Luke Strong

[tammyy2j]

Mancunian actor Craig Kelly - most noted for his role as Vince Tyler in Queer As Folk - will play cool-headed charmer Luke Strong, one of Carla's (Alison King) former business associates.

Kelly, who can also be heard narrating Channel 4's desert island reality show Shipwrecked, begins filming in the New Year and will first appear on screen in February.

Apparently Rosie makes a play for him but is his love match the newly single Michelle Connor :hmm:

[Emmie]

But surly that means that we meet luke before carla comes back cos if he starts filming in the new year Alison King won't be there cos shes on mertunity leave :S x

[Bryan]

he is such a talented actor, he was great in Queer As Folk, we had to watch that in Media Studies!!!

[tammyy2j]

BULLY-BOY businessman Tony Gordon is left speechless when a stranger turns up at the *factory to look after his wife’s share of the business.



Dismayed missus Carla leaves Tony and Weatherfield after he reveals the shocking truth about his involvement in her lover Liam Connor’s death.

Tony has no idea where she has disappeared to and is stunned when mystery man Luke arrives at the factory and starts calling the shots.

The twisted killer tells Luke he doesn’t need any help.

But as Carla owns 60% of the factory, the new hunk makes it very clear he has the upper hand.

As our picture shows, knicker-stitcher Julie Carp is relieved when Luke tells her that all their jobs are safe.

But his decision leaves Tony fuming as he’s been trying to get Julie to name one of her colleagues to get rid of in a bid to save money.

A Coronation Street insider said: “Luke is an old business associate of Carla’s.

“He quickly wins over the factory girls with his charm and good looks. Tony has no idea what his motives are or how he knows Carla.

“But he’s certainly going to have a hard time with Luke around.

“He’s definitely met his match and Luke wastes no time over-ruling his decision to sack one of the girls.

“Poor Julie has been beside herself trying to give her boss a name and ends up offering herself for the chop.

“So you can imagine her relief when Luke tells her all their jobs are going to be safe.

“It will be a very interesting time in the factory as the two men battle it out in the forthcoming months.”

Fans of the hit ITV1 soap will be able to watch Luke’s arrival in the street on Friday February 20.

[Perdita]

Craig Kelly (Luke Strong, Corrie)
Tuesday, February 10 2009, 06:00 GMT

By Kris Green, Soaps Editor


If the dramatic departure of Carla Connor (Alison King) last week wasn't enough for Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien), his life is about to become even more complicated when his estranged wife sends a shock from afar to look after her business assets in the form of Luke Strong - a wealthy, ambitious and good looking Mancunian charmer played by Shipwrecked narrator Craig Kelly. Here, we chat to Craig about his character's personality, his back story, how Luke knows Carla and how he arrives on Britain's most famous cobbles.

How did the role in Coronation Street come about?
"It literally started with a phone call from the producers and it went from there. It any other soap had called, I'd have probably said 'no'. Because it was Corrie and the breakdown of the character was so fantastic, I just thought to myself 'why not?!' I met the team and was offered the part. I instinctively knew that this was for me. Even though it's a big step and a change of direction for me, it's still acting and I'm still getting paid for what I love doing. It's all exciting and quite surreal, especially when you walk onto the Street for the first time. I've never played a character that's as similar to me as Luke is, before. I've only really ever played psychotic transsexuals or gay men that are like door mats. They've been very varied character roles and it's rare that such a fun role as Luke comes up."

How would you describe your character?
"Luke is a likeable character who's got ambition and has achieved success through his wit, charm and instinct. He dresses well and likes a laugh and a flirt with the girls, but can handle himself well. He's not a guy who wants to go to war with someone, but if push comes to shove, he'll have it. Really, he just wants to do well in his life. He sees his life as a bit of an adventure. I like to call him a well-rounded entrepreneur who has his thumbs in a lot of different pies."

How do the characters on the Street receive him?
"When Luke turns up on the Street, you can tell immediately that he's different to Tony and the factory girls think he's great. He goes on a charm offensive with them and doesn't play the big boss role. He has a great, infectious energy - so much so that I did say to Kim [Crowther] 'you're not going to turn him into a psycho, are you?' She said 'no', so I was pleased! Sometimes in soap, characters can be too good to be true, so I think it's time for a hero to waltz in and give the bad guy a run for his money."

How does Carla know him?
"Basically, they were mates years ago. Paul Connor was the guy who took Luke under his wing. Luke's history has more than likely seen him in trouble with the police or in prison - that was the wake up call for him and on his release, he resolved to turn his life around. He's kind of a bad boy gone good in a strange way. He got his break through Paul, who taught him so well. Luke became better at the job that Paul, which caused a rift. Carla's not seen Luke for about five to seven years. Despite that, what's intriguing is that she calls on Luke to take on Tony and unsettle him. Luke's a strong character and Tony doesn't like him in the slightest. He can't quite work him out."

