Charlie Stubbs is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Bill Ward.
This became evident during most of the character's story arc, which saw Charlie spark a relationship local landlady Shelley Unwin (Sally Lindsay), whom he ends up mistreating, to the point where he clashes with her interfering mother Bev (Susie Blake), before she eventually jilts him at their wedding.
He then went on to proceed in forming a rivalry with his colleague/enemy Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas); instigating a feud with Shelley's ex-husband Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) after assaulting him; embarking on an affair with Jason's girlfriend Maria Sutherland (Samia Smith); attempting to drown local teenager David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) in retribution for the latter trying to blackmail him; and repeatedly clashing with Maria's best friend Claire Peacock (Julia Haworth) over his antagonistic nature.
In his exit storyline, Charlie rekindled his once-broken romance with Peter's stepsister Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), who, unbeknownst to him, is plotting to exact revenge on the character after discovering the extent of his affairs and deceit.
Upon arrival, they become outraged when local factory owner Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) refuses to move his car so they could park their vehicle.
When arsonist Maya Sharma (Sasha Behar) set fire to the Corner Shop on Coronation Street, Charlie and Ciaran McCarthy (Keith Duffy) broke in and rescued Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) and Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati).
Ward signed a new contract with the British soap opera in early 2005, because the producers planned "to build Charlie's narcissistic and sadistic behavior towards Shelley (Sally Lindsay)" throughout the year.
[1][2][3] Upon the announcement that the character would begin a romance with Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), a Coronation Street insider revealed that it was "a piece of genius by the writers pairing the show's biggest bitch with the vilest villain", and that "the antics they will get up to will obviously cause misery and heartache for many people."
It was also revealed that "it was decided that the two characters of Charlie and Tracy were very much part of the programmes [sic] long-term future", and that it "therefore made sense to cement them together as a couple and to give them storylines guaranteed to make them two of Weatherfield's 'most hated'.
"[4] Charlie's character was expected to become "the most hated man on telly" when it was announced that he would embark on an affair and manipulate Maria Sutherland (Samia Smith).
[5] Ward "shocked" Coronation Street producers by deciding to leave the serial a few months into his then-current contract, since they had "expected him to stay on after giving him another top storyline".
"[6] In 2005, actor Bill Ward claimed that people approached him regarding the abuse his character gave to Shelley Unwin (Sally Lindsay).
[7] Grace Dent, an editor of The Guardian, described the character of Charlie as "a brilliant soap baddie", as a "philanderer and a mysoginist [sic]", and a "violent bully and a relentless liar."