what is the total population of the world today

In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living, and was estimated to have reached 7.6 billion as of December 2017.[1] Estimates of the total number of humans who have ever lived range from 106 to 108 billion as of 2007.[2][3][4] Though the population is currently growing quite rapidly, future changes are influenced by difficult-to-predict factors such as economic development, cultural changes, migration, and natural disasters. Various mathematical models show that by 2100 the global population could be either rising or falling depending on how these factors affect birth and death rates.

World population

World population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Great Famine of 1315–17 and the Black Death in 1350, when it was near 370 million.[5] The highest population growth rates – global population increases above 1.8% per year – occurred between 1955 and 1975, peaking to 2.06% between 1965 and 1970.[6] The growth rate has declined to 1.18% between 2010 and 2015 and is projected to decline to 0.13% by the year 2100.[6] Total annual births were highest in the late 1980s at about 139 million,[7] and are now expected to remain essentially constant at their 2011 level of 135 million,[8] while deaths number 56 million per year and are expected to increase to 80 million per year by 2040.[9] The median age of the world's population was estimated to be 30.1 years in 2016, with the male median age estimated at 29.4 years and female at 30.9 years.[10]

Six of the Earth's seven continents are permanently inhabited on a large scale. Asia is the most populous continent, with its 4.3 billion inhabitants accounting for 60% of the world population. The world's two most populated countries, China and India, together constitute about 37% of the world's population. Africa is the second most populated continent, with around 1 billion people, or 15% of the world's population. Europe's 733 million people make up 12% of the world's population as of 2012, while the Latin American and Caribbean regions are home to around 600 million (9%). Northern America, primarily consisting of the United States and Canada, has a population of around 352 million (5%), and Oceania, the least-populated region, has about 35 million inhabitants (0.5%).[12] Though it is not permanently inhabited by any fixed population, Antarctica has a small, fluctuating international population based mainly in polar science stations. This population tends to rise in the summer months and decrease significantly in winter, as visiting researchers return to their home countries.[13]

Estimates of world population by their nature are an aspect of modernity, possible only since the Age of Discovery. Early estimates for the population of the world[14] date to the 17th century: William Petty in 1682 estimated world population at 320 million (modern estimates ranging close to twice this number); by the late 18th century, estimates ranged close to one billion (consistent with modern estimates).[15] More refined estimates, broken down by continents, were published in the first half of the 19th century, at 600 to 1000 million in the early 1800s and at 800 to 1000 million in the 1840s.[16]

Estimates of the population of the world at the time agriculture emerged in around 10,000 BC have ranged between 1 million and 15 million.[17][18] Even earlier, genetic evidence suggests humans may have gone through a population bottleneck of between 1,000 and 10,000 people about 70,000 BC, according to the Toba catastrophe theory. By contrast, it is estimated that around 50â€“60 million people lived in the combined eastern and western Roman Empire in the 4th century AD.[19]

The Plague of Justinian, which first emerged during the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian, caused Europe's population to drop by around 50% between the 6th and 8th centuries AD.[20] The population of Europe was more than 70 million in 1340.[21] The Black Death pandemic of the 14th century may have reduced the world's population from an estimated 450 million in 1340 to between 350 and 375 million in 1400;[22] it took 200 years for population figures to recover.[23] The population of China decreased from 123 million in 1200 to 65 million in 1393,[24] presumably due to a combination of Mongol invasions, famine, and plague.[25]

Starting in AD 2, the Han Dynasty of ancient China kept consistent family registers in order to properly assess the poll taxes and labor service duties of each household.[26] In that year, the population of Western Han was recorded as 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households, decreasing to 47,566,772 individuals in 9,348,227 households by AD 146, towards the End of the Han Dynasty.[26] At the founding of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, China's population was reported to be close to 60 million; toward the end of the dynasty in 1644, it may have approached 150 million.[27] England's population reached an estimated 5.6 million in 1650, up from an estimated 2.6 million in 1500.[28] New crops that were brought to Asia and Europe from the Americas by Portuguese and Spanish colonists in the 16th century are believed to have contributed to population growth.[29][30][31] Since their introduction to Africa by Portuguese traders in the 16th century,[32] maize and cassava have similarly replaced traditional African crops as the most important staple food crops grown on the continent.[33]

The pre-Columbian North American population probably numbered somewhere between 2 million and 18 million.[34] Encounters between European explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced local epidemics of extraordinary virulence.[35] According to the most extreme scholarly claims, as many as 90% of the Native American population of the New World died due to Old World diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza.[36] Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the indigenous peoples had no such immunity.[37]

During the European Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions, the life expectancy of children increased dramatically.[40] The percentage of the children born in London who died before the age of five decreased from 74.5% in 1730–1749 to 31.8% in 1810–1829.[41][42] Between 1700 and 1900, Europe’s population increased from about 100 million to over 400 million.[43] Altogether, the areas populated by people of European descent comprised 36% of the world's population in 1900.[44]

Population growth in the West became more rapid after the introduction of vaccination and other improvements in medicine and sanitation.[45] Improved material conditions led to the population of Britain increasing from 10 million to 40 million in the 19th century.[46] The population of the United Kingdom reached 60 million in 2006.[47] The United States saw its population grow from around 5.3 million in 1800 to 106 million in 1920, exceeding 307 million in 2010.[48]

The first half of the 20th century in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union was marked by a succession of major wars, famines and other disasters which caused large-scale population losses (approximately 60 million excess deaths).[49][50] After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's population declined significantly – from 150 million in 1991 to 143 million in 2012[51] – but by 2013 this decline appeared to have halted.[52]

Many countries in the developing world have experienced extremely rapid population growth since the early 20th century, due to economic development and improvements in public health. China's population rose from approximately 430 million in 1850 to 580 million in 1953,[53] and now stands at over 1.3 billion. The population of the Indian subcontinent, which was about 125 million in 1750, increased to 389 million in 1941;[54] today, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are collectively home to about 1.63 billion people.[55] Java had about 5 million inhabitants in 1815; its present-day successor, Indonesia, now has a population of over 140 million.[56] In just one hundred years, the population of Brazil decupled (x10), from about 17 million in 1900, or about 1% of the world population in that year, to about 176 million in 2000, or almost 3% of the global population in the very early 21st century. Mexico's population grew from 13.6 million in 1900 to about 112 million in 2010.[57][58] Between the 1920s and 2000s, Kenya's population grew from 2.9 million to 37 million.[59]

