Corrie's forgotten characters - Irma Barlow

This week Corrieblog welcomes back our forgotten characters feature, where we'll explore five of Coronation Street's neglected characters from the past. Today's character under the spotlight is Irma Barlow, née Ogden, played by Sandra Gough. The fun-loving Irma first appeared on Coronation Street in January of 1964 and by the time her parents Stan and Hilda appeared in July, Irma had already made her presence known in the street. The eldest of the Ogden children had left home when she was fifteen to escape Stan's violence, and changed her name from Freda to the more glamourous Irma. [Ben]

Click below to read more about Irma's time on the Street.

Irma worked in the Corner Shop with Florrie Lindley and quickly found herself at the centre of all the local gossip, most of which was aimed at the bad reputation of her parents. After she was tracked down by Stan, Irma gave him an ultimatum: prove that you can provide for the family or I'm off! Ena Sharples openly bad-mouthed Stan and Hilda while they viewed No.13 and Irma lay into Mrs Sharples, telling her to shut up - and it worked!

Irma soon found herself at the centre of another crisis when Florrie had a nervous breakdown. The delirious Florrie accused Irma of talking about her and laughing behind her back. When Irma walked out of the shop five minutes before she was supposed to finish her shift, Florrie broke down and threw a tin of peaches through the shop window before collapsing on the floor weeping. It was down to Irma to keep the shop running while Florrie recovered. Irma also worked in the Rovers on an evening.

In 1965 Irma began to go out with David Barlow and after a quick courtship the couple married in December of that year. Can anyone remember where David proposed to Irma? The wedding plans weren't easy: David's brother, Ken, showed his distaste at the marriage as he thought that the Ogdens were too common and openly voiced his disapproval. David and Irma grew tired of the sniping between the two families and planned to marry in secret, only for the taxi driver taking them to the register office to leak their plans. All of the residents turned out to arrange an impromptu wedding reception for the couple, much to their surprise.

David and Irma moved into a posh new block of flats on Sandy Lane, but David's football career was cut short by a knee injury and he became depressed. After receiving £300 compensation from his club, Irma came up with yet another ultimatum: buy the corner shop or I am leaving! David put his money towards buying the shop and the couple settled into life behind the counter and the bacon slicer.

Irma quickly grew bored at the shop and took a job working at the PVC factory across the street, much to the disapproval of David who needed help in the shop. Irma soon solved that problem when a gushing Hilda turned up for her first day as David's new shop assistant!

During the 1960s Irma was arguably Corrie's biggest young 'soap babe' and her fun-loving and exciting nature was an instant hit with viewers. Irma pushed her reluctant sister-in-law, Valerie, into going for nights out and even managed to go on a couple of dates under the assumed names of Avril and Gail.

In 1967 Irma had a lively year, which unfortunately culminated in tragedy. When David received a letter inviting him to stand for the council, Irma went mad, claiming that it was a boring job and a boring lifestyle. She needn't have worried, though, as the letter had been sent to the wrong Barlow brother and was meant for Ken. Irma swapped jobs with Val for the day and claimed that being a housewife was easy. Irma fell pregnant but miscarried at four months and decided that she would never have children. Instead of trying for their own child the Barlows became foster parents.

In 1968 Irma and David decided to emigrate to Australia and left Weatherfield.

Tragedy hit the family when a car accident in 1970 killed both David and Darren. The Ogdens could not afford the £600 aeroplane ticket for Hilda to bring Irma home from Australia, so Dave Smith loaned them the money. The residents rallied round and raised enough money for the Ogdens to pay-off Dave Smith, but Stan being Stan instead used to cash to buy Irma a share in the corner shop and gave Dave Smith the deeds to No.13 as means of payment. Irma started a relationship with Dave and he gladly returned the deeds to the Ogdens, but when Irma found out about the arrangement, she dumped him.

Irma struggled with the loss of her child and became severely depressed and went as far as kidnapping a local toddler, believing him to be her own. When Bet Lynch found the child at the corner shop flat, she returned him to his mother who promised not to go to the police.

As a widow Irma became more flighty than ever, and went on dates with Billy Walker, Ray Langton and Joe Donnelli. Joe was a madman who had murdered Steve Tanner in 1968, and when Irma grew scared of his erratic behaviour he took her hostage in the corner shop flat, holding a pair of scissors to her throat. Irma managed to escape from the flat, but Joe darted down the street and burst into No.5 and held Minnie Caldwell hostage at gunpoint.

Sandra Gough suddenly left the country in 1971 and all of Irma's stories had to be hastily rewritten. One story featuring Irma's affair with Alan Howard continued word-for-word but with a completely different character and actress. Irma moved to Llandudno and was never seen on Coronation Street again, even for her father's funeral in 1984.