How does he turn up in Weatherfield?
"He just walks into the factory and tells Tony that he's been hired by Carla to take over management of her share of the company. Bosh. It's a great entrance and I think it's quite a statement about the character from the off."

Does he have money?
"Yeah, he's done well. He's probably not as loaded as he likes to make out, but he's clever enough to be a bit of a showman and keep his cards close to his chest. He's got life experience, too. He's probably just on the right side of arrogant - he's confident and believes in himself. Centered is probably the word."

What's Tony's reaction?
"Tony hates Luke being there, but realises that he's going to have to get used to it because he knows Luke's the real deal and a match for him. Tony probably starts plotting from the off as to how he could get rid of him. Equally, Luke probably makes out that he trusts Tony more than he does. It's a game of cat and mouse. "

[tammyy2j]

If the dramatic departure of Carla Connor (Alison King) last week wasn't enough for Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien), his life is about to become even more complicated when his estranged wife sends a shock from afar to look after her business assets in the form of Luke Strong - a wealthy, ambitious and good looking Mancunian charmer played by Shipwrecked narrator Craig Kelly. Here, we chat to Craig about his character's personality, his back story, how Luke knows Carla and how he arrives on Britain's most famous cobbles.

How did the role in Coronation Street come about?
"It literally started with a phone call from the producers and it went from there. It any other soap had called, I'd have probably said 'no'. Because it was Corrie and the breakdown of the character was so fantastic, I just thought to myself 'why not?!' I met the team and was offered the part. I instinctively knew that this was for me. Even though it's a big step and a change of direction for me, it's still acting and I'm still getting paid for what I love doing. It's all exciting and quite surreal, especially when you walk onto the Street for the first time. I've never played a character that's as similar to me as Luke is, before. I've only really ever played psychotic transsexuals or gay men that are like door mats. They've been very varied character roles and it's rare that such a fun role as Luke comes up."

How would you describe your character?
"Luke is a likeable character who's got ambition and has achieved success through his wit, charm and instinct. He dresses well and likes a laugh and a flirt with the girls, but can handle himself well. He's not a guy who wants to go to war with someone, but if push comes to shove, he'll have it. Really, he just wants to do well in his life. He sees his life as a bit of an adventure. I like to call him a well-rounded entrepreneur who has his thumbs in a lot of different pies."

How do the characters on the Street receive him?
"When Luke turns up on the Street, you can tell immediately that he's different to Tony and the factory girls think he's great. He goes on a charm offensive with them and doesn't play the big boss role. He has a great, infectious energy - so much so that I did say to Kim [Crowther] 'you're not going to turn him into a psycho, are you?' She said 'no', so I was pleased! Sometimes in soap, characters can be too good to be true, so I think it's time for a hero to waltz in and give the bad guy a run for his money."

How does Carla know him?
"Basically, they were mates years ago. Paul Connor was the guy who took Luke under his wing. Luke's history has more than likely seen him in trouble with the police or in prison - that was the wake up call for him and on his release, he resolved to turn his life around. He's kind of a bad boy gone good in a strange way. He got his break through Paul, who taught him so well. Luke became better at the job that Paul, which caused a rift. Carla's not seen Luke for about five to seven years. Despite that, what's intriguing is that she calls on Luke to take on Tony and unsettle him. Luke's a strong character and Tony doesn't like him in the slightest. He can't quite work him out."

How does he turn up in Weatherfield?
"He just walks into the factory and tells Tony that he's been hired by Carla to take over management of her share of the company. Bosh. It's a great entrance and I think it's quite a statement about the character from the off."

Does he have money?
"Yeah, he's done well. He's probably not as loaded as he likes to make out, but he's clever enough to be a bit of a showman and keep his cards close to his chest. He's got life experience, too. He's probably just on the right side of arrogant - he's confident and believes in himself. Centered is probably the word."

What's Tony's reaction?
"Tony hates Luke being there, but realises that he's going to have to get used to it because he knows Luke's the real deal and a match for him. Tony probably starts plotting from the off as to how he could get rid of him. Equally, Luke probably makes out that he trusts Tony more than he does. It's a game of cat and mouse. "

[Perdita]

Already posted above your post :confused:

[Perdita]

From what I've heard and seen, Coronation Street producers have lined up Luke and his back story to match the surname - Strong.

