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List of Coronation Street characters (1992)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 1992, by order of first appearance.

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  • Mary Walsh | Sept 30, 2013 | Appel Salon

Transcription

Tina Srebotnjak 1: Over to our partner at the Toronto Star who is Bob Hepburn and he's the Director of Community Relations and Communications. [applause] Bob Hepburn: Thank you, Tina. And my job here tonight is to introduce Mary and Richard. But before you... You know the Toronto Star, for a couple of years now, we've had a really bad reputation with Rob Ford. [laughter] And so I wanna take this opportunity to thank Mary, [laughter] or I should be thanking Marg, for at least for 24 hours taking the heat off of the Toronto Star. [laughter] Marg showed up in front of Rob Ford's house, and Rob called 911 on her. [laughter] So thank you. BH: Let me say a few words about Richard. For the past 35 years he has worked professionally in the world of performing arts and arts journalism. And in that time, he was written, directed and acted in more then 225 productions. And he served as artistic director of five major Canadian theatres and been associate director of the Stratford Festival. He has taught and/or directed at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser, University of Winnipeg, George Brown and Sheraton Colleges. And since 2000, he's been our chief theatre critic. He's also hosted a weekly CBC radio program on musical theatre and served as creative head of arts programming at TV Ontario, and in his spare time, he's written six books. [laughter] Toronto Life magazine described Richard as this city's most influential critic. I'd go further and I'd say Richard is this country's most influential critic. BH: Now, Mary Walsh. She was born and raised in St. John's, still lives there. She studied theatre at Ryerson but dropped out to work with CODCO comedy troupe, which toured Newfoundland and then later ran on CBC TV from 1987 to '92. 1992 Mary began to work with Rick Mercer, who we had as a Star Talk here last year, and several CODCO co-stars to create "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" for CBC. Since its debut, that show has never been off the air. It was with 22 Minutes that Mary's character, my beloved warrior princess, who as Marg says, "Cuts through all the BS," became famous for buttonholing politicians, like our mayor, and submitting them to a Marg interview. BH: Through the years, Mary has acted, directed and written shows for the stage and television. The list is very long but suffice it to say, her career has been outstanding. In recent months, Mary has been touring Canada and now Ontario with her latest show 'Dancing with Rage.' Over the years, she has won countless awards. I think at last count, it was 18 Gemini Awards for her television and writing, acting work. She has an honorary degrees from McGill, Memorial and Trent, and she is a member of the Order of Canada. She has addressed the UN Global Conference on Development. She has served as a spokesperson for Oxfam. And last year, she received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Please welcome, Mary Walsh and Richard Ouzounian. [applause] Mary Walsh: Of course I'm not really speaking to Richard, so it's going to be an oddly awkward interview. [laughter] Because he gave me a very bad review for my "Dancing with Rage" [laughter] and so of course, normally, I'm not rancorous or resentful or unforgiving as you can imagine, but this time I think I'll just hold the grudge. [laughter] Richard Ouzounian: Okay, good. Well as I was leaving the house tonight, my wife gave me an unusually fervent embrace goodbye, and I said, "Why?" And she said, "Well you're going off to share a stage with Mary after what you wrote about her play last year. [chuckle] And I think she will smite you and you'll never come back again." [laughter] But I think we've known each other too long for that to happen. So Mary, what I do wanna do is, for some of the people here who may not have seen the show, ask you some of the things that get touched on it which touch some of your life as well, right? What about "The Little Girl Who Lived Next Door to Her Family?" MW: Well "The Little Girl Who Lived Next Door to Her Family" was just a book I read from... Much shorter now actually, not to say it was alright, the review, but... [laughter] And not to in any way forgive you and not grind you inexorably underneath my warrior's heal, [laughter] but I did shorten many things and one of those was The Little Girl. But The Little Girl... I did grow up next door to my family, and I grew up with my aunts, my two maiden aunts and and uncle at Number 9 Carters' Hill. My family, my mother and father and seven brothers and sisters all lived next door at number 7, which was odd. You know, there's no way around it. RO: Why did that happen? MW: Well, you know, I never really... The story is, because I had pneumonia when I was eight months old, and the upstairs, Number 9 was a less damp environment than Number 7. And then I just... Everybody forgot about me or something and I just... [laughter] and I stayed. But the story that I read in the show, The Little Girl Who Grew Up Next Door to Her Family, has parallels to my story, but it's not really my story, it's a fairy tale of my story. It's like Marg Delahunty in the show, she gets knocked up at Expo '67. She goes up to sing with Our Lady of Mercy Choir, [laughter] and she has macular degeneration. Now I do have macular degeneration and I was in Our Lady of Mercy Choir but, tragically, never got to go to Expo because Sister Mary Catherine used to go around. I got in the choir which was quite an accomplishment but then as soon as I... And she put me in alto. And she would push her wimple back and she'd go, "Something is wrong in the alto." [laughter] MW: And she'd push it back and she'd go around. I desperately, desperately wanted to get to Expo, but she realized quickly it was me, and I was out. So I never got to Expo and, of course, never got knocked up, and it's a little bit late now. [laugher] So the things in the story, though many of them parallel, my experience, they're not... It's not a memoir. It's a play. And of course, like I always say, and it sounds kind of crass to say it, but if I had breast cancer then Marg would have breast cancer. But I have macular degeneration so that's what I know about, so that's what I write about, right? I mean it just naturally comes to me to use my own experience because I don't have anybody else's experience to use really, [chuckle] yeah. RO: How this little girl living in the house next door, because of the tuberculosis, got to be a performer, you... S?: Pneumonia. MW: Pneumonia, yeah. Thank you. RO: Pneumonia, sorry. Thank you. [laughter] You were telling me when we were having a conversation a couple of years ago, that there was one point where you finally thought life was pointless and "I'm just gonna... I think you said, "I'm just gonna lie on the sofa and watch Coronation Street." MW: Well I was 18 and everything I'd done in my life had failed. You know how... I never... I didn't really want to be an actor. What I wanted to be was a journalist and I really... From reading Ginny Gordon, a girl journalist, as a child. [chuckle] Books were my whole life really. And I cannot tell you how much I owe to books and what a tragedy it is that I have macular degeneration, for me, that I have to have glasses now 'cause I just read all the time. I lived in another world. And people always worried about people doing... Being on their cell phones and stuff, but I was on... I was in books or reading the back of the cereal, reading, reading, reading all the time as an escape from many things and as a... It kind of opens up all kinds of worlds to you that are just so marvellous. Anyway, there I was, I was 18, failed at everything. I'd failed at school even though I was really smart. But, you know, like I hate saying I was really smart, but I was. [laughter] But like I got 7 in Algebra [laughter] and 22 in French. Anyway, so... And I hadn't gone to school at all 'cause I got in with a hard crowd. And that's the interesting thing, there's always an opening with a hard crowd. [laughter] Like the good girls, there's never room. You know, like they've got a closed group. But the hard crowd, there's always room. "Come on in." [laughter] Anyway, you know and I was drinking and pipping off and smoking and doing all those things, not having sex though. RO: No. MW: Because I was a Catholic girl and [laughter] God was watching all the time. I don't know where they... I don't know where the reputation of Catholic girls being very loose comes from, seriously, but I guess... I don't know. Maybe the rest of them were at it, I don't know. So I was 18 and I had been going to marry an American because in the '40s, England gave America all this land in Newfoundland, and they built four bases there. And Argentia is still there. So I got engaged because I had failed in school and I didn't have any prospects, and I had a... All I had was just ambition. Like, I wanted something, but I had no idea what it was. Like, I... And so I thought, "Well I'll marry Bob Brownlee and go live in Colorado." [laughter] So I went to Colorado with him. He had one of those mother's who would put... It was totally unknown to me, the kind of life that they led. And maybe I... But she would write up the schedule for the day the night before and put it on the fridge. So like, 9:00 to 9:15, we'll wash our faces and hands, 9:15 to quarter to 10 we'll eat breakfast, quarter to 10 we'll get in the car, then quarter to 10 'til 11:15 we'll drive to Pikes Peak, where I was terrified to be on Pikes Peak. I'm always afraid of heights. But anyway... So anyway, I came back from that, and it was really dreadful and I was just depressed. MW: And I think a lot of 18 and 19-year-olds are depressed 'cause we don't know who we are or what we are even and where we might end up. And I was just lying down, and I had quit my job at the arcade because that was so depressing. [laughter] It was the cheapest job at a shop in town, and they were always selling stuff from fire sales in Montreal. And Mr. Murphy had me on the PA saying, "Now upstairs in our Men's Department, out they go while they last," like [laughter] just so depressing. I just, you know... And actually Mr. Murphy picked me up in the car after I got a job at CBC and said, "And think of it, I gave you your start." [laughter] RO: Now you've just passed over that big link that while you were lying on the sofa, you heard an announcement that they were looking... MW: Thats right. I heard an announcement watching Coronation Street, and that was when... Do you remember those two who were on Coronation Street, the little woman and then the woman, the bigger woman who wore the net, Ena and... Who were they? [background conversation] MW: I love them. What? S?: Minnie Caldwell. S?: And Ena Sharples. MW: Yes. Weren't they fantastic? I love them. Anyways, so I was addicted to Coronation Street then. I was lying on the sofa and there came an announcement that they were looking for a person to do a summer replacement show at CBC radio, which just happened to be down the street from where I lived with my Aunt May. And