Coronation Street’s Gary Windass has had more than a few dramatic storylines

on the cobbles, but actor Mikey North’s life away from the soap couldn’t be more different.

Coronation Street character Gary Windass, played by actor Mikey North,

is no stranger to a dramatic storyline. Just recently, his on-screen wife Maria – portrayed by Samia Longchambon – caught Gary and his ex Sarah out.

When visiting a local police station, Gary was caught in the act after giving Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien) £10k to pay off her former flame Nathan after he was attacked. However, Gary lied to Maria when she spotted the money missing from their account, telling her that he’d spent it on a new boiler for the factory.

Now, as things are set to get explosive for Mikey’s character, the actor himself enjoys a much more tranquil life off-screen with his wife Rachael, son Archie, and daughter Eliza. Let’s delve into the family life of the soap star…

Mikey North’s life is very different away from the cameras

Mikey North and his wife, fitness instructor Rachael Isherwood, exchanged vows in January 2016 at Curradine Barns in Shrawley, Worcestershire, three years after their initial encounter at a Manchester bar.

The Yorkshire-born actor popped the question to Rachael during a romantic getaway in the Lake District the previous year. Recalling the proposal, Mikey shared with OK!: “I asked her to shut her eyes. When she opened them I was down on one knee with the ring. I was looking up at Rachael, with my knees getting wet, and I just said: ‘Will you marry me? ‘”.

He added: “In the moment before I proposed I was shaking like a leaf. Then when she said yes, I called my mum and just couldn’t stop crying.”

Becoming a dad

For Mikey and wife Rachael, their household dynamics have been nothing short of interesting. The married couple welcomed son Archie in November 2016, yet they managed to keep his birth secret for an entire three months. Previously, the new parents told OK how they came up with their son’s name.

Mikey shared the news:” It’s just Archie, he has no middle name. We had massive arguments and just couldn’t agree at all.”

While honouring his father had been part of Mikey’s dreams, he revealed that: “From when I was a child I’ve always said I wanted my first son to have my dad’s name, Martin, as their middle name. But Rachael wasn’t having it.”

Rachel chipped in, laughingly adding: “We just thought it wasn’t worth it and we should keep it simple. I just thought Martin didn’t sound right.”

Expanding their family

In November 2019, they welcomed a second child – a beautiful daughter named Eliza. The family introduced Eliza in an exclusive OK! photoshoot, and Rachel gave an insight about her labour journey.

Not one to sugar-coat experiences, Rachael opened up on carrying Eliza for 16 days over term: “I ended up being 16 days overdue, which was ridiculous. They decided to finally induce me but we had to wait a few days for a bed to become free.”

Mikey also opened up about having a second child: “Having children is one of the most rewarding, but also hardest, things I’ve been through in life. I’ve never worked so hard. It’s certainly not all roses. Your focus is on your kids as opposed to each other.”

“We just need to make time for each other but it’s hard. We’d like to go away alone next year.”

Return to the cobbles

After lockdown in 2020, Mikey made the decision to return to the Coronation Street set to film socially distanced scenes with his co-stars.

The actor tackled stunts and filmed his character Gary Windass’s wedding to Maria Connor, played by Samia Longchambon. During these episodes, Gary was hit by a car and Mikey shared about the experience: “We are having to shoot things quite differently, there’s more camera trickery to making us look closer than we are.”

He explained the challenges of working with a dummy for the stunt: “The stunt was me acting with the dummy Sarah at times and it’s not easy but we have done as best we can, it’s just really nice to get back there and the crew have been fantastic and the scripts have been edited in a way where we can film it.”

Mikey added: “It’s changed quite a lot from what we had for this week before lockdown but hopefully we’ve not lost any of the effect.”