Caroline "Carrie" Critchley was a wealthy hairdressing client of Dennis Tanner. In 1965, Caroline and her partner in crime Jane Maxwell invited Dennis along to motor racing at Oulton Park for the amusement of them and their male friends Rupert Andrews, Michael Grafton and Daniel Palmer.
Getting to know Dennis as he did their hair at the posh Gerard's Salon, Caroline and Jane would tease and flirt with him, entertained by his working-class patter. Dennis was taken with them, and hoped that Caroline might fancy him after she compared him favourably with Albert Finney. However, the young women actually saw him as a figure of fun and looked down on him because of his class. During one appointment, Carrie asked Dennis to join her and her friends at Oulton Park, for a laugh. Dennis accepted, excited by the glamour of it all.
When the day arrived, Caroline collected Dennis from 11 Coronation Street in her sports car. Dennis went all out to impress the Cheshire set, wearing a bow-tie and trilby and borrowing a shooting stick for the day. The truth started to dawn on him when, as they arrived at the bar, Carrie "let" Dennis buy the first round, including her tipple, a lime and soda. The group continued to get Dennis to pay until he was bled dry, knowing that he wouldn't refuse; Carrie told her friends that he was too simple to cotton on. Carrie also had fun with Dennis by pretending to lose his shooting stick and, when Rupert turned the topic of conversation towards motor vehicles, suggesting that Dennis could find a good second-hand sports car for "only" £600 - fully aware that the young man barely had two pennies to rub together. When Dennis attempted to impress the group by name-dropping his friend David Barlow, a professional footballer, it backfired as Caroline, the only one to recognise the name, knew David only from newspaper reports that he'd taken a bribe to throw a match.
By the time of the second-to-last race, the novelty had worn off and Caroline persuaded her friends to ditch Dennis and go. The group got rid of their guest by pretending that they were going to an invite-only party, with Rupert making up directions to the nearest bus stop on the fly. The hapless hairdresser arrived home hours later, penniless and crushed by the experience.
List of appearances[]
1965