everybody was kind of worried about me. We didn't believe in psychiatrists or mental health, or anything like that; at the time, nobody did. But Aunt May would often, sort of, look at me and go... [laughter] "Do you think you need to see anyone, honey?" like that. [laughter] MW: And so anyway, I... Fully knowing I would never get the job, I went down and I got the job because I was so relaxed. I really was like totally relaxed. Then I got the job and completely tensed up, of course. We never got any mail. I was on all summer from 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock in the morning. The only mail we ever got was, a man wrote in and said, "Who is the mad giggler on from 10:00 to 11:00 in the morning?" And that was me. But I was so nervous. And we had somebody named John Fleet who was the producer. And he was constantly... My... he would say, "Fleet, as in street, not as in enema." But he was more like Fleet as in enema. [laughter] He was constantly saying... He was constantly threating to fire me unless I stopped giggling and asked... Behaved in some more reasonable way. So anyway, that was a great summer except it was a terrible failure too. [laughter] RO: But didn't somebody notice you and want you to do stuff? RO: And then somebody... Dudley Cox called me up and asked me to play the queen in this stage show that he'd written. And they were doing it in the basement at the Arts and Culture Centre. I mean, I think the basement seats 10 people or something. I went in there and I was a terrible queen. I had a great voice, but I couldn't do it because it was so humiliating to do this thing. And so I was constantly being kept... And then he started a company, the first Newfoundland sort of semiprofessional, $40 a week and all the crow pie you could eat [chuckle] in the summer. I went out with a bunch of people who I ended up working with in CODCO, Andy Jones, Cathy Jones, Diane Olsen, Tommy Sexton, Greg Malone. We were on the road, and Bob Joy, doing the Wizard of Oz and... Oh, this English farce. I was Penelope. There was a bishop. Oh, I don't remember. RO: See How They Run? MW: See How They Run, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. RO: I'm not so bad. MW: No, you're great. RO: Okay. [laughter] MW: But the Wizard of Oz, we would do the children show in the day and we would go to... Like, I remember being down at the Saint Lawrence School and children in Newfoundland... Really, people hadn't been out there. We went to places where people had only seen their cousins or other people up on stage on Saint Patty's night dancing and doing skits and stuff like that. So when we came in, people were terrified of Dorothy. Children had to be taken out when Toto... [laughter] When Toto came on, they were so terrified. And Dudley made me come through the audience in my long, black witch's thing with, you know, just standard. And children... Like one kid in Saint Lawrence stepped on my dress and went, "I'm gonna beat the bearings out of you!" Like, they were not a bit afraid of me at all. Like, it was like... So once again, just a big fat failure. [laughter] But then I got in with that crowd... RO: But how did they leap from that to doing the comedy of CODCO? MW: Oh, no. People were going to Toronto to try to get work. And so I thought, well maybe I'll try to get in to Ryerson. 'Cause I really wanted to go to Ryerson to do journalism but I didn't feel I had the marks or... Even though by that point I was 21 and I'd already done a show in Newfoundland. We had a supper-hour show and I did the research for the supper-hour show. You know, the magazine after the news, I did the research. I did a really bad job on that too. The guy who had given me the job called me into the office one day. Robin, he was a fabulous guy. He said, "Mary, 11 o'clock, okay; 12 o'clock, sort of acceptable; 2 o'clock, we can't go there." I was coming in at 2wo o'clock 'cause really there was nothing for me to do. It was like one of those made up jobs. MW: But I was in a terrible, violent relationship at that time. And so I would just stay in bed for days and days and days. I was depressed. You know what I mean? I really was. I don't know how... You know how things happen and you don't know... Like it's not like it is on TV and people tell you how to do things and how you can do it. And sometimes I guess I'm just lucky. Everybody was going to Toronto and I thought, "I'll go." And then that got me away from that relationship which I couldn't get away from, myself because... People always get, "Why don't women leave?" And it's like, "Well, because usually they just blow your head off then in the Walmart thing. That's one of the reasons they don't leave." And I didn't have any... I had my own job. I had no children. You know what I mean? I was so ashamed of that I didn't leave. It is like the Stockholm Syndrome. You just become a prisoner in a way. And so anyway, I got out and came up to Toronto. Toronto the good, I always think, and went to Ryerson, got into Ryerson, auditioned for the Ryerson... Really bad at that too, I gotta say. The teachers had to come up and hold my hand while I did the Shakespeare thing 'cause I was so nervous. I'm very nervous. Anyway, got into Ryerson and then everybody else... MW: Paul Thompson with Theatre Passe Muraille, Tommy Sexton and Diane Olsen went to him and auditioned for a show called, "Under the Greywacke" which was about a mining town in Cobourg, maybe Ontario. And he said, "Here's $300 bucks go do a show about your own... " With that kind of money, like who could say no? [laughter] So we wrote a show about Newfoundland called, "Caught on a Stick" which kind of made fun of the notion that people had, you know, those National Film Board films about Newfoundland, about the horny-handed fisher folk and how good they were, and kind and simple-minded. Simple in the best kind of way but actually simple-minded. And so we sort of sent that up and also, we sent up... Back in 1973-1974, people in Ontario would actually fall down laughing in the elevator if you just said you were from Newfoundland. It was like... [laughter] And so we found that a bit upsetting, personally, you know. And so we tried to make fun of that too and so we did... And one of Richard's... Oh, they were nicer then, the... [laughter] They're all dead now, all the nice critics. [laughter] RO: That's what happens to them. [laughter] MW: Anyway, somebody gave us... We got great reviews. You know we took over Tarragon after. RO: Okay. Glass... No, Urjo. MW: Urjo Kareda gave us a fabulous review and said people were rolling in the aisles with cognistic and stuff like that. And then we went... Mr. Hepburn said that we toured Newfoundland, but we toured all over the country. We were out to Vancouver. We were fairly successful, considering. And we came to Toronto a lot and we toured. We would go to fabulous places like Petrolia. [laughter] It was good. It was good. And then we broke up in 1986 because we really could not stand to be in each other's company any longer. [laughter] That happens to all comedy troupes apparently. When you start young... I mean it's just like you go in like you're... If you're the middle child, you're always the middle child. If you go to Thanksgiving dinner... That's what it's like if you're the person who doesn't, you know... That's the role you have to play and you're forced, you know. So we just got sick of each other in '86 and we went on to do a bunch of other stuff. No, that wasn't '86 that was '76, sorry. Then in '86 we came back together to do a television show which we, then, were on TV doing 'til '92. MW: And in '92, I didn't get together with Rick Mercer. I got together with Michael Donovan at Salter Street Films and I said, "I'd like to do a television show that makes fun of the news." It wasn't like, "Oh, my God, how did she ever come up with that idea?" I based it entirely on that show that I loved when I was depressed and watching TV called, "That Was The Week That Was." Remember the British show? I wanted us to have a singer too. So I knew Rick just lived up the street from me. Cathy, I'd worked with for 30 years. Tommy just lived down the street. So I'd already asked them if they would be in it. And who's the guy who ran CBC then? He then went on to run CTV. RO: Ivan Fecan. MW: Ivan Fecan was looking for that kind of show. And so in real CBC way, they brought the Royal Canadian Air Farce who did the show too, the same show. We basically did the same show. "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" on at the same time of the same year we started in 1992, we were like warring news shows. Anyway, it was grace. I mean we just got six first. Then people liked the show and it just happened to work. And it happened to be... We came in at the same time as the liberals. And remember the... I mean the conservatives always say that everybody, you know, that artists and comedians and stuff, and satirists pick on them. But we picked on the liberals endlessly because remember they had the Red Book? And they made all those promises and they never kept one, [laughter] not one promise! Right? Anyway... One, maybe one, okay, one maybe. [laughter] RO: Something that we talked about a little... A couple years ago when we were on this, is that while your professional life was going well, personally you had to get through a lot of stuff. You said that, by your own admission, you stopped drinking just around the time of "This Hour." And you said it was a good thing 'cause you never could have done that. Right? MW: Oh, no, 'cause we had started off with nothing every week on Monday and then we would create a show for Friday. The first couple of years, we didn't have any writers. There was just the four of us. We were doing all the writing. I think in year three we got one writer. The first year we only had one wig too. But... [laughter] Bad, bad. But so, you know what I mean, you couldn't drink the way that I was drinking and do it. But I had given up drinking in October of 1992, the 31st of October 1992, not that I remember. RO: No. [laughter] MW: But that was the best thing. Two best things I ever did: One was I adopted my son, Jesse Cox; and the second best thing I ever did was to give up drinking. Because I just... You know, it's like the things that were wrong about my life and the things that, you know... You know, we all have things that are wrong in our lives, right? But if you're drinking, you don't let them go. Like, I would be up a bottle of scotch and sobbing about Mom giving me away every night, every night! You can imagine how people say, "Let's have Mary over and have a few drinks with her. [laughter] It'll be a ball" But you know, you are stuck in that place. Like, resentment is a big thing with people who drink alcoholically. And resentment is, of course, from the French "sentir" to feel and it means to re-feel. And so I could re-feel, with a bottle of scotch in me, the sadness of being eight months old and being given away. You know what I mean? MW: Every time I was, fabulous, what a life, oh. [laughter] It was fabulous. I loved it. RO: You had a great observation about yourself. You were talking about in your resentment days, you always used to complain about how your mother one day melted a chocolate bar. This is great. Tell people this, 'cause you realized it wasn't... MW: Oh, yeah. Like, my