It is estimated that the world population reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It was another 123 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to reach three billion in 1960.[60] Thereafter, the global population reached four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in 1999 and, according to the United States Census Bureau, seven billion in March 2012.[61] The United Nations, however, estimated that the world population reached seven billion in October 2011.[62][63][64]

According to current projections, the global population will reach eight billion by 2024, and will likely reach around nine billion by 2042. Alternative scenarios for 2050 range from a low of 7.4 billion to a high of more than 10.6 billion.[65] Projected figures vary depending on underlying statistical assumptions and the variables used in projection calculations, especially the fertility variable. Long-range predictions to 2150 range from a population decline to 3.2 billion in the "low scenario", to "high scenarios" of 24.8 billion.[65] One extreme scenario predicted a massive increase to 256 billion by 2150, assuming the global fertility rate remained at its 1995 level of 3.04 children per woman; however, by 2010 the global fertility rate had declined to 2.52.[66][67]

There is no estimation for the exact day or month the world's population surpassed one or two billion. The points at which it reached three and four billion were not officially noted, but the International Database of the United States Census Bureau placed them in July 1959 and April 1974 respectively. The United Nations did determine, and commemorate, the "Day of 5 Billion" on July 11, 1987, and the "Day of 6 Billion" on October 12, 1999. The Population Division of the United Nations declared the "Day of 7 Billion" to be October 31, 2011.[68]

As of 2012, the global sex ratio is approximately 1.01 males to 1 female. The greater number of men is possibly due to the significant sex imbalances evident in the Indian and Chinese populations.[70][71] Approximately 26.3% of the global population is aged under 15, while 65.9% is aged 15â€“64 and 7.9% is aged 65 or over.[70] The median age of the world's population was estimated to be 29.7 years in 2014,[72] and is expected to rise to 37.9 years by 2050.[73]

According to the World Health Organization, the global average life expectancy is 70.5 years as of 2012, with women living an average of 73 years and men approximately 68 years.[69] In 2010, the global fertility rate was estimated at 2.52 children per woman.[67] In June 2012, British researchers calculated the total weight of Earth's human population as approximately 287 million tonnes, with the average person weighing around 62 kilograms (137Â lb).[74]

The CIA estimated nominal 2013 gross world product at US$74.31 trillion, giving an annual global per capita figure of around US$10,500.[75] Around 1.29 billion people (18.4% of the world population) live in extreme poverty, subsisting on less than US$1.25 per day;[76] approximately 870 million people (12.25%) are undernourished.[77] 83% of the world's over-15s are considered literate.[70] In June 2014, there were around 3.03 billion global Internet users, constituting 42.3% of the world population.[78]

The Han Chinese are the world's largest single ethnic group, constituting over 19% of the global population in 2011.[79] The world's most-spoken first languages are Mandarin Chinese (spoken by 12.44% of the world's population), Spanish (4.85%), English (4.83%), Arabic (3.25%) and Hindustani (2.68%).[70] The world's largest religion is Christianity, whose adherents account for 31% of the global population; Islam is the second-largest religion, accounting for 24.1%, and Hinduism the third, accounting for 13.78%.[70] In 2005, around 16% of the global population were reported to be non-religious.[80]

Approximately 4.3 billion people live in these ten countries, representing around 58% of the world's population as of March 2016. Approximately 3.7 billion people, or half of the world population, live in the six most populous countries.[91]

The tables below list the world's most densely populated countries, both in absolute terms and in comparison to their total populations.

Population size fluctuates at differing rates in differing regions. Nonetheless, population growth is the long-standing trend on all inhabited continents, as well as in most individual states. During the 20th century, the global population saw its greatest increase in known history, rising from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 6 billion in 2000. A number of factors contributed to this increase, including the lessening of the mortality rate in many countries by improved sanitation and medical advances, and a massive increase in agricultural productivity attributed to the Green Revolution.[93][94][95]

In 2000, the United Nations estimated that the world's population was growing at an annual rate of 1.14% (equivalent to around 75 million people),[96] down from a peak of 88 million per year in 1989. By 2000, there were approximately ten times as many people on Earth as there had been in 1700. Globally, the population growth rate has been steadily declining from its peak of 2.19% in 1963, but growth remains high in Latin America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa.[97]

During the 2010s, Japan and some countries in Europe began to encounter negative population growth (i.e. a net decrease in population over time), due to sub-replacement fertility rates.[92]

In 2006, the United Nations stated that the rate of population growth was visibly diminishing due to the ongoing global demographic transition. If this trend continues, the rate of growth may diminish to zero by 2050, concurrent with a world population plateau of 9.2 billion.[98] However, this is only one of many estimates published by the UN; in 2009, UN population projections for 2050 ranged between around 8 billion and 10.5 billion.[99] An alternative scenario is given by the statistician Jorgen Randers, who argues that traditional projections insufficiently take into account the downward impact of global urbanization on fertility. Randers' "most likely scenario" reveals a peak in the world population in the early 2040s at about 8.1 billion people, followed by decline.[100] Adrian Raftery, a University of Washington professor of statistics and of sociology, states that "there’s a 70 percent probability the world population will not stabilize this century. Population, which had sort of fallen off the world’s agenda, remains a very important issue."[101]

Estimated world population figures, 10,000 BC–AD 2000 (in log y scale)

World population figures, 1950â€“2000

Estimated global growth rates, 1950â€“2050

Estimated and projected populations of the world and its continents (except Antarctica) from 1950 to 2100. The shaded regions correspond to the range of projections by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The table below shows historical and predicted regional population figures in millions.[102][103][104] The availability of historical population figures varies by region.

The following table gives estimates of population in the past. The data for 1750 to 1900 are from the UN report "The World at Six Billion"[108] whereas the data from 1950 to 2015 are from a UN data sheet.[11]

Using the above figures, the change in population from 2010 to 2015 was:

Long-term global population growth is difficult to predict. The United Nations and the US Census Bureau both give different estimates â€“ according to the UN, the world population reached seven billion in late 2011,[102] while the USCB asserted that this occurred in March 2012.[113] The UN has issued multiple projections of future world population, based on different assumptions. From 2000 to 2005, the UN consistently revised these projections downward, until the 2006 revision, issued on March 14, 2007, revised the 2050 mid-range estimate upwards by 273 million.

Average global birth rates are declining fast, but vary greatly between developed countries (where birth rates are often at or below replacement levels) and developing countries (where birth rates typically remain high). Different ethnicities also display varying birth rates. Death rates can change rapidly due to disease epidemics, wars and other mass catastrophes, or advances in medicine.

