Actor Marc Baylis is heading back to Coronation Street for another stint as Rob Donovan, ne’er-do-well brother of Underworld boss Carla Connor and former fiancé of Tracy Barlow.
Rob is currently serving a life sentence for the 2014 murder of cobbles resident Tina McIntyre. He was last seen in 2017, when he escaped from prison and went on the run with Tracy.
In the new year, Carla collapses from sepsis and is devastated to later discover that the infection has done irreversible damage to her one, remaining kidney, which she received in a transplant operation in 2018 and which was donated to her by her now late half-brother, Aidan.
When Carla refuses both Bobby and Ryan’s offer of a kidney, Bobby visits his estranged father and asks him to be Carla’s donor - though whether Rob agrees remains to be seen.
Says Corrie producer Kate Brooks, “We last left Rob languishing in prison. He made mistakes.
“He comes back to the show and we think he might be a reformed character who has seen the error of his ways, but whether that’s the case or not, I don’t know.
“He definitely comes back and causes a lot of trouble for Carla and Lisa. Just when Carla and Lisa think it’s safe to sit down and watch Netflix, Rob Donovan comes along and scuppers all of that.
“It’s a big story for them and a big story for Rob. There are lots of twists and turns. It’s a big story for Betsy as well, who is fabulous and will be right at the centre of that.”
Brooks hasn’t revealed exactly how long Rob will be back for, but teases that it is “a good chunk.”
Since leaving Corrie, Baylis has had roles in the likes of BBC1 police drama London Kills and British horror film, Redcon-1. He has also provided voices for video games Battlefield V and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
More recently, he has had a guest role in Acorn TV detective drama Whitstable Pearl season 3.
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV1.
