Cosy crimes and gritty sagas by Corrie Blog editor Glenda, published by Headline. Click pic below!

Monday 16 April 2012

Top 60 Corrie Characters Nos. 30 and 29

30. Curly Watts 1983-2003 (59 votes)

Bin man Norman ‘Curly’ Watts’ originally lodged with Emily Bishop and was best friends with Kevin Webster and Terry Duckworth and was seen as a geek. In 1989, he was hired as an assistant at Bettabuys and developed a comical double act with manager Reg Holdsworth. Like Reg, Curly was an unlikely Lothario with his conquests including Kimberley Taylor, Anne Malone, Angie Freeman, Maxine Heavey and two drunken nights of passion with Maureen Naylor/Holdsworth. In 1995, he married Rovers barmaid Raquel Wolstenhulme (who held a torch for), but within a few months she left him for a job in Malaysia. She returned briefly in 2000 to tell him that he had a daughter called Alice. The same year, he met and married policewoman Emma Taylor and son Ben was born in 2001 (with Norris acting as midwife!). Curly had a passion for astrology and was often scene in the attic looking through his telescope and even named a star Mrs Raquel Watts, to her amazement. After 20 years, Curly left the street when Emma was transferred to Newcastle. 

Should Curly be halfway? Were you a fan? Leave a comment!



29. Annie Walker 1960-1983 (60 votes)
Personally, I did think Mrs Walker would have had more votes because I think she’s a classic character. But there you go. She was the landlady of the Rovers Return between 1937 and 1983 and was dubbed Queen of Coronation Street and is known for her snobbishness and delusions of grandeur. She even played Elizabeth I on the Jubilee float in 1977! Married to Jack for 33 years, they formed one of the earliest double-acts in the serial’s history. She also enjoyed a long rivalry with Flying Horse landlady Nellie Harvey. Annie was heartbroken when Jack died suddenly in 1970 but continued to run the pub in his honour. With an absence of a man behind the bar, Annie’s son Billy returned and helped his mother before fleeing to Jersey in 1975. With Billy gone, Annie was glad to hire Fred Gee as a live-in cellar man. And who can forget her faithful subjects? Betty Turpin had been a barmaid since 1969 and Bet Lynch began the following year and was instrumental in running the pub while Annie played hostess. By the 1980s, Annie depended heavily on her staff and was often seen overlooking the goings-on and reminiscing with old regulars Len, Elsie and Albert. Annie retired to Derby in 1983 and left the pub in the hands of Billy. Or did she? We’ll find out the truth this week!

Should Annie be at 29? Or should she be in the top 20 or top 10? Were you a fan? Leave a comment!

Check out who's at 32 and 31.



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9 comments:

John McE said...

Groan! The greatest ever character in Coronation Street only voted in at 29. What a travesty.

I daresay recent young characters will make up the lion's share of the top 10 - Graham, Sophie etc. I can only presume lots of voters have never even seen some of the early great charcters. Do yourselves a favour and buy some of the 60s and 70s Network DVDs and see what real acting is like.

Humpty Dumpty said...

John McE, you're probably right there. Voting on-line, by phone etc is a new phenomenon, and older viewers, like myself, might not get into that at all. Younger viewers will probably vote for younger characters. Sian will be in the top 5. Hey ho.

Anonymous said...

"Groan! The greatest ever character in Coronation Street only voted in at 29. What a travesty."

Seconded!!!

John in Cincinnati said...

I add my amens to the above comments. Mrs Walker should have been in the top ten!

Greg said...

"Groan! The greatest ever character in Coronation Street only voted in at 29. What a travesty."

Thirded haha! The fact that Graeme Proctor has come in higher than Annie is hard for me to understand haha.
I always say the best way to do a countdown is for a rating out of ten and then an average - that way, the older characters get less votes but it's still fair. I am however enjoying this countdown :)

Glenda Young said...

I'm also enjoying the countdown and the comments and complaints and compliments ;-) Our blogger Llifon has done a great job, it's no mean feat blogging anyway and to manage the polls and write up the results, well, good on him, whoever and whichever order the results come in. It's just a bit of fun.

Anonymous said...

I think it would be terrible if a character like Sian is in the top 10 !

Tvor said...

I do think the polls are suseptible to a greater percentage of younger viewers who won't have remembered or seen the more Classic characters.

Curly Watts was always one of my favourites.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Ray Langton the first to have an inter-racial relationship when he was fooling around with Janice Stubbs while Deirdre was expecting Tracy?

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

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