Corrie's forgotten characters - Des Barnes

Des Barnes, like Norma Ford, is another one of Coronation Street's great characters that is sometimes forgotten about. Des is a relatively modern character, yet he failed to make neither the Corrieblog Top 50, nor the Unsung Heroes lists! Des arrived on the Street in February 1990 with his new wife Steph and the couple were quickly branded as 'Yuppie's by the British media. They moved into No.6, Coronation Street's very own house of horrors and Des's 8-year story began.

Click through below to learn more about Des, today's forgotten character.

Des was a bookie by trade and quickly found himself a job at Skinner's betting shop on Rosamund Street. Des and Steph were lively and brash and something that Coronation Street had never seen before. Here was a young couple with money in their pockets, a new house and plenty of leisure time to do as they wished. They were a true product of the Tatcher era, but in reality they were no different from their neighbours. Des was a veritable womaniser, taking his roots from previous Corrie lotharios like Len Fairclough, Ray Langton and fellow bookie Dave Smith, but with a decidedly contemporary twist.

It was all moonlight and roses for the newlyweds, and they made their mark on the Street by throwing a house warming party for all the residents - which ended with Kevin Webster having his moustache shaved off by Steph. Des employed randy pensioner Phyllis Pearce as his housekeeper and thus began, in my opinion anyway, one of Corrie's best working relationships.

The Barneses had been married for just over a year when Steph left Des in 1991 after she grew bored of him. Des used the boat that he had been renovating as a symbol of their failed marriage and set it on fire. Des took no time in romancing Angie Freeman from No.7 but their relationship ended in 1992 when Raquel Wolstenhulme moved into No.6 as a lodger. Des and Raquel soon shared a bed, but when Steph turned up again in 1992, Raquel moved into the Rovers. Steph didn't stay around for long, informing Des that she was in a relationship with another man.

It wasn't all drama and woe for Des, he had his fair share of comedy too. In an early story, Des fell out with the Duckworths (a feud that would last many years) after Jack blamed Des for giving him bad tips on the horses at the betting shop. In anger, Vera Duckworth threw a piece of stone cladding at the window of No.6, but missed and it smashed the Wiltons' window at No.4. Steph retaliated by hiring a policeman strip-o-gram to turn up at Jack & Vera's wedding anniversary party. Des's main comedy came from his spats with Derek Wilton. In 1993 he paid for a campervan that had become and eyesore in the Street to be crane-lifted into Derek's garden. Des also overheard Derek telling Sarah-Louise Platt that one of the trees in his garden was 'magic', so Des decided to replant a larger tree each night.

By the end of 1992 Des was involved with yet another woman, Lisa Duckworth, whom moved into No.6 with him so that her son, Tommy, could play in the garden. Tragically, Lisa was knocked down and killed in the Street on the day that she and Des had agreed to buy a house together. Again, Des spent little time worrying about the disasters in his life and turned to Raquel for some 'comfort', and by now Raquel was working alongside Tanya Pooley at the Rovers.

The confusing relationship between Tanya, Des and Raquel was one of our Top Stories, that you can read about here.

After the fallout from his relationship with Tanya and Raquel, Des focused more attention onto his career, took in Andy McDonald as a lodger and had a one night stand with Andy's mam, Liz. Des remained rather quiet until 1996 when he started a relationship with widow Claire Palmer. This was to be Des's longest relationship since Steph, but it all ended in 1997 when Sam Failsworth tricked Des into trying it on with her and thew him (and his trousers!) out into the Street for Claire to see. Des eventually started a relationship with Samantha, who admitted to him that she had been raped at the age of 16.

Des and Samantha got engaged in 1998, but Sam was still married and begged her husband not to agree to a divorce as she did not want to marry Des. Des found out and ended it with Sam, who went to lodge with Natalie Horrocks. Des and Natalie started to court eachother, while Sam tried to ruin things by making up lies. Natalie and Des were married in a whirlwind, but tragedy was to strike less than a month later.

Natalie's son Tony was involved in some very dodgy dealings, and when Des returned to No.6 to find Tony being attacked, he waded in to try and help his step-son. The gang instead attacked Des and he was thrown to the floor and hit his head on a polystyrene table. He was seriously injured and later died in hospital.