mother, who I just really hated but loved desperately and really wanted her to love me. Everybody wants their mother to love them. And my mother was an extraordinary person. I was reading something I wrote about her today, like I wanted to be just like her. She was really quick-witted and she loved dancing and she loved to have a few drinks and she was just amazing, except... She loved everything. She loved life. And like I had written down, it seems the only thing she didn't love apparently was me, which was hard... Harsh. But my mother... So I hated everything about her. So on Sundays, when I used to stay with them occasionally... They moved up around the bay when I was 11. And so then when I was 12, Mom and Dad came to town together, which may be the only thing they ever did together in their whole life. Of course, they must have... I guess at some point. [laughter] MW: Perhaps, perhaps, who knows? But they picked me up and so I spent a couple of weeks with them in the summer. And I remember my mother used to make Duncan Hines chocolate cake. And then she had a shop and she'd melt dairy milk bars and put that as the icing, and I'd think "You can't even make icing." [laughter] That is how low she is. First, it's a Duncan Hines, it's a box, cake mix, and then she melts chocolate bars. And only about 10 years into being sober, I thought "Oh, my God. She would actually put chocolate bars, melted chocolate bars on the top of the cake. That's amazing." [laughter] But I couldn't see, I was so blinded to everything because I always wanted things to be the way that I wanted them to be, and if they were not that way, then forget it. Yeah, I am, yeah. RO: So, I mean, you're rolling along, life is going well, you've got this hit TV series, but then you guys eventually split up, right? You went different ways and things. MW: In CODCO? RO: No, in This Hour now. MW: Hour, oh, yeah. Rick left first because there was a big coup and they were going to just drop This Hour Has 22 Minutes and just do the Rick Show, which would be... First of all, it would be out of Toronto, and Toronto's always trying to take control of everything, as you know, Richard. RO: I know. [chuckle] 0:26:29 MW: And the CBC goes back and forth between being enormously centrist, which is where it is now, and then back to being regional. And it seems to me, of course you may think that this is just self serving, that when it's more regional that's when it's at it's strongest because people in Toronto forever have had so many choices of things to watch. Whereas in Newfoundland, we only had the CBC and NTV and North... In the North there is not... You know what I mean? So we are really the CBC's audience in a sense, not Vancouver, not Urban Toronto, not Urban Vancouver but us, the people in the hinterlands. It's like we are the hinterland who's who. [chuckle] MW: But Rick left and so... But then that didn't happen because Michael... I believe Michael's stories and I believe it is because he is brave and true and fights the good fight, and that's Michael Donovan who's our producer on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. And then I left to do a series that I dearly love and that some people across the country love too, called "Hatching, Matching, and Dispatching," which... [chuckle] Thank you. I have to agree, it's the... In Newfoundland and some places in Northern Ontario, we've got some mail from people. And I think in rural areas, sometimes it's left to one family to take care of the ambulance service, the funeral parlour and the wedding hall. And the Fureys in this fictional town in Newfoundland, they did that. So they hatched, they matched and they dispatched, right? And I just love that show. Mark McKinney was on it. He's so funny. Shaun Majumder, so funny, oh, just people, Joel Hynes and Sherry White and Adriana Maggs, and just extraordinary people were on that show. And... But when we did six, and then the people at the top at CBC changed, and there were new people at the top, and the new people at the top didn't care for us. And even the people who cared for us said that "Hatching, Matching, and Dispatching" was the best cable show that it'd ever been made for. [chuckle] MW: Well, once there was bad language in it, an enormous amount of bad language which we just put in assuming that the CBC would not run it. You know what I mean? Go beep beep, like the Trailer Park Boys, right? And then somebody at the CBC, and I believe they did it on purpose, not against us but just that they did it as a lark, they put the whole thing on with everything in it, every word, the see-you-next-Tuesday word, [laughter] the MFer word, the CSer word, oh, everything, just out. Like, I was at home going, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! This is terrible!" [chuckle] MW: But, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, and I did a film based on a play that a dear friend of mine wrote, Ray Guy, who we lost this year, possibly the funniest man... Definitely the funniest man in Newfoundland, possibly the funniest man in the country I think but never had a broad audience, really, really an extraordinary man. And he wrote this play called "Young Triffie's Been Made Away With." And I always wanted to turn it into a film. Now, I should have known, of course, my husband who grew up in Mississauga, we were writing the thing. And it opens with a young girl, 12, washed up on the beach and she's been stabbed. And that's the opening. It's a comedy. [laughter] And she's a little girl from the village who is simple-minded. And my husband said, "Oh... " My Mississauga husband said, "Oh, I don't know, a little simple-minded girl, I'm not finding that, that funny." I'm going, "Oh, okay, just never mind... Never mind you." So, yeah, in essence there's a dark edge to humour in Newfoundland and that perhaps doesn't spread as much across the country. Because Liam Lacey and Rick Groen, who I always think when they give a bad review to any film it's bound to be a blockbuster, but they actually... I'm the only film... 'Young Tribute' it was called. I think we may be the only film that got no stars, absolutely no stars whatsoever, none, no stars. RO: No even I didn't do that to you. MW: No, no, no, I know. And so, anyway, we got no stars. So that went no where. [chuckle] So that's why I left, because I had this urge to do stuff on my own, to be more... I may have been quite wrong there. But... RO: But then you start to edge back to the fold. It's time to talk about the creation of The Warrior Princess. Don't you think? MW: Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. RO: Do you wanna hear about the... Yup, I think this is the... [applause] MW: Well you know, it's really so humiliating and embarrassing to admit it, how The Warrior Princess came along because, remember the woman who used to do that show on TV who had the bangs like that? I had bangs exactly like that at the time and I remember saying to Geoff D'Eon, I went, "Why don't we just do a skit where I'm playing her?" And he said, "Why don't we do... Use that for something... Like, let's try it out on the hill?" And so we did, and it really worked. Because before then, I had been ambushing people as myself, dressed up with make-up on and looking quite good, if I do say so myself. And I... It was terrible because when you're looking good like that, you're always worried that you're not looking good. That's a thing that female comedians sometimes fall into if they're really good looking comedians, unlike myself, is they wonder... Like Mary Tyler Moore didn't obviously but some do. They... It's that problem of woman as object as opposed to as subject, right? Like, you're thinking, "How do I look? Is my make-up on right?" And you're not doing the comedy like... And you're embarrassed to be broad or ask the difficult question because you wanna be liked. MW: It's like I always say, Leona Helmsley went to jail for being a bitch really because all the staff got up on the thing and said, "Yes, Your Honor, she was really mean to us, the maids." And that's why they gave her federal time because she didn't really do anything other than that. And so with women, you're not supposed to be... But if you're in a ridiculous gold, blue encrusted costume waving a plastic toy, a sword from Toys R' Us above your head, I mean, it gives you a certain amount of, you're already down so low, [laughter] you just think, "Okay." [chuckle] 'Cause I really used to be embarrassed in Ottawa when we'd be... We would go to the scrums when people... That was back in the old days when there was a democracy and there used to be... [laughter] There are no scrums... [applause] MW: There are no scrums anymore. But with... And all the journalists who would be there from CTV in their Burberry jackets and I would be there in that ridiculous costume. And I'd feel so humiliated. And I would feel so embarrassed and shy to talk to Paul Martin or whoever it was at the time. But then I would just realize that I already was so humiliated that I might as well go for it. You know what I mean? And it gave me a sense of freedom that I didn't... I didn't... It wasn't like I planned that. I didn't plan on being ashamed and humiliated. But it really helped me to feel like, well, I'm just gonna say it now because I'm already... What are they gonna do? Laugh at me? [laughter] Call 911? Oh, I don't think so. [applause] RO: Now forgive me for not knowing this, but had you created Marg before the Princess? Or did you do the Princess and then you filled in Marg around her? MW: No, Marg existed long before the Princess. Marg was in bed because when we started This Hour Has 22 Minutes, my back gave out. I had to go in for back surgery. So we did Marg from bed, but she's already been on the radio in her... Well, not that anybody could see her 'cause it was the radio, right? But she was just one of those women who went around in her housecoat all the time with all her gold jewelry on exactly like my sister, Loll. But don't tell Loll. And like, Loll never gets dressed. She goes... And when I used to be driving Jesse to school, she would say, "Why are you putting on... Just... You got your pyjamas on. Just go in your pyjamas." Like she... She doesn't like to get dressed, but she likes to be fully bejewelled all the time. And so Marg was sort of like that. And then The Princess Warrior was just part of Marg's character. RO: Right, okay. MW: It gave her courage to do that. You know what I mean? It gave her the courage that she didn't have as somebody in her housecoat, yup. RO: Okay. Now speaking of courage, you yourself have had to deal with macular degeneration, and you've been very brave, and you've done well with it. But did you ever have a couple of moments where you thought, "I might be going into it."