From Craig to Kit

Craig Tinker lived on Coronation Street with his mother Beth.  They once were forced to share a house with Tracy Barlow, but he seems to have coped without any obvious trauma.

He once accompanied his mother on a date with Steve McDonald. Had things worked out, he could have been Steve's stepson and Amy's step brother.  However, nothing became of the relationship and he appeared to survive without any obvious trauma.

Craig's past is controversial.  He had many lady friends during his time on the street, and they all offered their own predicaments and baggage.  However, he seems to have reached adulthood without any obvious trauma.

Drama was never far from Craig.  He was variously nearby when the Rovers went on fire, on call when Faye found out she was pregnant, and he was involved in many other dramas, but no doubt his OCD was a major turning point.  However, he recovered from this with no obvious signs of ongoing trauma,

He joined the police, and for a long time he was number one PC.  If Gail and Eileen brawled in the street, Craig was on call.  If the factory was broken into, burnt down or the scene of a hostage, Craig was first on the scene.  If Sean and Norris were caught in the street dancing at 2am to loud music playing from Rita's gramophone, the horn sticking out of the window, Craig was the police officer on duty who would turn up and deal with the matter.  His productivity was the highest in the North of England.  And, unlike some colleagues, he never suffered from stress, PTSD or any signs of obvious trauma.

And then came Kit.

One of the writers was overheard talking to one of the producers about a new character she had created.

"Kit's super, Kit can do anything, Kit is great oh he really is," she said.

Just as she was speaking, pow out popped her fairy godmother with the "I'll give you three wishes routine."

"Wish number 1 is easy," she said, and up popped Kit the new PC.

"Next I wish we were both at a crime scene," she said and with a wave of her wand, fairy godmother transported them to a crime scene (the theft of a pearl necklace from Sally's underwear drawer.)

"Come on, let's solve it Kit," she said, banging on Sally's knocker.

"It's just not my scene, man," said Kit.

"What he really meant was he couldn't solve crime," said the writer.

She summoned her fairy godmother again.  "I've still got one wish left, remember," she said, then whispered something in the fairy godmother's ear.

Suddenly, Swain appeared.

"Meet Swain," said the writer.

"'Ello,' Swain said.

At that, Sally opened the door looking like Queen Elizabeth, without her pearls.  She beckoned them in and closed the door.  "Tim gave me the most gorgeous pearl necklace but when I went to...." Her voice faded as the door closed.

Kit looked dejected ( or perhaps he it was angry, sad, confused or flirty.)  He whistled for the fairy godmother.

"Yes?" she asks.

"I wish... I wish I didn't keep on losing my cases," he said angrily (or plaintively, darkly, morosely or flirtily.)

"Then learn to detect, young man. Learn to detect."

And so Kit the cop was born.  Despite his many failings, the writer was so keen on the character of Kit the cop that she kept him, and gradually he was assigned to more cases than Craig.

Kit was rogue.  That much was obvious from day one.  He planted evidence, he beat up suspects, he turned a blind eye, and he fathered a proper little lout with Lou the Lout, husband of Mick the Mouth. 

But Kit's worse crime was murdering Tinker.  It all began when he discovered that he had fathered Craig with Beth Tinker, many years before.  No wonder Craig became a policeman - it was in his blood.  Beth had been on a crowded Manchester tram standing in front of Kit.  As the tram became more crowded, Kit got closer and closer to Beth and the inevitable happened.  Neither wanted it to happen but it was the only way that Kit could move to allow an old lady onto the tram.  Beth, a short lady, was so crushed in the crowded tram that she was unable to raise her eyes sufficiently highly to see the face of her impregnator.

When Kit worked it out he set out to have him and Beth removed.  First he threatened Beth so she ran away and then he set up Craig so that he would be on duty when Mick the Mouth had one of his bad days.  Next, he would have to deal with Bernie and Gary, but all in good time.

First, he had a pearl necklace to wrap up for Sarah Louise.