Jason Grimshaw, is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street.^[2] Portrayed by actor Ryan Thomas, the character first appeared during the episode airing on 25 December 2000, when he comes looking for mother Eileen (Sue Cleaver) at the Battersbys' home.

Jason is very much the opposite of half brother Todd. He is very self-centred and lacks forethought. He is also quite bigoted, being strongly homophobic and seeing infidelity on the part of men as just a bit of fun. Jason is the son of Eileen Grimshaw and a man called Tony, but for many years didn't know his dad.

Upon his arrival on the Street with his family he was as aspiring runner something which Eileen didn't completely approve of. He worked for a brief period in Sally Webster's hardware shop in 2001 until the failing business went up on fire. He was the one to discover a traumatised Toyah Battersby lying in the ginnel following her rape in April 2001 when he was out jogging early one morning. Although Jason has had many girlfriends, all of them have been quite short-lived since he is commitment-phobic and insatiable with his sexual desires. He has had romantic/sexual relationships with such Street residents as Candice Stowe and Sarah Louise Platt. On Christmas Day 2006, a baby was left on the doorstep of the Grimshaw's, the baby was apparently the product of a one-night stand between Jason and her mother, Emma.

Despite his homophobia, Jason stuck by Todd when others, such as Gail Platt, persecuted him because of him being gay. Despite later on being involved with Sarah Louise, Jason always despised Gail and even though his mother Eileen is now friends with Gail, Jason still hates her.

Storylines[link]

Jason is the son of Eileen Grimshaw and Tony Stewart, but for many years doesn't know his father, he is later reunited with him in 2003. Upon his arrival, he is an aspiring runner - something which Eileen doesn't completely approve of. He works for a brief period in Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor)'s electrical shop in 2001 until the failing business catches fire and is permanently closed down. He is the one to discover a traumatised Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor) lying in the ginnel, following her rape in April 2001, when he is out jogging early one morning. Although Jason has had many girlfriends, all of them were short-lived since he is commitment-phobic. He has had romantic relationships with street residents, Candice Stowe (Nikki Sanderson) and Sarah-Louise Platt (Tina O'Brien). He seems to have settled down with Violet Wilson (Jenny Platt), even uncharacteristically promising to look after her when he thinks that she is pregnant. However, they split up after he is unable to cope with her confession that she shared a drunken kiss with his friend Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward). While they are apart, he begins seeing Sarah and continues the affair even after he and Violet reunite. Eventually Violet finds out and dumps Jason.

He continues dating Sarah, much to the dismay of their mothers. Their relationship is rocky as Sarah feels insecure about his relationship with Violet and the fact he proposed to her while with was still with her. This leads to a showdown in which Sarah dumps Jason in the Rovers by throwing his pint over his head. After days of bickering, Jason decides to win Sarah back, and after she refuses to speak to him, Jason breaks into her house and asks her to marry him. She accepts, although they have a cool reception from their mothers. They announce their engagement in the Rovers in front of Violet, which Sarah wants to do to make a point. The wedding, though, is a disaster. Jason decides it isn't for him, and escapes through a toilet window at the venue, leaving Sarah heartbroken. After months of ignoring him because of this, she slowly starts to come round and begins seeing him again. However, on Christmas Day 2006, Jason has a major surprise delivered to the front door in the shape of a baby - his little girl by a young woman called Emma (Stephanie Waring).