? MW: A couple, oh, my God. Yeah, thank you. This lady, we're connected. A couple, I just did nothing. But here's the good thing, I was going out with this young fellow at the time and he... He actually said this. This is... I wrote a short story about it. Nobody's ever published it. I just don't understand why. But anyway, I said, "You can't break up with me now. I'm going blind." He said, "Well, it's always something isn't it?" [laughter] RO: That's not supposed to happen to cougars. [chuckle] MW: So I was so devastated that Dorian left me. I was down at St. Louis having the eye surgery and stuff like that, and of course, I was terrified too. But the edge of being terrified about going blind almost got taken off by the edge of being dumped by this young fellow. You know what I mean? And so, in a way, it's funny the things that are blessings, isn't it? The things that seemed the worst, you look back on and you go, "Oh, yeah, that really helped me get through that macular degeneration there." So, anyway, the worst was my doctor said there's no hope, that it's degenerating in the middle. "I'll send you to Halifax, to Dr. O'Brien." Dr. O'Brien came in and said, "Oh, Mary Walsh. I've got some really bad news for you. There's really nothing we can do for you." He said, "But if it was my eye, I'd take it down to Mathew Thomas at the Barnes Retinal Institute in St. Louis." MW: In St. Louis, everybody is this big, [laughter] really, seriously. When they say 12 people on the elevator, they don't mean 12 people from St. Louis. [laughter] So I went down there and they did actual surgery on my eye. They cut it open and they took out the macula and they peeled back the layers and then they took out the offending... And it was experimental surgery that Mathew Thomas, this extraordinary man, was doing and it was successful in 40% of the cases. And it was successful. And then I had to have it again, I had to go back to St. Louis and have it again because at four years later... MW: But the terrible thing was then I actually saw the black... 'Cause they had to sew up my eye and I actually saw it 'cause they didn't put me out, because I didn't wanna go under 'cause I had been under a couple of times. And I don't know what it is, but when I go under, something happens to me and then I'm terrified. I'm extraordinarily fearful for months after. I wake... I come to, terrified and then it keeps on going. So I really didn't wanna do it. But one thing I never wanna see again is the needle going through my eye. Oh, needle... Putting needles in your eye is like, "Oh... Oh... " [laughter] Anyway, so, yeah, I had a lot of that moment with the macular degeneration. And reading, acting, they don't even want old actresses, let alone old blind actresses. [laughter] There is very little chance, very little chance. Yeah, so that was hard. Yeah. RO: You called your show, "Dancing With Rage", right? MW: Yes. RO: And Warrior Princess has fare bit of rage going on in there. Are you channelling what has happened to you that you're not happy about or... MW: Well, when you drink, there is a certain amount of anger that you... Even though those nice drinkers, if they keep on drinking long enough, they will come to the same place. I always say, addiction always leads to the same place, rage and pooping in your pants, really. All addictions, even if you're addicted to those slots 'cause then you wear those diapers, so that you don't lose the winning. So, I know, nobody wants to hear this. These are insights I have that I shouldn't be sharing. RO: That's alright. Everybody wants to hear it. [laughter] MW: But like I had a lot of anger about everything, right? And also, one of the things about being an addict is you often feel really sorry for yourself all the time, like everything. You think, "I'm out here on this awful, dark plane and the wind whistling around me. Everybody else is in a cozy little house. They're all together." You know what I mean? And so you think, "Only me, only me." Everything that happens, you go, "Oh, this would only happen to me, of course." And so you're full of anger and resentment. And one of the things that they say in programs that help people with, is that anger is a thing that alcoholics and addicts cannot afford to have. And so I feel like doing the show, Dancing With Rage, really helped me to a certain extent. Because giving up liquor, I didn't really get out of the anger, right? You know what I mean? I was still there with it. MW: And I really feel like, even though Richard gave me such a bad review and I'm still angry with him about that, I really feel like doing the show was very cathartic. Like, audiences don't have to care one iota or one josh that things are cathartic for the artist because that's your own business. And please, don't let them be telling us about it because... But to me, I really felt, I got it out there. Though I still go into huge rants the other day about... I just could not believe Dindo Maestro. It's like somebody said today in a letter that the next time the Prime Minister plays the piano, he should play "I've Got Friends In Low Places" because... [laughter] I mean, Bruce Carson, every single person, they're all... People are waiting to be extradited from Panama, that his friend, Bruce Carson, is up on... All the senator... It's just amazing. Like, if it was anybody else, you think, "I don't think he should be running the Kentucky Fried Chicken place 'cause all the people he hires are thieves and they can't cook." [applause] RO: Do you think going into politics would be a channel for your rage? MW: No, I don't because Jack Layton actually came to me a couple of times. I'm not actually an NDP. People keep thinking I'm NDP, but I'm not actually. I'd like to be an NDP, but I just can't stand the... But you know, this is a terrible, terrible thing to say and please forgive me for saying it. It used to get right up on my last nerve seeing Olivia and Jack ride around on that double bicycle. I used to think, I hate those people." [laughter] But I don't hate the NDP. I love the NDP and I love Tommy Douglas and I love everything the NDP stands for. But I'm more one of those people in the middle. Like, I'd like to take all the stuff from the NDP, and I'd take all the stuff from the thing, and I guess I'm a small L liberal is what I am. I'm not really a big L liberal because I'm a satirist, so I'm not really... RO: Right. MW: But Jack Layton did come to me a couple of years before, you know, before he got sick, and he asked me if I would run in Newfoundland. And he asked me a couple of different times when a couple of different seats came up. And, you know, I just know... Well, first of all, just to say the worst thing about myself, I'd just be one of those people who go, "And now they're saying that about me?" [laughter] "I put in 80 hours last week and nobody mentions that! Nobody!" And so I would definitely be [laughter] a big sooky baby. You know what I mean? "I cannot believe they're saying that!" And I just am not drawn. I mean, I'm drawn to political... You know, to politics. I'm very interested in it. I... You know, like Winston Churchill said, "Democracy is such a shitty system, but it's the best one." You know, he didn't say shitty actually, but... RO: No. [laughter] MW: He already ever said "shitty." RO: No. He said, "Shitty." [laughter] MW: But the best one we have and so... But as far as me serving... And women in politics, I mean, it is ridiculous the way women are treated in politics in this country and in all countries. It is... [applause] MW: You know, and then they go, "It's the same... Why don't women leave abusive husbands? Why aren't women running for politics?" Well, the answers are fairly obvious. You know, they are right there. And then the people who do run like, I mean, the people... Like, you think about Margaret Thatcher and you think about Indira Gandhi and the Emergency. I mean, there's a lot of... Not a lot but the couple of ones who really made it, really did some really bad stuff that the countries... RO: What do you think Hillary Clinton would be like? MW: I don't know. I kind of... I like both the Clintons really. I'm really attracted to them. [laughter] I mean, I don't wanna sleep with them. You know what I mean? But they just attracted me as people and so I don't know. I mean, she'd have a... Oh, my God, can you imagine being in with those people? I mean, now in the States, they wanna do... They want women to have intra-vaginal ultrasounds, you know? You know what I mean? If you... Oh, my God! We're going back. So somebody asked the question the other day, the conservatives, not just our conservatives but the conservatives across the world, what are they conserving? They're not conserving the environment. They're not conserving oil. They're not conserving our... What are they called, that you take out of the ground? Resources, natural resources. They're not conserving rights. What are they conserving? They're conserving privilege. That's it, privilege for the few. I saw... You should watch it. [applause] MW: It was the funniest thing I've ever seen and at the same time, the most appalling. It was back when Monty Python was on BBC, and I don't remember what they talked about, but they had the Archbishop of Cambridge and Malcolm Muggeridge on with John Cleese and Eric Idle. And as John Cleese said, "It's like a sketch anyway." RO: Yeah. MW: But Malcolm Muggeridge and the Archbishop of Cambridge felt themselves so superior to these two that, honestly, the smug, self-righteousness with which they answer these queries. John Cleese was saying things like, " Well, I mean, if we believe in Jesus, and we do, and He's all powerful and all knowing and omniscient and things, do you think He really cares if I say... If I do... Life of Brian, it was about Life of Brian. And Malcolm Muggeridge and the Archbishop of Cambridge were absolutely... It was like that privilege that they were born to, that they felt that they deserved in very single way absolute way was theirs, and that these people, they had no right to speak of the things that the Archbishop of Cambridge was speaking of. And so things changed after that. Things were changing at that time. And it seems like the conservatives want to go back to that. They want to go back to there being a 1% that is given... That is born into privilege, that has all the power, all the money, all the everything, and everybody else really shouldn't be speaking about whatever it is that they... You know? That's really the way that it seems to be. That's what they're conserving. 