Pat Phelan (''Coronation Street'')

2013–2014

Pat Phelan is a client of Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies), and temporarily becomes his business partner. When he refuses to pay Owen for a job, Owen soon discovers that Phelan is bankrupt. Owen then attempts to get the money out of Phelan's wife, Valerie (Caroline Berry), but she refuses to pay. Owen and Gary Windass (Mikey North) break into Phelan's house, steal his motorbike and lock it away at the builder's yard. Phelan eventually decides to pay up what he owes. A few days before Christmas, Phelan turns up at No. 6 in order to put forward a business proposition to Owen, offering him a flat-conversion contract and wanting Owen to front the project as he is bankrupt. Owen's partner and Gary's mother, Anna Windass (Debbie Rush), is unsure of the proposition and does not want Owen to agree. However, a couple of weeks later, Phelan and Owen meet up to discuss the deal, with Phelan telling Owen that he needs £80,000 upfront for the costs, but guarantees that he will make over £200,000 profit. Owen decides to talk the arrangement over with Anna, with Phelan stating that he would give Owen 24 hours to think things over. Despite family reservations, their business partnership is agreed. When Owen realises that Phelan has not put his share into the account, he tries in vain to contact Phelan and believes that Phelan might have conned them. Phelan later appears at the builder's yard, and reveals that the money is already in the account, much to Owen's embarrassment. Anna then visits Phelan's house to apologise for her reservations, but later feels uneasy in his presence and leaves. During numerous meetings with Phelan and Valerie, Anna feels increasingly awkward - especially on one occasion when Phelan stroked her across her back and keeps complimenting her appearance.

Anna decides to settle the score and invites Phelan round to No. 6, and tells him to back off. However, Phelan, seemingly oblivious to her demands, begins to accuse her of trying to come onto him. He appears to try to make a move on her, but soon leaves, leaving Anna worried. That night, Anna backs out of another meeting with the Phelans at the Bistro, feigning illness. When Gary finds out about Phelan's inappropriate advances towards his mother, he approaches Phelan at the worksite and begins questioning him. Phelan begins goading Gary, accusing Anna of being too flirtatious and they descend into a physical fight; Gary strikes Phelan over the head with a plank of wood and knocks him unconscious. Believing that he has killed Phelan, Gary summons Owen to the worksite but they find he has vanished.

Phelan turns up alive a few days later at the building site. He takes Gary and Owen into the site office and reveals the CCTV footage, which shows Gary attacking him. Phelan assures Gary and Owen that he has further copies, and then demands that they either complete the work for a minimum wage, gleaning no profit, or he would hand the CCTV footage in to the police. Owen complies with Phelan's orders, despite Gary's reluctance. Phelan is delighted in overworking Owen and Gary, who begin to take their frustrations out on their family. Gary, deciding to get a measure of revenge on Phelan and to try to make a bit of money back, stole a shipment of tiles from him.^[3] However, Phelan finds out it was Gary and tells Owen that in exchange for him not going to the police, he has to agree to forfeit the £80,000 he invested in the job. Phelan then arranges for Owen to be removed from the council's list of approved builders, effectively blacklisting him which meant he could no longer get any independent work. Anna visits Phelan after realising the strain his actions are causing her family, and he gives her an indecent proposition: to have sex with him and he would let Gary and Owen go from the project. Although disgusted, Anna agrees with Phelan's plans out of desperation and meets him at the Dunford Hall Hotel, where the two have sex. After spending some time with him, Anna leaves after Phelan teases her. The next day, he tells Owen and Gary to go home, and gets Owen to sign a form releasing him from the project. However, Phelan refuses to pay back Owen's investment, leaving him in debt.

In June 2014, Phelan sends the Windass family a postcard from Dubai. Around this time, Anna admits to Owen that she slept with Phelan to make him leave the family alone. The revelation eventually drove the couple apart from 2015 onwards. By then, however, Valerie had too split up with Phelan upon learning of his true colours—rendering him penniless due to his assets being completely entitled to his own wife.

