Where are they now? Corrie Icons of the 90s - Phil Middlemiss

Phil Middlemiss played the role of Des Barnes from 1990 to 1998 when his character was killed off.

Following his time on Coronation Street, Phil has appeared regularly on television, most notably in the part of David Buckley in the drama Where the Heart Is for six years from 2000. He also starred in Doctors, Cold Blood, Casualty, Silent Witness and The Last Detective.

For several years he was in a relationship with Alison King who later appeared in Coronation Street as Carla Connor although they have since split up.

In 2012 Phil was declared bankrupt after investing in an African film. The MEN have the story here.

Read more Corrie news, interviews and spoilers  

---

Please read our advice for leaving comments on the Coronation Street Blog
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

Top 25 Favourite Corrie Males - joint No. 17

DES BARNES & NORRIS COLE (62 VOTES)

Duration: 1990-1998 & 1994-1997, 1999- respectively

Played by: Philip Middlemiss & Malcolm Hebden respectively

2012 character poll position (men): Des didn’t appear; 8 (Norris)

While Des is a newcomer to the poll, Norris has dropped hugely in the polls since 2012. Once comfortably in the top 10, he’s now in the bottom top 20. Could lack of storylines and maybe a change in his personality from bumbling busybody to having an even crueller tongue be to blame? Personally, I believe the character has lost his spark in the last 8 years or so. What do you think? 

Des Barnes:

The bookie who moved to the street on his wedding day to Steph. He enjoyed winding up neighbours Derek and Mavis Wilton and even installed a boat in the back garden to annoy them.

Steph left him in 1991 and for many years he lived a true bachelor life and his conquests included Angie Freeman, Maxine Heavey, Lisa Duckworth and Samantha Failsworth.

His on/off relationship with barmaid Raquel Wolstenhulme was a long running storyline. While Raquel adored him, Des only used her when he was single. Des was gutted when Raquel married Curly, but viewers knew that Raquel’s dream was to become Mrs Barnes.

He later fell for and married vamp Natalie Horrocks, who had destroyed the Webster marriage. But a fortnight after the wedding, Des was attacked by thugs who were after Natalie’s drug dealing son Tony. After promising to take Natalie up Blackpool Tower, he had a cardiac arrest and died.

Were you a fan of Des?

Norris Cole:

Introduced as a salesman who Derek Wilton helped in his hour of need. Over the next few years, they would become rivals. Norris even kidnapped Derek’s gnome Arthur. Derek got his revenge by driving Norris to the wrong church on his wedding day to Angela (Derek’s ex-wife!!). 

After attending Derek’s funeral, he didn’t return to the street until 1999 when he turned up as a rep at the Kabin. Rita, who was struggling to find a suitable assistant, hired him. And thus a wonderful double act began.

Initially staying at the Duckworths’ B&B, Norris became Emily Bishop’s latest lodger in 2000. Reminiscent of her relationship with Percy Sugden, Emily is often exasperated with Norris’ nosiness and interfering, but he cares deeply about her.

While Norris and Rita have had hilarious moments behind the Kabin counter, their friendship took a different turn when Norris proposed to her. A flustered Rita rejected, stating that she only saw him as a dear friend. Since then, Norris has always been wary of Rita’s choice in men, especially her third hubby Dennis Tanner.

Norris is wary of any newcomers in the street. His suspicions about Richard Hillman were proved right, but sadly too late for poor Maxine Peacock. Sadly he wasn’t so wary about con-artist Mel Hutchwright aka Lionel Hipkiss.

In 2006, he became a partner in the Kabin with Rita and in 2009 he bought Rita’s share when she decided to retire. But lonely Rita returned to the shop as Norris’ employee. In 2014, Emily also sold No.3 to Norris after he became concerned about his future when Emily would pass away. 

Norris’ storylines have included holding a séance in the Kabin; winning a contest as Eartha Kitt; representing Manchester in the Commonwealth Games; coming face to face with his brother Ramsay again; and a romance with Mary Taylor.

If Nosy Norris isn’t behind the Kabin dishing out insults with his gobstoppers, he’s often seen sweeping the pavement, waiting for the next saga on the cobbles.

Are you a fan of Nosy Norris? 

Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog

Download our free App | Visit Corrie.net

All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

The curse of 6 Coronation Street

So the Nazir family are rather inexplicably moving into number 6 Coronation Street. I still do not understand the reason behind this impulse purchase, other than a crazy notion these days that every character connected with the programme must live on the street itself. Gone are the days of seeing the wider Weatherfield world it seems. 

I'm trying very hard to like the Nazir family. Alya is the brightest hope for a long term character I can take to. I can't even find the words to describe how boring I find Kal, Zeedan and Sharif. I feel sorry for Jane Danson as the trend for her character being placed with unpopular new arrivals continues. Yasmeen has promise but she can sometimes be just too full on for me. Putting her in charge of the new community centre has been a good move but the current Alya/Gary storyline isn't impressing me all that much.

