Brian Tilsley Brian John Tilsley was the son of Ivy and Bert Tilsley , first husband of Gail and father of Nick and Sarah Louise . Brian moved to Coronation Street with his parents in 1979 , by which time he was already in a relationship with Gail . Brian was a car mechanic and had little money , but he and Gail were young and in love and decided to marry right away . The first years of the marriage saw Brian and Gail face problems of money and accommodation . They were often dependent on Bert and Ivy , and Brian , who had a history of being dominated by Ivy , often bowed to her wishes to keep the peace . Happier times followed as their son Nick was born in 1980 and they moved into their own flat . In 1982 , Brian went into partnership with Ron Sykes and bought a share of a garage in Albert Street , which he ran until his death . As the marriage wore on , Brian and Gail began to grow apart . They both felt trapped by the marriage and yearned for independence ; Brian started seeing other women while Gail fell pregnant after having an affair with Brian ' s cousin Ian Latimer . When she refused to have an abortion , Brian divorced her and fought for custody of Nick , but when daughter Sarah Louise turned out to be Brian ' s , the couple reconciled , deciding to put the kids first . Unfortunately , none of the problems from their first marriage had really been addressed and in 1989 Gail ended things again , adamant that she and Brian were unsuited . That same night , Brian was stabbed to death outside a nightclub while defending a woman from a group of thugs . Biography . Brian first appeared at a local party on 27th December 1978 where he met Gail Potter . He asked her out but stood her up because he got drunk and forgot . Indeed , at first Gail wasn ' t too keen but her interest was soon sparked . Brian ' s mother , the very Catholic and conservative Ivy wasn ' t too keen either , about Gail . She preferred " Her Brian " to date Catholic girls . But in spite of Ivy ' s attempts to interfere in their relationship , and in spite of Gail ' s friend Suzie Birchall ' s bold flirting which Brian lapped up , Brian and Gail married in November 1979 and moved into 5 Coronation Street with Bert and Ivy so they could save money for a deposit on a house . Marriage to Gail Potter . Things ticked along fairly well after the wedding , with Brian and his father only needing to play peacekeeper between Ivy and Gail occasionally . Brian sulked when Gail began working long hours at Dawson ' s Cafe was bought by Jim Sedgewick and turned into a proper cafe . He complained at the spending restrictions Gail put on him which took away from their savings for their deposit , but it was mostly that first - year married adjustment kind of thing . Finally , with a last minute loan of £300 , surprisingly from Ivy , they were able to put a deposit on a mortgage on a new house being built in a new estate at 16 Willow Crescent . Unfortunately , Ivy had taken the money from her and Bert ' s holiday fund which caused a lot of trouble . When Brian realised this , he and Gail gave the money back . Shortly after , Brian was chuffed to discover that he was going to be a father . They ended up buying a much smaller house and finally got their own independence , moving out of No . 5 , away from interfering Ivy and into 5 Buxton Close . Nicky Tilsley was born on 31st December 1980 . Money problems and in - law contentions continued to plague the young couple . This not only covered the Ivy - Gail relationship but also Brian - Audrey . Brian was not pleased when Gail ' s mother landed on their doorstep . Brian became disillusioned with married life though he adored his little son . First Departure . In 1982 , Ron Sykes decided to sell the garage and go to the Middle East and invited Brian along . Dazzled by promises of high paying contract jobs , he went , leaving Gail and Nicky behind . Gail started doubting their marriage when Brian stayed in Egypt when he had a holiday break instead of coming home . He eventually returned in July and decided to stay in Weatherfield rather than work out his contract . Ron couldn ' t persuade him to return and so they decided to go into a 60 / 40 partnership in Sykes and Tilsley ' s Garage in Albert Street , using the money they had earned in Qatar . Sharon Gaskell . In autumn 1982 Brian was flattered but embarrassed when 17 - year - old Sharon Gaskell , foster daughter to Len and Rita Fairclough , developed a crush on him but she became obsessed and had to be harsh with her in order to stop her getting out of control . He and Len fell out because of Len ' s perception of Brian ' s handling of the whole situation . He felt that Brian led Sharon on and then dumped her in a more cruel manner than was necessary . Slow breakup from Gail . Around that same time , Gail ' s old friend Suzie turned up again and Brian got in hot water with Gail when she caught Suzie chatting him up and he not objecting to it overly much . Brian had a history of this sort of thing , from neighbourhood girls to garage customers . That summer , Brian ' s father , helping out in the garage , was injured when a tyre explodes . Bert recovered from his injuries but subsequently suffered severe depression , was hospitalised and died of a stroke whilst in the hospital . Brian was devastated . He and Gail decided to sell their house and move back in with Ivy for a time to help out . He became protective of his mother especially when she got involved with George Wardle who was caught making passes at Gail at the same time . Brian soon fell back into the habit of allowing his mother to spoil him and expecting his wife to be a stay at home mother instead of a cafe manageress and the fighting and arguing increased . Succumbing to the pressure , Brian and Gail ' s marriage crumbled and they separated for a short time . Brian quickly fell back into " Single " ways , and expected Ivy to take his side . However , surprisingly , Ivy stood up to her son and ordered him to return to his wife . Brian agreed to return and he and Gail reconciled after a month or so and they moved into a council house . But things would never be the same . Later life . " Main article " : Platt family In 1986 , Brian was devastated when he discovered that Gail had had an affair with his Australian cousin , Ian Latimer - someone whom Brian had encouraged Gail to spend time with at first as he was family . Brian was horrified when Gail became pregnant and didn ' t know who the father was . He forgave her for the affair however insisted she have an abortion . Since she refused , he divorced her , dragging her name through the mud in the process of a nasty custody fight over Nicky . Sarah Louise was born in 1987 and blood tests proved that Brian was indeed the father . Gail tried to keep this fact from Brian , but when Audrey let slip the news during an argument with Ivy , Ivy insisted that it was not right for Gail to deny Brian ' s right to know that he had a second child . Brian initially reacted to the news with suspicion and hostility , but eventually accepted Sarah Louise as his own . The pain of his separation from son Nicky led Brian to take off with the lad to the Lake District in 1987 , but eventually Nicky was returned to Gail . The turmoil in his parents ' marriage had traumatised Nicky . The Tilsley ' s reconciled for the sake of the kids more than actual love . Death . The reconciliation lasted about a year however the marriage was already damaged beyond repair . Brian bought the garage outright now and started to spend most nights out with his mates and chatting up women , but still participating in family life with the children . Gail continued to be a housewife and ran the cafe and finally asked for another divorce . She didn ' t love Brian - and , in fact , had never even wanted him to know that he was Sarah Louise ' s father . Brian , liking the way things were and not wanting to lose contact with his children , especially his son , resisted . But after a huge row , he and Gail agreed their marriage was over . However , as he left the house to go to a club , he warned Gail he planned to fight tooth and nail for custody of Nicky . Later , he defended a woman called Alison Oakley who was being bothered by a couple of young thugs and was stabbed in the fight . Brian died the same night on 15th February 1989 . His son Nick was deeply affected by his death , and when he grew older he was shocked by an accidental meeting with Darren Whateley the man who killed his father . Quotes . " Just coming to the end of half a bitter , then it ’ s your turn to get them in . " ( First line ) " Oi ! Knock it off ! What ' s going on ? " ( Final line )