Sean Tully is a character in Coronation Street who first appeared in July 2003. He is the shows first openly gay character. He is played by Antony Cotton, who himself is an openly gay actor was whose casting was recommended by Tony Warren, the shows creator.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Sean Tully was born in September 1976.
2003-[]
In September 2004 Sean was offered a job by Danny Baldwin at Underworld. Mike Baldwin came in the next day and asked Sean who he was and Sean said he was at Mike's service now. Mike told Sean to leave but Danny refused to sack Sean, saying he was in charge of the hiring and firing now. Mike agreed.
Sean got on well with Danny Baldwin and Danny nicknamed him "Mincemeat". Sean began lodging with Eileen Grimshaw at No.11 after her son Todd Grimshaw left for London, and got along well with Todd's brother Jason.
In 2007 he became a sperm donor to his friend Violet Wilson, and she later had their son named Dylan. In 2008, she left town with her partner Jamie Baldwin, taking Dylan with her. That year, he and his partner Marcus Dent broke up, leaving Sean alone.
In 2010 Sean wanted to see his son again, however was too nervous to contact Violet with his own account and instead created an social media account using his boss Liz McDonald's identity, and added Violet. When Liz found out, she fired Sean from his job at the Rovers, however upon realising he was doing it just to see his son again a sympathetic Liz reinstated Sean and contacted Violet, who added Sean on his real account.
In April 2011, Sean traveled to London to see Dylan, where Violet and Jamie were going through relationship troubles. He found out that Marcus was in contact with them, and the pair took Dylan out for the way whilst Violet and Jamie sorted things out. However upon returning, they saw Jamie climbing into a cab and leaving, confirming that him and Violet were now separated. When Sean offered to take care of Dylan whilst Violet sorted herself out, she turned down the offer and offended Sean in the process, forcing him to leave and return to Weatherfield. Marcus followed Sean back to Weatherfield, and the pair reconciled.
Later in 2011, Sean and Marcus began looking after Dylan after Violet was involved in a car accident. He returned to stay with his mother after she recovered, but Sean continued to see him every so often.
Sean and Marcus split again when Marcus fell in love with his friend Maria Connor, after recently supporting her through a cancer scare. In 2013, Todd returned to Weatherfield and Sean hoped to have a chance of getting with him, but Todd wasn't interested and instead set his sights on Marcus.
In December 2014, Sean met a man named Billy Mayhew at a gay bar, and the pair hit it off. Shortly after, Sean was astonished when Emily Bishop arrived at the Rovers and introduced Billy as the new vicar at her church. Billy and Sean later entered into a relationship, although this became strained overtime and Billy fell for Todd, with the pair of them getting together.
In 2016, Sean moved out of Eileen's house as he didn't like living under the same roof as Todd. He was taken in as a lodger by Norris Cole at No.3, as Norris felt lonely ever since Emily left for a new life in Peru.
In 2017, Sean got another job as a receptionist at the medical center after Liz McDonald stepped down. However in January 2018, he got sacked for breaching patient confidentiality, after discussing Mary Cole's son Jude Appleton and his wife Angie Appleton and their son George in the cafe. He sealed his fate when he confronted them at the Rovers and accused them of reporting him, which resulted in the doctor at the medical center revealing it wasn't them. Sean's boss at the Rovers Peter Barlow witnessed Sean's bad treatment of the customers and sent him home, telling him not to bother coming in for a shift tomorrow.
Sean began searching for jobs, and asked his former boss Carla Connor whether or not she will supply him with a reference. Happy to help, she told him to type up a CV and she will take a look at it and help him out. Back at home, he goes on Jude and Angie's laptop, but accidentally deletes photos of George in the process. When they find out about it, they kick Sean out of the house, and he later moves in with Tyrone Dobbs at Number 9 Coronation Street.
Sean gets on well with Tyrone at No.9 and becomes useful when it comes to keeping the place tidy and cooking meals, something that Tyrone's partner Fiz Stape knows little about. When Fiz returned to the residence and hoped to patch things up with Tyrone, she kindly asked Sean if he could move out. Sean hoped to move in with a partner but the plans fell through, and his plans to move into the Rovers Return with Liz also didn't happen due to a falling out. Sean didn't disclose his problems with Fiz and Tyrone, rather choosing to quietly leave and later dug out an old tent out of a skip and began to live out on the Red Rec.
Sean spent several weeks homeless, and had to hide it from his friends on Coronation Street and carry on as usual. Billy found out about Sean's hardships and allowed him to move in with him and Billy's foster daughter Summer until Sean got back on his feet. In 2020, Sean returned to live with Eileen at No.11, four years after originally being pushed out by Pat Phelan. Later in the year his son Dylan returned to the street to stay with him.
Behind the Scenes[]
Promotional photograph of Antony Cotton as Sean Tully around the mid-2000s.
- Prior to arriving on Coronation Street, Antony Cotton had several television and small film roles. His most notable appearance was in the series Queer as Folk in 1999. Around 2001-2003, the Coronation Street production team intended to introduce the show's first gay character in the history of the series, with Todd Grimshaw being created in 2001 to build up the plot (which wouldn't unfold until 2003). But Sean became the first gay character introduced with an initial one-off guest appearance in July 2003. According to a Coronation Street 50th Anniversary tie-in book, the casting suggestion came from Tony Warren, the creator of Coronation Street and a gay man himself.
- Antony Cotton reappeared for another one-off appearance in April 2004, before then becoming a regular cast member in August 2004, thirteen months following his original debut.
- Cotton admitted that when playing the character he mostly acts as himself when it comes to voice and mannerisms. The character's behavior has often brought about press accusations of him being a stereotype of gay people.[1]
- In 2011 it was rumoured that Sean would marry his on-off partner Marcus Dent in the show's first gay marriage ceremony and that they could possibly adopt Sean's son Dylan Wilson, but this proved to be false, although the pair looked after Dylan for several months in 2011 whilst Dylan's mum Violet Wilson recovered from an accident.
Residences[]
- Number 11 Coronation Street (2004-2016, 2020-)
- Number 3 Coronation Street (2016-2017)
- Number 9 Coronation Street (2017-2018)
- Red Rec (2018)
- 19a Rosamund Street (2018-2020)
Gallery[]
Memorable info[]
Duration: 13 Jul 2003, 12 Apr 2004, 30 Aug 2004–
Born:13th September 1976
Full Name: Sean Tully
Parents: Paul Jones and Maureen Tully
Siblings:
Spouse:
Children: Dylan Wilson (2008) (With Violet Wilson)