2012 United projections show a continued increase in population in the near future with a steady decline in population growth rate; the global population is expected to reach between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050.[114][115] 2003 UN Population Division population projections for the year 2150 range between 3.2 and 24.8 billion.[66] One of many independent mathematical models supports the lower estimate,[116] while a 2014 estimate forecasts between 9.3 and 12.6 billion in 2100, and continued growth thereafter.[117][118] Some analysts have questioned the sustainability of further world population growth, highlighting the growing pressures on the environment, global food supplies, and energy resources.[119][120][121]

In 1975, Sebastian von Hoerner proposed a formula for population growth which represented hyperbolic growth with an infinite population in 2025.[124] The hyperbolic growth of the world population observed until the 1970s was later correlated to a non-linear second order positive feedback between demographic growth and technological development. This feedback can be described as follows: technological advance → increase in the carrying capacity of land for people → demographic growth → more people → more potential inventors → acceleration of technological advance → accelerating growth of the carrying capacity → faster population growth → accelerating growth of the number of potential inventors → faster technological advance → hence, the faster growth of the Earth's carrying capacity for people, and so on.[125] The transition from hyperbolic growth to slower rates of growth is related to the demographic transition.

According to the Russian demographer Sergey Kapitsa,[126] the world population grew between 67,000 BC and 1965 according to the following formula:

According to linear interpolation and extrapolation of UNDESA population estimates, the world population has doubled, or will double, in the years listed in the tables below (with two different starting points). During the 2nd millennium, each doubling took roughly half as long as the previous doubling, fitting the hyperbolic growth model mentioned above. However, after 2024, it is unlikely that there will be another doubling of the global population in the 21st century.[127]

In his 1798 work An Essay on the Principle of Population, the British scholar Thomas Malthus incorrectly predicted that continued population growth would exhaust the global food supply by the mid-19th century. Malthus wrote the essay to refute what he considered the unattainable utopian ideas of William Godwin and Marquis de Condorcet, as presented in Political Justice and The Future Progress of the Human Mind. In 1968, Paul R. Ehrlich reprised Malthus' argument in The Population Bomb, predicting that mass global famine would occur in the 1970s and 1980s.[129]

The predictions of Ehrlich and other neo-Malthusians were vigorously challenged by a number of economists, notably Julian Lincoln Simon, and advances in agriculture, collectively known as the Green Revolution, forestalled any potential global famine in the late 20th century. Between 1950 and 1984, as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the world, grain production increased by over 250%.[130] The world population has grown by over four billion since the beginning of the Green Revolution, but food production has so far kept pace with population growth. Most scholars believe that, without the Revolution, there would be greater levels of famine and malnutrition than the UN presently documents.[131] However, neo-Malthusians point out that fossil fuels provided the energy for the Green Revolution, in the form of natural gas-derived fertilizers, oil-derived pesticides, and hydrocarbon-fueled irrigation, and that many crops have become so genetically uniform that a crop failure in any one country could potentially have global repercussions.[132]

In 2004, a meta-analysis of 70 quantitative studies estimating a sustainable limit to the world population generated a meta-estimate of 7.7 billion people.[133]

In May 2008, the price of grain was pushed up severely by the increased cultivation of biofuels, the increase of world oil prices to over $140 per barrel ($880/m3),[134] global population growth,[135] the effects of climate change,[136] the loss of agricultural land to residential and industrial development,[137][138] and growing consumer demand in the population centres of China and India.[139][140] Food riots subsequently occurred in some countries.[141][142] However, oil prices then fell sharply. Resource demands are expected to ease as population growth declines, but it is unclear whether mass food wastage and rising living standards in developing countries will once again create resource shortages.[143][144]

David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, estimates that the sustainable agricultural carrying capacity for the United States is about 200 million people; its population as of 2015 is over 300 million.[145] In 2009, the UK government's chief scientific advisor, Professor John Beddington, warned that growing populations, falling energy reserves and food shortages would create a "perfect storm" of shortages of food, water, and energy by 2030.[128][146] According to a 2009 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the world will have to produce 70% more food by 2050 to feed a projected extra 2.3 billion people.[147]

The observed figures for 2007 showed an actual increase in absolute numbers of undernourished people in the world, with 923 million undernourished in 2007, versus 832 million in 1995.[148] The 2009 FAO estimates showed an even more dramatic increase, to 1.02 billion.[149]

A number of scientists have argued that the current global population expansion and accompanying increase in resource consumption threatens the world's ecosystem.[150][151] The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth, which was ratified by 58 member national academies in 1994, states that "unprecedented" population growth aggravates many environmental problems, including rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, global warming, and pollution.[152] Indeed, some analysts claim that overpopulation's most serious impact is its effect on the environment.[120] The situation has continued to worsen, as at the time of the 1994 IAP statement, the world population stood at 5.5 billion and lower-bound scenarios predicted a peak of 7.8 billion by 2050, a number that current estimates state will be reached in the late 2020s.

Scientists contend that human overpopulation, continued human population growth and overconsumption, particularly by the wealthy, are the primary drivers of mass species extinction.[153][154][155][156] By 2050 population growth, along with profligate consumption, could result in oceans containing more plastic than fish by weight.[155] In November 2017, a statement by 15,364 scientists from 184 countries asserted that rapid human population growth is the "primary driver behind many ecological and even societal threats."[157]

A July 2017 study published in Environmental Research Letters argued that the most significant way individuals could mitigate their own carbon footprint is to have fewer children, followed by living without a vehicle, forgoing air travel and adopting a plant-based diet.[158]

Human population control is the practice of intervening to alter the rate of population growth. Historically, human population control has been implemented by limiting a region's birth rate, by voluntary contraception or by government mandate. It has been undertaken as a response to factors including high or increasing levels of poverty, environmental concerns, and religious reasons. The use of abortion in some population control strategies has caused controversy,[159] with religious organizations such as the Roman Catholic Church explicitly opposing any intervention in the human reproductive process.[160]

The University of Nebraska publication Green Illusions argues that population control to alleviate environmental pressures need not be coercive. It states that "Women who are educated, economically engaged, and in control of their own bodies can enjoy the freedom of bearing children at their own pace, which happens to be a rate that is appropriate for the aggregate ecological endowment of our planet."[161] The book Fatal Misconception by Matthew Connelly similarly points to the importance of supporting the rights of women in bringing population levels down over time.[162]

The Population Research Institute (PRI), an anti-abortion, anti-contraception advocacy group, has criticised predictions of overpopulation and attendant resource scarcity, with some describing overpopulation as a "myth".[163] The PRI argues that advances in agricultural, medical, and industrial technology have allowed global economic productivity to keep pace with rising populations despite Malthusian predictions to the contrary. PRI further says that family sizes are naturally declining worldwide due to higher living standards, increased availability of contraception and better economic opportunities for women. However, other commentators have described PRI's arguments on overpopulation as deceptive.[164][165][166]