2016–2018

Phelan returns to Weatherfield in January 2016, having got a job from Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas) on his construction business and later working with Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) on his garage expansion.^[4] Anna eventually learns of Phelan's return upon witnessing Kevin save him from a speeding car, and he later tells Kevin his own version of what happened between them, with Phelan learning that Owen had already left in 2015 and that Anna is having a relationship with Kevin. Later on, Phelan approaches Anna to "apologise" for his cause in destroying her relationship with Owen and promises her that he'll not cause her any trouble under the condition that she does the same thing. Anna initially complies with reluctance, but ends up smashing his van windscreen with a sledgehammer as Phelan's constant tormenting becomes too much for her to cope with. She then attacks Phelan in front of Kevin, who once again sides with Phelan and ends his relationship with Anna. The following day, Phelan visits Anna in the café and pins her against the wall when she refuses to follow his demands in apologising to him in public. Before any more harm can be done, Kevin walks in to discover what's happening and orders him to leave having discovered his true colours; this instigates a feud between Phelan and Kevin. During this time, Phelan starts flirting with Jason's mother, Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver), and spends a lot of time at her house. When Jason gets into a fight with Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) in The Rovers Return Inn, Phelan steps in to help Jason by pinning Aidan against a booth in The Rovers. Phelan continues to threaten Aidan until his father Johnny Connor (Richard Hawley) arrives and, with Phelan ignoring his demands to release his son, ends up punching him in the back; Phelan later rejects Johnny's apology and promises to get even with him one day. Eileen's current boyfriend, Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis), is somewhat aware of Phelan's motives and the pair become arch-rivals; though Eileen occasionally sides with Phelan and berates Michael whenever his efforts to expose him go too far, which effectively ends their relationship in the process.

Phelan takes this opportunity to form a relationship with Eileen and he later tells her that Anna fancied him and that they had a one-night stand, which he immediately regretted, and that Anna is crying rape because it ended her relationship with Owen. His plan works and Eileen rejects Anna when her desperate attempts to tell her about Phelan gets dismissed. As Anna leaves, however, she bumps into Phelan and the duo grapple again, though Phelan grabs Anna's arm and taunts her before leaving, but not before telling her that he'll be staying in Weatherfield for as long as he pleases. Phelan gets along with Jason and acts as a father figure towards him, but Jason's brother Todd (Bruno Langley) resents him over becoming suspicious of some recent events that Phelan had secretly arranged. After Jason leaves Weatherfield following a series of misfortunes, many of which Phelan had orchestrated in order to fulfil his secret coup in taking over the business, Todd begins to instantly clash with Phelan in a bid to expose his true colors to Eileen; she remains oblivious and frequently sides with Phelan. However, the pair end up reconciling their differences when they begin working with Phelan's crooked business partner Vinny Ashford (Ian Kelsey) on a scam project called "Calcutta Street"—consisting of a development of non-existent flats.

Towards the conclusion of the development, Michael learns that Phelan has been scamming the residents of Weatherfield over the last few months, with him and Vinny seizing all the cash deposits from the locals. On the day Eileen accepts Phelan's marriage proposal, Michael seeks Anna's help in exposing his secret once and for all. Ironically, Anna's adoptive daughter Faye (Ellie Leach) had unwittingly stolen Phelan's mobile phone; by the time Anna discovered it, she became aware of the scam herself. Working together against their shared enemy, Michael breaks into Vinny's yard to extract evidence whilst Anna invites Phelan in a bid to delay him, though she makes it clear how she always wanted him to pay for what he did to Owen and her family. Unfortunately, Anna's unsuccessful attempt to bribe him into leaving Weatherfield causes Phelan to learn of the conspiracy when his phone rings. After the call, Phelan leaves Anna after smashing her house out of anger whilst promising to make her regret crossing him. He then confronts Michael at the yard with a crowbar just as the latter gets hold of Phelan's fake passport. Initially calling his bluff of reporting him to the police, knowing that doing so would expose his involvement in the scam, Michael grows uneasy when Phelan makes it clear that he intends to kill him; his false attempts to persuade him into turning himself in don't change Phelan's mind. With his life in danger, Michael throws a chair at Phelan and flees from the yard - with Phelan in pursuit. When crossing paths again, Michael makes a break for it, only to suffer a heart attack in front of an unfazed Phelan, who refuses to help him and reclaims his passport before leaving him for dead.^[5] Anna alerts Gary to the situation and he heads down to confront Phelan, but does not notice a dying Michael succumbing to his heart attack and taking his last breath. Once all is settled, Phelan later finds Michael's corpse and silently bids him goodbye with a sign of the cross before walking away.