As Craig mentions in my interview with him, his arrival on the Street is a statement in itself - bold and authoritative. Luke's past is of quite an interest, too. When he was released from prison, Paul Connor took him under his wing and taught him the trade, hence why Carla trusts him to run her business while she's away.

But just why does Carla (Alison King) call on Luke? There's some connection there that the storyliners are keeping from us, one which I expect will be kept under wraps until Alison returns from her maternity leave later this year.

Until then, though, here's some additional material from my time with Craig. Don't forget, you can click here to read the rest. And don't forget, his first scenes air on Friday, February 20.

Does Luke have any traits or quirks?
"Not as yet, but that's going to come from me. They started to write for me after the casting, so that's the exciting thing - if I choose to give him some quirks or a tick, the writers will work with that. For me, I'd be keen for my sense of humour to come through and my fun side. I'd love to make him multi-layered. That's the challenge for me. Within my first two weeks, I was given 19 scenes, but by the end of it, I realised that on screen, it'll probably be about seven days of Luke's life. You've got to be patient when you're trying to build a character in soap - it's tiny, tiny steps. I'm in safe hands, though these guys have been doing this for about 305 years, haven't they?"

Does he know all about Tony and his dodgy dealings? He must have the upper hand?
"He does, but in order to create animosity between them both, it's been written in such a way that it's blurry - Tony doesn't know whether Luke knows anything about him or not."

Is he drawn to any of the Weatherfield ladies?
"Of course. I think he quite fancies Michelle from the off and I'm told that there's a possible fling that goes on there. I'm not quite sure how serious, but there'll definitely be something going on. Both Luke and Peter Barlow like Michelle, so there's a bit of rivalry there."

Do you think he had a thing for/with Carla in the past?
"That's interesting. I couldn't tell you, to be honest. He probably did fancy her - after all, she's very attractive! However, he does say in one of the scripts to Tony that nothing ever went on between them. But we don't know - that's the power of soap. So as it stands, he's telling everyone that nothing went on, but we'll just have to wait and see where the story goes."

You worked with Antony Cotton on Queer As Folk, what's it like working with him again?
"I haven't actually done any scenes with him yet, but it's brilliant that he's here."

Some fans are urging producers to cast Charlie Hunnam and Aiden Gillen for a Queer As Folk reunion…
"Are they?! It'd be great if that did happen, but I can't see it happening! I'm not sure where it came from, but there was talk of doing a ten-year Queer As Folk reunion. I really think it's best just leaving it as a beautiful corpse, though. When we did that show, we knew it was going to be really good material - the scripts were fantastic and there was this amazing chemistry between us all. It was just one of those shows that had a bit of magic about it. People still want to talk to me about it and I'm proud of that. That was another reason why I was keen to take this role, too, because it's so different. That and it's nice to play a manly role, because that's what I am, whereas Vince was more of a boy!"

You're well known for your distinctive voice-overs. Will you continue voicing the shows you currently narrate?
"Yeah. All I'll say about that is that I have a few options still available from before I joined Corrie. There are a few things that I'm obliged to do, so you will hear me on a few things, but not anywhere near the amount of pre-Corrie material. Mostly because I'll be too busy!"

[lizann]

Is Luke Strong Carla Gordon's brother?

This is one question that many Corrie fans have been asking themselves since Craig Kelly took on the role of Luke. And as each episode goes by, I'm beginning to question Luke's true relationship to Carla (Alison King) even more myself.

For those of you who don't know, Carla has an estranged brother called Darren who's apparently serving an eight-year stint in Strangeways prison for armed robbery. That's what she's told people, anyway.

Back in October, Corrie's leading producer Kim Crowther made no bones about the fact that Darren's discussed from time to time at story conferences. She even went as far as telling me: "[D]on't be surprised if he does pop up."

Meanwhile, the lovely Alison King - who recently gave birth to her daughter Daisy Mae - told me in November that she'd love to see her screen brother make an appearance.

So when you find yourself in times of trouble - i.e. when you find out that your husband's a murdering psychopath - who you gonna call? Not Ghostbusters, that's for sure.

It makes sense that Carla would call on her brother, doesn't it? Someone who, in Alison King's words, is "absolutely brilliant with her" and just happens to be "stunningly charming". She's not describing Luke Strong, is she?

And apart from that, who better to buy her shares in Underworld? Maybe despite Carla's desire to cut Tony out of her life, she really wants to keep her 60% share in the family? Who knows?

[miccisy]

I think it would be good if it turned out that he was her brother. But wouldnt Michelle know that he was?

[Perdita]

Carla might not have spoken about her brother to anybody, so Michelle might not know.