'Cause it's not anything else, is it? RO: No. MW: No. No. RO: Let's have some questions, I think, 'cause we're getting into our time. MW: Oh, yeah. RO: Anybody would like to dare ask Mary something? [laughter] I survived. You can do it. [laughter] MW: So far. RO: So far. S?: You have a wife. [chuckle] S?: Who is... Who is the person or professional who inspires you? And who is your muse? MW: Yeah. You know, I... That's interesting. I find Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara and... [applause] MW: And Cathy Jones are all very inspiring. And then that woman who made the Bridesmaids film, and I didn't even know about her 'til I saw that movie, that was very inspiring. And, of course, Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore, I love Mary Tyler Moore. I didn't think of Mary Tyler Moore... Like I thought, really seriously, I thought Mary Tyler Moore was my friend. That we were friends. [laughter] And that it was only a matter of time till I'd be living there with Mary in that apartment building. [laughter] And Richard Pryor, maybe the funniest man who ever lived and who drew breath on the face of the earth, and then Andy Jones, who when we went on that tour, Andy actually... Like my family is very funny and sarcastic and mean, but cutting. And I... That's the kind of humour that I knew about. And then Andy had Newfoundland material that was like material... Like Monty Python and it was like it opened up a whole... Like, lights went on and I thought, "Oh, I didn't... I had never even... " I hadn't even had the imagination to imagine that we would be able to do that sort of stuff. Right? We used our experience to write comedic stuff and... So he was a massive inspiration to all of us actually. Yeah. Boom. RO: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. S?: Hi there. I have two questions, just one brief one. You mentioned something about the US and inter-vaginal ultrasounds and I lost that point. And the second one was, just because you've been at this for a while, Canada in terms of political satire, have you noticed any shifts across... Regionally or even just over time in terms of Canadians wanting that, desiring it, maybe not being as interested in it? MW: I guess, there doesn't... We seem to be very mild-mannered these days, as the world is. It's a... I guess there's going to be a turn and things will change. But we've been in a very repressive kind of place for a long time, where people are afraid to say anything because they come back at you so hard. Right? Like the head of the nuclear... Look at all the people that have been fired in government for speaking up, for saying, "This is not right. This is not safe. We shouldn't be doing this." They're gone. You know what I mean? So people are nervous. So nerve... MW: That kind of nervousness is not a great atmosphere for satire, right? Like, there's gotta be... People are afraid and so I think that people will stop being afraid. It just really struck me how... Like, I did something... I just wanna... Before I call other people afraid or talk about other people's lack of courage, I wanna say that, I did something when the the prime minister was running and he was wearing those fluffy blue sweaters, and I did something and I put it on You Tube. I did two or three things as Marg, myself and I put them out. Oh, my God. And then I read the things that people wrote about me, like the great conservative hate machine got on the go. And it was... I didn't know... I mean, people called me... Well as my niece used to say, "Aunt, he called us the biggest kind of hateous. And we went, "W's, Wanda, W's." "Oh, oh, oh, right, W's," and that sort of thing. And threatened me and threatened my son, and said bad things about my son. And it was like, oh, it was so appalling that I thought, "Yeah, well I won't be doing that again." You know what I mean? I really... I was totally lacking in courage and backed right off because I felt personally threatened. And they said about where I lived and they talked about my drinking and you know what I mean? And I thought this is really scary. MW: And so in that... I understand, but I think that things are changing and will come back to just saying, "This is enough now." You guys, you can't just answer three questions from three journalists that you picked out who happen to... You have to be answerable because we are still in a democracy and you can't just keep proroguing. But of course, it worked so well. Remember the Afghan detainee? Did anybody ever mention the Afghan detainee scandal after that proroguing ever again? Did we ever hear anything else about it? Never. RO: No. MW: No. Did that answer... S?: It was a two part. The first part though? MW: Oh, oh, that wasn't... RO: The intra-vaginal ultrasound. MW: Intra-vaginal ultrasound. Well, there was that thing that because... They can't kind of get rid of the Roe v Wade, they're not being able to knock that down. So they do things, like in Arizona, women have to go in and they have to watch an abortion, then they have to have an inter-vaginal ultrasound, then they have to... You know what I mean? It's like, if you sold somebody condoms, they'd have to have... It would be totally unacceptable to do an inter... You know... RO: Yes. [laughter] MW: Ultrasound. But women, we've been driven back and back and back in this new conservative world we live in. What rights we fought so hard to get, we've let slip back, and it's kind of scary. And sometimes things go so far, like Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, that you come to a tipping point and there is no going back. And sometimes that's frightening. Anyway, I hope that... Yeah, thank you. RO: Thank you. S?: I remember with great fondness when the Warrior Princess surprised Jeremy Irons. I'm wondering if you have a favourite moment like that as the Warrior Princess? MW: Yeah. Jeremy Irons is a really sweet guy I must say, really nice. But, no, I like doing that guy... Doing... [laughter] Vince Gillis or whatever his name was, I liked that because I said, "Was it hard for you on the road. If I was on the road with you, would it be hard for me?" You know what I mean? And it was just like that kind of... And that was funny. And he didn't get it all. And then he got it... [laughter] And then he got it and he was like... But I always enjoyed Jean Chretien because Jean Chretien... I tell this joke and please forgive me, I won't say the bad word, but I tell this joke, it's a Newfoundland joke. It's about this man who is going out looking for a horse. And he goes down to Ferryland and he sees this beautiful white horse in a field by the ocean, and it's an empty field except for one tree. And so he finds the farmer and he says to the farmer, "I'd like to buy that horse." And the farmer says, "Sure." And so he calls Dobbin up and Dobbin comes running across the field and boom, whacks himself right in the head. And the guy from St. Johns goes to the farmer, "You were trying to sell me a blind horse." And buddy says, "No." He says, "Dobbin's not blind," he said, "He just don't give a fuck." [laughter] MW: And that's not seen as an admirable quality in other places, but it's highly regarded in Newfoundland. [laughter] And I always felt that Jean Chretien had a little bit of that because he'd been through so much. You know what I mean? He had come through so much and he felt comfortable with himself. So when you were going to ambush him, even if you screwed up, he was going to do something funny anyway, so he was great. [laughter] RO: Any other questions? No other questions? Yes. S?: I would like to nominate you for next Mayor. [applause] MW: What I will never understand is... But I guess they re-voted Marion-what's-his-name in after he got caught smoking crack on camera in Washington. So obviously, there's something irresistible about crack-smokers. [laughter] They said the other day that Ford was up 50% in his popularity. But of course, it is a year 'til 2015, and a year is an enormous amount of time. And so we can only hope and pray that things will change before then, right? RO: Now, it's interesting, we were talking about the ambush of Mr. Ford. And you said that you actually thought he looked scared or not with it or didn't know what was going on, right? [laughter] I'm looking for the nice words to use. MW: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [laughter] Well, it was so alarming being with him because he was so... He didn't seem to be... Like you know you when you're with Mike Harris, it's like not being with anyone because [laughter] he's so buried deep within these layers of whoever it is. It's the same with Ralph Klein and the same with the Prime Minister. But with Ford, he seemed to be totally out of control. You know what I mean? And so you were getting kind of work... 'Cause you're really up close and personal with him so I... And I tell you this story because I did a really bad job on that ambush. Because he alarmed me so much and I was so frightened of him that I said the same thing over and over again, I kept going, "But I came up all the way from Newfoundland to help you." And if Mr. Ford had not called 911, that would never have gotten on the air. It would've just disappeared because the people at This Hour Has 22 Minutes are not interested in their people looking stupid. You know what I mean? And so it would never have gotten on the air. MW: So I keep thinking over and over again that Mr. Ford just is one of those people who is begging, begging, he is sweating blood, he's begging somebody to remove that mantel of the mayor from his... To take this cup, as Jesus begged His Father, [laughter] "To remove this cup from me," because everything he does seems to be, "Oh, please, oh, please," but no, no, it's like he's a... RO: Like we always say, it's, "Stop me before I kill again," that one. MW: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think he really is, though he doesn't know what else to do except to act as if... When he's talking, as if he's going... He wants to be the mayor, but I believe every part of him is just begging to have this gone and over with. What? [laughter] What? S?: Who will help him? MW: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who will help him? RO: I remember when we were chatting about it, you said that you actually had some really good stuff that you wanted to say to him that you had written... Thought out and you got frustrated. And one of your lines I loved was, "Put the plug in the jug, get rid of Doug". MW: Yeah, yeah, yeah. RO: That was gonna be your advice. [laughter] MW: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another interesting thing, and I think that maybe people don't think about this, but that same day that he called 911, there was a 911 call again that night, a domestic call. And so they... It's very... He's living a very troubled life. I had never wanted to go back and... It's like, you know, what the say, like three things are really bad, kicking a dead guy, eating too much lobster and drinking too much champagne. [chuckle] So even though Mayor Ford is not dead, it did seem like I got the feeling from him that he was not in a great place in his life. You know what I mean? And then if you're not in a great place in your life then you shouldn't be running a great city, should you? No, no, no. [applause] RO: I don't want Mayor Ford to be the last subject here, so let me ask you... MW: No, no, no. And I'm not even gonna make a crack about Rob Ford. [laughter] RO: Who would Marg like to go after who she's never gone after? MW: Hell, I have gone after Prime Minister... S?: What's his name? [laughter] MW: Steve, the Cry Minister, I've gone after the Cry Minister but I would like to do it again, and I don't know how to do it because, of course, they're not going to let that happen. So it will have to be a real ambush and, of course, the RCMP are there. And remember a few years ago, Jerry did this character on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Single Girl. And she stood up at a thing like this with the Cry Minister and the RCMP took her out in handcuffs, not a joke. And then... I mean, they really did. So it's a very iffy kind of... But that'd be great. As long as they kept shooting, it'd be fabulous. RO: Alright. [laughter] MW: But so this year, that is my quest, this year, is to finish my novel because I've owed Harper Collins now this novel for three years and they're getting... I think they've lost interest in me... [laughter] To finish that novel and to ambush the Cry Minister, yeah. [applause] RO: And Mary, we wish you all the best with all of that. MW: Thank you, thank you. RO: Thank you. Mary Walsh. MW: Thank you. Thank you so much. [applause]

