Coronation Street star David Neilson, who has played the beloved character of Roy Cropper since 1995, has a sweet off-screen love story with his supportive wife. The actor has had quite the dramatic storyline recently on the cobbles, with his character being wrongfully arrested not once, but twice!
Now, fans are speculating that a plot twist could secure Roy’s freedom, with one viewer predicting on X: “I feel this will end when Lauren turns at the trial as an unannounced witness!” As we wait to see how the drama unfolds, let’s take a peek into 75 year old David’s life away from the soap.
David Neilson and his wife Jane Nielson have been married for over 50 years
(Image: WireImage)
David and his wife Jane Neilson have been happily married for over 50 years, and she’s played a significant role in shaping Roy into the complex character we know today. In a 2009 interview with the Mirror, David shared that he’d secretly made Roy autistic, crediting his wife, a special needs teacher, for her invaluable insights.
David revealed: “Roy was a psychopath. He was stalking Deirdre and was a bit scary. It’s nice to play psychos but they don’t stay around too long. My wife is a special needs teacher and she worked with people with autism. She said Roy could have Asperger’s syndrome, making him socially inept, rather than menacing. Nobody really knew what Asperger’s was back in 1995, so it’s my wife I owe it to.”
The actor plays the role of Roy Cropper, whom he credits his wife for helping to shape
(Image: ITV)
He continued: “It’s never mentioned in the story though and it shouldn’t be Roy is a human being, and a label doesn’t help him. But I think he’s got it. It gives him reasons for his behaviour and gives me something to play with. I enjoy idiosyncrasies in people and Roy is full of them.”
David and Jane are proud parents to an adult son, Daniel, and have two lovely granddaughters. They’ve been living a blissful life splitting their time between Spain and England since 2002.
In a previous chat with the Mirror, David confessed: “I need to get away from Roy and be myself and they don’t know Roy in Barcelona. If I’m in Spain for a few days I forget what I do for a living, which is the important thing. It means when I come back and someone shouts ‘Roy’, for a moment I forget they’re actually talking to me. And it’s only a couple of hours on the plane so I can commute to Manchester easily enough.”
The couple spent their time between the UK and Spain
(Image: Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)
Demonstrating that he shares similar intellectual interests like his character Roy, David added: “Another reason we moved was for excitement. I like to do different things and it’s been good to learn a language and get into a different culture. Our son Daniel had left for university and we were in Bristol in a big house and we thought, ‘What shall we do?'”
You can catch Coronation Street every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8pm on ITV and ITVX.
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