Estimates of the total number of humans who have ever lived range in the order of 100 billion. It is difficult for estimates to be better than rough approximations, as even modern population estimates are fraught with uncertainties on the order of 3% to 5%.[167] Kapitza (1996) cites estimates ranging between 80 and 150 billion.[168] Haub (1995) prepared another figure, updated in 2002 and 2011; the 2011 figure was approximately 107 billion.[3][4][169] Haub characterized this figure as an estimate that required "selecting population sizes for different points from antiquity to the present and applying assumed birth rates to each period".[4]

Robust population data only exists for the last two or three centuries. Until the late 18th century, few governments had ever performed an accurate census. In many early attempts, such as in Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire, the focus was on counting merely a subset of the population for purposes of taxation or military service.[170] Thus, there is a significant margin of error when estimating ancient global populations.

Another critical factor for such an estimate is the question of pre-modern infant mortality rates; these figures are very difficult to estimate for ancient times due to a lack of accurate records. Haub (1995) estimates that around 40% of those who have ever lived did not survive beyond their first birthday. Haub also stated that "life expectancy at birth probably averaged only about ten years for most of human history".[4]


who sang i was born in saginaw michigan

"Saginaw, Michigan" is a 1964 song performed by Lefty Frizzell. The single was Lefty Frizzell's sixth and final number one on the U.S. country chart.[1] "Saginaw, Michigan" spent a total of twenty-three weeks on the country chart and peaked at number eighty-five on the Billboard Hot 100.[2] The song earned Lefty Frizzell a Grammy nomination.

Saginaw, Michigan (song)

The most notable cover of the song was done by Bobby Bare. It was included on his 1966 LP, The Streets of Baltimore.[3]

The song is sung from the point of view of the working-class son of a fisherman from the titular city of Saginaw, Michigan, who falls in love with the daughter of a much wealthier man. The rich man does not believe the singer is worthy of his daughter, so the singer travels north to Alaska in hopes of finding gold. When there is no gold, the singer concocts a ruse upon returning to Saginaw: he tells the wealthy man that he had struck a huge amount of gold and sells the worthless plot to the rich man for him to develop.

The song ends with the bamboozled rich man searching in vain for the gold in Alaska, while his daughter gladly accepts the singer's hand in marriage.


where do trains from fenchurch street go to

Fenchurch Street railway station, also known as London Fenchurch Street,[5] is a central London railway terminus in the southeastern corner of the City of London. It takes its name from its proximity to Fenchurch Street, a key thoroughfare in the City. The station and all trains are operated by c2c. Services run on lines built by the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) and the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) to destinations in east London and south Essex, including Upminster, Grays, Basildon, Southend and Shoeburyness.

Fenchurch Street railway station

The station opened in 1841 to serve the L&BR and was rebuilt in 1854 when the LTSR, a joint venture between the L&BR and the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR), began operating. The ECR also operated trains out of Fenchurch Street to relieve congestion at its other London terminus at Bishopsgate. In 1862 the Great Eastern Railway was created by amalgamating various East Anglian railway companies (including the ECR) and it shared the station with the LTSR until 1912, when the latter was bought by the Midland Railway. The station came under ownership of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) following the Railways Act 1921, and was shared by LNER and London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) services until nationalisation in 1948. The line from the station was electrified in 1961, and controversially closed for seven weeks in 1994.

Fenchurch Street is one of the smallest railway termini in London in terms of platforms, but one of the most intensively operated. It has no direct interchange with the London Underground. Plans to connect it stalled in the early 1980s because of the lack of progress on the Jubilee line, but it is close to Tower Hill on the Underground and to Tower Gateway on the Docklands Light Railway.

The station frontage is on Fenchurch Place, adjacent to Fenchurch Street in the City of London. The station has two entrances: one on Fenchurch Place and another on Cooper's Row, near Tower Hill. It has four platforms arranged on two islands elevated on a viaduct.[6] The station has been Grade II listed since 1972[4][7] and the conference venue One America Square is built adjacent to it.[8] Following privatisation in 1994, the station was run by Network Rail.[9] Since 1996, the station has been served by c2c (which was sold by National Express to Trenitalia in 2017)[10] who have a franchise to run services until 2029.[11][12]

Fenchurch Street is in the central London Travelcard zone 1 like other terminal stations in the city,[13] but it does not have a direct link to the London Underground. The nearest is Tower Hill about 0.2 miles (0.32 km) to the southeast[14][a] and Aldgate around 0.3 miles (0.48 km) to the northeast.[16] London Buses route 40 passes the station.[17]

The area around Fenchurch Street is one of the oldest inhabited parts of London; the name "Fenchurch" derives from the Latin faenum (hay) and refers to hay markets in the area.[18] The station was the first to be granted permission by the Corporation of London to be constructed inside the City of London, following several refusals against other railway companies.[19]

The original building, designed by William Tite opened on 20 July 1841, serving the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR), replacing a nearby terminus at Minories that had opened in July 1840.[20][21] It had two platforms connected via a stairway to the booking hall.[22] Steam locomotives did not use the station until 1849 because before this time trains were dragged uphill from Blackwall to Minories, and ran to Fenchurch Street via their own momentum. The reverse journey eastwards required a manual push from railway staff.[23] William Marshall's railway bookstall established at the station in 1841 was the first to be opened in the City of London.[24]

Following the opening of the London and Blackwall Extension Railway on 2 April 1849, services operated from Fenchurch Street to Bow & Bromley. Some were extended to Victoria Park & Bow where an interchange existed with the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) from Bishopsgate.[25]

On 26 September 1850, the East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway (renamed the North London Railway (NLR) on 1 January 1853)[26] started operating a service from Bow into Fenchurch Street and the L&BR withdrew its service, closing the line between Gasworks Junction and Bow & Bromley.[27] The station had two heavily used platforms and a double track line from Stepney onwards.[28] Following a reduced income at Blackwall (the South Eastern Railway had opened a direct line from Gravesend), LBR shareholders voted to align with the ECR and jointly construct the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) from Tilbury to Forest Gate Junction (near Maryland Point). Services would split at Stratford, one service to Bishopsgate and the other to Fenchurch Street along the reopened line via Bow & Bromley (although the station did not reopen). To accommodate this service a third line was built between Stepney and Fenchurch Street which was enlarged at this time. The new service commenced on 13 April 1854 using ECR locomotives and stock.[29]

