Some mothers do 'ave 'em! - Part II

Yesterday we looked at the hapless Dennis Tanner and the beast that is Tracy Barlow in our quest for Coronation Street's worst ever child.  One or two suggestions popped up from Corrieblog readers about who else would feature in this little list, and I think most of them have been covered.  Tracy Barlow is probably running high for the title, but has the offspring of any other Coronation Street residents been as deceitful and plain evil as Madam Barlow?

Coronation Street in 1983 was all muscles and tight t-shirts when the apple of Vera's eye, Terry Duckworth, moved into No.9.  Terry had no respect for his dad, Jack, and knew that he just had to smile at his mam for her to forgive whatever he had done wrong.  Having failed to enter the Parachute Regiment, Terry took a job working at a local abbatoir and set about testing his skills with the ladies.  Terry started a relationship with nextdoor neighbour Andrea Clayton and left her pregnant. In 1992 Terry was jailed for GBH and from his prison cell continued a relationship with Lisa Horton, whom he would later marry while still handcuffed.  Lisa fell pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy, Tommy, however in 1993 she was knocked down and killed by the vicar from Emmerdale and Tommy was left motherless.  Terry was released from prison and informed his parents that baby Tommy was going to live in Blackpool with Lisa's parents and to Vera's horror Terry admitted that he had sold the child to the Horton family.  Terry also left Tricia Armstrong pregnant as well as bedding a number of other female residents over the years.  In 1999 Terry wrecked more lives when he sold a cut-and-shut car to his mother which crashed and injured Judy Mallett's leg. She died a week or so later from an embolism caused by the crash.  Terry has done many other dreadful things to his parents over the years, mainly trying to con them out of their hard-earned cash.

Young David Platt from No.8 is certainly a devil in-the-making. For years David seemed normal, if not a bit cheeky, looking after his beloved rabbit and kicking a football around the Street every now and then.  One day Master Platt seemed to take a turn for the worse and his behaviour changed, making him one of the worst teenagers ever to grace the cobbles.  It's not as if David doesn't have an excuse for his behaviour. At the age of three he was almost kidnapped by crazy-nanny Carmel Finnan and then watched his parents' marriage break up and his sister have a baby at 13.  A few years later he was kidnapped 'proper' and driven into the Weatherfield canal by step-father, Richard Hillman.  David seems to have decided that all of his faults are down to his mother, Gail, and strangely began to send her hoax cards supposedly from Richard Hillman.  Since Gail is a true Corrie mother, she forgave her son and continued to take the emotional abuse that he threw at her on a daily basis.  David dropped out of school and managed to split up Gail's relationship with Phil 'the foot man' Nail as well as tormenting his mother over Ivy Tilsley's 'secret diaries' in which he read that his mother had wanted him aborted.  David is now trying to further his sexual prowess by blackmailing Tracy Barlow into giving him the odd...ahem...favour in return for him testifying in her defence at court. Just how much more can the young Master Platt do?

There we have it. Four of the nastiest children Weatherfield has ever seen.  Of course there have been other sons and daughters that have driven their mothers wild.  Annie Walker was forever dismayed by her son Billy, Eileen Grimshaw has had one big struggle with her lad Jason and Liz McDonald had a miscarriage after she feared that a teenage Steve had gone mising and been killed.  Somehow I think that these women need more than a card and a bunch of Tesco flowers to say thankyou for all they've done. It's strange to say, but it seems that behind every great Corrie woman is a terrible child.