Two ex-Coronation Street actresses have been named in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2017. June Whitfield, who played Blanche Hunt's friend May Penn in Corrie has become a Dame of the British Empire. The 91-year-old has been honoured for services to drama and entertainment. “It’s amazing and a great honour,” she said. Offering advice to would-be comic actresses, she once said: “Just remember your lines and don’t bump into the furniture.” And Sarah Lancashire, who played Raquel Watts, has also been awarded an OBE for Services to Drama. Many congratulations to them both.
(This post was originally posted by Llifon on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2016, reposted with permission.)
17. RAQUEL WATTS (173 VOTES)
Duration: 1991-1996, 2000
Played by: Sarah Lancashire
2012 character poll position (women): 23
Introduced as an assistant at Bettabuys supermarket, working alongside the likes of Curly Watts, Reg Holdsworth, Vera Duckworth and Ivy Brennan.
She was later hired as a barmaid at the Rovers and formed a close friendship with landlady Bet Gilroy and fellow barmaid Betty Turpin. She also dabbled in modelling.
Soon enough, Raquel was in a relationship with Des Barnes. She was heartbroken when ex-wife Steph turned up as he hoped for a reconciliation. Time and time again Des and Raquel would rekindle their relationship, only for Des for dump her when he got a better offer.
After failed relationships with Gordon Blinkhorn and Wayne Farrell, she married friend and confidante Curly in 1995. But the aching truth was that she didn’t love him. She still loved Des, for all his faults.
She confessed to Curly her real feelings, but he forgave her. They had a happy marriage until she left him – not for Des, but for a job in Malaysia. She made a brief return in 2000 to let Curly know that they had a daughter called Alice. Raquel was by then living in Paris.
Ditzy Raquel’s notable scenes during her tenure include having French lessons with Ken Barlow in the Rovers backroom and having a conversation about football with Alma Baldwin and Denise Osbourne in the Rovers bar. She is undoubtedly a classic Corrie character.
A fan of Raquel?
Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.
In honour of St. Valentine's day yesterday, let's have a look at some of Coronation Street's most romantic moments. These are some of my personal favourites, so please do leave a comment below if yours isn't mentioned as I'd love to know what other people love too.
In no special order, here we go with my top 5 of Coronation Street's most romantic moments.
1. Curly names a star after Raquel
A beautiful, touching scene from Christmas 1994. Curly points to the heavens and tells Raquel he's named a star after her. It's called Mrs Raquel Watts.
2. Roy and Hayley at the airport
After Hayley had her gender reassignment operation, she followed Roy to the airport and wrote, in red lipstick on the window the words he longed to hear: "I'm coming with you." You can watch the clip, below, with commentary from Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Hayley Cropper.
3. Stan and Hilda's second honeymoon
The Ogdens won third prize in a "Loving Cup Shandies" competition - a second honeymoon night in a five-star hotel with her winning slogan "Be a mistress as well as a wife and your husband'll still be a boyfriend". The scene above gave rise to one of Corrie's best loved lines. Stan: "What's that lipstick taste of?" Hilda: "Woman, Stanley. Woman"
4. Deirdre agrees to marry Ken, for the second time
In 2005 Deirdre finally accepted Ken's proposal of marriage - and agreed to marry him (for the 2nd time). Ken got down on one knee, in the rain, while Deirdre was sitting on Maxine's bench outside of the hair salon. What a lovely place for a proposal.
5. Vera's ghost returns as Jack Duckworth dies
When Jack Duckworth died in his armchair at No. 9, his little swamp duck Vera returned to take him away with her.
What are some of your favourite romantic moments from our favourite show?
Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.
(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in February 2013.)
I came across one of my most favourite Coronation Street scenes the other night and I felt it was worth a blog post all of its own. I'm sure many of you will have seen it before, however it definitely stands up to repeat viewings. You can view the scene here. Bet and Raquel are two of Corrie's best loved characters and their onscreen partnership in the Rovers during the 1990s was a joy. There was always humour mixed with touches of vulnerability. Julie Goodyear and Sarah Lancashire sum up what's best about Corrie in this scene. The performances are spot on, the acting is terrific. You can tell both Julie and Sarah are having fun with their characters. It is also written beautifully. Time is taken to set the scene up and it meanders along with nothing much happening. It's not the wham bam of today. It's funny and a little bit sad and is probably something a lot of viewers could and can relate to, and that for me is Corrie at its finest. Betty Driver once said that while she would always love Coronation Street, she did miss the times in the Rovers where the regulars would chat together in long scenes where nothing much happened. It strengthened the sense of community and made it feel real. We do see a bit of that now and again, but for me the action nowadays is far too plot driven. So Corrie writers, let's take a page out of Bet and Raquel's book. Let's have more Streetcars scenes with Steve, Lloyd and Eileen discussing nothing much of anything and having a laugh. Let's see Liz and Deirdre chewing the fat in the Rovers, Rita and Audrey musing over their rich histories. There's so much material to be explored and it doesn't all have to revolve around Tina flamin' McIntyre and pathetic Peter Barlow!
Anyone else spotted the similarities between Eva Price and Raquel Watts? Both are ditzy blondes, using their assets to snare men who they think are suitable for them, when we all know they're not. And in both Raquel and Eva, there's a lot more to each of them than the hair and the boobs and the fluffy exterior.
