Alma Halliwell

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Alma Halliwell
Coronation Street character

Played by	Amanda Barrie
Duration	1981, 1982, 1984, 1988-2001
Date of Birth	18 October 1944
Date of Death	17 June 2001
Marital Status	Deceased
Occupation	Catering
Family	Richard Hillman

Alma Baldwin, (née Halliwell; previously Sedgewick, ), played by Amanda Barrie, was a fictional character on the soap opera Coronation Street.

[edit] Character

Alma Halliwell was first introcuded in 1981 when she married cafe owner Jim Sedgewick. The marriage was a disaster, and when Alma fell pregnant a year later she had an abortion rather than bring a child into their loveless home. Alma's character properly began to make an impact on the street when she took over Jim's Café from her husband after they divorced in 1982. This was the beginning of a long running working relationship with Gail Tilsley (later Gail Platt), becoming business partners in 1989 until Alma sold her share of the café to Roy Cropper in 1996.

Despite a tempestuous on-off relationship with Mike Baldwin which became a marriage from 1992 until 1999, Alma never had a family but was often the motherly, sympathetic, liberal-minded character in many storylines, particularly off-setting her husband's often harsh and high-minded attitudes.

[edit] Storylines

Alma's most dramatic storylines included her relationships with Mike, Mike's nemesis Ken Barlow, Stephen Reid (son of Audrey Roberts and half brother of Gail), and Don Brennan. Although never a romantic relationship, Alma felt sympathy for Don after Mike sold him a garage business at a knowingly inflated price to then sit back and watched him go bankrupt. Don eventually had a breakdown, becoming obsessed with revenge on Mike. After attempting to frame Mike for arson and insurance fraud, he kidnapped Alma, driving her into the river in his taxi. His last act was to steal Alma's car and drive into the viaduct at the end of Coronation Street, killing himself.

In 2001, Alma was also involved in the Freshco supermarket siege, coincidentally along with Mike and Ken amongst others, in which a gunman was shot dead by the police.

Alma was also responsible for bringing together the lonely hearts, Roy Cropper and (transsexual) Hayley Patterson, who continue to run the relocated and renamed café business into 2007.

[edit] Exit

In 2001 Alma discovered that due to a missed smear test and a further misdiagnosis, she was stricken with inoperable cervical cancer and died at Audrey's home in Grasmere Drive on 17 June 2001. She was 56 years old.

Family