Anyway, they've moved into number 6 which hopefully means that horrid living room wallpaper will soon disappear. Every cloud. 6 Coronation Street is something of a doom-laden property so that doesn't exactly augur well for its latest inhabitants. Shall we take a look at the evidence as we go through the keyhole? Ahem.

For the first eight years of its life, the house was owned by bookmaker Des Barnes. The fondest memory I have of this time is the lovely Phyllis Pearce acting as his cleaner. Sadly all was not well chez Barnes and before too long Steph had run off with someone else. More misery ensued as Des mucked poor Raquel about for years. And of course Des met his maker in the house thanks to a run in with a coffee table and some dodgy drug dealers. 

Ever since then, the house has changed hands on a rather alarming number of occasions. It has become a temporary residence for a constant stream of ill-advised casting decisions. Debs Brownlow and Matt and Charlie Ramsden spring uneasily to mind. 

Then came the Harris family, never a happy, bubbly brood. They ruined the character of Martin Platt, daughter Katy killed her father and then herself and mother Angela went to prison. 

Then came Charlie Stubbs, who also breathed his last under that roof thanks to a combination of Tracy's woeful sexy dance and her nack with heavy, ugly ornaments. After a quick bottoming through, in come 23 members of the Morton family, although the only one I can remember is Sinbad from Brookside. Most recently we've had to witness the extended misery of the extended Armstrong-Windass clan, now forever banished to the gloomy flat above Tracy's emporium of knock off. Not exactly a glittering track record is it? 

So I wonder what lies in store for the Nazirs? Will it be more murder, mayhem and misery or will they lead a more charmed existence, sandwiched between Sally and Gail? I'd say it will be interesting finding out, but I'm yet to be convinced. 


Follow me on Twitter @GraemeN82

Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook



All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

The faces of Corrie in 1995

If you remember, last year I had a series of posts looking at the top 12 faces of each Corrie decade - the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s. For the next few weeks or so, I’ll be looking at the top 12 faces of each year between 1960 and 2013.

With thanks to Corriepedia for the information.

In 1995, 156 episodes were broadcast.

1. Fiona Middleton (110 episodes)

2. Vera Duckworth (108 episodes)

3. Jim McDonald (106 episodes)

4. Des Barnes (105 episodes)

5. Gail Platt (104 episodes)

6. Raquel Wolstenhulme/Watts (103 episodes)

7. Steve McDonald (102 episodes)

8. Liz McDonald (100 episodes)

9. Jack Duckworth (98 episodes)

10. Betty Turpin/Williams (97 episodes)

11. Ken Barlow (93 episodes)

12. Alma Baldwin (92 episodes)

Average age: 43

Note: This is the last time Betty appears in the top 12, after 17 years. This is also the last time Raquel (to date), Alma and Des appear

Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook



All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

The faces of Corrie in 1994

If you remember, last year I had a series of posts looking at the top 12 faces of each Corrie decade - the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s. For the next few weeks or so, I’ll be looking at the top 12 faces of each year between 1960 and 2013.

With thanks to Corriepedia for the information.

In 1994, 157 episodes were broadcast.

1. Gail Platt (117 episodes)

2. Raquel Wolstenhulme (113 episodes)

3. Curly Watts (110 episodes)

4. Rita Sullivan (107 episodes)

5. Mavis Wilton (104 episodes)

6. Alma Baldwin (102 episodes)

7. Maureen Naylor/Holdsworth (99 episodes)

8. Liz McDonald (94 episodes)

9. Des Barnes (93 episodes)

10. Bet Gilroy (93 episodes)

11. Ken Barlow (91 episodes)

12. Reg Holdsworth (91 episodes)

Due to lack of space, Tanya Pooley fails to make the top 12, but also appeared in 91 episodes.

Average age: 45

Note: To date, this is the last time Bet appears in the top 12, after 21 years. Also, this is the last time, to date, that Curly, Maureen and Reg appear.

Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook



All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

The faces of Corrie in 1991

If you remember, last year I had a series of posts looking at the top 12 faces of each Corrie decade - the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s. For the next few weeks or so, I’ll be looking at the top 12 faces of each year between 1960 and 2013.

With thanks to Corriepedia for the information.

In 1991, 157 episodes were broadcast.

1. Jack Duckworth (108 episodes)

2. Liz McDonald (103 episodes)

3. Audrey Roberts (103 episodes)

4. Bet Gilroy (101 episodes)

5. Vera Duckworth (100 episodes)

6. Gail Tilsley/Platt (100 episodes)

7. Alma Sedgewick (97 episodes)

8. Mavis Wilton (96 episodes)

9. Don Brennan (94 episodes)

10. Ivy Brennan (94 episodes)

11. Des Barnes (93 episodes)

12. Jim McDonald (93 episodes)

Average age: 46

Note: This is the last time Ivy appears in the top 12

Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook



All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

50 Years Of Corrie In 50 Days – 1991

Day 31 of our 50 day countdown of Coronation Street - written by blogger Sunny Jim.

