Martin Platt

Storylines

Teenager Martin Platt is first seen in 1985 as a school-leaver working in Jim's Cafe. He had two GCEs and was studying at Salford Technical College. In February 1989, Brian Tilsley (Christopher Quinten) is murdered and Martin begins comforting his widow and former employer at the café, Gail (Helen Worth). They gradually fall for each other and in 1990, Gail finds she is pregnant. Feeling Martin is too young to settle down, she is about to have an abortion when Martin stops her. Their son David is born on Christmas Day 1990. Martin helps raise Gail's two older children, Sarah-Louise (Lyndsay King) and Nick (Warren Jackson) from her marriage to Brian. He develops a father-daughter relationship with Sarah but Nick does not like him and is often keen to remind him that he is not his real father, and for this reason he cannot tell him what to do. Brian's mother Ivy is also hostile towards Martin, especially when he decides that he wants to adopt Nick and Sarah. The adoption later goes through, despite opposition from Ivy (who even told social services that Gail was an unfit mother), but Martin allowed her to visit Nicky and Sarah, anytime she wanted, but, unkown to him and Gail, Ivy changed her will and that Nick must changed back to Tilsley. A few years later, after Ivy has died, Ivy's house is left to a teenage Nick on the condition that his surname is Tilsley, which Martin and Gail dismay, but later support him so he could get a house from Don. Nick finally changes his surname back to Tilsley - with Martin's approval, after he feelings guilty along with Gail for what they did to Ivy.

In the mid-1990s, Martin becomes friendly with fellow nurse, Carmel Finnan (Catherine Cusack). Carmel makes Gail believe she is having an affair with Martin and is pregnant by him, but the problem is solved by Carmel's father, John (Shay Gorman) from Ireland coming to take her home. Martin later sleeps with nurse Cathy Power (Theresa Brindley) after a New Year's party. Martin confesses, and Gail finds it difficult to forgive him, but they are reconciled after Martin passes his nursing exam. Martin's 13-year-old adoptive daughter Sarah (now Tina O'Brien) finds out she is pregnant and she cannot have an abortion. Despite him and Gail planning to go to Canada and adopt the baby, Sarah gives birth to Bethany Platt (Amy and Emily Walton). In 1999, Martin becomes friendly with Rebecca Hopkins (Jill Halfpenny), and Gail accuses him of having an affair, but is reassured. Martin and Rebecca subsequently do have an affair, which Martin confesses to Gail only after Rebecca has left him. After an unsuccessful attempt to patch up the marriage, Martin goes to live in a nearby flat and Gail divorces him. Martin remains close to Gail, even after the divorce, and often comes round to have tea with Gail, Sarah, David (now played by Jack P. Shepherd), and Bethany.

After his divorce Martin unexpectedly begins a romance with Gail's best friend, Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor). The romance causes controversy due to Gail and Sally's friendship and Martin's friendship with Sally's ex-husband Kevin, but Gail's happiness with new boyfriend Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) leads her to give the new couple her blessing. However, the relationship eventually fizzles out and Sally reunites with Kevin.

When a deranged Richard, revealed to have committed two murders, tries to kill Gail and the children by driving his car into the canal, Martin and Tommy Harris (Thomas Craig) jump into the canal and swim down to the sunken car and rescue them, although Richard dies. Martin later falls in love with Tommy's sixteen-year-old daughter Katy (Lucy-Jo Hudson). Tommy, who had previously been Martin's friend, is outraged when he finds out about their relationship, and attacks Martin physically, whilst Katy's brother, Craig (Richard Fleeshman), attempts to kill Martin by tampering with the brakes on his car. Katy's parents are even more unhappy when she leaves school to move in with Martin. When Sarah discovers her boyfriend Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) is gay and had been having an affair with Martin's nurse colleague Karl Foster (Chris Finch), she gives birth prematurely to her son Billy Platt who then dies and she and David are angry with Martin when he continues to date Katy, who knew about Todd's sexuality. An angry Martin then attacks Karl at the hospital and is suspended from his job but later reinstated. Katy then falls pregnant with Martin's child. When Sally begins having an affair with colleague Ian Davenport (Philip Bretherton), her previous relationship with Martin, who is working late hours, leads Tommy and his wife Angela Harris (Kathryn Hunt) to believe they are having an affair. They tell Katy, who moves out of Martin's flat and has an abortion. When Gail tells them the truth, Katy is devastated. She confronts Tommy in a rage, and attacks him with a wrench, killing him. Because of the bad blood between Martin and Tommy, Martin is at first arrested for the murder. Even though Angela only witnesses the murder of Tommy, she confesses to doing it to protect Katy. Martin is released. Katy is hysterical, and as a diabetic, decides to commit suicide by forgoing her insulin injections and eating sugar. Martin, Sarah and Sarah's boyfriend Scooter (Sushil Chudasama) manage to get her to hospital, but she later dies.

Martin decides to move to Liverpool with his new girlfriend Robyn (Clare Calbraith). David is devastated when he hears that Martin is leaving and does not talk to Martin for a while; however, the two of them reconcile just before Martin leaves. Martin and Robyn drive off to Liverpool for their new life together. Robyn falls pregnant and gives birth to her and Martin's daughter.

Development

Actor Sean Wilson was axed from Coronation Street when a major storyline conference decided the character of Martin had been "played out". At the time, it was said that "Sean can’t believe he's just been dropped like a dead weight after 20 years. It came like a bolt out of the blue." However, the actor later reflected that the producers had "done him a favour by axing his character", and Wilson has since said that if he were to return to the soap, the producers would have to be "very persuasive". He claimed he was dropped from the show, due to his refusal to portray a storyline in which Martin would be jailed for having a relationship with an underage girl.

Reception

The character has been described as the "only properly functional husband" of Gail.