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Derek Wilton | |||||||||||||||
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Coronation Street character | |||||||||||||||
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Portrayed by | Peter Baldwin | ||||||||||||||
Duration |
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First appearance | 23 February 1976 | ||||||||||||||
Last appearance | 7 April 1997 | ||||||||||||||
Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||
Created by | Bill Podmore | ||||||||||||||
Spin-off appearances | A Christmas Corrie (2012) | ||||||||||||||
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Derek Bernard Wilton is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street , portrayed by Peter Baldwin. He appeared in the show intermittently between 1976 and 1987, before becoming a regular from 1988 until the character's death in 1997.
Derek was often dominated by women; he remained a bachelor until after his mother's death in 1981 as he always bowed to her wishes. He first met Mavis Riley (Thelma Barlow) in 1976 but remained non-committal until 1984 when they agreed to marry. On their wedding day, the indecisive couple jilted each other.
Forever letting Mavis down, Derek was usually too proud to admit he was at fault but still went to her with his problems. His biggest mistake was marrying his boss's daughter, Angela Hawthorne (Diane Fletcher) 1985, even though it was Mavis he really wanted. After divorcing Angela, Derek finally married Mavis in 1988 and in 1990 they moved into 4 Coronation Street.
On the career front, Derek never had much luck; he usually worked as a salesman but his jobs never tended to last long, and in desperation for employment he usually had to turn to people who had caused problems in his and Mavis's lives, including Angela and Mavis's ex-partner Victor Pendlebury (Christopher Coll). Eccentric and pompous, Derek was the perfect match for dithering Mavis as they were very much alike: their old-fashioned mannerisms and tendency to over-dramatize everything sometimes made them the butt of the neighbours' jokes, especially their immediate neighbour, Des Barnes (Philip Middlemiss).
Derek died from a heart attack during a road rage incident on Mavis's birthday in 1997.
In 1976, Derek was introduced as a love interest for Mavis Riley (Thelma Barlow), but it was more than a decade before the couple finally married in 1988, after simultaneously jilting each other four years earlier.
Richard Dyer perceives the Mavis and Derek characters to be as "shy physically" as one another, [1] whereas Kathryn Hone, writing in The Sunday Times, considers Derek "even more dithering than Mavis". Nevertheless the on-screen relationship between the couple progresses quickly, despite the interference of Derek's mother. Actors Peter Baldwin and Thelma Barlow had worked together before their casting as Derek and Mavis, and the two became close friends.
Derek and Mavis have been described by What's on TV as "an old-fashioned pair who were made for each other", [2] and were typically featured in comic storylines, such as one in 1995 that saw their garden gnome kidnapped and transported around the world; Derek and Mavis received pictures of the gnome in various exotic locations, sent to them with ransom notes. It transpired that the kidnapper was Derek's friend Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden). [3] The Daily Record labelled this storyline one of "Coronation Street's Classic Comic Moments" in 2008.[ citation needed ]
Marilyn J. Matelski cites Mavis and Derek Wilton as examples of clever naming, [4] in that the serial had created a fitting image of the characters before viewers even saw them together. [4]
Derek Wilton was axed by producer Brian Park in a high-profile cull in 1997. His axing was said[ by whom? ] to have caused his co-worker Thelma Barlow (who played his on-screen wife Mavis) to quit her role in the show. While appearing on ITVs This Morning in October 2010, Barlow denied it was the reason she left the show, stating she had decided to quit before Baldwin was axed.[ citation needed ]
Coronation Street is a British television soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced street in the fictional Weatherfield, a town based on inner-city Salford, England.
Kenneth "Ken" Barlow is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by William Roache. He was created by Tony Warren as one of Coronation Street's original characters and December 2020 marked Ken's 60th anniversary onscreen. He debuted in the soap's first episode on 9 December 1960. Having appeared in the role continuously since that date, Roache is the longest-serving actor in a televised soap opera, and was honoured at the 2010 Guinness World Records ceremony for the achievement, having surpassed actor Don Hastings from the American soap opera As the World Turns, who previously held this title. Roache stated in 2010 that he had no plans to leave the role and would remain in Coronation Street for as long as the producers would have him. In November 2020, Roache was again presented with the Guinness World Record for the longest serving TV soap star in the world for his six decades in Coronation Street.
Norris Cole is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Malcolm Hebden. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 11 March 1994. Hebden had previously played the role of Carlos, Mavis Riley's Spanish boyfriend, in one episode in 1974. Norris appeared on a recurring basis, until he was written out in April 1997 by Brian Park. However, two years later; the character was reintroduced on a regular basis. Hebden continued to appear on the soap until December 2017 after suffering a heart attack. Following his recovery, he made several guest returns, before his retirement from acting in January 2021 due to his health. The character was killed off-screen on 15 September 2021.
Malcolm Hebden is an English retired actor. He is known for portraying the role of Norris Cole in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street on and off between 1994 and 1997, regularly from 1999 to 2017, and intermittently between 2019 and 2020. Aged 81, he announced his retirement from acting due to ill health.
Charlie Stubbs is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Bill Ward. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 10 November 2003 and last appearance on 15 January 2007.
Mavis Wilton is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Thelma Barlow. A long-running series regular, Mavis appeared in the show for 26 years from 1971 to 1997. Introduced for a one-off cameo appearance, she proved popular with producers and viewers and subsequently became a regular.
Alan Bradley is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Mark Eden. He first appeared on 15 January 1986 and became the show's main antagonist until the character was killed off on 8 December 1989.
Thelma Barlow is an English television actress and writer, known for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the BBC One sitcom dinnerladies.
Norman Arthur "Curly" Watts is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, from 1983 to 2003, and in a few spin-off DVDs in 2010. He was portrayed throughout by Kevin Kennedy.
Des Barnes is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Philip Middlemiss.
Peter Francis Baldwin was an English actor. He was best known for his role as Derek Wilton in the British soap opera Coronation Street.
Percy Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Bill Waddington. He appeared between 1983 and 1997.
Brian Park is a Scottish television producer and executive. He was born in Fife but lived in Aberdeen’s Bucksburn between the ages of nine and 17. He acted when he was a child and joined the Aberdeen Children’s Theatre at the age of 13, appearing in an episode of Dr Finlay’s Casebook.