[Perdita]

Coronation Street's Craig Kelly has described his Weatherfield character's upcoming plot with Rosie Webster as a "good business decision".

The 38-year-old, who plays Underworld boss Luke Strong, is to become embroiled in a relationship with his PA Rosie (Helen Flanagan) when he discovers that she has £150,000 in the bank.

Speaking to DS on the red carpet at this year's British Soap Awards, he said: "It's a good business decision. The business is in trouble because of the credit crunch, he quite liked her anyway. I don't think he'd have gone there without the money, though. Make of that what you will..."

Teasing as to what's to come for Luke, Kelly added: "He's an opportunist. He's a bit of a dark horse... But I think he's going to start to open up a bit more now and show his cheekier side."

He added: I really am looking forward to Ali [King, Carla Connor] coming back... she's brilliant... I have no idea what's going to happen. I'm sure there's endless possibilities."

[Chloe O'brien]

I thought he was interested in Michelle or is that just to wind up Peter Barlow.

[Perdita]

From other spoilers it appears that Michelle is going on a tour again (*breathes sigh of relief*) so I presume that he moves on rather quickly :)

[tammyy2j]

OMG Luke and Rosie :sick: He could do so much better than that tart :thumbsdow

[Chloe O'brien]

OMG Luke and Rosie :sick: He could do so much better than that tart :thumbsdow

It's only for the cash he won't be with her for long.

[tammyy2j]

Michelle Connor sleeps with boss Peter Barlow just days after bedding Luke Strong.

She ends up spending the night with boozy Peter after he charms her into bed.

But as our snap shows the babe is then caught leaving his fl at the next morning by gutted Luke.

Our spy told us: “Both Luke and Peter have been sniffing around Michelle ever since she broke up with Steve.

“At first Michelle tells them both she doesn’t want anything too serious as she’s just come out of a long relationship.

“So when Luke suggests they have a ‘holiday romance’ she’s all for it.

But when a jealous Peter declares his true feelings for Michelle she realises she wants more than just a casual fling.

They jump into bed but what Michelle doesn’t know is Luke also wants more than just a fling but is playing cool.

Our insider added: “He didn’t tell her he wanted a relationship as he didn’t want to pressurise her.

“Michelle is going away with JD and the band on tour and he didn’t think it was fair to tell her how he really felt – especially as she’s only recently broken up with Steve.”

In the end Michelle goes on the tour, leaving both love rivals to wait to see who she will choose when she gets back.

Catch the episode on Monday June 1 at 7.30pm.

[tammyy2j]

Coronation Street actor Craig Kelly will leave the ITV soap after less than a year on screen.

The 38-year-old former Queer As Folk actor - who plays Weatherfield's mysterious businessman Luke Strong - will bow out of the show later this year when his character disappears over suspicious circumstances.

Producers cast Kelly in the role last November while he made his screen debut on February 20 after sauntering into knicker factory Underworld with the news that Tony Gordon's (Gray O'Brien) wife Carla (Alison King) had sent him to take care of her business assets while she was away.

After buying out Carla's share in the factory from under Tony's nose, Luke continued to rile the Scottish murderer with his softly, softly approach to trade. With little known about his new business partner, Tony soon hired a private investigator to track Luke's history and follow his every move. However, with a lack of information uncovered, Luke quickly rumbled Tony's covert operation and the pair reluctantly opted to work with each other rather than against.

Following a brief fling with Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh) and what will be a short-lived romance with Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan), Luke's world soon begins crumbling around him. In October, he will leave Weatherfield in a shroud of mystery when his true colours finally shine through.

His departure from the Street will pave the way for Carla's much-anticipated return, while his actions will leave one local resident reeling in the wake of his sudden exit.

Speaking of his decision to leave, Kelly said: "I have had a ball playing Luke Strong and although it's been fun I always knew he would be a character that would enter the street in mysterious circumstances, ruffle feathers, make his mark and leave.

He added: "Being in Corrie was something I wanted to do but I didn't want to stay too long. I am grateful for the chance to have played such a great character and to have walked the cobbled street."

A Corrie spokesperson commented: "Some characters arrive in Weatherfield and stay for years, others pass through affecting the lives of the residents, just as in real life.

"Luke will not be killed off and the door will be left open for a possible return in the future."

Kelly will film his final scenes in the coming months and remain on screen until October. Meanwhile, Alison King returns to filming from her maternity leave and will re-appear in Weatherfield at around the same time as Kelly's exit.

:( :thumbsdow

[lizann]

So will Carla be back for his exit?

[Perdita]

Looks like it.

[Hannelene]

Luke is going to con Rosie out of the rest of the money isn't he? Then leave with it all?