Des Barnes

Last updated

Des Barnes
Coronation Street character
Desbarnes corrie.jpg
Portrayed by Philip Middlemiss
Duration1990–1998
First appearanceEpisode 3030
12 February 1990
Last appearanceEpisode 4510
18 November 1998
Classification Former; regular
Introduced byMervyn Watson
In-universe information
Occupation Bookmaker
FatherBob Barnes
MotherPat Barnes
Brothers Colin Barnes
Wife Steph Jones
(1990–1992)
Natalie Horrocks (1998)
Stepsons Tony Horrocks (1998)

Des Barnes is a fictional character from the English ITV soap opera Coronation Street , played by Philip Middlemiss.

Contents

Storylines

Des was deeply in love with Steph Jones (Amelia Bullmore), but she did not seem to care as deeply for him, and eventually left him for another man. Des had been building a boat in the back garden for years, and the date of the launch coincided with Steph leaving him. He burned the boat on a canal.

When Terry Duckworth (Nigel Pivaro) was in prison, Des offered his back garden to his ex-wife Lisa (Caroline Milmoe) for their son Tommy to play in. His relationship with Lisa gradually strengthened, until Terry's mother Vera (Elizabeth Dawn) told Terry that Des and Lisa were spending time together. Terry subsequently arranged for some criminal associates outside prison to beat Des. Lisa found out that Terry was behind the beating and declared her marriage to Terry is over, and moved back to Blackpool with her parents. Des visited Lisa several times, then asked her to move back to Weatherfield with him. Vera was furious, wrongfully accusing Des of breaking up her son’s marriage and referring to him as a bookie's runner.

Lisa was killed in February 1993 when she was run over by a car whilst crossing the street from the Rovers. Des was affected a lot more than Terry. Tommy went to live with Lisa's parents in Blackpool, but Des still saw him when they brought him to Weatherfield to visit Vera and Jack (Bill Tarmey).

After Lisa's death, Des began dating Raquel Wolstenhulme (Sarah Lancashire). She eventually moved in with him, but she knew that he was never going to ask for her hand in marriage, breaking their relationship. However, the two were reconciled when Des advised against her seeing someone she had met on a modelling assignment. Soon after Des embarked on an affair with Tanya Pooley (Eva Pope), who was dating Des's boss, Alex Christie (Gavin Richards) at the time. Tanya could not resist Des and saw it as an opportunity to get at Raquel, whom she did not like and often bullied. One night Des went to see Tanya and found Alex with her. During the resulting fight between the two men, Raquel arrived and discovered the affair.

Raquel later got engaged to Curly Watts (Kevin Kennedy). Des appeared at their party and forced Raquel to admit that she did not really love Curly and Raquel later broke off their engagement but refused reconciliation with Des.

After this, Andy McDonald (Nicholas Cochrane) moved in as a lodger. Their friendship turned sour when Des started making offensive jokes about his family's criminality and asked Andy to leave.

Des then dated a young widow, Claire Palmer (Maggie Norris). They had brief meetings during their lunch breaks as Claire was trying to get her daughter Becky (Emily Aston) used to the idea of her mother dating another man. Des wanted Claire to take a boating holiday with him, and Becky thought that it was a good idea and wanted to go too. Becky accepted Des and when they returned from the boat trip Claire and Becky moved in with Des, even though this meant that Claire lost her widow’s pension.

In 1997, Des was talked into making a parachute jump with his boss Sean Skinner (Terence Hillyer) and Samantha Failsworth (Tina Hobley), the Rovers barmaid that Sean had been dating. Due to an ankle injury Sean was unable to take part in the jump. Des and Samantha were pleased that they had made the jump successful and later the same day Des made a pass at Samantha. She manipulated Des by pretending to reciprocate his feeling and had him remove his trousers. She threw his trousers out of the window and pushed Des out of the front door in full view of Claire, Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox) and Mavis Wilton (Thelma Barlow).

Claire and Becky subsequently moved out and Sean fired Des from his job. Humiliated and ashamed, Des decided to leave Weatherfield. He rented his house out to Angie Freeman (Deborah McAndrew), bought himself a new boat and left, with Derek Wilton (Peter Baldwin) giving him a fond farewell.

However, Des returned to the Street soon after in July. Des was upset to find that Derek had died. He also found Angie had moved mechanic Chris Collins (Matthew Marsden) into the house with her. At first Des did not approve, but eventually accepted Chris.

