Peter Barlow

Peter Francis Barlow is the son of Ken and Valerie Barlow and father of Simon. He is the current owner of Barlow's Bookies in Rosamund Street and husband of Leanne Battersby.

Peter was born in 1965. He and his twin sister Susan were raised by Ken and Val until Val's death in 1971. Ken initially tried to cope with bringing them up by himself but eventually sent them to Glasgow, into the care of Val's parents Alfred and Edith Tatlock, intending to send for the twins when he had married again. By the time Ken was ready to have his children live with him, Peter and Susan were settled in Glasgow and opted to remain there.

In 1980, Peter joined the Royal Navy and served with them until 2000. He married Jessica Midgeley in 1990 but they separated and later divorced in 2000 after she was unfaithful. After being discharged from the Navy, Peter returned to his native Weatherfield and began to build a life there, buying the Bookies in Rosamund Street and getting engaged to Shelley Unwin. While still with Shelley, Peter became involved with Lucy Richards and married her after finding out she was pregnant with his baby, but he still married an oblivious Shelley and lived a double life until his wives found out. Lucy moved to Australia with Peter's son Simon, and with his life in ruins, Peter moved to Portsmouth.

Peter returned to Weatherfield in 2008 when Lucy died and left Peter all her money in her will, on the condition that he brought up Simon. Peter again bought the Bookies but found the pressures of fatherhood overwhelming, and eventually turned to drink, but quit after burning down his flat and nearly killing Simon. He began a relationship with assistant Leanne Battersby and they got engaged in 2010. Recently, Peter had to fight for custody of Simon when Lucy's affluent father George Wilson saw Peter as a destructive influence on the boy after witnessing Peter fall off the wagon.

Peter's relationship with his father Ken has often been difficult due to Peter's resentment of Ken for never being there for him when he was a youth, and due to their having little in common.

1965-1971: Early years
Peter was born along with his twin sister Susan in April 1965 to parents Ken and Valerie Barlow. In 1968 they all moved to the newly Maisonettes.

In 1971, when Peter and Susan are six-years old, Ken and Valerie planned to take them to Jamaica as Ken was offered a teaching post there, and would be a new life for them. When Peter and Susan were being babysitted by Uncle Albert Tatlock, and while Ken was in the Rovers waiting for Valerie, she was electrocuted and killed in a fire.

1971-2000: Moving to Glasgow and Joining the Navy


Ken couldn't cope with the twins without Valerie, and later in the year, Valerie's mother Edith Tatlock decided to was best if the twins come up to Glasgow to stay with her and Valerie's father, Alfred Tatlock. Ken accepted as he thought it would be best. Peter and Susan spent their childhood years being raised by their grandparents and Ken came up to visit them time to time, or they would go down to visit them.



Peter visited in 1975 as he missed Ken and wanted to stay with him. Ken learned that Peter had been skipping school.

In 1977, Peter returned again to Coronation Street, persumably this time to stay with Ken. Ken later learnt that Peter had failed his exams and decided that Peter should resit them again, this time in Weatherfield. Peter wanted to return to Glasgow, and phoned Edith to come and pick him up, although Ken didn't want to have any of it. Peter later signed up to join the Navy and left.

He returned on leave for his sister Susan's wedding to Mike Baldwin in 1986, and wasn't happy when his father Ken refused to go, as he hated Baldwin. After some home truths towards his father, Ken decided to go, for Susan's sake. Peter left with his girlfriend Jessica Midgeley and they married in 1990.

2000-2007: Back from Navy and Bigamy
After serving 20 years in the Navy, Peter returned to Coronation Street in December 2000, during the time when his father Ken was protesting with the rest of the street to save the Cobbles, as the Council wanted to tarmac it. Peter revealed to his family that he and his wife Jessica had split up, as she had an affair while he was away. In 2001, Peter was the suspect of the rape of Toyah Battersby, but later managed to help catch the guy who had done it, Phil Simmonds.

Peter accidently let it slip to father Ken that Susan had a teenage son Adam, from Mike Baldwin, but she had claimed that she had an abortion. Mike later found out through Dev Alahan, who was told by Deirdre, who was told by Ken. Susan was visiting Ken at the time, but tried to flee Weatherfield, but died in a car crash. Adam however survived, but Peter and Ken felt guilty, and blamed themselves.

During 2001, Peter began a relationship with Shelley Unwin, who managed The Rovers Return. However, in September 2002 he began an affair with florist Lucy Richards. When she fell pregnant, he married her, despite still being engaged. The only person to know about his relationship with Lucy was his step-sister and her employee Tracy. When Lucy learned that he was still engaged to Shelley, she threw him out. Lucy gave birth to Simon in July 2003 and slowly began to let Peter have links with her life again. When she discovered that Peter had bigamously married Shelley in August 2003, she told Shelley the truth before taking Simon with her for a new life in Australia. Peter was thrown out by Shelley and made a hasty departure to Portsmouth following his public shaming.

2007-2008: Supporting Tracy
He was not seen again until he returned for several months in early 2007, concerned about Tracy's volatile relationship with Charlie Stubbs. He was attacked by Charlie, who thought Peter was Tracy's lover, and within a week Tracy had murdered Charlie. In the time leading up to Tracy's trial he stayed in Weatherfield and enjoyed a short relationship with Maria Sutherland. After Tracy was given life imprisonment, he returned to his business in Portsmouth, taking Adam with him.

