Ex-Hollyoaks star plays Weatherfield County football manager in Coronation Street
Bob Cryer returns to soapland as part of James Bailey's coming out storyline
As James Bailey's sexuality struggle storyline continues in Coronation Street, a familiar face has been cast as the manager of fictional football club Weatherfield County - and it's not their first time in soapland.
Actor Bob Cryer's first appearance as local sports boss Bob Dover airs on Wednesday 11th March, but Hollyoaks fans will recognise him as Glenn Donovan, the gruesome gangster boss who became one of serial killer Breda McQueen's 'bad dad' victims.
Cryer stepped in as a swiftly recast Glenn in December 2017, taking over from original actor Neil Roberts four months after the character's introduction as the poisonous patriarch of the village's criminal family.
Father to Adam, Liam and Jesse, Glenn was stepdad and on/off lover to Grace Black, ex-wife Tracey's daughter from her first marriage to Fraser Black (another bad boy, she clearly had a type).
Glenn was a power-crazed, ruthless nasty piece of work who manipulated his family and ended up murdering his eldest son when he learnt he was an undercover police informant.
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He also seduced daughter-in-law Maxine, bedded and blackmailed local councillor Simone Loveday, forced Courtney Campbell into becoming a drug dealer, and subjected Grace to coercive abuse during their volatile relationship.
The scored women in Glenn's life teamed up to poison him as revenge for his misdemeanours in October 2018, but the twist came when nanny Breda was eventually revealed as the one who bumped him off.
The actor briefly appeared in Corrie back in 1998 as a copper, and has popped up in various TV dramas over the years including EastEnders, Doctors, The Bill, Outnumbered and Holby City.
Cryer, also a writer, is the son of comedy legend Barry Cryer, and collaborated with his dad on the book Mrs Hudson's Diaries, based on the fictional journal of Sherlock Holmes's housekeeper. A radio adaptation, Mrs Hudson's Radio Show, was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2018 and featured Patricia Hodge and Miriam Margolyes among the cast.
His Corrie character Mr Dover meets for crisis talks with his star player, along with the team's publicity guy, to discuss public speculation he's gay.
Fearful of a homophobic backlash from Weathie County fans, James chooses to remain in the closet and denies all, but how long can he continue living a lie?
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