In August, Des made another pass at Samantha and this time she genuinely accepted him. She was able to be consoled by Des, confessing to him her innermost feelings, including telling him of her rape ordeal to which she had never spoken about to anyone before. Des was angry when Samantha slept with her ex-husband Ritchie (Shaun Dooley), but she later divorced him and Des forgave her. Samantha later cheated on Des with Chris and their relationship ended.

After their separation, Des began dating Natalie Horrocks (Denise Welch). Samantha was jealous and told Des that she was pregnant with his child and had an abortion. Des discovered that Samantha had been lying about the pregnancy but she then told him that she had suffered a miscarriage. Samantha then told Des again that she had been lying and that she was still pregnant with his child and left Weatherfield shortly afterwards. Although Natalie firmly believed Samantha had been lying, Des was never sure of whether he had become a father or not.

In November 1998, just weeks after marrying Natalie, he walked into the living room of their home to find Natalie's son Tony (Lee Warburton) being attacked by a gang of drug dealers of Jez Quigley's to whom he owed money. When Des tried to stop the men from attacking his stepson, he was knocked unconscious and rushed to hospital. He appeared to be recovering and regained consciousness in hospital but then suffered a heart attack and died.

Reception

Des's character was, during his time on the soap, described as "the self-pitying Geordie of Coronation Street who hit his boss when he found him in bed with his girlfriend". [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Duckworth</span> Fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street

John "Jack" Duckworth is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Bill Tarmey. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 28 November 1979. Jack was introduced by executive producer Bill Podmore. Tarmey had previously appeared as a background character in many episodes featuring scenes in the Rovers Return, including some occasional speaking lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Duckworth</span> Soap opera character

Terry Duckworth is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Nigel Pivaro. He was introduced as the son of popular characters Jack and Vera Duckworth, making his on-screen debut on 1 August 1983. Terry has three sons: Paul Clayton, Tommy Duckworth, and Brad Armstrong. The character made regular appearances until leaving Weatherfield in 1987 and has made only brief visits in years following. In February 2012, it was announced Pivaro would be returning to Coronation Street and he made his return as Terry on 16 April 2012. Terry departed on 11 May 2012 and this was his last appearance to date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Crabtree</span> British Actor

Kelly Crabtree is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by Tupele Dorgu, the character first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 6 September 2004. On 6 November 2009, it was announced that Dorgu had decided not to renew her contract which meant that her character would depart the show in March 2010. She made her last appearance on 19 March 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raquel Watts</span> Fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street

Raquel Watts is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sarah Lancashire from 23 January 1991 until 15 November 1996. Lancashire returned on 2 January 2000 for one episode.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Barnes</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Natalie Horrocks is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Denise Welch. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 26 February 1997. She departed the series on 31 December 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Dent</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Marcus Dent is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Charlie Condou. He made his first screen appearance during the episode on 7 September 2007. Marcus departed on 5 September 2008, but returned on 24 April 2011. It was announced on 26 November 2013, that Condou would be leaving the soap, filming his final scenes in May 2014. Marcus departed on 14 July 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina McIntyre</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Tina McIntyre is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by Michelle Keegan, the character first appeared on-screen during the episode that was shown 7 January 2008. The character was central to many key storylines relating to issues such as perjury, abortion and surrogacy, and had relationships with David Platt, Graeme Proctor, Tommy Duckworth, Dr. Matt Carter and Jason Grimshaw, and had an affair with married man Peter Barlow. Tina has also had feuds with Kylie Platt, Tracy Barlow and Kirsty Soames.

Coronation StreetLive is a live episode of the British soap opera Coronation Street which was broadcast on Friday 8 December 2000 as part of the show's 40th anniversary celebrations. The episode was an hour long and aired at 8:00pm. It aired one hour after a repeat of the first episode, and included an introduction by actor William Roache from the soap's outdoor set, where last-minute preparations for the live episode were under way. The episode was number 4945 in the series and was the first live edition to be broadcast since Episode 17, which aired on 3 February 1961. It was seen by 17 million viewers.

References

  1. Routledge, Paul; Ward, Stephen (14 August 1994). "The workers' court: The humble industrial tribunal is defining what is appropriate behaviour at work". The Independent . Independent Print Limited . Retrieved 26 July 2011.