Phelan later alerts Vinny of what happened and, informing him about Michael's death as well as his constant interference, suggests that the pair leave immediately to avoid any further suspicion. On the day of their scheduled departure from Weatherfield, however, Phelan discovers that Vinny has already left the country for Hawaii upon chatting with his neighbour. Unable to contact Vinny as the number has been disconnected, Phelan calls the bank to confirm his fears that all the money from the business account has been withdrawn; he screams Vinny's name in rage upon learning of his betrayal. Phelan soon returns home to Eileen and Todd, who inform him of Michael's death. Phelan feigns his shocked reaction about Michael, but secretly confides in Todd that Vinny has left with the money and gone abroad. Phelan is later questioned by the police about Michael's death and Vinny's escape, but he manages to cover his involvement on both circumstances. However, when Eileen notices the police questioning him, Phelan is forced to come clean and is promptly slapped by a furious Eileen who then kicks him out of the house. When Todd organises a meeting with the residents involved in Calcutta Street, Phelan arrives at the last minute to take responsibility for the scam, admitting that Todd and Eileen are completely blameless due to his association with Vinny. Though this leads many residents to resent him over the scam, Eileen forgives Phelan for his actions and the pair slowly reconcile to resume with their wedding plans. Towards the end of the year, Phelan learns that Anna has been sending multiple letters of complaint against him and Eileen over the scam and later threatens her. Kevin soon learns about the threat made against Anna and confronts Phelan, nearly attacking him when Phelan reacts indifferently until Luke Britton (Dean Fagan) intervenes to separate the pair.

Later on that night, Phelan gets struck over the head with a brick by Luke's friend Andy Carver (Oliver Farnworth) who correctly assumes that Phelan murdered Michael, whom Andy had been having a father-son relationship with even though the pair weren't actually related. Phelan, however, survives the attack and subsequently blackmails Andy into performing a series of petty crimes under the threat of reporting him to the police and having him charged with attempted murder. Phelan soon coerces Andy into sabotaging Kevin's business, culminating with Andy being forced to set fire to Webster's Auto Centre, during which Phelan spiked Kevin's drink to distract the local mechanic long enough for Andy to proceed.^[6] When Andy sets the garage on fire, he steals the laptop containing CCTV footage of Phelan and Todd talking about the Calcutta Street development. He soon explains this to his girlfriend Steph Britton (Tisha Merry) upon confessing to everything due to Phelan's blackmail, and she forgives him when he mentions Phelan's additional threat to harm her. Planning to leave for Portugal together, Steph goes along while Andy stays behind to incriminate Phelan. His attempt is halted when Phelan arrives to bid him farewell, only to discover the laptop in the room which is playing the CCTV footage video of him and Todd unknowingly incriminating themselves. Things get heated when Phelan realises that Andy is recording their conversation about the scam and Michael, which gradually turns into an argument when Andy knocks Phelan out for taunting him over Michael. Rising to his feet, Phelan engages Andy in a brawl and gets the upper hand despite being pummeled multiple times. He then grabs the laptop, recalls this moment different to the habitual ending of "the bad guy getting his comeuppance", and smashes Andy on the head with it, supposedly killing him. After sending a text to Steph from Andy's mobile phone to dump her—causing her to leave the country alone—Phelan goes on to meet Eileen at the wedding reception where they get married, with Todd and his boyfriend Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) present.

