Joan Bannister

Joan Bannister was the wife of lecherous lothario Wally Bannister. He started going out with Blanche Hunt when he met her at a tea dance. Blanche came back to Coronation Street with stories of the supposed widower's large detached house, complete with indoor swimming pool, but their relationship was interrupted when Blanche was called away to look after her sick sister. Wally's attentions then turned to her granddaughter Tracy Barlow who thoroughly ignored the age difference between them in pursuit of her sugar daddy's riches. He also took Tracy to his house where she changed into a revealing swimming costume and made use of the pool. He persuaded her to stay the night, for "companionship", which she duly did. The next day, Deirdre rang her mobile to enquire of her daughter's whereabouts and was enraged to hear Wally's voice and the sound of him diving into the pool in the background. She and Archie Shuttleworth went round to the house where a struggle broke out between mother and daughter which ended up with them both falling into the pool. In the middle of this altercation, Joan entered the room, having been away for several days on a break and coming home early because the weather was so bad. She told the assembled group that she was the housekeeper for Mr and Mrs Lockwood, the house's true owners who were away in Zambia, and that husband Wally was the gardener. A livid Tracy swiftly and painfully kneed him while Deirdre threatened that he was dead if he ever approached any of her family again. Joan told her not to worry, telling her that he was a dead man anyway now that she knew what he was up to…