Jason marries Sarah on Halloween, 2007. David invites Jason's brother, Todd, (also Sarah's ex and the father of her deceased son, Billy) to the wedding, hoping to cause havoc. However, this backfires and things look too good for the big day. David - in a further attempt to sabotage the wedding - fakes a suicide while the ceremony is in progress, but Sarah insists that they carry on regardless. David's fake suicide attempt puts Jason and Sarah's marriage on the rocks. Gail lets David move back home and the couple's honeymoon is cut short. Sarah knows that it is just a stunt to ruin the wedding but Jason doesn't believe it. In November 2007, Jason is meant to take Sarah's wedding dress to the cleaners but accidentally leaves it in Roy's Rolls where David picks it up. He puts it in a puddle before placing it in a bin bag with the other bits and pieces that the Morton kids get from their neighbours. The Mortons' Guy Fawkes gets first prize and whilst being burnt Sarah recognises her wedding dress before Jason admits that he accidentally lost it somewhere. Sarah knows immediately that this is David's doing. Jason, Sarah and her daughter Bethany (Amy & Emily Walton) are set to leave for Milan on December 30, 2007, after Sarah gets a job from her uncle Stephen (Todd Boyce). Jason backs out, leaving Sarah and Bethany to go alone, when Sarah admits that she had planted the drugs in David's drawer at the salon, thereby ruining his chances of Stephen offering him the job in Milan. On New Year's Eve 2007, Jason and Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly) share a lingering kiss as the midnight chimes ring, and on 1 February 2008, they sleep together. Jason regrets it the next morning and goes to see Sarah in Milan, to tell her he slept with Becky. Instead of forgiving him, she gives him a black eye. When he returns to the Street, Becky hits him too.^[3]

Several months later, after some flirting, Jason and Becky sleep together again and they become a couple. However, they argue when Jason wants to have a night in alone. In October 2008, Jason discovers that Sarah is thinking about coming home. He immediately phones her and she agrees to give him another chance. Meanwhile, he is preparing to move in with Becky but he dumps her and flys off to Italy. Becky later attacks him in the Rovers for his betrayal.^[4] Everything backfires for Jason when he subsequently discovers that Sarah has decided to reconcile with her Italian boyfriend, just as he is going to Milan to meet her. On 16 February 2009, Jason and Becky get back together after revealing that he and Sarah are in the middle of a divorce. To prove to Becky, he is serious this time, he proposes and she accepts. Unfortunately, Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) also proposes to Becky and although she initially decides to marry Jason, she realises she can't go through with it and calls off the engagement. In June 2009, Jason begins a relationship with Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) after her bitter break-up with ex-boyfriend David. However, when Tina tells David the truth about her and Jason, he turns nasty and starts throwing bricks at Jason. Jason fights back and the pair have to be separated by the locals. Tina and Jason buy No. 12a Coronation Street and move in together in July 2009. Jason and Tina then redecorate the flat and hold a house-warming party in September 2009. Then in November 2009, a loan shark named Rick Neelan expresses fake interest in buying the flat, when in reality, he is waiting for Tina's father Joe (Reece Dinsdale) to pay the debts he owes him. Before Christmas 2009, Tina and Jason row after it is discovered that Jason is still legally married to Sarah, in retaliation; she goes out on the town and kisses Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) his brother-in-law.

They reconcile however, and in January 2010, when Joe and Gail go on their honeymoon, he asks Jason to look out for Tina, who is in trouble due to the loan sharks. On 12 February 2010, Jason gives Tina a Valentine's Day present of his divorce papers to Sarah. Tina thinks that is her full Valentine's Day present and goes to get alcohol to celebrate. When she returns, Jason proposes to her after she has seen the ring and she accepts. However, following the sudden death of Joe, Tina, unable to cope with her grief, breaks up with Jason and he moves out of the flat, though reclaims it.

When Jason learns that Tina is now seeing Graeme Proctor, he is angered that they were seeing each other when they were still together and locks Tina out of the flat. Then, he teams up with David (who was Graeme's best friend) to humiliate Tina and Graeme further; first by David using Graeme's clothes to mop up water (Graeme had handcuffed David to the Platt's radiator, who then pulled it off) and then cutting the hoods off his hoodies, as well as cutting the peaks off his caps; then, Jason throws binbags of Tina's clothes on top of her from the house's windows, all in front of a crowd. Satisfied, David and Jason end their partnership, but remain close friends