Phelan later employs young offender Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni), who is having a relationship with Faye. This infuriates Anna, who has disapproved of her daughter's relationship with Seb ever since he got arrested for assaulting Jackson Hodge (Rhys Cadman) – Faye's ex-boyfriend and the teenage father of her baby daughter Miley – and grows further stoked when Faye starts bonding with Phelan. At one point, while Faye is waiting in Phelan's van to visit Seb at the delinquent centre, Anna steals his red van and drives off with it. Phelan notices this and confronts Kevin about the incident, just as Anna arrives, sparking yet another row when Phelan mocks Anna's parenting skills. At the same time, Phelan grows increasingly annoyed with constant demands from Ken Barlow (William Roache) to speed up on his house work, going as far as to accuse him of dishonesty due to his knowledge of the Calcutta Street scam. This could have been a motive for Phelan when Ken is later attacked by a mysterious assailant, and he himself becomes a prime suspect on the police investigation along with Ken's family. When Phelan gets taken in for questioning, he calls Todd at the request of providing him with an alibi. However, an earlier altercation between them—during which Phelan lashed out at Todd for aggravating him—prompts Todd in refusing to help. Todd, however, changes his mind when he finds evidence that proves of Phelan's innocence. Phelan later thanks Todd for his help, and the pair finally start to bond mutually prior to Eileen's return from a holiday. Phelan also drops by at the Barlow's house to inform the family of his alibi, thereby forcing them to accept his innocence as they became convinced of Phelan's role in attacking Ken.

As time goes on, Phelan has become a father figure towards Seb and he soon meets his social worker Nicola Rubinstein (Nicola Thorp). During their meetings over Seb's apprenticeship, Phelan apparently recognises Nicola as her surname becomes familiar to him, which stands to reason that Phelan has some sort of history with Nicola, who later gets drawn into his suspicions when she finds Phelan with photographs of her. He eventually explains that he thinks she could be his daughter, as he had an affair with her mother Annabel. Nicola initially wants nothing to do with Phelan, but later agrees to do a DNA test which confirms that Phelan is indeed Nicola's biological father.

In mid-August 2017, it is revealed that Phelan did not kill Andy, but instead chained him up in the cellar of an abandoned property and held him captive. Eileen nearly discovers this when she visits Phelan over an altercation with her best friend Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard), but Phelan manages to stall her - surprisingly with Andy's help. This leads Phelan into staging Andy's "freedom" by getting him out of the country. However, along the way, Phelan crashes his van and is seemingly left unconscious. Rather than calling an ambulance, Andy decides to make a break for it. Phelan awakens, however, and corners Andy before telling him that this staging was actually a test. He then knocks out Andy and recaptures him, but is forced to cover his tracks again when Eileen confronts him a second time with Nicola's help as the pair find themselves deceived into thinking that he had left town for a job at Inverness. A month later, Phelan becomes frustrated with Ken's son Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) as he begins questioning the locals of the Calcutta Street scam for a newspaper article. This builds up a feud between the pair, with Daniel making it clear that he intends to expose his involvement of the scam while Phelan promises to "hurt him" should he pursue his ambition. Phelan eventually catches Daniel and his boss Cindy Watson (Esther Hall) in a passionate position, and, upon realising that Cindy is married, ensures that her husband Ross (Anthony Brophy) catches her and Daniel dining at the Bistro, thus stopping Daniel from investigating the story any further.

