During her time in prison she made friends with Jackie Dobbs , who protected Deirdre against a sadistic warden. In Deirdre and Ken reunited and she moved back in with him.
Blanche returned to Weatherfield to stay for good, and moved in with the couple and began living in their front room. Deirdre's eye began to wander in when she slept with Dev, although she instantly regretted it and remained with Ken.
Tracy returned to the family on Christmas Day after leaving her husband Robert Preston , who she claimed had an affair. But when Robert turned up it turned out Tracy had an affair with his friend. He asked her to return, but Tracy refused and stayed in Coronation Street for good. Tracy was shown to have developed a nasty streak. Tracy began a relationship with Dev in which she learned Deirdre slept with him.
When Ken had a hearing for assaulting pupil from hell Aidan, Tracy revealed to Ken Deirdre's infidelity. Although Ken was upset, he forgave Deirdre and remained with her. In Ken proposed to Deirdre and she happily accepted. They planned to remarry but it was interrupted with the return of Ray Langton , who was revealed to be dying of stomach cancer. Although Deirdre and Tracy found it hard to forgive Ray, they later took pity on him and forgave him.
Deirdre married Ken for the second time, although Ray passed away during the reception. In Tracy was arrested and charged with killing her boyfriend Charlie Stubbs. Deirdre believed that Tracy had committed the murder in self-defense, as she believed Tracy had been abused by Charlie for weeks although this was set up by Tracy.
Before her trial Tracy confessed to her mother that she had actually killed Charlie in cold blood and he never hurt her. Deirdre was sickened at her daughter, although chose to stand by her regardless. Tracy was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to 15 years.
The incident again tested Deirdre and Ken's marriage, and Ken moved out of the household to see Denise and Daniel again while Deirdre remained behind in No. Despite it looking like another end to their marriage the pair of them reunited and embraced. In Ken began an affair behind Deirdre's back with actress Martha Fraser , which lasted for a few months.
Ken planned to leave Deirdre in May but couldn't find himself to go ahead with it so stayed behind. He showed Deirdre a letter he left for her about what he was planning to do. Deirdre was upset but chose to forgive Ken and didn't want to discuss the matter.
Sacrilege," another said. Corrie fans were left devastated when Deirdre died on the show back in just before her 60th birthday. The actress who played her, Anne Kirkbride tragically passed away after a battle with breast cancer.
In his autobiography, her former co-star Bill Roach revealed her final moments in hospital. All I could see was her beauty. Eventually, Deirdre and Ken were engaged to be married again, and tied the knot on 8th April Deirdre's ex-husband Ray Langton eventually returned to the Street in and announced that he was dying from cancer. In spite of their occasional clashes, Mike Baldwin and Deirdre had remained close friends for over two decades after the end of their affair.
Deirdre was upset when Mike developed Alzheimer's but was truly beside herself when she visited Mike and realised he no longer knew who she was. Mike died in Ken's arms on 7th April Deirdre was devastated and went into a deep mourning period, which annoyed Ken.
Deirdre had tried to support Tracy through Tracy's various schemes and lies, but in , she was very concerned when Tracy took up with Charlie Stubbs , who had psychologically broken her friend Bev Unwin 's daughter Shelley. Tracy insisted she could tame Charlie, but problems hit early when Charlie told her that she would have to leave her daughter Amy behind if she wanted to move in with him.
To make Charlie feel guilty, Tracy pretended to have an abortion, but this backfired when Deirdre learned of the abortion and was ashamed of herself as a mother for letting this happen to Tracy.
Tracy told Deirdre the truth, and Charlie soon found out. Deirdre's need for honesty caused havoc again a few months later when Bev let slip to her that Shelley was pregnant with Charlie's baby.
Deirdre felt she had no choice but to tell Tracy. All of this eventually led Tracy to her plan to make herself look like a battered woman and kill Charlie in self-defence. Deirdre and Ken all but bankrupted themselves for Tracy's legal fees, even mortgaging their home. Although Deirdre did her best to defend her daughter in court, she had been made aware of the truth about Charlie's death on 25th March , when Tracy explained that she had killed him in cold-blood.
Consequently, she ended up having a panic attack in the witness box. Tracy blamed Deirdre for the collapse of her case. Tracy's fifteen year sentence devastated Deirdre and left her relationship with Ken on rocky grounds. Tracy asked her parents to fund her appeal, but both Deirdre and Ken were appalled that Tracy was more than willing to see them homeless in exchange for a chance to get out of prison and severed all contact with her.
After weeks of turmoil at No. In the middle of a blazing row, he announced that if she left, he would be gone by the time she got back. True to his word, Ken left his wife and began rebuilding a relationship with his son Daniel Osbourne, and the child's mother, Denise. Deirdre, full of resentment, promised to confront Denise, and in May matters came to a head.
The pair rowed in front of an audience at the Rovers Return, an argument which resulted in Deirdre slapping her nemesis, who was then ushered out by Ken. Deirdre tried to mend her relationship with Ken and even apologised for her behaviour in the Rovers, but she failed to convince him to come back to her at that time. Ken later returned to No.
In , Ken, who had long ago put away his ambitions to be an author, felt like he had amounted to nothing, and he wrote a book about his life. Deirdre tried to support Ken's work, but she was disgusted when she read the pages, which amounted to a novel about a man who had wasted his life by marrying a woman far beneath him.
Ken finally tried to soothe Deirdre by burning the book before it was ever published. Waters were temporarily calmed, with Deirdre spending much of her time caring for her mother Blanche and for Peter's young son Simon.
