What happened to Fred Elliott on Coronation Street? We look back after John Savident’s death
It was revealed this morning (February 23rd) that Coronation Street legend John Savident has passed away at the age of 86 – but what happened to his character Fred Elliott?
John first appeared as boisterous businessman Fred in 1994, appearing on a recurring basis before becoming a regular face for the next decade from 1996.
The character’s future was cemented in the ITV soap when his butchers, Elliott & Son, was added to the infamous Granada Studios backlot at the turn of the millennium.
What were Fred’s memorable moments?
During his time on the show, Fred was forced to come clean to ‘nephew’ Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) and reveal that he was actually his father.
Ashley had discovered that his birth mother had handed him over to her childless sister when he was a baby and kept his true parentage a secret.
As publican of the Rovers Return, Fred first bought shares into the boozer from Natalie Barnes and co-owned it with Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) and Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe).
Taking full control in 2002, he installed wife Eve (Melanie Kilburn) as licensee so he could focus on his beloved butchers but this was short lived when her bigamy was revealed.
Forever unlucky in love, Fred later fell for Thai bride Orchid but this was short-lived when he discovered she was a Mancunian market stall holder called Stacy that was planning to scam him out of his fortune.
How did Fred leave the show?
He finally found happiness with fiancée Bev Unwin (Susie Blake), but felt conflicted when old pal Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) confessed that she regretted declining his proposal years earlier.
As their wedding day rolled around, Fred sought her blessing ahead of his nuptials and prepared to move away but collapsed in her hallway and died of a stroke before he was able to.
His presence was still felt on the eponymous street for many years following, as Ashley continued to run his business alongside assistant Graeme Proctor (Craig Gazey) until his own death in the devastating tram crash in 2010.
On one occasion, Ashley was left confused when Graeme began copying Fred’s familiar speech pattern (I say, speech pattern) despite never meeting the master butcher, but he eventually came clean that he was picking up on stories that Claire Peacock (Julia Haworth) had told him.
Despite it being eighteen years since he left the show, and almost fourteen years since his family departed, the iconic character is still mentioned from time to time.
Upon taking over as landlady of the Rovers in 2017, Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor), who Fred had mistakenly once called Toyota, recalled him as a legendary former landlord.