The character of Eddie was created as part of a new family unit that new producer Kim Crowther introduced to the soap opera, consisting of a mother, a father, a son and an uncle.

"[3] Fellow cast member Debbie Rush spoke about their odd surname and stated they were expecting comments when seen in public about it.

He uses crutches but you may notice he doesn’t always limp with the same leg…" [5] The character's storylines start immediately after his first on-screen appearance when David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) and his boss Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale) confront him and his family about a bounced cheque that they had used to pay for their fitted kitchen.

The Rovers' team consists of Dark Destroyer Eddie, Kirk, Kevin (Michael Le Vell) and Bill Webster (Peter Armitage), Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) and Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles).

Eventually Eddie calls the military police and tells them Gary is at home, because he feels his son needs to face up to his responsibilities.

Faye proves to be a handful for the Windasses as she doesn't take to her new home right away, her presence leads to tension between the couple and Eddie reveals he never actually wanted to adopt.

When Len (Conor Ryan) offers Eddie a job in Germany, he gives Anna an ultimatum to choose between him or Faye.

Grace Dent of The Guardian slated the character because of his scrounging ways and shoddy appearance stating: "Gary's dad Eddie has no positive attributes to speak of.

He's six feet tall with a collapsed orange Sideshow Bob hairdo and an ambidextrous limp which switches from left to right leg depending on which Social Security officer is spying on him.

He has a permanently fuddled expression which could be down to Temazepam, plain idiocy or the fact all his good brain cells are engaged in working out how to rob your wallet.

[10] Whereas Simon Swift of Soaplife magazine commented on the fact that on first looks he couldn't help feeling that Eddie and his clan are a bit too much like original neighbours-from-hell the Battersbys.