However, Daniel's curiosity leads Phelan to Vinny's mother; Flora McArdle (Eileen Davies). It transpires that Vinny's real name is Harvey McArdle, and Phelan begins to contact Vinny from Flora's care home in order to get his money back and exact revenge on Vinny for his betrayal. After surviving an assassination attempt, Phelan surprises Vinny when he arrives to save Flora the next day. Phelan punches Vinny before giving him an ultimatum; either Vinny delivers the money within, or Phelan would kill Flora to show the pair what he's truly capable of doing. Vinny complies and manages to deliver the money to Phelan, but when Phelan takes him to see his mother, he gets knocked out and is consequently captured; Phelan points out that he isn't safe despite the fact that his mother is unharmed. Phelan takes the captured Vinny to meet Andy, whom he had earlier manipulated into believing that Vinny had killed Michael. When Vinny awakens and vows to kill his ex-cohort, Phelan secretly instructs Andy to kill Vinny in order to secure his freedom. Andy becomes extremely hesitant, but is unable to change Phelan's insistence. After knocking Vinny unconscious, Phelan takes him and Andy to an abandoned warehouse to murder Vinny. There, he is briefly jumped on by Vinny before subduing him - thanks to an untimely warning from Andy. After forcing him to drag the unconscious Vinny into the warehouse, Phelan gives Andy the gun and begins to pressure him into fulfilling the deed by fabricating a story on how Michael died at the hands of Vinny. Left with no other choice, Andy shoots Vinny dead just as the latter regains consciousness. He then turns the gun on Phelan, but is talked out of it - only for Phelan to point the weapon at Andy from that moment. Ignoring his desperate appeals, Phelan murders Andy with a single gunshot before reciting a prayer. He then dumps the bodies in a nearby lake before returning to Eileen. They later went on a holiday together for a couple of weeks, but upon returning learn that their new house - where Phelan had kept Andy captive - was involved in an arson attack; it soon turns out that Phelan had orchestrated the arson attack by bribing two hooligans to burn the house down. Using the money that he forced Vinny to deliver prior to killing him, Phelan takes the opportunity to repay all the Calcutta Street victims - creating goodwill in the Weatherfield community, and thus cheering up Eillen as she was saddened over the arson attack. ^[7]

It was at this point, however, that Nicola had learned about her father's past with Anna when they were both called into hospital after Seb had been involved in a ladder accident; in the midst of waiting for Seb's recovery, Anna had confided in Nicola about what Phelan had done to her along with Gary and Owen back in 2014. This prompted Nicola into visiting her mother's old friend Lydia Hartman (Susan Twist) the next day, which concluded with Lydia revealing to Nicola that Phelan had raped Annabel just nine months before her birth; the last time Lydia had seen Phelan was the night he attacked Annabel's lover Isaac during a fight, at the end of which Annabel had then told Lydia the truth about Phelan. An enraged Nicola summoned Phelan to her late parents' bench in a park, whereupon she confronts him for raping her mother as well as Anna. He unsuccessfully attempts to assuage her suspicions by proclaiming his love for her mother, only to get angry at the accusations made by Anna and Lydia, with Phelan claiming that both are to blame for the ordeal. This escalates into an argument that leads to Nicola branding Phelan a rapist and calling him evil before disowning him when he reacts badly to her beliefs. Initially determined to tell Eileen the truth about him, Nicola instead chooses to leave Weatherfield at Anna's suggestion to avoid Phelan. Knowing this and realizing that Anna had exposed their secret to Nicola behind his back, Phelan spitefully plots to frame Anna for Seb's ladder accident in an act of revenge. This works successfully after Phelan manipulates Seb into believing that Anna pushed him off the ladder, which subsequently led to Anna getting arrested and being remanded in custody the following day. She later escapes prison after being rushed to hospital, the news of which spreads around the community. Although Phelan takes delight in reacting to Anna's escape, this unwittingly caused Faye to discover his true colours; the pair had earlier bonded over Seb's apprenticeship. Phelan eventually catches Anna out when he finds her standing beside an unconscious Eileen, who had just been caught in his arch-enemy's mistaken attack. He instantly phones an ambulance for Eileen and the police on Anna, who is consequently rearrested after she and Faye are unable to make a getaway escape. When Phelan later visits with the promise of further revenge, Anna lashes out and slaps him across the face, provoking him into pressing charges for assault.