To accommodate the changes, the station was enlarged to designs by George Berkley incorporating a 32 metres (105 ft) by 91 metres (299 ft) trussed-arch vaulted roof.[23][b] Two platforms were added at the same time[31] as was a circulating area for L&BR and LTSR traffic.[23] The NLR, wanting its own London terminus instead of co-sharing Fenchurch Street, extended its railway towards the new Broad Street station in 1865.[32]

The railway through Stratford was unable to cope with the extra services, so the LTSR planned to build a more direct line from Barking to Gas Works Junction. The third track from Stepney to Fenchurch Street opened in 1856, followed by the direct line from Barking in 1858.[33] LTSR services were diverted from Stratford and a spur was opened at Abbey Mills Junction (east of Bromley) which allowed services to and from North Woolwich to operate directly from Fenchurch Street instead of via Stratford.[34]

By the 1860s railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most lines were leased to the ECR. Although the companies wished to amalgamate they could not obtain government agreement until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed.[35] In common with most railways, signalling was fairly basic and trains were separated by time interval. As traffic levels increased there was a need to improve signalling and in 1869 the GER introduced absolute block working between Fenchurch Street, Gasworks Junction and Bow Junction, opening signal boxes at all locations.[36]

In the 1870s the flat awning over the station main's entrance was replaced with the current zig-zag canopy.[37]

The station's track layout was rearranged in 1883 with platform extensions, a fifth platform for use by the Blackwall services and a new gantry signal box (which lasted until the 1935 re-modelling).[36] The GER used the station as an alternative to Liverpool Street station during the late-19th and early-20th centuries for former ECR routes.[33] The GER took over operation of the NLR shuttle from Bow in 1869, which it operated until April 1892 when the second Bow Road railway station opened along with a passenger foot connection to the NLR station. Subsequent services into Fenchurch Street were operated by the GER and the LTSR, and three years later the viaduct from Stepney to Fenchurch Street was widened to accommodate a fourth track.[38]

Despite this, overcrowding of LTSR services was still occurring and this persisted until 1902 when the opening of the Whitechapel and Bow Railway offered an alternative route.[39]

In 1903 the GER built the Fairlop Loop, a short connecting line between Ilford and Woodford from where services ran to Liverpool Street and around 36 trains a day ran to Fenchurch Street.[33] In 1912 the Midland Railway (MR) bought and took over operation of the LTSR services.[40]

After the Railways Act 1921 the country's railways were grouped into four companies, with effect from 1 January 1923. At Fenchurch Street the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR) took over operations of the MR, whilst GER services were taken over by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Direct trains to Gallions were usually routed via Bromley at off-peak hours and a peak shuttle service operated from Custom House to Gallions. Passengers for the North Greenwich branch changed at Millwall Junction. The Blackwall and North Greenwich passenger services were scheduled for closure on 30 June 1926 but the general strike brought that forward to 3 May.[41]

The station was rebuilt in 1935 to address overcrowding and provide better accommodation for Southend line services.[42] When the former ECR lines transferred to the Underground's Central line in 1948, the station was served solely by the former LTSR services.[43][44]

Following nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948, the station transferred under British Railways to the Eastern Region although the old LTSR network west of Gasworks Junction was controlled by the London Midland Region. On 20 February 1949 the whole LTS line was transferred to the Eastern Region, yet despite the organisational changes, the old LTSR still was a distinctive system operated by former LTS and LMS locomotives until electrification.[45]

British Railways electrified the former LTSR line in 1959.[46] Electric services began on 6 November 1961 and a full electric timetable was introduced on 18 June the following year.[47] In the 1980s, the station roof was dismantled and high-rise office blocks were built above the station leaving the 1854 facade intact.[22]

Fenchurch Street station suffered a negative reputation under public ownership. By the end of the 1980s, the former LTSR line was carrying over 50,000 passengers a day on a 50-year old infrastructure. The persistent overcrowding and uncleanliness on trains led to it being dubbed "the misery line". In 1989 Sir Robert Reid called the service from Fenchurch Street "wholly unacceptable",[48] while Teresa Gorman, Member of Parliament for Billericay, subsequently called it "one of the disgraces of our public railway service for many years".[49] Between 1982 and 1992 the station was operated by Network SouthEast, one of British Rail's three passenger business sectors, before being handed over to a business unit in preparation for privatisation.[50]

In July 1994, shortly before privatisation, the station closed for seven weeks for an Â£83 million project to replace signals, track and electrification works. It was the first significant closure of a London terminal station.[49]

The development of Lakeside Shopping Centre, near Chafford Hundred and Thurrock, increased demand for services from the station.[51] In 2013 Network Rail announced a Â£3.4m upgrade creating a third exit on Cooper's Row to make connections with Tower Hill easier.[52]

In the 1970s Fenchurch Street was considered to be an integral part of the proposed Fleet line (now called the Jubilee line), which would have given the station an Underground connection. An extension from the end of the track terminus at Charing Cross to Fenchurch Street via Aldwych and Ludgate Circus would have seen the line cross the River Thames and continue southeastwards towards Surrey Docks and Lewisham.[53]

Mott, Hay and Anderson and Sir William Halcrow and Partners began constructing the line to Charing Cross, but did not finish the project until 1979. Rising costs and high inflation led to London Transport abandoning the eastwards extension via Fenchurch Street in 1981.[54] The line was completed in 1999, using a different route via the Greenwich Peninsula to Stratford, crossing the LTSR line from Fenchurch Street at West Ham.[55] This has altered demand for Fenchurch Street, with passengers from Essex changing there instead.[51]

Services from Fenchurch Street run towards East London and south Essex, including Barking, Upminster, Chafford Hundred Lakeside (for Lakeside Shopping Centre), Tilbury Town (for the Gravesend–Tilbury Ferry and cruise services) Basildon, Southend Central and Shoeburyness. The typical off-peak service consists of eight trains per hour (tph):[56]

During peak periods services are increased up to 20 tph.[56] Most peak services have 12 cars.[57]

Although the station's capacity is small compared to other London terminals, it has a high footfall, averaging around 16 million passengers annually.[58] A report in 2001 showed approximately 3,000 people commuted daily from Castle Point to the city via Fenchurch Street,[59] while a 2013 report said it was the busiest station on the LTSR route, with 46,000 daily peak-time passengers.[52]

A number of goods depots were established near Fenchurch Street owing to the station's proximity to the City of London. This table lists the depots connected to the line between the station and Christian Street Junction just east of Leman Street:[68][69][70]

