Janet Barlow
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| Coronation Street character | ||||||||||
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| Janet Reid | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1969, 1970, 1971-1977 | |||||||||
| Profile | ||||||||||
| Date of birth | 28 November 1942 | |||||||||
| Status | Deceased | |||||||||
| Occupation | Clerk | |||||||||
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Janet Louise Barlow (née Reid) was a fictional character on the British television soap opera Coronation Street. She was played by actress Judith Barker from her debut in 1969 until she was killed off in 1977.
Janet worked as the town clerk in Weatherfield. Always portrayed as an upwardly mobile homewrecker, she first came into the picture as a love interest for Len Fairclough, but she finished their relationship. In 1971, she set her sights on Alan Howard, but his wife, Elsie, saw Janet for what she was and confronted her in the corner shop, telling her exactly what she thought of her; Elsie's big heart, however, made her realise that Janet was a bleeding heart, who just wanted to be loved.
The Janet character was used as a plot device for the Ken Barlow character, so his storylines would become more interesting. Barker was quoted as saying, "She was used as a device, in the Ken relationship, and people were encouraged to hate her. I used to go about being terribly nice and pleasant to everybody in the hope that people would like her more."
In that year, Ken and Janet were wed, but the two clashed many times, most notably when it came to Ken's twins from his previous marriage to Val. Janet didn't want to raise children, while Ken wanted them to return to Weatherfield (they were sent to live in Scotland after Val's death). Another key showdown came when Valerie's Uncle Albert, who had since moved in with Ken, told him that he did not like Janet, as she disapproved of the twins. In May 1974, Janet left Ken, telling him that she had no faith in him, that he had no drive or ambition. The day she left, Ken was offered a high-powered job at the Mark Brittain Warehouse opposite the Street.
While separated, Janet and Ken did not divorce; they did, however, date other people. Ken met Janet's new partner, a taxi driver, and the three of them got on very well. However, he too was to tire of Janet's forthright behaviour and he left her. In February 1977, Janet came to Ken's house and begged for him to take her back. He refused, but allowed her to stay the night in their bed - Ken slept on the sofa. Rejected by the one person she thought would never forsake her, a distraught Janet took an overdose of sleeping pills. Ken discovered her dead in bed the following morning, and the situation was complicated when Ken was initially suspected by the police of murdering her in order to avoid a divorce. Ken had lost his mother, father, brother, nephew and his first wife, and now he had lost another.
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