On the verge of the trial starting, Phelan finds himself pressured with Luke studying the events of Andy's disappearance from his childhood friend Matt Luscombe (Sebastian Shaw). In early January 2018, Phelan is revealed to be bribing Matt into covering up Andy's whereabouts, thereby leading Luke to believe that Andy left for Bristol. When Luke finds out, he forces an explanation from Matt and then leaves to confront Phelan at the site near the same warehouse where Andy was murdered. As Luke's questioning slowly becomes argumentative, Phelan smacks him on the head with a rock when he intends to report Andy's disappearance to the police, only to be subdued and punched onto the ground by Luke, who flees from Phelan as he gets up and pursues him in his van. The pair engage in a spectacular car chase that ends with Phelan forcing Luke's car to crash into a wall, totaling it and injuring Luke. Knowing he could expose his secret, Phelan shoots Luke as he desperately attempts to escape out of the car before indirectly revealing Andy's fate. He then claims his fourth victim and murders Luke by shooting the petrol tank from his car, destroying it and killing Luke in the explosion. By the time Luke's death becomes public knowledge, Seb grows increasingly suspicious over Phelan and slowly comes to realise that he killed Luke; however, Phelan had already covered his tracks by deceiving Seb into touching the gun, thereby incriminating himself for the murder. Realizing that he's been used to frame Anna for GBH, Seb stands up for her in court by openly changing his statement and telling the jury that Phelan is the real perpetrator behind the crime. Despite Seb's betrayal, his testimony becomes insufficient when Eileen finds CCTV footage of Faye's father Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) and Gary restraining Seb into a taxi, making it appear that the duo coerced him into testifying against Phelan. Although Anna desperately tried to proclaim her innocence and describe Phelan as the "monster" he truly is, recalling how he victimized Owen and Michael on separate years, she is nevertheless found guilty thanks to Eileen's evidence. As she's dragged out of court, Anna hysterically brands Phelan "pure evil" just as he takes the opportunity to gloat in front of everyone except Eileen, who had already left by the time the verdict was announced. Anna is later sentenced to five years imprisonment off-screen.

On the day of Anna's sentencing, Phelan becomes surprised when Nicola turns up at the builders yard - seeking forgiveness for the accusations she made against him. Phelan forgives Nicola and the pair form a conversation of the recent events when Gary spots the pair and instantly confronts them, only for Nicola to dismiss his accusations against Phelan at the request of "building bridges, not breaking them", thus implying that she wants to move on from the past. Although Gary ends up leaving out of anger, he's soon requested by Nicola to meet up at her flat, whereupon he finds out that Seb has taken refugee at Nicola's since the trial. Nicola tells Gary that she defended Phelan to ensure that he doesn't uncover her true intentions, as she had recently learned from Seb about Phelan framing Anna and killing Luke. Initially skeptical, Gary reluctantly agrees to go through with her plan on seeking a job at Phelan's new site mill project in order to investigate his crimes as well as raising money for their impending baby; the pair recently had a one-night stand together, which led to Nicola getting pregnant and Gary being revealed as the father of her would-be child. This apparently works when Nicola manages to persuade Phelan to reluctantly hire Gary under her conditions of her child's upcoming future, and Gary manages to make some progress when he notices Phelan feeling pressured upon his boss Mona Beattie (Rachel Logan) announcing that the project is scheduled to be launched near the place where he killed Andy and Vinny. Eventually, Phelan grows suspicious when he spots someone inside Nicola's flat and steadily learns of her betrayal when he manages to gain access into her flat and ends up seeing Seb there. On the day Nicola is rushed to hospital upon collapsing from her baby's kicking, Phelan confronted her shortly after firing Gary from the mill site job and the pair argued, concluding with Phelan disowning Nicola before storming out in tears, later explaining the situation to Eileen and declaring that she and her granddaughter Summer Spellman (Matilda Freeman) are the only people he trusts; further stating that Nicola can "go to hell" along with Gary and Seb.

