Real life of Coronation Street's Roy Cropper actor David Neilson - rival soap role, exotic home and rarely seen wife and kids

Fans reckon Roy Cropper may soon find himself trapped in a love triangle for the first time in almost 30 years. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that David Neilson is a Coronation Street legend.

The actor has spent an incredible 28 years playing the ITV soap's much-loved cardigan-wearing café owner, having made his debut on the cobbles back in July 1995. He started out living in the Crimea Street flats alongside fellow tenant Deirdre Barlow.

He ended up working at Jim's Café in Rosamund Street but after a year, Roy bought Alma Baldwin's majority share of the business and renamed it Roy's Rolls, as it still remains today. Roy was initially a 'secondary character', but was given a more prominent role in 1997.

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Roy has since been featured in numerous high-profile storylines, most notably marrying the first transgender character in a British soap opera, Hayley Patterson, played by Julie Hesmondhalgh. There was also the time when Tracy Barlow spiked Roy's drink at a wedding reception before taking him home and putting him in her bed. Tracy later announced she was pregnant with his child, leaving Hayley devastated.

The truth later came out and Roy and Hayley ended up becoming godparents to Tracy's daughter, Amy, who she shares with Steve McDonald. Then, in 2010, the pair officially married when the law was changed to recognise their union. Tragically, Hayley took her own life in Roy's arms, in January 2014, by drinking a lethal cocktail after living with terminal pancreatic cancer.

And this week, viewers have been left wondering if an affair could be on the cards as they watched Roy grow close to Yasmeen, despite showing her