The heart of Lancashire

DOUBLE ACT: Curly and Raquel Watts

Dawn Marsden with the last of the local actors who have made Coronation Street a great place to visit over the past 50 years
Our Sarah put Oldham on map as Corrie’s best-loved barmaid
FORMER Hulme Grammar School pupil Sarah Lancashire will go down in history as one of Corrie’s best-loved barmaids.

The Oldham-born actress played dizzy Raquel Watts from 1991 to 1996 as well as appearing in a one-off episode in 1999.

Sarah, now 45, captured the hearts of the nation as viewers saw Raquel’s trusting nature lead her into countless bad relationships until she finally found love with Curly Watts.

Sarah, originally from Garden Suburb, is the daughter of the late TV scriptwriter Geoffrey Lancashire, who wrote numerous episodes of the Street. She is married to TV producer Peter Salmon.

Last year, Sarah was given an honorary doctorate of letters at University Campus Oldham.

Although she now lives in London, the mother-of-three retuned to Oldham in 2006 to film Channel Five documentary “Disappearing Britain” where she explored the lost traditions of her home town.

As well as Corrie, Sarah has also starred in “Where The Heart Is”, “Clocking Off” and “Lark Rise To Candleford”.

She also played the mother of murdered prostitute Anneli Alderton is BBC drama “Five Daughters”.

Sarah made her first appearance on the Street in 1991 as a checkout assistant in Bettabuys alongside Curly and Reg Holdsworth.

The aspiring model fell for the charms of a dodgy photographer and moved to London to fulfil her dreams but soon returned with the realisation that she would never make it big.

Raquel found a job at the Rovers and moved in with lothario Des Barnes whose wife had recently walked out on him.

The pair were soon an item even though Curly still held a torch for her.

When Des’s wife Steph returned, he kicked Raquel out and she was forced to live at the Rovers with landlady Bet Gilroy.

A relationship with Weatherfield County FC player Wayne Farrell ended almost as soon as it had started thanks to his wandering eye.

Refusing to give up on love, Raquel took up with the football club’s press secretary Gordon Blinkhorn and the pair agreed to move to France, prompting Raquel to seek French lessons from Ken Barlow — with hilarious consequences.

Gordon’s jealousy drove Raquel back into the arms of Des when his lover Lisa Duckworth was killed.

The pair seemed happy until it was revealed that Des was having an affair with Raquel’s workmate Tanya Pooley.

By 1994, Raquel and Curly had developed a friendship that grew into love and he proposed.

Raquel accepted but the pair split when Des forced her to admit that she didn’t really love Curly.

A date with Firman’s Freezers boss Leo Firman led to Leo trying to rape Raquel in the store room before slagging her off to all of his workmates, Curly included.

Although upsetting, the incident strengthened Raquel’s resolve and she filed a sexual harassment claim against Leo.

A one-night-stand with Des proved that she was over him for good and led her back to good old Curly who agreed that their engagement was back on.

The pair married in 1996 at Chadderton Town Hall, which has since become Oldham Register Office.

As the pair settled into married life, Curly joined the Square Dealers and became manager at Firman’s Freezers while Raquel gave up her job at the Rovers.

She moved to Maidenhead in November, 1996, to start an aromatherapy course, eventually returning on New Year’s Eve, 1999, with baby Alice in tow which Curly knew nothing about.

She told a stunned Curly that she had fallen in love with a Frenchman 14 years her senior and needed a divorce as she was pregnant again.

Curly granted her request and she walked the cobbles for the very last time.