As Phelan ensures Eileen's eternal trust over him, he becomes irritated with Liz's constant meddling and the pair end up having a feud when Liz feels insulted towards Phelan as he continually warns her to back off. However, when Eileen organizes a party for Phelan and invites everyone over, she becomes concerned when Phelan doesn't show up. As it turns out, Phelan had recently learned from Mona that his fellow workman will be draining the lake where Andy and Vinny's bodies were buried. He desperately attempts to relocate them to someplace else, but in the process his phone gets dropped into the cement and whilst trying to retrieve it, Phelan falls and is knocked unconscious. With Tim's reluctant help, Eileen finds her husband and phones an ambulance to rescue him. On the day after, Phelan attempts to thank Tim for aiding Eileen in rescuing him. Tim, who is already aware of Phelan's true colors, instead rejects his thank you card and begins questioning him over his nefarious activities. Although Phelan denies his role in the deaths of Michael and Luke, as well as claiming that Anna brought Seb's GBH incident all on herself, he gleefully admits to masterminding the Calcutta Street scam development before leaving the taxi, unaware that Tim had actually been recording his confession, which he later delivers to Eileen. She instantly confronts Phelan over his involvement in Calcutta Street, concluding that Anna and Michael were telling the truth about his role in the scam development all along, and that Todd had merely been helping out as well to fulfil her wishes in getting along with Phelan since his previous warnings about him were dismissed. Phelan is unable to victimize himself upon stating that Vinny ripped him off, to which Eileen disregards as she contemplates on reporting him to the police. However, she changes her mind at the last second when he manages to win her over once again by helping her in Summer's situation with Billy; to do that, however, Phelan forced Billy to go into rehab by attacking him when Eileen and Summer were absent at that point.

Knowing that Tim's recording evidence may be enough to bring him down, Phelan falsely organises a trip with Eileen in an attempt to evade the law. While Phelan proceeds with his plans, Gary and Seb seek out the gun that Phelan used to kill Luke near the site manager's office. In doing so, however, they instead locate Andy and Vinny's bodies and are formally arrested, until the detective investigating the scene of the crime manages to puzzle the truth following Gary's accusation. News of Phelan's murderous activates soon spread around Weatherfield, prompting Tim to alert Eileen about this. Phelan, who had earlier argued with Eileen over needing some privacy, discovers Eileen receiving Tim's voice message; thus confirming everyone's theory about him. Realising that he's been exposed at last, Phelan chucks Eileen's phone into the river and proceeds to enumerate the deaths he caused as well as confessing to Andy's kidnapping. Horrified and outraged, Eileen furiously brands Phelan a "murderer" and "rapist" as she berates him for what he did to Anna and Todd before threatening to chuck his getaway keys into the water — causing him to snap and charge at Eileen, only to end up falling over the edge. However, he manages to hang onto a rope and desperately begs Eileen for help as he struggles to make it up to safety, going as far as to claim that Todd is in danger, and would die if she wouldn't help him up. This ultimately proves to be the last straw for Eileen, who proceeds to angrily stamp on his fingers whilst repeatedly calling him a "liar"; eventually, Phelan loses his grip and ends up falling into the rough sea below. Though Eileen is safely recovered by Tim and Liz, as well as the police, Phelan's body is not found and he is presumed dead the next day when his killing spree become public knowledge; however, unbeknown to everyone, Phelan has survived the fall and is nursing his way back to health at Mrs Gillen's bedsit (Janie Booth) in Ireland - having checked in under the alias on his false passport, "Alan Frost". Upon watching several residents including Eileen and Nicola speak out for Anna's release, which Daniel has organized in his campaign to free her, Phelan checks out of the hotel and plans his return.