The poet John Betjeman passed through the station on day-trips to Southend, and described it as a "delightful hidden old terminus".[72]

The first documented murder on the British rail network occurred on 9 July 1864, when Franz Muller murdered Thomas Briggs shortly after a train left the station en route to Chalk Farm.[73]

Fenchurch Street is one of four railway stations on the standard UK Monopoly board, alongside Liverpool Street, Marylebone and King's Cross. All are former LNER terminal stations.[74]

The 2005 football hooliganism film Green Street used the station to represent Manchester Piccadilly.[75]

In the Douglas Adams novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Fenchurch was so-named because she was conceived at the station.[76]


who did john michie play in coronation street

Karl Munro is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, played by John Michie. Michie's casting was announced in April 2011. He signed an initial one-year contract and began filming his scenes in May. Upon joining the cast, Michie was told that producers would initially "bed [him] in", before increasing his involvement in the show in 2012. Michie is from Scotland, but because Coronation Street is set in Manchester, he uses a Mancunian accent for the role. Karl was introduced along with his girlfriend, Stella Price (Michelle Collins) and her daughter, Eva (Catherine Tyldesley). Karl made his first appearance in the episode broadcast on 17 June 2011. On 30 April 2013, it was announced that Michie would be leaving Coronation Street. Karl departed during the episode broadcast on 13 September 2013.[1]

Karl Munro

Karl is described as a "ne'er-do-well". He could have had a career as a professional footballer, but Michie opined that Karl is too keen on "the wine, women and song". He "clings" onto Stella because she is "very reliable and very organised". Karl previously worked part-time in Stella's public house in Rochdale and played for the pub's football team; he later began a relationship with Stella in May 2006. Karl does not have a good relationship with Eva as they are alike and Michie said that she "kind of ruins everything for Karl". The actor told Digital Spy that "Eva is selfish, spoiled and she wants her own way" and Karl is the same. He has also been described as "tense but charming" and a "northern lad". In November 2011, it was revealed that Karl would become a gambling addict and subsequently begin an affair with Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati) as he "sets off on a dark journey". In 2013, Karl set The Rovers Return Inn on fire, which led to the deaths of Sunita and local firefighter Toni Griffiths (Tara Moran). He then married Stella and took her hostage in the pub before he was arrested for arson and murder.

Karl arrives in Weatherfield in a removal van the day after his girlfriend, Stella Price (Michelle Collins), gets a job as bar manager at The Rovers Return Inn public house. Karl moves into the pub with Stella and her daughter, Eva (Catherine Tyldesley).[2] Karl gets a job as a driver for local taxi firm "Streetcars". In September, Karl is devastated when Stella is run over by Frank Foster's (Andrew Lancel) car.[3] Stella is placed on life support and Karl is told that she will need emergency surgery due to internal bleeding.[3][4] Frank apologises and Karl accuses him of blaming Stella for causing the accident.[5] Karl tries to attack Frank, but is restrained by Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne).[5] Stella later regains consciousness and recovers. Karl becomes convinced that Stella is having an affair with his employer, Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles) and confronts them in the pub.[6] Lloyd confesses to drunkenly kissing Stella, but explains that it was not reciprocated.[6] Karl angrily bars Lloyd from the pub and tells him to stay away from him and Stella. Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) announces that he is selling the pub and offers Karl and Stella first refusal to buy it.[7] Stella inherits some money from her aunt and puts it towards a deposit.[8] Karl steals the money and gambles it at a casino.[9] He wins a large amount of money and tells Stella that it is for the deposit.[9] Karl and Stella later purchase the pub on the day of Steve's wedding to Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford).[10]

Karl begins visiting the casino more frequently and barmaid Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati) realises that Karl has developed a gambling addiction. When Karl picks Sunita up from the police station after she has been arrested for being drunk and disorderly, she and Karl kiss. Karl later stages a break in at the pub in order to pay off his debts and when Stella finds out, she throws Karl out and Sunita lets him stay with her whilst her partner Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) is away. They embark on an affair. Sunita holds some of Karl's money for him after he wins big at the casino, wanting to try to help him beat his addiction. Stella forgives Karl and he returns to the pub. However, Sunita's children Aadi (Zennon Ditchett) and Asha (Tanisha Gorey) discover the money and after refusing to tell Dev where she got the money from; the couple separate and Sunita moves into the pub with Karl, Stella, Eva and Stella's oldest daughter, Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson). Karl becomes increasingly anxious that Sunita will expose their affair after Eva becomes suspicious and later tells Sunita that he loves Stella and ends their relationship. Sunita agrees to marry Dev in order to spite Karl. However, in July 2012 the couple briefly reconcile after Sunita becomes increasingly unhappy with her impending wedding. Karl and Sunita are caught in the act in the pub when Stella, Leanne and Eva arrive back from a night out, in a honey-trap orchestrated by Sunita, after she deletes a text message from Stella on Karl's phone telling him they were returning. A heartbroken Stella throws Karl out and he ends up staying at Sunita's. Dev is willing to give Sunita another chance but she chooses Karl over him. Sunita formally introduces Karl to her children and he promises them he won't get in the way of seeing their father. Later on Dev confronts Sunita and Karl when he gets jealous of seeing them together with the twins and attacks Karl in front of the twins, aggressively pushing him onto the sofa. Stella then demands that Karl sign his share of the pub over to her. He is reluctant at first but when Stella threatens to tell the police about the staged break-in, he gives in and does what she asks.

Lloyd fires Karl from his job at StreetCars after he discovers Dev contemplating suicide. After unsuccessfully asking for his job back, Karl warns Lloyd that one day he will pay him back dearly. In September 2012, Stella's mother Gloria (Sue Johnston) arrives in Weatherfield. When she finds out about the affair she confronts Karl at Sunita's house and slaps him. Karl blames Sunita for the affair and tells Gloria that he is only with her because Stella won't have him back. Gloria forgives him and tries to reconcile Karl and Stella but is unsuccessful. Karl later expresses disbelief when Stella begins a relationship with Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas), who is twenty years her junior. Stella convinces Sunita that Karl is only using her because he has nowhere else to go. She also inadvertently reveals to Karl that Sunita deleted her text message to him, the night she discovered the affair in order to trap him. Karl goes on a drunken binge and makes a fool of himself at Aadi and Asha's seventh birthday party. Sunita throws him out and he is forced to move into a bedsit. Stella thaws towards Karl and convinces Steve and Lloyd to give him his job back at StreetCars. On 1 March, Karl stays behind to help Stella close up the pub. He makes a drunken pass at her and when she rejects him, Karl becomes aggressive and grabs her arm. Stella slaps him and threatens to scream for help and, shaken, she orders him to leave. The next day he tries to apologize and sends Stella flowers but she continues to shun him.

