Deidre’s specs appeal has lasted 38 years

Anne Kirkbride

The Chronicle celebrates 50 years of Coronation Street with some of the Olham stars who have helped to made it great TV

CORRIE stalwart Deidre Barlow is best known for her imposing spectacles, her gravelly voice and her inability to stay faithful to husband Ken.

Oldhamer Anne Kirkbride, who has played Deidre for the past 38 years, cut her acting teeth at the Coliseum Theatre.

Her status as an iconic local actor was cemented when she featured in the Women of Oldham exhibition at Gallery Oldham in September, 2009.

Anne’s photo sat alongside suffragette Annie Kenney, Oldham’s first female Mayor Dame Sarah Lees, artist Helen Bradley and supermodel Karen Elson.

Anne is the daughter of former Chronicle cartoonist Jack Kirkbride, who died in 2006.

She left the Oldham Rep when she turned 18 and caught the attention of Corrie’s casting directors when she auditioned for another ITV show.

Deidre started out as a small, bit part in November, 1972 but her role in the show intensified over the years and she is now one of the main characters.

She has been married four times — to daughter Tracy’s dad Ray Langton in 1975, Moroccan Samir Rachid in 1994 and twice to Ken in 1981 and 2005.

There have also been affairs with Ken’s enemy Mike Baldwin, her boss at the corner shop Dev Alahan and Audrey Robert’s con artist fiancee Lewis Archer.

Deidre’s marriage to Ken Barlow (William Roache) in 1981 attracted more viewers than the televised wedding of Prince Charles and Diana.

In 1982, Deidre started an affair with Mike Baldwin and the storyline was the first Corrie plot to be written about in the national press.

When Deidre made the decision to break it off with Mike and reconcile with Ken in 1983, the phrase “Ken 1 - Mike 0” was put on the scoreboard during a Man United and Arsenal match at Old Trafford to rapturous applause from fans.

When Deidre became a local councillor, a neglected Ken began an affair with his secretary Wendy Crozier and the pair divorce in 1990.

In 1994, Deidre fell in love with Moroccan Samir Rachid and married him in Weatherfield much to the shock of her nosy neighbours, but Samir is killed by thugs.

Deidre’s biggest storyline came in 1998 when she was sent to prison for a crime she didn’t commit after falling in love with Jon Lindsay who tells her he is a wealthy airline pilot.

The fraudster tells police that Deidre was the brains behind his criminal activities, a jury declares her guilty and she is sent down for 18 months while he walks free.

The media launched the “Free the Weatherfield One” campaign that saw Prime Minister Tony Blair getting involved. Ken and Mike Baldwin work together to get Deidre freed and she eventually reconciles with Ken in 1999.

Following a row with Ken in 2001, Deidre sleeps with Dev Alahan, her boss at the corner shop.

Ken forgives her and the pair remarry in 2005 with viewing figures topping the televised wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

More recently, Deidre was devastated when her mother Blanche Hunt died while on holiday in Portugal. Viewers were also shocked to see the serial adulteress get caught on CCTV in the bookies kissing her friend Audrey’s fiancee Lewis Archer.




ON MONDAY: Catch up with knicker-stitcher Sean Tully played by Antony Cotton