On 24th September 2010, Jason is recruited by a half naked Rosie Webster to drive her in Kevin's car to Sheffield to pick up Sophie (Brooke Vincent) and her girlfriend Sian (Sacha Parkinson) after they ran away together. Immediately, there is a fiery chemistry between the pair; on the 18th October, Rosie books with Owen for a builder to come round and redocorate the kitchen after the oven catches on fire, whilst Sally and Kevin are away. On the 21st, whilst Jason is busy with the Webster's kitchen, and Rosie is running around for a cab to take her to an important modelling job, she happens to mention that it is 'underwear modelling', so Jason immediately offers to be her driver. With Jason not knowing what a 'green screen' is and the male model going AWOL, Rosie volunteers Jason to step in, and the pair complete the photoshoot together; with Jason looking very pleased with himself, once they return home, they end up sleeping together. The next day Jason seems to think he has done something wrong, with Rosie being avasive and not paying him the money for the work he done on the kitchen; she eventually coughs up the money and he buys her a 'fake' version of the hanbag that she dreamt of having and the pair have another steamy session, resulting in them becoming a couple.

When the Joinery bar exploded, bringing a tram off the viaduct which smashes into the Corner Shop and the Kabin, Jason assists with helping everyone and his finest act of the night is venturing into No.13 (which is in flames) to find Simon Barlow (Alex Bain). He finds him in a closet upstairs and they both get out with help from the fire department. Upon escaping, he is thanked gratefully by the Barlow family and praised by the residents for his act of courage. With Jason and Rosie living together, they both tackle the new year looking out for Sophie and Sian as they get kicked out of the Websters. When Graeme convinces Claire to run away, after the truth could be revealed, about her hammering Tracy Barlow, Jason helps her and her boys to escape and drives her to the airport, on the 14th January. On the 17th January, Eileen's money troubles, get a lot worse, and number 11 starts to crumble to pieces around her; she seeks help from an insurance firm, however, when Jason spots a man lurking around the back of the house, he thinks he is trying to spy on a half naked Rosie, and punches him to the ground. Only to immediately discover that he is the insurance salesman, which of course, affects the result and Eileen can't claim a penny.

On the 4th February, after Rosie agrees to go to a 'mother and baby' photo shoot, which 'pays a fortune' and they manage to convince Kevin to borrow baby Jack for the day, disaster strikes when the mix up the car seats, and bring home a baby girl. Jason spots the mistake, and just as they are about to swap back the babies, Kevin walks in and demands the truth. Jason reveals the truth and Kevin goes back out to find him. He finds Jack, but warns Rosie to stay away from him, expressing his disappointment in her. Despite this, Jason is good friends with Kevin and supports him when he wins £200,000 on a scratchcard. When Kev is nearly crushed to death at the garage when his new car ramp malfunctions (Kevin's work colleague Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) had attacked it in a rage and unintentionally damaged it), Jason joins Rosie and her family at the hospital. Kevin orders Jason to call the ramp manufacturers and find the fault, threaten legal action if he has to. When it's revealed that the ramp was damaged on purpose, Jason is shocked and disgusted that someone would try to kill Kevin.

In June, Jason celebrates his 28th birthday and Becky hosts a party for him in the Rovers. However, she orders a stripper and the party turns to all-out mayhem when Chris Gray (Will Thorp) has a go at Frank Foster (Andrew Lancel). A fight breaks out between them and this leads to a whole-pub brawl, with Jason caught in the midst, things sent flying, the brawl going onto the street and a chair smashing the window. Though Jason is shaken, he is perfectly fine.

In November 2011, Rosie tells Jason that she is showing a potential buyer around their flat (which they are selling), but unknown to Rosie and Jason, the mystery buyer is actually Rosie's ex-kidnapper John Stape (Graeme Hawley) who has returned to kidnap Rosie as he blames her for his wife Fiz Stape (Jenny McAlpine)'s imprisonment for his crimes. Rosie and Jason have a brief argument which leads to her storming off to show 'Mr Chips' around the flat. Meanwhile, Jason informs Kevin that Rosie never returned from the flat-viewing and he is concerned. Jason and Kevin hear Rosie's screams and find her bound and gagged in the flat,and Kevin chases after John, who then crashes his car and dies. Jason apologises to Rosie for abandoning her and says he'll never do it again.