After Stella visits the brewery, Karl picks her up in his taxi, locks her in and drives her to a deserted location so he can talk to her. Karl becomes upset and Stella comforts him and convinces him to leave her alone. He agrees to do so, but the following day, when Jason finds out about the abduction attempt he punches Karl in the pub. Lloyd and Steve fire him from his job and when Sunita gloats at his predicament, he angrily threatens her in the shop, vowing revenge. Karl becomes increasingly jealous of Stella's relationship with Jason and starts stalking him. He steals Jason's van and torches it. Jason reports him to the police but there is no proof of Karl's involvement. Stella refuses to believe Jason's accusations against Karl and he angrily kicks the wing mirror off Karl's car in frustration. Stella asks Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies) to give Karl a job as a labourer at his building yard. When a water pipe bursts at the pub, Karl volunteers to help Jason with the repairs and in the cellar, he sprays water on the fuse box, causing a short circuit in order to frame Jason. He is unsuccessful as Jason and Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) fix the electrics. Karl steals the pubs spare set of keys from behind the bar.

In March 2013, Karl participates in a charity strip-tease at the Bistro. After performing his act, he sneaks away from the event and Sunita sees him running down the ginnel. Karl lets himself into the pub and starts a fire in the cellar. Sunita, who has followed him, catches him in the act and he tells her that he intends to frame Jason and make it look like an accident. A struggle breaks out and Sunita falls down the steps and is knocked unconscious. Karl leaves her and flees, accidentally locking the door behind him. He returns to the Bistro and tries to carry on as if everything is normal, performing in the Full Monty strip tease with the other participants. Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) alerts the Bistro customers to the fire and Karl discovers that Stella had gone home early and is trapped in the pub. Karl goes back in to save her and they are trapped in Stella's bedroom. Firefighters Paul Kershaw (Tony Hirst) and Toni Griffiths (Tara Moran) rescue Karl and Stella but Toni is killed when the roof of the pub caves in. Karl accompanies Stella to hospital and supports her family. Sunita is also hospitalized and Karl suggests to Dev that Jason caused the fire with his building materials. Jason later accuses Karl of starting the fire and tells the police of his suspicions. When questioned, Karl tells them he was at the Bistro all night and that Jason has a grudge against him. When Karl discovers that the police suspect Sunita of starting the fire, he plants The Rovers spare keys in her possessions at the hospital after getting her finger prints on them as she lies comatose. He puts her house keys back at her home so that it appears she only had the one set of keys on her logged by the hospital staff.

Karl continues to support Stella as she recovers and panics when Dev tells them that Sunita is showing signs of recovery. He returns to the hospital just as she is regaining consciousness and pulls out her oxygen feeding tube before quickly leaving. Sunita suffers a cardiac arrest and dies. Karl begins to feel guilty when Stella insists that they support Dev during his grief. He carries the coffin at Sunita's funeral and overwhelmed with guilt, he nearly confesses to Stella but she believes he is feeling guilty over the affair. Karl moves into Kevin Webster's (Michael Le Vell) house along with Stella, Eva and Gloria. Stella begins to grow distant with Jason and her feelings for Karl start flooding back. She ends her relationship with Jason and she and Karl reconcile. Jason is angered and warns her that Karl will let her down again.

Karl supports Stella as she is unable to pay for the repairs to The Rovers when the insurance company does not pay out. Owen tries to remove the pub fittings with a crow bar and Karl tries to stop him, challenging him to hit him in a confrontation. Owen backs down and Gloria later pays for the repairs. Karl proposes to Stella and she accepts. The pub reopens and Karl starts working behind the bar again with Stella. When Dev, convinced of Sunita's innocence, tries to get the police to reopen the investigation into the fire, Karl panics. Dev starts questioning witnesses about the night of the fire and Karl considers killing Dev with one of Aadi's golfing trophies but manages to talk him round and convince him to drop the case.

Karl later discovers that Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) had witnessed him leave the pub on the night of the fire. Craig believes he had started the fire accidentally by discarding a cigarette he had been smoking in the smoker's shelter in the pub's back yard. Karl tells Craig that this is true and that he faces a prison sentence, in order to scare him into keeping quiet. He then befriends Craig in order to try and control him and make sure he stays quiet, buying him a computer game as a gift. Karl is later frustrated when Stella considers calling off their wedding due to Leanne's husband Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) being in a coma due to road accident. When Jason overhears an argument between Karl and Stella, he starts gloating and suggests that Stella is having second thoughts as she is seeing Karl for what he really is: a loser. Jason continues antagonizing Karl on his stag night and he threatens Jason in the pub toilets and confesses to torching his van. Dev breaks up the fight and Jason tells Dev he believes that Karl started The Rovers fire. Dev is initially skeptical but when he overhears Karl threaten to kill Jason, he starts to believe him. Craig later goes missing and when Karl tracks him down, he claims that his guilt is starting to overwhelm him. Karl convinces Craig to come home and gets Craig to tell his mother Beth (Lisa George) that he is being bullied. When the boys Craig accuses of bullying him attack him in the street, Karl intervenes and violently threatens them and Dev has to physically restrain him. Stella is suspicious but Karl manages to talk her round. He makes plans for them to leave for Barcelona after the wedding.

On the day of the wedding, Craig confesses to Dev what he knows and Jason and Beth take him to the police station to make a statement. Dev goes to the registry office and arrives just after Karl has married Stella. He offers them a lift back to the Street in his car. The wedding reception is held in the Bistro and Karl sneaks back to the pub to prepare for them to leave. Dev follows him into the pub and confronts him, revealing that he knows Karl started the fire and that Craig is at the police station, telling them what he knows. Karl confesses to starting the fire and claims that he didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. Dev tells him that he wants Stella to find out so that he knows what loss feels like. Karl offers to turn himself in, but Dev leaves to return to the Bistro to tell Stella. Karl starts goading him, telling him that he is better off without Sunita and that he did Dev a favour by killing her. Dev attacks Karl and a fight breaks out. Karl knocks Dev unconscious with a bottle and starts hurriedly packing his bags. Stella then returns from the Bistro, wondering where Karl has gone and discovers Dev injured. When Karl refuses to let her call an ambulance, she demands an explanation and he is forced to confess to his crimes. Stella is horrified and screams for help and Karl becomes aggressive and threatens her. Dev, who has regained consciousness and is playing dead, sends a text message to Jason who has returned from the police station. Jason breaks into the pub and Karl pours whisky over the bar and threatens to start another fire and confesses to pulling out Sunita's oxygen tube at the hospital. Stella tells Jason to help Dev and Karl drags her into the cellar. She convinces him to give himself up and to leave the pub as the man she fell in love with. Karl then leaves the pub and is arrested by the police, who are waiting outside. As he is handcuffed on the ground he shares a last look with Dev who is being treated by paramedics and is tearful. Karl taunts Jason as he is led away and is last seen being put into the back of a police car as Stella, Gloria, Eva and Leanne watch.

