Denise Osbourne Denise OsbourneChildren: Daniel Osbourne
b: 4 January 1995 (f: Ken Barlow)
Played by: Denise
Black
Appeared: 1992 - February 1996; 22 November 1996
Denise's first marriage to the rich Frank ended in divorce when
she ran off with Neil Mitchell.
They later married, but by late 1992 they too had separated, and
Denise arrived in Coronation Street to try and build a new life.
She opened a beauty salon at Nº2, living in the flat above,
but still turned to builder Neil to fit out the premises.
From day one she had the fellas falling at her feet and the Christmas
1992 plot had randy Reg Holdsworth
from Bettabuys, Jack Duckworth
from The Rovers, and Doug Murray
from the garage vying for the favours of this new sex siren in
the Elsie Tanner mould. All three fought to be the first to take
her out. But Denise turned the tables by inviting all of them
back to her flat... at the same time.
Neil was happy to stay friends until he discovered he had a love
rival in Hanif Ruparell, although
by this time he was dating Angie
Freeman. Denise and Hanif's affair started as a no-strings
attachment for them both, a bit of fun. Nevertheless, Denise found
herself falling for her rich friend. When she eventually plucked
up the courage to tell Hanif how she felt, she was deeply hurt
when he rejected her. The whole thing blew up into a full scale
argument and ended with Denise throwing red wine into his face
and storming out of a restaurant.
In the meantime, Don Brennan fell
for Denise's charms after she cheered him up about his amputated
leg. She showed him her hand, and said she had mananged to live
with it. Don agreed to lend Denise the money she needed for her
hair-styling business. Denise soon realised that Don wanted more
from the relationship than friendship. She was then plauged with
nuisance telephone calls which lasted for several weeks, which
caused much anguish. If she was honest with herself she knew Don
was the person , but was still sick to the stomach when she found
out who had betrayed her - helped by Hanif, who knew 'somebody
at the telephone exchange'.
Early in 1994, Denise started dating Ken
Barlow, and to their mutual suprise fell pregnant. Denise
then had to go through the trauma of a miscarriage, tempered somewhat
by the discovery she was carrying twins and the survivor was still
healthy. Ken offered to marry Denise, but with five broken marriages
between them, she wanted to retain her independence, and let him
know that their relationship was over.
She found life harder than expected during her prgnancy and had
to bring in help at the salon in the shape of Jon
Welch. She did hope that Jon would buy her out, but he couldn't
raise the money.
Even when she went into labour, she refused to let Ken know, but
as the pain hit her she got a message to him, and her was there
for Daniel's birth, and was
very supportive in the following weeks. However, Denise continued
to shut Ken out, and even refused to put his name on Daniel's
birth certificate - but she was only too willing to let Ken babysit.
Over the next few months, Denise and Jon became closer, but in
April 1995, when he made a pass at her, he was put down in no
uncertain terms, and he walked out on both her and the salon.
Ken was going through turmoil, as his adopted daughter, Tracy,
was in hospital after a drugs overdose, and he wanted some access
to his son. After threatening legal action to ensure access to
Daniel, Denise threw a wobbly and in May scuttled off to her
sister's in Macclesfield. After Ken tracked her down there,
she came back and seemed more willing to let Ken into her life,
and in July 1995, Ken bought Nº1 and Ken, Denise and Daniel
moved in - but she kept on the flat above Nº2, and even refused
to let it to a desperate Bill Webster
in December.
We shortly found out why. Brian Dunkley,
Denise's accountant brother-in-law turned up to"do the books",
which consisted of going up to the flat, tearing all their clothes
off and making mad, passionate love ! They had an affair about
two years before and both were keen to carry on. It didn't take
long for Alison to realise Brian
was having an affair, and not knowing who the 'other woman' was,
turned to Denise for comfort !
In January 1996, a guilt-ridden Denise tried to stop the affair,
and asked Ken if he was still prepared to marry her - he agreed.
However, Brian wasn't going to give up easily, Ken found out about
her affair and threw Denise out. After a few tear-stained mascara
scenes, Denise decided to head south with Brian, but leave Daniel
with his father, as she knew she would never be able to offer
him a stable life.
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