Joe Carter in Coronation Street was a former criminal who arrived on the cobbles to help Mike Baldwin out in the factory.
He was a con man and master manipulator who definitely left his mark on Weatherfield.
So what was his story?
Joe Carter in Coronation Street
Ex-con Joe left prison and walked straight into the deputy manager’s job, much to the disgust of Karen McDonald who’d had her eye on the role.
And Joe annoyed her even more when he sacked her!
Karen aside, Joe proved very popular with the female machinists at Underworld and won the heart of Geena Gregory, who’d not long broken up with Dev Alahan.
Joe v Dev
Dev wasn’t impressed with Geena taking up with an ex-con, and Geena in turn wasn’t impressed as he and Joe began trying to outdo each other in business.
After some murky goings on and a full-on fight in the Rovers, Dev and Joe ‘s rivalry reached breaking point.
With Joe worried he was going back to jail, he convinced Geena to pretend to get back with Dev and persuade him to drop the charges.
Dev twigged what Geena was up to though, and later revealed he’d made a deal with Joe anyway. Devastated, Geena left Weatherfield.
The con is on!
When Joe was made partner in the factory by Mike, he set his sights on Karen.
He began flirting with her, and the rumours began flying.
Joe had a masterplan to take over the factory and Karen was part of it. He seduced her and the pair set about defrauding poor Mike.
Eventually, though, guilty Karen confessed all to shocked Mike.
She and Joe broke up and Joe left Weatherfield forever.
Who played Joe Carter?
Joe was played by actor Jonathan Wrather. He’d already appeared in shows including Crossroads and Footballers’ Wives when he landed the role of Joe.
Jonathan grew close to co-star Suranne Jones during his time on the soap and the pair confirmed they were an item at her leaving party in 2004.
Their relationship was subject to scrutiny as a year previously Suranne had got engaged to her partner Jim Phelan.
Jonathan and Suranne didn’t last and split up in 2005 just after she moved to London.
After Jonathan left Coronation Street, he went on to appear in Holby City and Silent Witness as well as Casualty and others.
And then in 2016, he arrived in Emmerdale.
Pierce Harris in Emmerdale
Jonathan played evil Pierce Harris in Emmerdale from 2016 until 2017, and then again in 2020.
Pierce was the husband of Tess Harris, who had a steamy affair with Paddy Kirk.
When Tess was killed in a road accident, Pierce began a romance with Rhona Goskirk and the pair got married.
But he was controlling and abusive, and ended up raping poor Rhona on their wedding night.
Rhona bravely reported her husband and he went to prison, though he returned briefly, killed Graham Foster and kidnapped Vanessa!
Pierce went back to jail, where he died.
His son Marcus arrived in the village in 2021, leaving Rhona shaken. But together they found out Pierce had died in prison.
Marcus stayed in the village until recently when he broke up with boyfriend Ethan and departed.
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Where’s Jonathan now?
Jonathan is still acting but in 2021, he started a new venture.
He opened a coffee and juice business in Cheshire, called Remedy On The Park.
Jonathan’s a fitness fan and a devoted family man and often shares snippets of his life on Instagram.
Read more: Complete Coronation Street cast list 2023 – meet them all here!
Coronation Street usually airs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm on ITV.
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