| Steve McDonald | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Coronation Street character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Simon Gregson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1989–present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 3,001 6 December 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Mervyn Watson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances | Text Santa (2013) Streetcar Stories (2014) First Dates for Children in Need (2021) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Steve McDonald is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Simon Gregson. The character first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 6 December 1989. He arrived as part of the McDonald family introduced by producer Mervyn Watson along with his twin brother Andy (Nicholas Cochrane) and parents Liz (Beverley Callard) and Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson). For the first year on the Street, the character was credited by the actor's real surname Gregory, before changing to Gregson from early 1991 onwards. Steve is Coronation Street's most married character, having been married seven times to five women Vicky Arden (Chloe Newsome), Karen Phillips (twice) (Suranne Jones), Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly), Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh), and Tracy Barlow (twice) (Kate Ford). In September 2015, Gregson announced a break for personal reasons and Steve was off-screen from November 2015 to 22 April 2016.
Steve's storylines include his many failed relationships: with Fiona Middleton (Angela Griffin), Ronnie Clayton (Emma Stansfield), and Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson), as well as Tracy giving birth to his daughter Amy (Elle Mulvaney) and depression. He also has a son, Oliver, with Leanne, whom he impregnated whilst his wife Michelle was pregnant with Ruairi. However, Ruairi was stillborn. In 2019, Steve and Tracy struggled to cope when their 14-year-old daughter, Amy, fell pregnant by gang member Tyler Jefferies (Will Barnett). Steve later discovered that hairdresser Emma Brooker (Alexandra Mardell) is his biological daughter following his relationship with Fiona, 20 years prior to Emma's arrival in Weatherfield. In 2020, Steve and Leanne discovered that their 3-year-old son Oliver had mitochondrial disease, which later claimed his life.