Wayne Hayes in Coronation Street was – for a short while – part of Roy and Hayley Cropper‘s family.
The couple fostered the lad for a short time, until things went wrong. Very wrong! In fact, the Croppers almost ended up in prison, and were blacklisted from fostering again.
So what caused all the drama?
Hayley and Roy’s fostering journey – Who is Wayne Hayes?
Roy and Hayley wanted to be parents and applied to take on foster kids. Their first placement was a troublesome teenager called Fiz Brown!
Then they got mixed up with Wayne.
They met at Christmas time when young Wayne broke into Roy’s Rolls and was discovered by Roy.
Hayley called the police but Roy realised all wasn’t well with the little lad because he’d not stolen money – only food.
When Roy spotted Wayne again, the pair invited him in for a meal and a bath, and called the police again.
When Wayne’s stepdad turned up to pick him up, Roy clocked that the lad was uncomfortable around him.
Wayne turns up again
It turned out Wayne had run away from his care home because he didn’t want to be sent back to his mum – and his abusive stepfather, Alex. And it wasn’t long before he’d done another runner and showed up at the Croppers’ front door again.
This time they convinced him to go back to the home and they parted happily.
Dangerous deals
But the following summer, the Croppers bumped into Wayne again. He pleaded to be allowed to stay with them because his stepdad had been abusive again.
Roy was reminded of his own ordeal at the hands of his stepdad, and couldn’t say no.
When Alex showed up the Croppers bravely confronted him and tried to get him to confess to abusing Wayne. But it backfired and Alex realised what was going on.
The Croppers were stunned when Alex offered to let Wayne stay – if they paid him £10,000!
They couldn’t afford that but Alex agreed to let him stay for £5000.
From then on it was all one big mess. Wayne’s mum, Sheila turned up trying to give the money back. But the Croppers told her to keep it and use it to escape Alex.
She refused – handing the money over – and went back home.
When Alex found out Sheila had returned the cash, he was fuming. He demanded £100 a week from the Croppers.
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Running away
When the family went on holiday, Alex found out from Les Battersby that Hayley was transgender. He threatened to tell the police if they didn’t give Wayne back.
Roy and Hayley panicked and went on the run with Wayne. But they came to their senses eventually and turned themselves in.
Fortunately, Sheila told the police about Alex’s abuse, the charges against the Croppers were dropped and Alex went to prison.
Wayne went back to live with his mum but the Croppers were banned from ever fostering again.
When did Wayne return to Coronation Street?
In 2019, Wayne came back to Coronation Street.
He was now a health and safety inspector, investigating the factory roof collapse. He was delighted to see Roy and the pair shared their memories of Hayley, who’d died several years earlier.
But the pair fell out when Roy was determined to protect Carla from Wayne’s investigation.
Eventually they made up and Wayne said goodbye to Roy as he left the cobbles again.
Who played Wayne?
Young Wayne was played by Gary Damer. He is still acting and as a keen athlete hosts the podcast Behind the Medal podcast about running.
When Wayne returned in 2019 he was played by another actor – confusingly named Adam Barlow!
Read more: Who’s in the cast of Coronation Street in 2022? Meet the full line-up!
Coronation Street usually airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV.
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