Denise Osbourne

Denise's first marriage to the rich Frank ended in divorce when she ran off with Neil Mitchell. They later married, but, by late 1992, they too had separated, and Denise arrived in Coronation Street to try and build a new life. She opened a hairdressing and beauty salon at Nº2, living in the flat above, but still turned to builder Neil to fit out the premises.

From day one, she had men falling at her feet and the Christmas 1992 plot had randy Reg Holdsworth from Bettabuys, Jack Duckworth from The Rovers, and Doug Murray from the garage vying for the favours of this new sex siren in the Elsie Tanner mould. All three fought to be the first to take her out. But, Denise turned the tables by inviting all of them back to her flat … at the same time.

Neil was happy to stay friends until he discovered he had a love rival in Hanif Ruparell, although by this time he was himself dating Angie Freeman. Denise and Hanif's affair started as a no-strings attachment for them both, a bit of fun. Nevertheless, Denise found herself falling for her rich friend. When she eventually plucked up the courage to tell Hanif how she felt, she was deeply hurt when he rejected her. The whole thing blew up into a full scale argument and ended with Denise throwing red wine into his face and storming out of a restaurant.

In the meantime, Don Brennan fell for Denise's charms after she cheered him up about his amputated leg. She showed him her deformed hand, and said she had mananged to live with it. Don agreed to lend Denise the money she needed for her hair-styling business. Denise soon realised that Don wanted more from the relationship than friendship. She was then plagued with nuisance telephone calls and anonymous pranks that lasted for several weeks, causing her much anguish. She suspected both Neil and Hanif, and was sick to her stomach when she found out that Don was the cluprit — helped by Hanif, who knew 'somebody at the telephone exchange'.

Early in 1994, Denise started dating Ken Barlow, and to their mutual surprise fell pregnant. Denise then had to go through the trauma of a miscarriage, tempered somewhat by the discovery she was carrying twins and the survivor was still healthy. Ken offered to marry Denise, but with five broken marriages between them, she wanted to retain her independence, and let him know that their relationship was over.

She found life harder than expected during her pregnancy, and had to bring in help at the salon in the shape of Jon Welch. She had hoped that Jon would buy her out, but he couldn't raise the money.

Even when she went into labour, she refused to let Ken know. But, as the pain hit her, she got a message to him. Ken arrived in time for Daniel's birth, and was very supportive in the weeks that followed. However, Denise continued to shut Ken out, refusing to even put his name on Daniel's birth certificate … but, she was only too willing to let Ken babysit.

Over the next few months, Denise and Jon became closer. But, in April 1995, when he made a pass at her, he was put down in no uncertain terms, and he walked out on both her and the salon. Meanwhile, Ken was going through his own turmoil, with his adopted daughter, Tracy, in hospital after a drugs overdose. Nonetheless, he wanted some access to his son, Daniel. After Ken threatened legal action to obtain that access, Denise threw a "wobbly" and, in May, scuttled off to her sister's in Macclesfield. After Ken tracked her down there, she came back to Weatherfield and seemed more willing to let Ken into her life. In July 1995, Ken bought Nº1 and he, Denise, and Daniel moved in — but, she kept the flat above Nº2, and even refused to let it to a desperate Bill Webster in December.

Her reasons for keeping Nº2 soon became apparent. Brian Dunkley, Denise's accountant brother-in-law, turned up to "do the books", which consisted of going up to the flat, tearing all their clothes off, and making mad, passionate love! They had had an affair about two years earlier and both were keen to resume it. It didn't take long for sister Alison to realise Brian was being unfaithful. Not knowing who the 'other woman' was, she turned to Denise for comfort.

In January 1996, a guilt-ridden Denise tried to stop the affair, and asked Ken if he was still prepared to marry her — he agreed. However, Brian wasn't going to give up easily. Ken found out about the affair and threw Denise out. After a few tear-stained mascara scenes, Denise decided to head south with Brian, but leave Daniel with his father, as she knew she would never be able to offer him a stable life.

In November 1996, she and Brian returned to take Daniel back, claiming that Ken had no legal right to keep him. She agreed to allow him to visit Daniel at weekends. But, after a few months, Ken found the travelling and the emotional strain of brief visits with his son too much to bear, and he ceased contact with both Denise and Daniel.

In 2007, Denise sent Ken a card, having read about his daughter Tracy's imprisonment for murder. With his wife, Deirdre, blaming him for Tracy's plight, Ken decided to move out of Nº1 Coronation Street and into a bed and breakfast in Manchester. There ensconced, and after his first morning’s breakfast, he went for a postprandial stroll. He found Denise running her own hair-styling business in the heart of the city. Steeling himself for the worst, Ken went into the salon to speak with Denise. They went up to her flat over the shop for a “cuppa”. Sufficiently revived, and after informing Denise that he would have to reduce his regular contributions to Daniel’s trust fund — the cost of Tracy’s defence having seriously reduced his financial wherewithal — Ken screwed up the courage to ask Denise if he could re-establish contact with their son. She promised Ken she would ask Daniel if he wanted to meet him. Ken was relieved the next day to discover that Daniel had agreed.

Later, Denise invited Ken to move in with her and Daniel. Ken seized the opportunity this provided to bond with Daniel. Eventually, however, Daniel began to resent Ken's presence in his home. At one point, Denise took Ken to make amends with his wife, Deirdre, but this resulted in Deirdre slapping Denise in front of a packed Rovers.

Following the imbroglio between Deirdre and Denise at the pub, Deirdre visited Ken and apologised for her behaviour and begged him to return to their home, but to no avail.

Ken and Denise grew closer during his continued separation from Deirdre. Convinced that Ken wanted to respark their relationship from years earlier, and eager for help bringing up their son, Denise made a clumsy pass at him. Leaning in for a kiss, Ken rejected her. Denise was humiliated. Ken ultimately returned to his wife.