Casting[link]

Characterisation[link]

In late 2000, it was announced that two new youngsters are to join the cast of ITV soap Coronation Street, and that Ryan Thomas and Bruno Langley will play brothers originally Jason was called James and Todd Grimshaw, 17 and 15 year-old sons of Streetcars controller Eileen. The family will move into Liz and Jim McDonald's old house from next week. Producers hope the lads will achieve the same heartthrob status as Adam Rickitt, who played Nick Tilsley for two years before leaving to pursue a pop career. "We thought it was time for some good looking boys," said a spokeswoman.^[5]

Storyline development[link]

Although Jason has had many girlfriends, all of them have been quite short-lived since he is commitment-phobic and insatiable with his sexual desires. He has had romantic/sexual relationships with such Street residents as Candice Stowe and Sarah Louise Platt. He seemed to have finally settled down somewhat with Violet Wilson, even going as far as uncharacteristically promising to look after her when he falsely believed her to be pregnant, however, they broke up after he was unable to cope with her confession that she had shared one drunken kiss with Charlie Stubbs. While they were apart he began seeing Sarah, and continued the affair even after he and Violet reunited. Eventually Violet found out and left Jason for good. He continued seeing Sarah, much to the dismay of their mothers. Their relationship remained rocky as Sarah still felt insecure over his relationship with Violet and the fact he proposed to her while still with Sarah. This led to a furious showdown in which Sarah publicly dumped Jason in the Rovers by throwing his pint over his head. After only days of bickering, Jason decided to win Sarah back, and after she refused to speak to him, Jason drastically broke into her house and asked her to marry him. She accepted, although they had a cool reception from both their mothers. They announced their engagement in the Rovers in front of Violet, which Sarah had wanted to do to make a point.

The wedding though was a disaster. Jason decided it wasn't for him, and escaped through the Registry Office toilet window, leaving Sarah heartbroken. After months of ignoring him because of his actions, she slowly started to come round and began seeing him again. But on Christmas Day 2006, Jason had a major surprise delivered to the front door in the shape of a baby - his little girl, Holly by a young woman called Emma.

In early 2001, Jason began dating Sarah Platt, they had a on off relationship and were due to marry in 2006. Speaking of the storyline Thomas said: "Jason was thinking about getting married in four years rather than four months. It was just a gesture, and that’s all he wanted it to be. He thought they would just get engaged and they didn’t have to get married for ages yet. It was more of a stepping stone for him. It has come round quickly for Jason, and he is sort of being pushed into it. He doesn’t want to lose Sarah so he is going along with it because he does actually love her." Asked if Jason would settle down Thomas also said: "He's had a bit of a past and he's a bit of a Jack The Lad around Charlie but on this occasion, for once, he's actually showing some grown-up qualities and, when faced with the prospect of losing Sarah, he chose to bite the bullet."There's no grey area with Jason because there's not that much grey matter! Everything's in black and white. It's either marry Sarah and keep her or don't marry Sarah and lose her forever." Speaking about if Jason will also be able to handle Bethany, Thomas said: "He certainly will – he pulls her to one side during the ceremony and makes her a pledge. He realises he can't have Sarah without Beth – they come as a package."

The storyline resulted in Jason leaving Sarah and also resulted in Sarah leaving the street for a new life abroad with Beth. leaving Jason alone and upset.