Phelan moved to a caravan park in Abergele, Wales, where he used a false identity on a mother's social group to keep in contact with an oblivious Nicola. However, this is a vital error as a suspicious Gary and his army friend Joe Haslam (Chord Melodic) began to look into the mysterious contact, tracked the location and found out that it was Phelan. Intending to finish him for good, Gary attacks Phelan with a bat; however, he is quickly subdued and is on the verge of getting killed when Joe entered the caravan and knocked Phelan out with a rock. The pair brought Phelan back to Weatherfield where Gary's fiancée Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien), one of the victims of the Calcutta Street scam development, discovered Phelan's captivity. As Sarah argues with Gary about informing the police about his return, Phelan is discovered by Kevin's young son Jack (Kyran Bowes) - whom he previously helped rescue Anna back at the start of 2017 on New Year's Day - and he attempted to bribe him with a tender into setting him free. This proved initially successful until Gary and Sarah arrived back and talked Jack out of it before sending him away with the promise that he never saw Phelan. Once Jack has gone, Phelan taunted Gary with remarks about his mother that caused the latter to brutally hit his enemy with a plank of wood. When Sarah once again tries to convince Gary into calling the police, Phelan manages to free himself - thanks to Jack's help - and attacks Gary with a chair. He then locked the builder's yard gate, retrieved his firearm and forced Gary and Sarah back into the garage where he held a gun to Sarah ordering Gary to contact Nicola and request that she come to the garage along with his newly born grandson Zack. After finding out that she had called Tim instead, not knowing in reality that she was actually speaking to Kevin on the phone, Phelan frightened Sarah by firing an unloaded gun at her before leaving her and Gary at the garage. He then made his way discreetly to Eileen's house, where she was looking after Nicola and Zac. After tricking Nicola into telling him in, Phelan forces his way into the house where he meets Zac and tells Eileen that their "marriage" meant nothing as it was all part of his original plan cover-up his crimes. When Nicola attempts to prevent her father from coming near Zac, he threatens to shoot her. However, Seb - who was also in the house - secretly comes down the stairs and attacks Phelan with a screwdriver. Despite the efforts of the three attempting to subdue Phelan, he overpowers them; knocking out Eileen and Seb, but unintentionally shot Nicola in the process. Feeling guilty for shooting his own daughter, Phelan storms into the bistro, during the wedding of Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh) and Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill), with Nicola in his arms - begging for help. Phelan instigates a siege by ordering Roy Cropper (David Neilson) to confiscate everyone's phones, then forces Michelle's son Ali Neeson (James Burrows) to save his daughter under the threat of shooting his mother - refusing to let the guests call an ambulance. However, upon hearing sirens arriving nearby, he agrees to an ambulance and apologizes to Nicola before giving her a kiss goodbye. After telling Ali to save his daughter, with Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia) and Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) stepping in to help him out as well, Phelan requests for a hostage and insists on taking Michelle despite Carla Connor (Alison King) and Roy both offering to be taken captive; although Robert also offers to be taken captive, Michelle agrees when Phelan cocks his gun and threatens to kill the pair. After forcing Robert and the guests into a corner, threatening to shoot Michelle should they follow him, Phelan drags the bride-to-be into the kitchen where he is surprised to find Anna waiting; Daniel's campaign had been successful, and Anna was since then released and has merely just rescued Gary and Sarah from captivity. Michelle uses this opportunity to manage herself into escaping from Phelan's grasp, but this prompts him into shooting her. In the moment Phelan turns to face Anna, she instantly charges at him with a knife - stabbing Phelan. Shortly after Robert bursts into the kitchen with Ali and Carla, with all three rushing over to Michelle for medical treatment, Phelan pulls the knife from his chest and gloats at the fact that Anna will go back to prison for murder. Michelle, however, defends Anna by saying the attack was self-defence, and that she'll be willing to tell any court the same - for Luke and Andy as well. When Anna tauntingly declares victory in their long-standing feud, Phelan does a light chuckle with his last breath — indicating that nobody has won in this scenario — before he succumbs to his wound and dies in front of her. The residents of Coronation Street observe as his body is brought out and put in the private ambulance, thus confirming that Phelan is dead and signalling the end of his reign of terror once and for all.

Departure

On 31 January 2018, it was confirmed that Phelan would be leaving the show in an "explosive stunt".^[8]