Curly Watts’ engagement to fellow Bettabuy employee Kimberley Taylor was short-lived. She cited Curly’s dislike of her mother and the fact that although she wanted to save herself until she was married, he was always trying to get her into bed. Overhearing this, checkout girl Raquel Wolstenhulme thought that it might be worth giving herself to Curly as it could improve her career prospects. At first Curly wasn’t in the least bit interested as he was still obsessed with Kimberley who had taken up with her cousin, Adrian Gosthorpe. After he told Curly that he and Kimberley had had sex, Curly attacked him and ended up in a police cell. Kimberley was moved to Bolton and Curly then directed his attentions towards Raquel who he supported in her attempts to win the Miss Bettabuy North West title.

Though thwarted in the beauty contest, Raquel did achieve her ambition to do some modelling when Angie Freeman asked her to help out with her end of degree show. She was spotted by a photographer who lured her away from Bettabuy for a career in ‘artistic’ poses. Upset, Curly got drunk with Angie and they spent the night together. Angie immediately regretted it, regarding Curly as more of a brother than a lover. Five months later, Raquel was back, crying on Curly’s shoulder, jobless and homeless. With Curly’s help she got a job at the Rovers and moved in as Des Barnes’s lodger, though in reality she spent only one night in the spare room.

Des Barnes bought himself an old boat and set about renovating it in the back garden. Steph got annoyed at the amount of time he spent working on it, neglecting both him and the house. She went off on a skiing holiday and when she returned, Des was convinced that she’d had an affair whilst away. She denied it but Des remained convinced and so spent more and more time on his boat. Feeling neglected , Steph was flattered when she received some attention from architect Simon Beatty and started an affair with him. Des eventually finished work on the boat and on its maiden voyage, Steph confessed all to him and told him she was leaving. Des panicked her into thinking he had killed himself by blowing up the boat but she found him sitting on the river bank watching the flames: ‘There goes our marriage Steph … didn’t it go with a bang!’

Also in 1991: Ken attempts suicide but is saved by Bet; Mike Baldwin and Jackie Ingram marry but split up in a week; Gail Tilsley and Martin Platt get married; Mike opens a garage and employs Kevin Webster to run it; Ken starts seeing Alma and Mike steals her off him; Vicky Arden is orphaned; Percy Sugden is Bettabuy santa; Andy and Steve McDonald start a pirate radio station.

50 Years Of Corrie In 50 Days – 1990

Day 30 of our 50 day countdown of Coronation Street - written by blogger Sunny Jim.

For thirty years the cast had rehearsed in large rooms with tape on the floors marking out their homes but in 1990, Coronation Street was given exclusive use of its own studio called Stage One allowing rehearsals to be done on the actual set that the scenes would be filmed on. Rather than sets being erected for filming and then being dismantled so that other filming could be carried out, sets for places like the Rovers, shops and café could be kept up permanently with house interiors erected as required. The Coronation Street cast also got their own dressing rooms, make-up facilities, costume areas and Green Room.

With the expansion to three episodes a week the previous year this all helped in dealing with the increased workload and tighter schedules. More characters were needed too and the erection of houses, shops and flats on the even side of the Street gave the production team the space to expand the cast and to move some existing characters from off-street residences onto the actual Street. The first characters to set up on the other side of the Street were Des and Steph Barnes. Steph’s father, who had built the new houses, sold no.6 to them at cost price and they moved in on their wedding day. They were labelled by some as ‘yuppies’ but they were really just working class people who had a bit of cash, Des was a bookies clerk and Steph a shop assistant. At their housewarming, Steph got Kevin Webster drunk and shaved off his moustache, thus winning a bet with Des who was forced to drink in the Rovers without his trousers.

Rita Fairclough closed the Kabin on Rosamund Street relocating it to one of the new premises on Coronation Street and moved out of no. 7 and into the flat above the new shop. Jenny Bradley swiftly moved in her friend Flick Khan and her younger sister, Joanne who became the centre of attraction for Steve and Andy McDonald. Steve won the battle for Joanne’s heart but his father, Jim, didn’t approve so they stole Jim’s motorbike and ran away to the Lake District together. The romance was short-lived and Joanne soon returned to the Street after having to take a badly paid job in a hotel. Liz went to fetch Steve home and threatened to leave Jim if he laid on finger on their wayward son.

Also in 1990: Rosie Webster and David Platt born; Deirdre divorces Ken; Ken sells the Recorder; Alec tracks down estranged daughter and hits it off with his granddaughter Vicky; Curly Watts and Kimberley Taylor get engaged; Alma moves in with Mike but he takes up with Jackie Ingram; Jack Duckworth buys Vera an Alsatian called Boomer; Percy Sugden lies about his age to get a job as a lollipop man.