Coronation Street legend dies aged 87 as Helen Worth leads tributes
Coronation Street legend Geoff Hinsliff has died at the age of 87.
The star, who played Don Brennan from 1987-1997, died earlier this week, the soap has confirmed.
Geoff’s co-star, Helen Worth, has paid tribute to her friend, saying he will ‘be missed’ by everyone at the ITV soap.
The Gail Platt star said: ‘Geoff was a lovely, quiet man who will be sadly missed by us all. His partnership with Lynne Perry was something rather special and they gave the viewers huge pleasure for many years.’
Geoff has a wife called Judith. They got married in 1967 at a church called St Cecilia’s in East Hertfordshire. They also share a daughter called Gaby, who is a journalist.
Geoff had previous guest stints as different characters in 1963 and 1977 before joining the Corrie cast full time as Don in 1987.
During his decade on the cobbles, taxi driver Don fell for local Ivy Tilsley (Lynne Perrie) with the pair marrying in 1988.
However, their marriage fell apart in the wake of her son Brian Tisley’s (Christopher Quinten) murder and Don had an affair with Julie Dewhurst (Su Elliot).
They later reconciled, but Don’s wandering eye led him to have another affair with Denise Osbourne (Denise Black) before they ended their marriage for good in 1994.
As he struggled with depression, the character contemplated suicide at Christmas 1996 after losing his taxi licence, but he was saved by Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) and Martin Platt (Sean Wilson).
Don also had a long-running rivalry with Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) setting fire to the factory and targeting his wife Alma Sedgewick (Amanda Barrie), with Mike even celebrating when Don was killed in a car crash in 1997.