Coronation Street footballer Tommy Orpington is once again playing a key role in a storyline.
Wednesday night’s episodes saw Jack Webster act out and expose the identity of Corey Brent as a suspect in the murder of Seb Franklin on a fansite for Tommy.
The footballer had agreed to be a character witness for Corey during the upcoming murder trial that will see Corey judged along with Kelly Neelan.
Both Corey and Kelly were trying to stay anonymous as part of the case due to their age.
However, Jack hoped that exposing Corey on Tommy’s fansite would see the celebrity footballer think again about standing up for Corey.
Sadly, Tommy will decide to still support Corey going into the trial next week and gives him a glowing character reference.
Tommy first appeared on the soap opera in 2016 and has appeared in multiple episodes.
However, who plays the character and what is his own personal connection to the street?
Coronation Street: Who plays Tommy Orpington?
Footballer Tommy Orpington is played on Coronation Street by actor Matt Milburn.
He first appeared on the ITV soap opera in 2016 when Tommy requested that Michelle Connor help him plan his wedding.
This first stint saw Michelle's partner Steve McDonald try his best to become Tommy's close friend.
As always with Steve, events soon went awry due to a major mishap on the street.
Michelle was later fired by the footballer as Steve McDonald and Tim Metcalfe’s competing to be Tommy’s pal saw an accident that prompted Tommy to take leave from football.
Tommy’s recurring role on the soap has seen him retire from Weatherfield County FC and be replaced by James Bailey, whilst also later being a mentor to evil Corey Brent.
Actor Matt previously appeared in Channel 4 soap opera as regular character Joe Spencer.
He starred in the soap from 2003 until the character was dramatically killed off in 2006.
Matt has also had credited roles in Emmerdale and Doctors.
Sibling connection
Matt Milburn is also the real-life brother of actor Greg Wood who played evil gangster Rick Neelan on Coronation Street on a recurring basis from 2009 until the character was murdered by Gary Windass in 2019.
Ever since Rick’s presence has been felt in the soap as Gary tried his utmost to cover up his crime, eventually securing his ex Sarah Platt in keeping the crime a secret.
Actor Greg Wood also appeared on Hollyoaks as gangster Trevor Royle, who was murdered by teenager Nico Blake back in 2016.
In 2019, the two actors’ singing relationship was hinted at when Rick pinned Gary against a wall that showed a Tommy Orpington calendar.
Interestingly, Tommy’s involvement in Corey and Kelly’s murder trial also brings the two actors symbolically close together again, given that Kelly is Rick Neelan’s daughter.
*Coronation Street continues at 7.30pm tonight on ITV with previous episodes available on ITV Hub.
