Gail Platt’s first husband exited the show in 1989
Gail Platt’s first husband exited the show in 1989
Gail Platt bid farewell to Coronation Street in emotional scenes last night. The character, played by Helen Worth, departed Weatherfield for good after she tied the knot with Jesse Chadwick.
Gail has been unlucky in love throughout her 50 years on the Cobbles and the soap icon was nervous about whether she should take the leap and marry for the sixth time. Gail has previously been married to Brian Tilsley, Martin Platt, Richard Hillman, Joe McIntyre and Michael Rodwell before she finally got her happy ever after with Jesse, played by John Thomson.
The character’s chequered love life started in 1979 when she married Brian, who was played by Christopher Quinten. The characters’ on-off romance lasted until 1988 when Christopher decided to quit the show and move to America to marry then-partner, Leeza Gibbons.
Christopher wanted to remain as part of the show in a less significant role. However, show bosses refused his request as his character was killed off in dramatic circumstances when he tried to protect a woman outside a nightclub.
The former soap star went on to appear in Robocop 2 with Leeza, who is renowned for her role as a talk show host. However, the two split in 1991 and Christopher returned to the UK.
Chris stepped away from a career in acting and got into working in strip clubs all over the world with Peter Stringfellow. The 67-year-old appeared on This Morning in 2019 and revealed he got engaged to a dancer, named Robyn Delaberre, at a club he managed.
During the interview, the then 61-year-old detailed his plans to start a family with Robyn despite their 40 year age gap. He said: “I’d had no relationship with any girls before and when she told me she was a nanny I thought she was a good person.
“We spoke a lot, we found out we love the same music and Sunday dinners, it was a snowball of events.” Robyn also appeared on the ITV daytime show and said her family found it really hard to accept because of the age gap.
Chris added: “I’ve spoken to mum and they all love me thankfully, we haven’t spoken to dad yet.” The former actor explained he was not concerned about the age gap as he said: “We’ll take the lead from Peter Stringfellow. He left his wife with plenty of money and he gave her his blessing to find love and I’ll do the same.”
He also addressed the age gap in an interview with the Sunday Mirror as he said: “We don’t care what anyone thinks. All we know is we’re in love.”
“I was working here only a week and everyone kept asking me, ‘Have you met [Robyn] yet? When I saw her it was a lightning bolt. A feeling I hadn’t had before. You get it only once, twice if you’re lucky.”
A year after his This Morning appearance, Christopher returned to acting for a brief role on Hollyoaks as Mark Kelly. The role featured a connection to his Corrie days as he once again played the onscreen dad to Adam Rickitt, who portrayed his son, Nick Tilsley, on the the Cobbles.
Christopher was excited to return to the world of performing as he said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the scenes I’ve filmed so far at Hollyoaks; I already love the show and all the cast, crew, and production staff are fantastic and so friendly.
“Working with Adam after first playing ‘his’ dad more than thirty years ago is a dream come true; it’s a brilliant piece of soap nostalgia, which I hope everyone enjoys.
“I think Mark and Carole will really give viewers an insight into why Kyle became the man he is today, which has been a lot of fun to play, and I’m looking forward to doing more.”