Lisa Duckworth

Lisa Duckworth
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byCaroline Milmoe
Duration1992–1993
First appearance5 February 1992
Episode 3341
Last appearance12 February 1993
Episode 3502
ClassificationFormer; regular
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds
In-universe information
FatherJeff Horton
MotherDoreen Horton
HusbandTerry Duckworth (1992)
SonsTommy Duckworth
AuntsShirley Henderson

Lisa Horton (née Duckworth) was played by Caroline Milmoe. Lisa is introduced as the pregnant girlfriend of Terry Duckworth (Nigel Pivaro), who returns to Weatherfield after a four-year absence in 1992. Upon her arrival, Terry is arrested and returned to prison to face charges of GBH and he and Lisa later get married after he is granted day release. However, Terry only intends to use the wedding as a plot to escape, and he flees the church after the ceremony.

In September, Lisa gives birth to a son, whom she names Tommy. Lisa struggles as a single mother. After coming to the conclusion that Terry was never going to be a suitable father to Tommy and that she never loved Terry, Lisa sets her sights on bookie Des Barnes (Philip Middlemiss). Lisa and Des fall in love and intended to move away together, but in February 1993, Lisa is knocked down by a car outside The Rovers Return whilst attempting to retrieve change after dropping her purse. She suffers serious injuries and dies in hospital soon after.

Ted Sullivan

Ted Sullivan
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byWilliam Russell
First appearance19 February 1992
Episode 3347
Last appearance9 September 1992
Episode 3435
ClassificationFormer; regular
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds
Book appearancesCoronation Street:The Complete Saga
In-universe information
SistersSarah Brookes
WifeDoris Sullivan (backstory)
Rita Fairclough (1992)
NephewsRoger Brookes
Philip Brookes

Ted Sullivan was played by William Russell. Ted was first seen as a representative for a supplier of the Kabin, and first appears when Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox) and Mavis Wilton (Thelma Barlow) learn of his plans to retire. Mavis recommends her husband Derek (Peter Baldwin) for his job, and Derek does his best to sell himself to Ted - only to be rejected when Ted tells him his nephew is already lined up to replace him. Meanwhile, Rita catches Ted's attention and he returns again to see her.

Ted courts Rita, and they begin dating. In March, Ted reveals his plan to move to Florida and live there, and to her astonishment, Ted asks Rita to join him as his wife. Initially she turns him down, but later changes her mind and they head out to Florida in search of a new home. When they return however, Ted reveals that the reason he is retiring is because he is terminally ill with a brain tumour. Rita feels cheated, and cancels their plans to emigrate, but agrees to marry Ted in order for them live out his last days as a couple.

Rita and Ted marry weeks later, and by July, Ted is getting weaker as his condition deteriorates. He dies on a park bench on 9 September 1992 watching Percy Sugden (Bill Waddington) play bowls, but his friends do not initially realise he is dead; they believe he is just sleeping. Rita finds him, and is left heartbroken.

Jeff Horton

Jeff Horton
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byDicken Ashworth
Duration1992–1994, 1996-1997, 2000
First appearance18 May 1992
Episode 3385
Last appearance30 August 2000
Episode 4883
ClassificationFormer; recurring
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds (1992)
Jane MacNaught (2000)
In-universe information
WifeDoreen Horton (until 2012)
DaughtersLisa Duckworth
GrandsonsTommy Duckworth

Jeff Horton, played by Dicken Ashworth, made his first screen appearance on 18 May 1992. He died of a heart attack, off-screen, on 5 April 2012, at which time Tommy learns of it, and after originally saying he would not go to the funeral, Tina finally persuades him to. Jeff is the father of Lisa Duckworth (Caroline Milmoe) and grandfather of Tommy Duckworth (Chris Fountain). In his will, Jeff leaves Tommy £12,000 which he is conned out of by his father Terry (Nigel Pivaro).