However, Ken continued to find this life stifling, and in early , while walking the family dog Eccles , met a stage actress, Martha Fraser , who lived on a tugboat. Martha was everything Deirdre wasn't and Ken led her to believe he was widowed. They became very close, with Ken spending an increasing amount of time away from home.
Deirdre believed Ken was only spending most of his time at the library. She was angry at Ken for not being enough help around the house, but she did not know the full extent of his neglect until after he had nearly left for good. He had written her a goodbye note, packed a bag, and planned to go away with Martha who now knew he was married , but changed his mind at the last minute. Peter insisted he tell Deirdre. Deirdre's response was that she never wanted the subject to be brought up again, but she was clearly angered by his betrayal, and took great pleasure in behaving in ways he saw as common, such as loudly singing along with pop songs on the radio or eating unhealthy food.
In Deirdre received the sad news that her mother Blanche had died in her sleep while on holiday in Portugal. In late Deirdre had taken a job as receptionist at the Medical Centre, replacing Gail McIntyre who was recently fired for breaching patient confidentiality. In December she was delighted when Tracy was released early from prison as a forensics officer working on the murder of Charlie Stubbs was revealed to have faked their qualifications.
Despite Tracy winding up the residents of the street upon her return, Deirdre had bit her tongue and stood by her.
In late when Tracy lied about Becky McDonald pushing her down the stairs and causing her miscarriage, Deirdre decided to keep Tracy's lies a secret as Tracy had threatened to kill herself. Deirdre asked Becky to leave Coronation Street, however Becky later revealed the truth with the help of her sister Kylie Platt on the day of Tracy's wedding to Steve , causing Steve to leave Tracy for her lies.
After Ken had left for Canada to look after grandson Adam Barlow in July , Deirdre took a sort of role as head of the family in Ken's absence, and was a support to Peter when he had lost the bookies. She also took a dislike to Tracy's boyfriend Rob Donovan but later warmed to him when she realised that he had made Tracy happy and the pair got engaged in January When Peter was arrested on suspicion of the murder of barmaid Tina McIntyre in July Deirdre had trouble telling Ken who was still residing in Canada at that point in fear of his reaction.
When Ken returned the following month, Deirdre told him the news which angered him, as he was deprived of the information his son was up for murder. However the couple made up, and both went on a caravan holiday in Wales to sort their marriage.
In October Deirdre had felt the stress of the situation with Peter's impending trial and during a family dinner had thrown the trifle across the room and broke down in tears. Feeling worried for her, Ken suggested Deirdre should take a break away from Weatherfield and assured her that he would be fine with Peter's trial. She had later left to visit her friend Bev Unwin.
Deirdre didn't return for Tracy's failed wedding to Rob Donovan, or even after he was exposed as Tina's true killer. She later took an extended break with Bev when her brother had passed away. Ken went to visit Deirdre around the Christmas period. Deirdre was due to return home in July and a party was laid on for her in the Rovers to celebrate both her homecoming and her 60th birthday, however Bev returned alone to break the sad news that Deirdre had passed away that morning while sitting on a patio chair in the sun, and that the cause was thought to be an aneurysm.
Liz broke the news to the stunned regulars in the pub who were waiting to greet their friend. The aneurysm was subsequently confirmed as the cause of death. Ken also heard from Bev that Deirdre had been intending to return to him a few weeks earlier, but decided against it as she felt humiliated about Tracy's affair with Liz's boyfriend Tony Stewart. Deirdre's funeral was organised for the 13th July and many turned out to pay their respects, with Ken delivering the eulogy.
This is my life. Having a cigarette in a pokey little back yard while a house full of people I've known most 'me life eat sausage rolls and drink sherry.
It might not be glamorous but it's real and I like it. Deirdre was a down-to-earth person who was led by her heart. She was also forgiving; despite being furious with Tracy's crimes, she did not give up on her. Her weaknesses were her tendency to fly off the handle under pressure; as shown when she threw a trifle at the wall which led to her going to stay with Bev Unwin to escape the family pressures. Deirdre was a chain smoker for the best part of her life. She liked red wine, her favourite colour was red, and she liked shopping online for belts.
Her signature dish was stuffed marrow, which was served regularly in the Barlow household. Deirdre's trademarks included a gravelly, scratchy voice and very big glasses. She wore the same style of glasses for almost thirty years in her youth she was nicknamed "Miss Sexy Spex" , before Dev Alahan crushed them with a box when she put them down for a second.
In later years, her frames were much smaller. Deirdre was the result of an unplanned pregnancy for Blanche and husband Donald , something which was never kept secret from her. Blanche could be a hard and difficult woman to live with and her acid tongued put downs grew more regular as she grew older. Blanche and Deirdre also had a knack for embarrassing each other. At Deirdre's 17th birthday party, Blanche got out her baby photos and showed them to her boyfriend and in later years Deirdre found herself frequently apologising for her mother's stinging words, such as when they went to support Peter at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in On the flip side, Blanche didn't hold back in expressing her shame at some of the scrapes Deirdre got into, such as being sent to prison even though she was innocent and was disapproving of many of her life choices.
At times things could become particularly strained such as in when Deirdre appalled Blanche by having a drunken one night stand with Maurice Gordon. Despite this and although they didn't express it regularly, Deirdre and Blanche loved it each other deeply.
Blanche was more acutely aware of the good relationship she had with Deirdre and the virtues of her daughter when presented with more dysfunctional examples. In , for example, after hearing the details of Karen McDonald 's abusive childhood through Emily Bishop , she made a point of telling Deirdre that she had been a good daughter to her. Log in. Forgotten your password?
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