Gary Windass is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, portrayed by Mikey North. The character appeared for the first time on 14 November 2008 along with his parents, Eddie (Steve Huison) and Anna Windass (Debbie Rush).
During his time on the show, Gary has been involved in romantic relationships with Izzy Armstrong (Cherylee Houston), Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) and Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien). The character has also engaged in feuds with Sarah's brother David Platt (Jack P Shephard), Izzy's father Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies), and most prominently, with Anna's rapist Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre).
Gary's storylines include his conflict with PTSD after joining the army, forming a business partnership with Owen, bonding with his parents' adopted daughter Faye (Ellie Leach), a brief custody battle against ex-girlfriend Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) after she becomes their surrogate and gives birth to Gary and Izzy's son Jake, a close friendship with Faye's biological father Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine), helping Sarah's daughter Bethany (Lucy Fallon) overcome her troubles with bullying in school and being subjugated to child grooming and sexual exploitation by her pimp boyfriend Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper), a one-night stand with Phelan's daughter Nicola Rubinstein (Nicola Thorp), which results in her giving birth to their son Zack and appointing Faye's boyfriend Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni) to become his apprentice.
In 2019, Gary became the show's main antagonist when he’s revealed to be the culprit who caused the death of Alya's sister-in-law, Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia); he sabotaged the Underworld Factory roof in his attempt to sort out his debts to loan shark Rick Neelan (Greg Wood), leading to the collapse of the factory roof and Rana being killed from the incident as a result. The character later killed Rick in self-defence when the latter tried to murder him in the woods, subsequently taking over his criminal empire as a result. Soon afterwards, Gary proceeded to establish a relationship with David's colleague Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon), clash with Rana's brother Imran Habeeb (Charlie De Melo) over the circumstances behind his sister's death, become enemies with ex-girlfriend Sarah's boyfriend Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson) after growing jealous of their newfound romance, develop a feud with Maria's love interest Ali Neeson (James Burrows), hospitalise Ali's brother Ryan (Ryan Prescott) after beating him up for unintentionally stealing his money and blackmail his own client Derek Milligan (Craige Els) into taking part in his scheme to invest the factory - which ultimately sparked the event of Derek instigating a lethal Christmas siege that culminates in his own death, though not after accidentally killing Ali's stepfather Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill) and shooting David's wife Shona Platt (Julia Goulding) in the resulting impact.
Storylines
Gary arrives in Weatherfield with his uncle Len (Conor Ryan). Together, they steal tools that belong to local builder Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale). Shortly afterwards, Gary and Len steal and burn out a sports car that Joe's stepson David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) and his friend Graeme Proctor (Craig Gazey) had been driving. Gary is later furious when David smugly informs him that the car was already stolen. Gary and the rest of his family later move next door to the Platts' where their quarrel continues to heighten.
On Christmas Eve 2008, he flirts with Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan) in The Rovers Return Inn. The pair then get drunk on Rosie's birthday champagne and end up in bed together that night much to the annoyance of her parents, Kevin (Michael Le Vell) and Sally (Sally Dynevor). The following day, Gary virtually ignores Rosie when he arrives at the Platts' Christmas dinner party. He then gets into a fist fight with David after telling him he has set his sights on his girlfriend - Joe's daughter Tina (Michelle Keegan).
On New Year's Day 2009, Gary constantly pesters Tina, which results in Joe warning him off. In spite of the tension, Gary shares a relatively friendly relationship with Tina and enjoys winding David up by repeatedly bragging that Tina was soon going to be his girlfriend.
After Gary nearly brawls with Joe, he talks Len into helping him steal expensive copper piping from Joe's workplace. Joe is initially the prime suspect, but David tells the police he had seen Gary and Len laughing and driving away the night of the theft. Gary is thrilled to learn that Tina believes he is innocent, as this drives a further wedge between her and David.