There have been plenty of love triangles on Coronation Street but what would you call it when six people were involved? I don't even want to think about it! My all time favourite storyline started off innocently. Raquel Wolstenhulme had an on-again off-again romance with the cad, Des Barnes, who seemed to use her when it suited him but never really loved her. The story opened with Raquel and Des in "on-again" mode. Meanwhile, witchy Tanya Pooley was making life miserable for Raquel behind the bar at the Rovers. Raquel tried to be friends, supporting Tanya when she found out that Tanya was having an affair with a married man.
Click through to find out how the plot thickened.
Now, then...The married man that Tanya was seeing turned out to be Des's boss at the betting shop, Alex Christie. Tanya always thought that Raquel was stupid and her ambitions to be a model only caused Tanya to regard her with more disdain. Yet everyone always seemed to prefer Raquel's sweet nature to Tanya's acid one. Go figure! Tanya's plan to put Raquel in her place took the form of man-stealing and she set out to seduce Des Barnes. Des couldn't resist and "came into the flame".
Tanya kept Alex on the hook too and when Des found out, he confronted Alex and Tanya in bed and screamed at Alex to stay away from "his girl". But Raquel overheard it all and ran off to the pub to be comforted by Bet. Alex and Des fought and Tanya smacked herself and pretended Des did it. That way, she could get sympathy but it wasn't forthcoming. Bet knew better and gave Tanya her marching orders. Des wanted no more to do with her either.
Enter Charlie Whelan, Bet's trucker boyfriend. Tanya decided to get back at Bet, too, and managed to seduce Charlie. She even talked him into letting her come with him on a job to Germany. He tried not to let Bet find out but Tanya wasn't having any of that and barged in on his and Bet's goodbye. Bet's heart was broken and Charlie left with Tanya riding shotgun. Tanya even sent Bet a postcard from Germany, unsigned, but it was clear to Bet that she was rubbing her nose in it. Charlie did return a few months later and apologized, hoping but not expecting that Bet would take him back. She didn't and he left our screens for good.
In a very funny scene, Raquel and Bet got absolutely bladdered after hours and dredged up all their past heartbreaks including Des and Charlie
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That storyline provided us with two cracking bits of eye candy in Raquel and Tanya - I think the actress who played Tanya appeared in Peak Practice and also in Bad Girls - but I can't remember her name. The first real bit of eye candy I ever got watching Corrie was Michelle Holmes when I was seven.