Steve McDonald

He has committed crimes and done the time in the past - and Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) is still capable of getting himself into all sorts of bother.

Marriages Vicky Arden (divorced), Karen Phillips (divorced, remarried, divorced), Becky Granger

Children Amy

1989 Moves to Weatherfield as a 15-year-old with twin Andy and parents Liz and Jim.

1990 Nicks his dad's motorbike and rides off to the Lake District with young Joanne Khan.

1991 Sets up a pirate radio station with Andy. Nicks car radios and resells them to the locals. The police investigate and pregnant Liz is so stressed she goes into labour. Blames himself for his sister's premature birth and subsequent death.

1992 Misses sister Katie's funeral to confess to the police about the radios. Receives a £100 fine. Later charms landlord Alec Gilroy's posh granddaughter, Vicky Arden.

1993 Leaves school and gets a job at Mike Baldwin's printing company. Cheats on Vicky with Alison Rathbone.

1994 Sacked by Mike for double-crossing him. Starts up his own business Dun 2 A T with money raised from betting on the horses and undercuts Mike. Moves into a swish flat with new love, hairdresser Fiona Middleton. Gambling gets out of control as the business starts to fail. Jealous Vicky drives a wedge between them.

1995 Vicky turns 18 and comes into an enormous inheritance. Steve spies an opportunity and proposes, and they elope to St Lucia.

1996 Jailed for dealing in stolen whisky.

1997 Vicky divorces Steve and moves to Switzerland. Brother Andy goes to teach in Spain.

1998 Out of jail. Gets back together with ex, Fiona, who had an affair with his dad, Jim, during their time apart. He has one-night-stand with Maxine Heavey and Fiona leaves him and Weatherfield. Dad falls off some scaffolding during an argument over Fiona and is temporarily paralysed.

1999 Keeps dad's building business going. Features in a Coronation Street special set in Brighton and Calais along with Bet and Alec Gilroy, Vicky and Vikram Desai.

2000 Gets a loan from psycho drugs dealer Jez Quigley to fund Street Cars, a mini cab business. Badly beaten by Jez when he misses repayments. Jim beats up Jez who dies and Jim's imprisoned for manslaughter.

2001 Proposes to new girlfriend Karen Phillips so she can win a bet with Janice Battersby. They go through with the wedding when the ante is upped, but realise they love each other anyway!

2002 Business partner Vikram embezzles money from Street Cars and flees, leaving Steve in debt.

2003 Dev Alahan buys into Street Cars. Steve's jealousy pushes Karen into the arms of her boss, Joe Carter. Karen leaves and Steve has a fling with Tracy Barlow. Steve and Karen are reunited but it's too late to stop the divorce. Steve proposes to Karen again. A pregnant Tracy tells Steve that he's the father of her child.

2004 Daughter Amy is born. Tracy tries to sabotage Steve's wedding and tells Karen that Steve is Amy's father. Karen bans Steve from seeing Amy and falls pregnant. A jealous Tracy drives a wedge between them. Karen loses baby and, deranged, kidnaps Amy but returns her unharmed. Steve finishes with Karen, who leaves Weatherfield.

2005 Takes Tracy to court to gain access to Amy. Dates glamorous Ronnie Clayton and is threatened by her estranged gangster hubby, Jimmy.

2006 Beds Kelly Crabtree, who's the girlfriend of his new business partner Lloyd Mullaney. Splits with Ronnie after she tries to frame him for a car accident she had. Buys The Rovers with mum Liz.

2007 Takes custody of Amy when Tracy's jailed for killing her lover, Charlie Stubbs. After several false starts, begins a relationship with barmaid Michelle Connor. Goes on holiday to Malta with Street Cars colleague Eileen Grimshaw and is flattered by the attention of beautiful Shania. They kiss - but Shania is a transvestite. Michelle humiliates him by putting picture of them up in pub.

2008 Has a one-night-stand with Becky Granger. Gives Becky Granger a false alibi in court and falls in love with her.

2009 Discovers mum's affair with his mate Lloyd and is initially furious. Finishes with Michelle and proposes to Becky. They marry in August.

2010 Becky miscarries their child and the couple decide to adopt after she learns she'll never have children naturally. But they're turned down after a bad reference from her sister. Steve is persuaded to buy Kylie's son Max and is left deeply in debt. Worse, Amy's mother Tracy turns up on Christmas Eve and learns exactly how he came by Max...

Played by Simon Gregson

Born Simon Gregory in Manchester on 2 October 1974 to policeman dad, Alan, and bank clerk mum, Joy. Simon is an only child and he had no acting experience when he auditioned for the part of Steve in Coronation Street at the age of 14.
Read More