When Robert Beck made a return to Emmerdale last year, his partner and Coronation Street’s Jane Danson shared her happiness over the news.

Robert is best known for playing Gavin Ferris, Bernice’s (Samantha Giles) ex, back in 1999 – but he returned to the soap recently as Chloe Harris’ (Jessie Elland) father Damon.

When Robert said he is ‘thrilled’ to be working on Emmerdale again, Jane paid sweet tribute to him via an Instagram post.

‘Happy birthday my love @robertbeck529’, she wrote at the time. ‘And congratulations on your @emmerdale return – i owe Emmerdale a lot -24 years of us – i love you darling.’

The couple first met in 1999, and Jane often takes to social media to pay tribute to her husband.

But where did they meet, how long have they been married – and do they have children?

Here’s what you need to know…

How did Robert Beck and Jane Danson meet?

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Jane and Robert initially met at the first-ever British Soap Awards in 1999.

The 55-year-old has been a regular face on TV screens since the 90s, when he first found fame as Peter Harrison in the Channel 4 soap Brookside, a role he played from 1991 to 1993.

His other notable appearances include sitcom The Upper Hand, and also Emmerdale – where he starred as Gavin Ferris in 1999.

Like his wife, Robert has also appeared in Coronation Street as criminal Jimmy Dockerson – while he played Fergus Collins in Hollyoaks from March until November 2021, when the character was murdered by Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson).

More recently he’s been in the ITV series The Bay.

When were Robert and Jane married?
Jane Danson and Robert Beck in 2002
The couple were married at the Gibbon Bdirge Hotel in Lancashire in December 2005.

Jane has previously said of her husband: ‘Rob’s absolutely my best friend in the world. We’ve only had about two rows in 20 years. I’m not saying we don’t get on each other’s nerves sometimes, but we’re a strong team and we’ve always allowed each other to be individuals.’

Jane previously revealed that Robert was her childhood crush when she first saw the star in Brookside.

She told Reveal magazine: ‘I had a sticker of him on my pencil case. I thought he was gorgeous, even though he was 10 years older than me.’

The actress has also compared her own relationship to that of her Corrie character Leanne and Ben Tilsley (Nick Price).

Speaking in 2021 she said: ‘It’s nice for us, as actors, to be able to draw on that history. Leanne has much more drama in her life than I do in mine though, that’s for sure!’

Do Robert and Jane have children?

The couple are parents to two sons – Harry, who was born in 2006, and Sam, born in 2009.

Speaking on Lorraine in 2021, Jane addressed the issue of juggling family life with their acting careers.

‘The good thing about it is that we both get soaps, and we both understand the schedule,’ she explained.

‘Sometimes things change, sometimes he might be in early and sometimes he might be in late. So we just kind of got our diaries out together and kind of planned our week. My mum was always on hand to help out with the boys, which was amazing. So we’ve got a lot of support, which is great.’

What happened to Robert’s character Damon in Emmerdale?
Robert Beck as Damon Harris, Emmerdale
Damon was killed by Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) last Christmas. He arrived in the village wanting to get revenge on Chloe’s boyfriend Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb) who couldn’t decide who he wanted to be in a relationship with.

Charity shot Damon dead during a showdown. In the aftermath, despite knowing she took his life to save Mack, Charity struggled with severe flashbacks and PTSD, completely haunted by her memories.

Shortly after Damon was killed, Chloe also left the village. She hasn’t been in contact with Mackenzie since, who shares a little boy with Chloe called Reuben.

What has happened to Leanne in Coronation Street recently?
Leanne speaks to Toyah in the Bistro in Corrie

Earlier this year, Leanne became charmed by a man called Rowan (Emrhys Cooper), who runs a cult called The Institute.

As it stands, Leanne is still refusing to believe the organisation is completely corrupt. Because Rowan has manipulated her, Leanne also sees him as a good man, and sees Toyah (Georgia Taylor) as someone who doesn’t want her to be happy.