Doreen Horton

Doreen Horton
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byAnnie Raitt
Duration1992–1994, 1996-1997, 2000
First appearance18 May 1992
Episode 3385
Last appearance30 August 2000
Episode 4883
ClassificationFormer; recurring
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds (1992)
Sue Pritchard (1994, 1995)
Jane MacNaught (2000)
In-universe information
SistersShirley Henderson
HusbandJeff Horton (until 2012)
DaughtersLisa Duckworth
GrandsonsTommy Duckworth

Doreen Horton was the mother of Lisa Duckworth (Caroline Milmoe), played by Annie Raitt and appeared intermittently between 1992 and 2000. On 5 April 2012, Doreen rang Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) to inform her grandson, Lisa's son Tommy (Chris Fountain), that Jeff (Dicken Ashworth) had a heart attack and died in hospital earlier that day.

Richard Willmore

Richard Willmore
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byOliver Beamish
Duration1992–1994, 2011
First appearance2 September 1992
Episode 3432
Last appearance28 March 2011
ClassificationFormer; recurring
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds (1992, 1993)
Sue Pritchard (1994)
Phil Collinson (2011)

Richard Willmore is a director from brewery Newton and Ridley, played by Oliver Beamish. He appears for several stints until 1994, but returns in 2011 when Liz (Beverley Callard) and Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson) enlist his help in purchasing The Rovers Return Inn from their son Steve (Simon Gregson) and installing Liz as manager due to differences with their daughter-in-law Becky (Katherine Kelly).

Carmel Finnan

Carmel Finnan
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byCatherine Cusack
Duration1992–1993
First appearance2 September 1992
Last appearance22 March 1993
ClassificationFormer; recurring
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds
In-universe information
OccupationStudent nurse
GrandfathersJohn Finnan

Carmel Finnan, played by Catherine Cusack, was a student nurse classmate of Martin Platt's (Sean Wilson), whom she became obsessed with and tried to ruin his marriage with his then wife Gail (Helen Worth). Considering the fact that she had looked after the Platt Family’s children, Carmel became known as the “Nanny from Hell” by viewers and the Coronation Street cast. The character's condition was later identified as erotomania.

Carmel was born in 1968 to a fifteen-year-old mother. She was brought up by her grandparents, thinking she was their own child; however, she discovered the truth about her parentage at the age of fourteen. She became mentally unstable and became obsessed with Michael McGuire and she made up a story that he had gotten her pregnant. Because of this, her grandparents placed her in a psychiatric hospital and a year later, she left as a happy girl who put her dark past behind her.

In September 1992, Carmel moved to Weatherfield and became friends with Martin. He asked her if she would babysit his three children; Nicky (Warren Jackson), Sarah-Louise (Lynsey King), and David (Thomas Ormson) that night so he and Gail can go out. She agreed and over time, Carmel proved to be good with the children and she became the Platts' babysitter regularly.

When Carmel was frightened by a prowler at her bedsit, she confided in the Platts for comfort and they allowed her to move in with them at 8 Coronation Street. However, Gail and Martin learned there was another side to Carmel and they began to lose her trust; Carmel told Gail that her best mate Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor) didn't like her and she started treating the children as if she was their own mother. There was more concern when Carmel told a woman at Bettabuys that David was her son and when Gail discovered this from Percy Sugden (Bill Waddington), who overheard the conversation, she confronted Carmel with her suspicions, but Carmel lied her way out of the situation and explained she didn't want the woman getting at her for being a babysitter.

In December 1992, Carmel "slept" with a drunken Martin, who thought it was Gail who was in bed with him; Gail was actually at the hospital with her mother Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) when her stepfather Alf (Bryan Mosley) got food poisoning. When Martin discovered he was in bed with Carmel, he demanded answers from her, but she only confessed her love for him. This resulted in Martin to force Carmel to return to Ireland early for Christmas. However, she returned on Christmas Day and told everyone she had missed the boat to Ireland, but she only returned so she can see Martin and resumed her campaign to get Martin to confess to Gail that "he's in love with her."

When Gail discovered Carmel's infidelity after she tried to get Martin into bed with her at her bedsit, she threw her out of No.8. She then returned in March 1993, and told a shocked Gail, Martin and Ivy Brennan (Lynne Perrie) that she was pregnant with Martin's baby. This caused Gail to lose Martin's trust, but he later convinced her that he'd been faithful. That same month, Carmel tried to kidnap David while Sally was minding him; Sally rescued him by threatening to phone the police. After discovering the incident, Gail angrily confronted Carmel at her bedsit, telling her to stay away from her, her children, and mostly; her husband. They had an argument at the top of the stairs, which ended with Carmel falling down the stairs and breaking her leg. Gail was afraid that she'd hurt Carmel's unborn baby, but when examined at the hospital, the Platts discovered that Carmel had lied about being pregnant.

Carmel lied to the police that Gail had pushed her down the stairs. Gail was shocked while Martin was furious. Carmel's grandfather John (Shay Gorman) arrived in Weatherfield to talk the Platts about what happened. Gail explained that she confronted Carmel to stay away from her and her family while Martin told him that she falsely accused him of getting her pregnant. This made John realise that Carmel was make believing again, and he told the Platts of her mental history and that he would take her home to Ireland to get the care she needed.

The character of Carmel and her storyline received mostly positive reviews from Coronation Street viewers, but one was negative and called it a "stalker storyline" and viewed it as "creepy."

Tommy Duckworth

Doug Murray

Doug Murray
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byBrian Hibbard
Duration1992–1993
First appearance23 October 1992
Episode 3454
Last appearance18 June 1993
Episode 3556
ClassificationFormer; regular
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds
In-universe information
Other namesDave Matthews
SistersJean Forbes

Doug Murray - real name Dave Matthews - was a mechanic. He was played by actor Brian Hibbard. After returning to Britain from the Middle East after his classic car restoration business failed and he had got into debt, Doug sought employment at MVB motors. The Inland Revenue tracked Doug down and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. Doug initially lived at his sister's house but moved out after constant arguments with her husband and moved addresses. Doug dated Deirdre Barlow (Anne Kirkbride) for a while but this ended when her daughter Tracy (Dawn Acton) attempted to seduce him as she had a crush on him and wanted to hurt her mother. Eventually Doug decided to leave Weatherfield after realising that his options were limited. He stole a Jaguar car belonging to his boss Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) and drove away. He traded the Jaguar in for a Mercedes at a dealership, and later fled to Germany in the Mercedes.

Harry Potts

Harry Potts
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byRussell Dixon
Duration1992–1993, 1995
First appearance26 October 1992
Last appearance5 July 1995
ClassificationFormer; recurring
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds
In-universe information
OccupationCaretaker
Councillor

Harold "Harry" Potts, played by Russell Dixon, made his first screen appearance on 26 October 1992.[1]

When Derek Wilton (Peter Baldwin) is employed as the new deputy caretaker at Weatherfield Comprehensive, Harry starts giving him a hard time as he wanted his nephew to get the job. Harry makes Derek do most of the work and gets him into trouble with Ken Barlow (William Roache). Derek eventually reports Harry to the headmistress and she tells him to keep notes on Harry's behaviour. When Derek gives her his report, he learns that Harry has a new job at a different school. Harry was also a member of the local council. When he wants to join the Social Services Committee, he asks Alf Roberts (Bryan Mosley) for his support. Harry begins to see Alf as an ally and they occasionally have a drink together in the Rovers Return. Harry befriends the landlady, Bet Gilroy (Julie Goodyear), and starts giving her information about a plan to widen Rosamund Street and demolish the Rovers. Harry promises to fight for the pub and Bet gives him drinks on the house. Bet later learns that the council have no intention of demolishing the pub and realises that Harry has been conning all the local landladies. Bet and her friend get revenge on Harry by inviting him to Reg Holdsworth's (Ken Morley) engagement party and make him buy the drinks all night. A couple of years later, Alf is accused of embezzling money from the Mayor's charity fund. Harry tells Alf that he has his support. Alf's wife, Audrey (Sue Nicholls), learns that Harry is having an affair with the woman who prepares the cheques for the Mayor, and Alf realises that Harry was getting her to make up cheques for him. Harry is brought in to be questioned by Alf's superior and he refuses to say anything until his solicitor arrives. A few months later, Harry is found guilty of embezzlement and sent to prison for nine months.