Both Stella and Dev go to see Karl in court, and when they return they announce that he's serving 25 years in prison. This means that Karl will not be released until 2038.

The character of Karl and Michie's casting in the role were announced on 15 April 2011, along with Karl's girlfriend, Stella Price (Michelle Collins).[11] Michie said of his casting: "My mum is from Rochdale, my wife is from Grimethorpe - they are both northerners and huge fans. I am from even further north so [Coronation Street] is the only soap for me."[11] Coronation Street executive producer Kieran Roberts said, "I'm thrilled to be welcoming John and Michelle to the cast of Coronation Street. As Robbie Ross in Taggart, John has kept viewers on the edge of their seats for the last ten years. Karl is a very different character for him, though, and the ladies of Weatherfield need to watch themselves as this sexy charmer will quickly make his presence felt. Michelle's acting credentials are first class with more than a decade leading some brilliant and memorable drama series. Of course Michelle's soap credentials are superb and in the same way she made Cindy Beale one of EastEnders' most memorable bitches, I am certain she is going to be fantastic as the warm, funny, steely, flawed and larger-than-life northern matriarch Stella."[11] It was announced on 4 May 2011 that Catherine Tyldesley had been cast as Stella's daughter, Eva, completing the new family.[12] Michie signed an initial one-year contract[13] and began filming his scenes in May.[11] Upon joining the cast, Michie was told that producers would initially "bed [him] in", before increasing his involvement in the show in 2012.[14] Michie made his first on-screen appearance as Karl in the episode broadcast on 17 June 2011.[2]

â€”Michie on Karl (2011)

Karl is described as a "ne'er-do-well".[15] Michie told Digital Spy that Karl could have had a career as a professional footballer, but opined that he is too keen on "the wine, women and song".[15] Karl "clings" onto Stella because she is "very reliable and very organised".[15] Stella had a cancer scare and Michie explained that this made Karl "think like a man for the first time in his life".[15] He said "It's made him be responsible and it's made him fall in love with a woman for the first time, rather than just having brief affairs."[15] Karl is attracted to Stella "quite a lot" and Michie opined that Karl does love her.[15] Karl previously worked part-time in Stella's public house in Rochdale and played for the pub's football team.[15] Karl does not have a good relationship with Eva and Michie said that she "kind of ruins everything for Karl".[15] The actor opined that Karl and Eva dislike one another because Karl can see his traits in her.[15] Michie told Digital Spy that "Eva is selfish, spoiled and she wants her own way" and Karl is the same.[15] The Daily Record called Karl "tense but charming".[13] Michie told the newspaper that it is "really nice to get into a new character" and Karl is a "really fascinating guy".[13] Karl has a "real suppression of aggression deep down inside" after failing to become a footballer.[13] The Scottish Sun described Karl as a "northern lad".[16] Michie is from Scotland, but because Coronation Street is set in Manchester, he uses a Mancunian accent for the role.[13] To prepare for the role, Michie visited bars in Manchester to pick up the dialect.[13]

In November 2011, Michie revealed that Karl would become a gambling addict in an upcoming storyline.[14][17] The actor told the Daily Record that Karl would be gambling for "a while" and descend into debt after "a few big losses".[14] He told the newspaper "You know what gamblers are like, he has to lie, drinks a little bit more than he should and it is going to cause tension in his relationships."[14] Michie also said that Karl's storyline would help viewers "get inside his mind a bit".[14] Munro researched gambling addictions with help from Coronation Street and support from Gamblers Anonymous. Collins responded positively to the storyline as she felt gambling addiction is a "big problem".[10] She opined that people would relate to Karl's addiction and how Stella copes with it.[10] Coronation Street producer, Phil Collinson, revealed that Karl and Stella's relationship would face problems because of this.[18] Collinson teased that Karl may turn to someone else as he "sets off on a dark journey".[18] Remarking on tensions that arise between Karl and Stella, Michie states that "she doesn't know that Karl has a problem, so she can't understand why Karl is behaving the way he is."[19]

In January 2012, it was revealed that Karl would begin an affair with Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati).[20][21] Of the affair, Collinson told the Daily Star: "There [have] been suggestions about Karl's wandering eye but we're going to see it for ourselves. Sunita is not someone you would expect, which makes it even more brilliant."[20] Michie had previously revealed his hopes that Karl would feature in an infidelity storyline, saying "I think [his dream storyline] would involve having an affair with someone behind Stella's back, so there would be a lot of dramatic tension, which is what you want in a drama."[22] Discussing Karl's attraction to Sunita, Michie calls his character a "serial flirt" but notes that with Sunita "there's also a shyness about her that he's quite attracted to." Karl is partly attracted to Sunita because of the differences in their characters and finds her "sexy in a demure way."[19] Golati conjectures that Sunita is attracted to Karl because "he's naughty" and "he's cute, and above all, he's noticed her". She feels the attraction between the pair is able to develop because Sunita's husband Dev "has taken his eye off the ball".[23] Michie remarked that Karl's developing friendship with Sunita brought out his "kind" and "caring" side. He is shocked at the fact Sunita's husband refuses to collect her from the police station after Sunita makes an exhibition of herself whilst drunk. At this point, he states that Karl "is just genuinely helping out - he's not chasing her."[19]

In June 2011, Karl came second in an Inside Soap poll to find out which member of the new family readers were most looking forward to seeing on-screen. He received 17% of the vote.[24] The character of Karl arrived on-screen on 17 June 2011, drawing 7.94 million viewers and 37.6% of the total TV viewing audience.[25] In November 2011 Steve Hendry of the Daily Record noted that Michie "hit it lucky in review terms â€“ in comparison to screen girlfriend, Stella" as he escaped the "fierce criticism" she received regarding her Mancunian accent.[17] In regards to the affair storyline between Karl and Sunita, Jaci Stephen of the Daily Mail wrote "it's hard to imagine Karl summoning up the energy for breath, let alone adultery" but conceded that Sunita "proves hard to resist".[26]