In 2008, Jason began dating Becky Granger, speaking of the storyline actress Katherine Kelly said: It's all her dreams come true. When she first arrived on the Street, she was homeless – that was the only definition of Becky I got when I originally landed the part. To go from the old fingerless gloves to setting up a flat with Jason, the fittest guy on the Street, it's the best life has ever been for her." "She absolutely believes that she's 100% in love with him. I see it as a very teenage relationship because of the on-off status. Becky's very mature in many ways - she's very streetwise and if you needed something, you'd go to Becky and she'd find it for you. But emotionally, she's very immature. That's a lot to do with why she gets on so well with Roy because he's quite emotionally immature, too. It's probably the one level that they do connect on."

In 2009, Jason began dating David Platt's ex girlfriend Tina McIntyre, speaking of the storyline Thomas said: "I just thought it was really good for their storylines because I knew it'd bring the Platts and the Grimshaws back together in their usual warring ways. Who could forget the famous fight on the cobbles between Gail and Eileen? I think at some point that'll come again. There's always banter from one side of the Street to the other." Asked what attracts Tina to Jason, Thomas replied: "I think it's because she's quite full-on with Jason. She made a big effort with him in the beginning, so he just played off that and spiced up his life a bit in the process. He wanted a bit more fun than just sitting there having a pint in The Rovers every day." It all came a little out of the blue, didn't it? "Yeah, Jason completely wasn't aware that Tina fancied him. She had to come onto him to make him realise, but as soon as he got the sign, he was in there! It doesn't take him long to get his pants off! I think Jason was playing with the situation a bit as well to see what he could get out of her. When he started getting the right signals, he just thought 'I might as well have a go'. They seem to be very happy at the moment."^[6]

In 2010, Jason began a relationship with Rosie Webster, teasing the storyline, Thomas said: "It's going to be a very feisty, sexy relationship between the two characters." Asked if the Jason and Rosie (Helen Flanagan) pairing could work, Thomas admitted that with Jason's track record anything could happen.^[7] In October 2010, Flanagan commented on the storyline: ""Trust the writers to give it to me! I didn't have time to worry about it - or hit the gym! Ryan and I are like brother and sister so the first kiss was weird, but once we got that out of the way it was fine. "It wasn't as passionate as it looked as Ryan was in agony from an infected tooth. But I'm glad Rosie has got a boyfriend - it shows she has a heart."^[8]

In February 2012, Thomas said he wants "fun" times for Jason after the departure of Rosie.^[9] In an interview qith Lorraine about what could be next for Jason, Thomas commented: "I know the direction it's going. I'm not allowed to say too much about it, but I know that they're putting me with [different] people and I don't know what's going to happen there. But that should be exciting for him. I just want Jason to have a bit of fun. He's been tied to that relationship and he always seems to get into relationships too quickly."^[9] Thomas also added that he will miss Flanagan following her departure from the series.^[9] He added: "In real life, she is the funniest person ever. We will [miss her], yeah. Obviously a lot of people come and go over the years, but when you work so closely with someone… She's a massive character and she will be missed. They've kept the door wide open for Helen. People like to spread their wings, go out there and see what the real world is about, because we're a big bubble in that show. We wish Helen all the best."^[9]

See also[link]

• List of Coronation Street characters (2001)

Reception[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jason Grimshaw at itv.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2010)

Ryan Thomas
Born	(1984-06-10) 10 June 1984 (age 28) Manchester, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present
Partner	Tina O'Brien (2003–09)

Ryan James Thomas (born 10 June 1984 in Manchester) and is an English actor who is currently starring as the character, Jason Grimshaw on ITV's Coronation Street.

Career[link]

Ryan has been nominated for various "Sexiest Male"-type awards. He also won the award for Rear of the Year in 2008.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Ryan attended Wentworth High School in Eccles, Salford. He has two brothers who are twins. One of whom is Adam Thomas, who played Donte Charles in BBC drama, Waterloo Road and is now playing Adam Barton in the ITV soap Emmerdale. His daughter Scarlett Jacqueline Thomas was born on 26 October 2008 to his then girlfriend Tina O'Brien.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ryan Thomas at the Internet Movie Database
• Ryan Thomas's Corrie profile at What's on TV

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