Des Barnes

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Coronation Street character
Des Barnes
Portrayed by	Philip Middlemiss
Duration	1990-1998
First appearance	12 February 1990
Last appearance	18 November 1998
Profile
Date of birth	24th April 1965
Date of death	18th November 1998
Status	Deceased
Occupation	Bookie
Family Wives Natalie Horrocks (?-1998) Father Bob Barnes Mother Pat Barnes Siblings Colin Barnes

Desmond Francis "Des" Barnes was a character on British ITV soap opera Coronation Street played by actor Philip Middlemiss.

Des appeared on the street between 1990 and 1998 and worked as a bookie in the local betting shop. He arrived on the street with his then wife Steph. After Steph left him he took up with a couple of other women on the street, including Raquel Watts and Tanya Pooley, both of whom he ended up in a love triangle with. In 1998 Des was attacked in his home and murdered by drug dealers while trying to protect the son of his new wife Natalie.

Des works as a bookie, currently at Sean Skinners shop in Rosamund Street.

He moved into one of the newer houses, next door to Gail and Martin, with wife Stephanie. His other neighbours are Mavis and Derek Wilton. Des is a bit of a wag and the Wilton's are his favourite target.

Des had a grand passion for Steph, but she didn't seem to care as deeply for him, and eventually left for another man. Des had been building a boat in the back garden for years, and the date of the launch coincided with Steph leaving him. He burned the boat on a canal.

When Terry Duckworth was in prison, Des offered his back garden to Lisa for their son Tommy to play in. His relationship with Lisa gradually deepened until she moved in with him. Terry arranged for some roughs on the outside to beat Des up. Vera was furious, accusing Des of breaking up her son’s marriage and referring to him as a bookie's runner. But she gradually came round as both she and Des shared a love for Tommy.

Lisa was tragically run over one night when crossing the street from the Rovers. Des was affected a lot more than Terry. Tommy went to live with Lisa's parents in Blackpool, but Des still sees him when they bring him to Weatherfield to visit Jack and Vera.

After Lisa, Des went out with Raquel Wolstenhulme. She moved in, but could tell that he was never going to ask to marry her and broke it off. Des persuaded her to go back to him when she started seeing someone she'd met on a modelling assignment. They moved back together. This ended in disaster when Des had a tempestuous affair with the new barmaid, Tanya Pooley. She was seeing Des boss at the time (Alex Christie), and really wanted him to divorce his wife and marry her. However, she couldn't resist stealing Des from Raquel at the same time. One night Des went to see Tanya and found Alex with her. During the resulting melee, Raquel arrived and discovered the affair.

Raquel later got engaged to Curly Watts. Des appeared at their party and forced Raquel to admit that she didn't really love Curly and Raquel later broke it off.

After this, Andy McDonald moved in as a lodger. He later left in protest when Des started cracking jokes about his criminal family: "What do you call a McDonald in a suit? The accused!"

Des is currently dating a young widow called Claire. They have brief illicit meetings during lunch time as Claire is trying to bring her daughter Becky round to the idea of her mother seeing another man. Des wants Claire to take a boating holiday with him, and Becky thinks that's such a good idea, she wants to go too. Becky accepted Des and when they returned from the boat trip Claire & Becky moved in with Des, even though this meant that Claire lost her widow’s pension.

1997 Everything was going well until Des was talked into making a parachute jump with his boss Sean Skinner and Samantha Failsworth, the Rovers barmaid that Sean was currently going around with. Due to an ankle injury Sean was unable to make the jump. Des & Samantha were elated that they had made such a successful jump, that later that day Des made a play for Samantha. She took up his offer, as far as him removing his trousers, then she threw his trousers out of the window and him out the front door in full view of Rita Sullivan, Mavis Wilton and Claire.

This resulted in Claire & Becky moving out and Sean giving him the sack. Des decided to give up and leave. He let the recently returned Angie Freeman take over his house, got himself a boat and left, with Derek Wilton giving him a fond farewell.

July 1997 saw the return of Des to the Street, only to find his neighbour Derek had died, Des was truly upset. He also found Angie had moved Chris Collins (Kevin Webster’s workmate) into the house with her, at first Des didn’t approve, but eventually gave in.

In August Des made another play for Samantha, but this time was accepted. It was Des she poured out her heart to, telling him of her rape ordeal.

In 1998, Des visited his stepson, Tony Horrocks, but he was disturbed when he discovered drug dealers setting about Tony. When he tried to help his son, he was violently subjected to a physical attack - which resulted in him being rushed to hospital. When Natalie went over to see him in hospital, she discovered him badly battered and bruised. He woke up, and told her about a dream that he had had about him with her in Blackpool. His last phrase was, "Oh Natalie..." - then he suddenly died in his bed. Des was always remembered and respected (by most people) in death. He was the sixth person who lived in Coronation Street to be murdered.