Roy Cropper, played by award-winning actor David Neilson, has been a regular in the ITV serial opera Coronation Street since his debut in 1995. Roy, the proprietor of the café Roy’s Rolls, began as a supporting character but quickly rose to the foreground of the soap’s plots. Roy gained a following of followers with his marriage to Hayley Cropper, the first transgender character in a British soap opera until she was killed off in 2014. Roy has also established paternal bonds with Fiz Brown, Chesney Brown, Carla Connor, and his niece, Nina Lucas. However, Roy has been affected by the recent hate crime narrative in which Nina’s partner Seb Franklin was murdered.
Is Roy Cropper Leaving Coronation Street?
In a recent episode, Seb’s mother Abi attempted to get revenge on her son’s murderer, Corey Brent. While Roy intervened to prevent Abi from murdering Corey, he subsequently decided to cover up the fact that the pistol she got was eventually used by mobster Harvey Franklin to murder Natasha Blakeman (albeit inadvertently). Roy left the Street for South America on November 24, against the pleadings of his loved ones, struggling with the shame of his falsehoods. On November 24, Roy Cropper turned over his estate to Nina (Mollie Gallagher) and left Weatherfield in a black taxi. Roy refused to leave the street despite the pleadings of Carla Connor, Chesney Brown, Fiz Stape, Cathy Matthews, Mary Taylor, and Brian Packham. However, according to reports, Roy will make a reappearance this Christmas.
David Neilson (born March 13, 1949) is a British actor. He is best known for his portrayal of café owner Roy Cropper in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street, a position he has held since 1995. Neilson was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire, and at the age of 20 joined at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He did many jobs at the same time, including gas fitter, ice cream salesperson, and barman. Z-Cars, Young at Heart, Mike in a single episode of Survivors (BBC), Edgar in DH Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers adapted by Trevor Griffiths (BBC), Blue Heaven by Frank Skinner, Bergerac, Casualty, Boys from the Blackstuff, Secret Army, and Heartbeat are among his television roles.
In the early 1990s, he featured briefly in EastEnders and as Roy Orbison in a celebrity version of Stars in Their Eyes. In addition, he appeared in the British drama Chimaera. He’s also starred in two Mike Leigh films, Life Is Sweet and Secrets & Lies. Neilson made her radio debut in 2009 in God Bless Our Love, an upbeat romantic comedy about a priest and a nun who fall in love and quit their vocations to marry and start a new life together.