Denise Osbourne

Denise Osbourne
Coronation Street character
Portrayed byDenise Black
Duration1992–1997, 2007, 2017
First appearanceEpisode 3472
4 December 1992
Last appearanceEpisode 9183
9 June 2017
ClassificationFormer; regular
Introduced byCarolyn Reynolds (1992)
Steve November (2007)
Kate Oates (2017)
Book appearancesCoronation Street:The Complete Saga
In-universe information
OccupationHairdresser
FatherRoy
MotherIrene
SistersAlison Dunkley
HusbandFrank Osbourne (backstory)
Neil Mitchell (until 1992)
SonsDaniel Osbourne
GrandsonsBertie Osbourne

Denise Osbourne (also Mitchell) was introduced as a new local hairdresser and was played by Denise Black. She made her first appearance on 4 December 1992 in a stint which lasted five years. She returned ten years later and made her final appearance on 10 June 2007. On 3 April 2017, it was announced that Black would be reprising her role as Denise after finishing her two-year stint on Emmerdale as Joanie Wright in January 2017, and returned on-screen on 30 May 2017 and departed on 9 June 2017 at the conclusion of her storyline.

Denise's first marriage to wealthy solicitor Frank Osbourne ended when she left him for Neil Mitchell. They later married but had separated by late 1992 so Denise came to Coronation Street to try and build a new life. She opened a hairdressing and beauty salon at No. 2, living in the flat above and turned to Neil, who worked as a builder, to fit out the premises.

From her first appearance, many local men were attracted to Denise and by Christmas supermarket manager Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley), barman Jack Duckworth (Bill Tarmey) and mechanic Doug Murray, all asked Denise for favours and fought to be the first to take her out. Denise, however, invited all of them to her flat and told them she was not interested. Neil was happy to stay friends until he discovered he had a love rival in Hanif Ruparell, despite the fact that he was dating Angie Freeman. Denise and Hanif's affair was initially just for pleasure but eventually Denise fell in love with her friend. When she told Hanif how she felt after arranging a romantic dinner, he rejected her. Denise was so hurt, She threw red wine at him and stormed out of the restaurant.

In the meantime, Don Brennan (Geoffrey Hinsliff) fell for Denise when she comforted him about his leg being amputated. Denise showed him her deformed hand and said she managed to live with it. Don agreed to invest money in Denise's business but she soon realised that Don wanted more than friendship and was plagued with nuisance telephone calls and anonymous pranks that lasted for several weeks, causing her much anguish. She suspected Neil and Hanif and was outraged when she learned that Don was responsible — helped by Hanif, who had a friend who worked at the telephone exchange.

Early in 1994, Denise started dating Ken Barlow (William Roache) and both were surprised when she got pregnant. Denise decided to keep the baby but had a miscarriage. However, the doctors told Denise she was carrying twins and the survivor was healthy. Ken suggested they get married but Denise decided to remain independent and ended their relationship, telling Ken she didn't want him at the birth. She found life more difficult than she expected during her pregnancy and had to get help at the salon from a friend, Jon Welch. She hoped that Jon would buy the business but he was unable to raise the money. Even when she went into labour, she refused to let Ken know but later changed her mind and Ken was there as she gave birth to their son, Daniel (Lewis Harney/Dominic Holmes/Rob Mallard), and was very supportive. However, Denise continued to reject Ken and refused to put his name on Daniel's birth certificate but was willing to let him babysit. Over the next few months, Denise and Jon became closer until in April 1995, he made a pass at her but she turned him down so he left.

Meanwhile, Ken had troubles of his own as his stepdaughter, Tracy (Dawn Acton/Kate Ford), was in hospital after a drug overdose but he still wanted access to Daniel. After Ken threatened legal action, Denise lost her temper and went to visit her sister Alison in Macclesfield. After Ken tracked her down, she returned to Weatherfield and seemed more willing to let Ken into her life. In July 1995, Ken bought No. 1 and he, Denise and Daniel moved in — but she kept the flat above No. 2 and refused to let Bill Webster (Peter Armitage) rent it in December. Her reasons for keeping No. 2 became apparent. Brian Dunkley, Denise's brother-in-law came to do the bookkeeping but they had been having an affair for two years. Ken didn't suspect anything but Denise's sister, Alison Dunkley, realised that Brian was unfaithful and turned to Denise for comfort. In January 1996, Denise tried to end it and asked Ken if he still wanted to marry her and he agreed. However, Brian was not prepared to give up easily. Ken found out about the affair and threw Denise out. Denise decided to leave with Brian and left Daniel with Ken, feeling she could never offer him a stable life. However, in November 1996, she changed her mind and came back, claiming that Ken had no legal right to keep him. She agreed to allow him to visit Daniel but, after a few months, Ken found the travelling and emotional strain of visiting too difficult, especially when Daniel called Brian "Daddy" and cut all contact with Denise and Daniel.

Nothing was heard from Denise until 2007 when she sent Ken a card having read about Tracy's imprisonment for murder. Ken's wife Deirdre (Anne Kirkbride) blamed him for Tracy's problems so Ken stayed at a B&B in Manchester. As he went for a stroll, Ken found Denise running a new hairdressers' in the heart of the city. Preparing for the worst, Ken went in to speak to Denise and she invited him to her flat for a cup of tea. Sufficiently revived, he told Denise that he would have to reduce his contributions to Daniel's trust fund but Ken was unable to bring himself to ask Denise if he could re-establish contact with their son. She promised Ken she would ask Daniel if he wanted to meet him. Ken was relieved to learn that Daniel had agreed. Later, Denise invited Ken to move in with her and Daniel but Daniel began to resent Ken's presence so Denise took him to Weatherfield to make amends with Deirdre, but this ended with Deirdre slapping Denise. Following the confrontation between Deirdre and Denise, Deirdre visited Ken and apologised for her behaviour and asked him to come home but he refused. Ken and Denise grew closer and she became convinced that Ken wanted to resume their relationship and needing help with Daniel, Denise made a clumsy pass but Ken made it clear that he wasn't interested before returning to Deirdre.

In late 2016, Daniel returns to Weatherfield after Ken suffers a major stroke and is hospitalised. He receives a cold reception from the other Barlows, however they warm to him when he reveals that he has not seen Denise since she walked out on him six years ago, when he was only 15 years old. In May 2017, Daniel is revealed as the culprit who pushed Ken down the stairs, and Ken finds Denise's belongings buried in the garden. He becomes convinced that Daniel has murdered Denise, and during a minor scuffle while Daniel holds Ken hostage, Denise returns, much to Daniel's shock and horror. She was devastated when he was arrested and told Ken that she was sorry for his loss to his late wife Deirdre.

In 2021 it is revealed that Denise has gifted Daniel a house. When asked by Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) if he will be moving away, he replies that he is likely to rent it out in order to get some extra cash

Newspaper The Chorley Citizen said Denise was best remembered as "Ken's bit on the side".[2] Laura-Jayne Tyler from Inside Soap called the character a "homewrecker".[3]

Fiona Middleton

Fiona Middleton, played by Angela Griffin, made her first appearance on 14 December 1992.[4] She was a hairdresser and later manager at Denise Osbourne's (Denise Black) salon.[5] She also has a brief singing career. Fiona's best friend is Maxine Heavey (Tracy Shaw). Fiona dates Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), and has an affair with Steve's father Jim (Charles Lawson), which was revealed on Fiona's wedding day to Alan McKenna. She also briefly dated Tony Horrocks (Lee Warburton). Steve and Fiona reconcile to help her raise her and Alan's son, Morgan, but he cheats on her with Maxine.

References

  1. ^ Chapples, Natalie (8 December 2010). "Street life - 50 years of Coronation Street". News and Star. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  2. ^ Taylor, Caroline. "Interview: Denise Black". Chorley Citizen. (Newsquest). Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  3. ^ Tyler, Laura-Jayne (23–29 January 2016). "Hits & Misses!". Inside Soap. No. 3. p. 98.
  4. ^ "Fiona's mean streak!". Inside Soap. No. 27. November 1994. p. 49.
  5. ^ Sharp 1997, p.38.
  • Sharp, Rob (1997). The Official Coronation Street Annual. World International Limited. ISBN 0-7498-2815-3.
This page was last edited on 1 January 2024, at 19:33
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