronation Street site to have a look at a new promo video for the Tony and Roy storyline. It's pretty good.

Gray O'Brien doesn't want your knickers

There's a nice, long interview today in the Daily Record with Corrie's Gray O'Brien. He talks about his character Tony Gordon and mentions that although he plays a murderer, he's also the (some would say) sexy boss of a knicker factory yet fans haven't sent any knickers through the post! I suppose that's a throwback to when fans used to send things like earrings to Julie Goodyear? He's also not had old ladies whop him with handbags in Tesco and I think he's just as glad on both scores. Still, the fans have grown to "love to hate" Tony (I know I have) and he's enjoying the ride.

He's not saying whether Tony will survive his upcoming heart attack but does hope it might make people think about their health (i.e. don't murder someone, the stress could bring it on?) Gray knows lots of people that have had heart attacks and realizes a healthy lifestyle and reducing stress are important so he does his best on that count.

He also talks about his lovely co-star, Alison King in glowing terms. As well, he's going to be in panto in Manchester this season in a production of Aladdin. That may mean some time off from the cobbles but does it mean Tony dies or does Tony go to jail? We do know that he's going to make what he thinks is a deathbed confession to Roy Cropper. If he survives the heart attack, will Roy go to the police with his information? Will he be believed or will Tony manage to talk himself out of it? All this is yet to come! Stay tuned!

Tony Gordon in panto? Oh yes he is!

We all know Tony Gordon is a nasty piece of work. Perfect then, wouldn't you say, to play a pantomime villain? That's exactly what Gray O'Brien, who plays Tony, has signed up to do after he leaves Coronation Street this year.

Gray will star in the Manchester Opera House panto Aladdin, as evil uncle Abanazar. It says here that current Corrie stars are not usually allowed to appear in panto, but due to a lucky bit of timing, he was able to take the role.

A Corrie spokeswoman explains: “Gray had been due to leave Corrie later this year, and so had arranged the role in panto. But scriptwriters went back to Gray to ask him to extend his contract as they have come up with another exciting storyline for his character. Gray wanted to honour his panto role, so he will take a short break before returning as Tony. So theatre-goers will get to see him being even more villainous in panto than he is in Corrie, if that’s possible!”

Eric Potts, who played Corrie's baker Diggory Compton, will also appear in the panto. Full details here.

Gray O'Brien's son in Corrie guest appearance

Gray O'Brien, who plays Tony Gordon, says that his eight-year-old son followed in his footsteps when he enjoyed a guest appearance on Coronation Street. He told Inside Soap magazine: "I took Conor on set one day and the director asked, 'Would he like to be in a scene?'. Tony had to speak to the factory workers outside Underworld so the director got Conor to play keepy-uppy with a football in the background."

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Gray O'Brien on playing Tony Gordon

There's a really nice interview with Gray O'Brien, who plays Tony Gordon, in The Sunday Mail. He reveals that he can't do his own stunts in Coronation Street as bosses were afraid of him breaking bones. And he shows a softer side than the one he portrays on the cobbles as evil Tony.

He said: “My father Eddie – who passed away in 2000 – was Coronation Street’s biggest fan. He absolutely worshipped Bill Tarmey who plays Jack Duckworth. It was lovely to walk up to Bill and tell him. My dad wouldn’t let me talk if the Street was on television. He hated being interrupted watching his favourite soap. Now I’m on screen with all his soap heroes. I’m sure he’s still watching and guiding me through it."

He also hinted that there are further twists and turns in the relationship between Tony and Maria. “Let’s just say their relationship gets a little bit softer over the next few months.”