The Irish charmer first appeared in August
2002 when he was invited to Peter Barlow's wedding. He was
Peter's best friend from the navy and so it was logical he
should meet Shelley Unwin. Ciaran moved in with them and proved
why he was a naval chef but, behind Peter's back, he made a
pass at Shelley. He told Peter she made a pass at him and Shelley
couldn't believe he took Ciaran's word over hers and walked
out. Ciaran was delighted since he didn't want to see his old
mate tied down to one woman. However, Peter eventually realised
Ciaran was lying and confronted him in the flat. When Ciaran
explained why, Peter threw him out and said he never wanted
to see him again. But that wasn't the last he saw of Ciaran.
He reappeared the following year but Peter wanted nothing to
do with him. He eventually won him round and met up with Peter
on the quiet. Peter confinded in him about his romance with
florist Lucy Richards, who he was seeing behind Shelley's back.
Lucy was pregnant and Ciaran promised not to tell Shelley about
any of it, including Peter's marriage to Lucy. Shelley, however,
wasn't too pleased Ciaran was hanging around, let alone about
his romance with her best friend Sunita. When the police caught
up with him, he accused Shelley of calling them. But she was
as surprised as everyone to find out he was absent without
leave from the navy. He told Sunita he loved her and asked
if she'd wait for him. She said she would.
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Several months later, Ciaran made a surprise return when
he let himself into Sunita's flat above the corner shop at
the very moment Dev was proposing. Sunita said she hadn't
heard from him for a long time so was getting on with her
life. He told her he wrote, telling her he was coming back.
Sunita angrily confronted Dev who confessed he'd intercepted
the letter and hidden it. Ciaran and Dev vied for Sunita's
affections but Dev conceded defeat, leading to Ciaran proposing
in the garden at Peter and Shelley's wedding reception. Then
Ciaran's troubles began. He bought a cheap ring, telling
her it was a family heirloom and as Sunita pressed to name
the day, he began to get cold feet but didn't want to let
her down. Meanwhile, Bev Unwin, Shelley's mother, hired him
to work behind the bar at the Rovers as she was struggling
to cope. He proved his worth and when Shelley returned, was
not happy but agreed to let him stay. As the months progressed,
he ended up having a drunken one-night stand with Bev who
then became infatuated with him. Desperate to get her away
from him, he paid more attention to Sunita in the hope Bev
would get the message. Then all hell broke loose when Shelley
discovered Peter was already married. He liked his job so
took Shelley's side, even though at the time Peter was juggling
two women he thought it was a great laugh. Shelley let him
stay at the pub. That November, he turned up unexpectedly
at a registry office and was roped in by Tracy Barlow to
be a witness to her marriage to Roy Cropper. Then the day
he dreaded arrived: his wedding day to Sunita just after
Christmas. He really didn't want to go through with it and
even punched Dev during his stag night leading to being arrested
to get out of it. But Dev refused to press charges and does
everything he can to get Ciaran released while his rival
protests his guilt to try and stay in. He is eventually let
out but was relieved deep down when, at the registry office,
Sunita said she couldn't go through with it. He still cared
for her though.
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2004 and a fresh start. His love life began to look up when
he got involved with Tracy Barlow, little knowing she was
only with him for his great plans of lots of money. He decided
to open a restaurant in place of the Nexus Bar. With a lot
of persuading, Mike Baldwin's current girlfriend, Penny King,
offered to put the money in. He was convinced with his talent
as a chef, it was a sure-fire winner. But then costs started
to escalate and he needed to go back to Penny for more money.
She kept him waiting before deciding to invest more. The
day of the opening arrived but it very nearly didn't when
a health inspector found faults. Ciaran asked Charlie Stubbs
to correct part of it so he could open that night and he
did in the nick of time. However, after the successful opening,
hardly any customers appeared. He was beginning to get disheartened
and fed up Tracy was never around when he needed her, especially
after he had declared his love for her which she derided.