2008-: Fatherhood, Alcoholism and Leanne Battersby
Peter was next seen in October 2008, returning with Simon after Lucy's death from breast cancer. He hit the bottle, claiming that he had no interest in being a father. When he discovered that he was in line to receive all of Lucy's estate to care for Simon, he had a change of heart but used the money to buy the bookmakers shop from Dan Mason, renaming it Barlow's Bookies. Father and son set up home in the flat above it.

Peter set his sights on Leanne Battersby, but as it became more clear that he had a drink problem, she was reluctant to commit to him. In early 2009, Peter entered rehab in Portsmouth to battle his demons. When he returned in March, he and Leanne started a relationship. It was short lived, as a woman arrived claiming that they had an affair while he was drying. Leanne left him, and Weatherfield, to live in Leeds.

Peter's drinking continued, resulting in him accidentally burning the flat down after passing out with a cigarette in his hand. After realising the danger that he put his young son in, Peter vowed to never drink again and began attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

After a fling with Michelle Connor, he resumed his relationship with Leanne when he persuaded her to come back to him in September. They decided to open a bar together in the joinery premises under the viaduct at the end of Coronation Street. Ken was dead set against the plan, but Peter found investment in Lucy's father George Wilson, who was attempting to build a relationship with Simon.

As work began on the bar, Peter's drink problem returned. George tried to use the alcoholism against Peter to get custody of Simon for himself. As Peter tried once more to clean up his act, he berated George and his wife Eve for losing Simon in Blackpool, and warned George to stay away. Due to Peter's ongoing rehabilitation, plans for the bar were abandoned.

Despite his personal problems, Peter's relationship with Leanne survived and they became engaged. He even overcame the threat he felt from her ex-husband Nick Tilsley moving back to the street. When Nick decided to use the premises at the end of the street to open his own bar, The Joinery, Peter encouraged Leanne to take up his offer of a Manager role.

While Leanne and Nick were working hard to get the bar open, Peter grew close to Leanne's friend Carla Connor when he realised that she had a drink problem. He offered support to her and their meetings were kept secret between the two of them. When Leanne asked where he kept going off to, Peter told her that he was supporting a man from AA named Carl. In November, The Joinery opened and Carla became drunk before driving her car home. She was pulled over by police and Peter took her home from the station after she'd been charged with drink driving. Carla made a pass at Peter that night but he told her, while he was tempted, he only wanted to be with Leanne. However, across town after hours at The Joinery, Leanne began an affair with Nick.

Nick begged Leanne not to go through with the wedding as he still loved her. When Leanne told Carla what had happened she told her to choose Nick too, although this was largely down to her plan to snare Peter. Leanne chose to go ahead with the wedding and call off her affair with Nick. At Peter's stag party in The Joinery on 6th December 2010, Nick took Peter into the office to tell him the truth but they were interrupted by Ashley Peacock who had come to say his farewells. At this point a massive gas explosion ripped through the Joinery, damaging the viaduct and causing a tram to derail and crash into the street. Peter was gravely injured but rescued by Nick and Ashley, who died for his efforts. Believing he was close to death, Peter married Leanne in the hospital that night.

Peter survived but his injuries meant that he would have to learn to walk again. He and Leanne moved into Number 1 with Ken and Deirdre while he convalesced. Leanne told Peter that she now knew that 'Carl' was Carla. On Christmas Day, Peter announced in the Rovers Return that he intended to be walking by 14th February when he planned to give Leanne the wedding that she deserved. After a week away over New Year, the pressure of his injuries was already beginning to show. He rejected Ken's help and insisted on moving back to the flat, taking a lot of his frustration out on Leanne. Encouraged by a manipulative Nick, Peter began secretly drinking again.

Background Information

 * Peter and Susan where first introduced in 1965 as the twins to established characters Ken and Valerie Barlow. When Anna Reid quit the role of Valerie in 1971, where the character was killed off, Peter was written out in the show along with his twin sister Susan. He continued to make recurring appearances in the show, and wasnt a regular character again until December 2000.
 * Peter has been played by a total of six actors during his time in the show. The first actor to play him was Robert Heanue, from 1965 to 1970. Chris Dormer took over the role in 1970 and played for a year, and left when his parents immigrated. The character was written out with Susan after Valerie's death. When the character began making recurring appearances from 1973 to 1986, he was played by a variety of actors. Linus Roache, whose father Bill Roache played Peter's father Ken Barlow played the role in 1973 and 1975 (he even returned to the series in 2010, playing the long-lost son of Ken, Lawrence Cunningham). In 1977, Joseph McKenna played the role which saw Peter wanting to join the navy (and did off-screen in 1980). When the character was written in as part of Susan's wedding to Ken's rival Mike Baldwin in 1986, he was played by another different actor David Lonsdale.
 * After a 14 year absence, Peter was once again brought back during Coronation Street's 40th Anniversary Live episode in December 2000, with Chris Gascoyne now playing the part. This time Peter was brought back as a regular character, the first time since 1971. The character was involved in numerous storylines such as the death of his twin sister Susan, and a bigamy storyline in 2003. Mr Gascoyne quit the role in 2003, but returned again in 2007 briefly when involved in a storyline when Tracy was being sent down for the murder of boyfriend Charlie Stubbs.
 * Peter was written back into the show in 2008 again in a regular role, with Chris Gascoyne playing the part still. The return saw Peter's battle with alchohol, and also raising his son Simon Barlow, whose mum Lucy died off-screen (was involved in the bigamy storyline, where Peter married her and then Shelly. The character also was involved with character Leanne Battersby, who became a mother figure to Simon.