Don Brennan

This article's content is marked as Mature Don Brennan contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature articles are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page.

Do-gooder
Full Name	Donald Michael Brennan
Alias(es)	Don
Origin	Coronation Street
Occupation	Taxi Driver
Powers / Skills	No information
Hobby	Spending time with his family Drinking in the rovers
Goals	Save his marriage with Ivy (failed) Get revenge on Mike Baldwin (failed)
Family	Michael Brennan (father) Bridget Brennan (mother) Ivy Tilsley (wife) Brian Tilsley (son-in-law) Gail Platt (daughter-in-law) Martin Platt (son-in-law) David Platt (grandson-in-law) Sarah Platt (granddaughter-in-law) Nick Tilsley (grandson-in-law)
Friends / Allies	Jack Duckworth Vera Duckworth Ken Barlow Deirdre Barlow
Enemies	Mike Baldwin (sworn nemesis) Ivy Tilsley (sometimes) Alan Bradley Phil Jennings
Type of Hero	Vengeful Fallen Hero

Don Brennan was a fictional character and major protagonist-turned-antagonist of the ITV British soap opera Coronation Street.

In his characterisation, Don was a taxi driver who became the husband of established character Ivy Tilsley up until her departure in the following years. At first he started off as a natural character throughout nearly his entire duration, but gradually descended into villainy upon harbouring a vendetta against his sworn foe Mike Baldwin; the conflict between them got out of hand when Don ended up kidnapping Mike's wife Alma, nearly killing her in the process, before later attempting to kill Mike - which only resulted in Don's own demise after he accidentally killed himself in a car crash.

He was portrayed by Geoffrey Hinsliff.

Biography

Don Brennan first came to Weatherfield at somepoint in 1987. He soon met local resident Ivy Tilsley and the pair eventually got married a few years later.

As time went on, Don's marriage with Ivy seemed to have blossomed as they both enjoyed practicing Catholics and he bonded with her son Brian as well as her best friend Vera Duckworth; in the latter case, Don became close friends with Vera's husband Jack. Soon enough, Brian was murdered in 1989 and Don proved to be incredibly supportive of his wife but was unhappy with the way she interfered in her daughter-in-law Gail and her boyfriend Martin's efforts to raise Brian's son Nick.

Don himself was not without faults as he had severe gambling problem. In 1988 he gambled away his taxi in a poker game to Ivy's boss Mike Baldwin who sold it back to her for a considerable sum. Mike had took great joy in humiliating Don and the two continued to have conflicts as Don believed Mike to be a self-centred capitalist who treated Ivy and all the mechanists who worked under him like dirt. At one point Don went for a drink with Mike's sworn archenemy Ken Barlow and they formed a rather decent acquaintanceship with each other.

In November 1990, Don met a woman named Marie Ramsden who was being abused by her husband and tried to help her. Even though there was nothing going on between them and Don's intentions were noble he felt it best not to involve Ivy as he feared her fundamentalism would make her insist on Marie staying with him. When Marie made a pass at him Don involved Ivy who surprised him by being as concerned as he was and invited her to spend Christmas with them. On the day Ivy unfortunately drove Marie away by being too bossy.

Eventually Don could no longer tolerate being around Ivy, feeling she was too obsessed with the past and betrayed her by having an affair with Julie Dewhurst. While Julie ended things Don told Ivy he still didn't want her back as he no longer loved her. During the drama Don has crashed his car deliberately in an attempt to end his own life and had to have his foot amputated.

Soon enough Don moved back in with Ivy after a concerned Vera told him she had a drink problem as he wanted to ensure she didn't drink herself to death but made sure to remind Ivy that they were now husband and wife in a technical sense only. When Don made harassing phone calls to Denise Osbourne he felt guilt and it drove him to ask Ivy if they could make another go at things. She agreed but it didn't last long as she left to stay in a religious retreat.

In 1995, Don let Nick stay with him when he fell out with Martin but the two fell out over Ivy leaving the house to Nick in her will and excluding Don entirely when she died.

By 1996, Don thought he had a chance of happiness with his new girlfriend Josie Clarke but this was short-lived as Mike left out a fake evaluation of his garage MVB Motors for her to find and the two were tricked into paying Mike well-over the odds for the business. Don drove the company into the ground and drove Josie away when she got fed up of his impulsiveness. Don's depression worsened when he was banned for driving for 18 months not long after his former employee Kevin Webster became the new owner. Don later tried to commit suicide on Christmas that year, but was rescued in the end.

In 1997, Don abandoned any of his previously held morals as he sworn revenge on Mike at all costs. He began to target Mike in a hate campaign through rather extreme ways on several occasions, first by burning down his factory and attempting to make it believe that Mike did it for the insurance. But that failed and Don later kidnapped Mike's wife Alma in his taxi before trying to kill her by driving the vehicle into a canal, although both survived in the end.

In October 1997, Don escaped custody and ambushed Mike at his new factory. He tied up Mike and tried to shame him for his actions but Mike was unrepentant and shifted the blame back on to Don. It was then Don attempted to run Mike over outside but his car crashed into the viaduct and exploded, killing him.

Trivia

• He made a total of 735 appearances throughout his time on the show.

External Links

• Don Brennan on the Villains Wiki
• Don Brennan on the Heroic Benchmark Wiki
• Don Brennan on the Coronation Street Wiki