Then a buyer became interested, the same buyer he had outbid
for Nexus originally. Tracy convinced him to sell it for £60,000,
pocketing £40,000 of that and giving the rest to Penny,
claiming that was all he could get for it. Ciaran was against
the idea until Penny started to interfere.
Tracy pretended to be Penny and wined and dined
the buyer and all was going well in the empty restaurant
until the real Penny walked in with Mike Baldwin for dinner.
But, the papers were signed and a cheque handed over. Ciaran
broke the news to an irate Penny about selling the restaurant
for £20,000 and made up all sorts of excuses to convince
her it was all his fault it failed. She wasn't very happy,
saying she was fed up being used by men before storming out
of his flat. His conscience got the better of him though
and he decided to tell Penny the truth. He handed over a
cheque for the full amount then had to face Tracy, who came
in grinning, saying Amy was at Street Cars and they should
get a taxi now for their holiday. When he told her what he'd
done, she stormed out. On the street, she said she only loved
the money and without it he'd always be a loser. Penny was
furious, while Tracy pretended to be an innocent victim in
all this to anyone who would listen, including Penny who
wasn't taken in for a second. Mike was having none of it
and called the police resulting in Ciaran and Tracy spending
the night in the cells. Ciaran was really feeling remorseful
and went to the Rovers. Fred overheard him telling Shelley
how he was broke and didn't even have any food in the house
and offered him his old job back. Ciaran thought he was joking
until Fred said anyone who upset Mike and Penny was fine
in his book. Shelley agreed to having him back behind the
bar. His first customers were Mike and Penny who were surprised
to see him. Then later, the Barlows arrived. Tracy told him
the charges had been dropped while Ken warned him to stay
away from his daughter, to which he replied he was more than
happy to. His friendship with Sunita showed through on her
wedding day to Dev in October when he accompanied her to
the temple in place of her brother who was delayed. They
had a nice chat in the car outside, with Ciaran telling her
how she and Dev are right for each other while they were
only good as girlfriend and boyfriend.
Nothing much happened for a long time with
Ciaran. He just got on with his job at the Rovers. But by
May, he, Betty and Violet became increasingly worried about
Shelley when Charlie claimed she was in bed with chickenpox
but wouldn't see anyone. Later, in a fit of rage, Shelley
appeared in the bar to throw her mother out and everyone
saw her black eye. Despite insisting she really had walked
into a door, no one believed her. Ciaran tried to keep out
of things until he spotted Charlie threatening Bev Unwin
one night. He told her what he'd seen and, despite his protests,
she went to see Shelley before he could stop her. Shelley
was not happy and warned him he'd lose his job if he did
anything like that again. Ciaran told Bev he was on her side
but wouldn't risk losing his job. Charlie watched them embrace
outsode the Rovers and later that day asked Ciaran to be
at his yard as he was expecting a delivery, which he did.
Afterwards, he asked Ciaran if he would consider working
for him, saying Jason wasn't very good and he could train
him up. Nothing happened there. But things with Shelley and
Charlie weren't resolved and Ciaran was as shocked as Bev
when he saw Shelley had two black eyes after rushing out
into the yard when he heard her scream. He assumed, since
she was cowering in the corner, Charlie had been hitting
her. He, like the entire pub later, was forced to admit they
were wrong and she'd had plastic surgery. But Charlie delighted
in taunting him until in the bar Ciaran went for him. Shelley
ordered him to leave Charlie alone, which he did and quit
his job. After collecting his wages on the 22nd July from
Fred, thinking about what might have been with Sunita, Bev
made a drunken pass at him. He made a swift exit, went home,
packed his bags and he and Charlie eyed each other up outside
his flat from a distance. He walked away and thought Shelley
was going to say something when she opened the bedroom window
above the Rovers but due to Sunita coming to say goodbye,
she closed the window so he walked away to an unknown destination
and future.
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