Dougie Bowker was a sleazy man who bought The Capricorn Club from Jimmy Frazer in the spring of 1973. Alf Roberts had to pay a visit there as he was on the council's Watch Committee and went along with Ray Langton in tow. They saw almost straight away that the tone of the establishment had gone down since its opening the previous November and that an unhappy Rita Littlewood was working there as "hostess" but not a singer as she had been in better times.
His eyes alighting on Ray and Alf, Dougie asked an unimpressed Rita if the two men were interested in the "back room" and the two had sharp words at the suggestion. She knew that in that room, Dougie arranged showings of pornographic films. He accused her of being uppity and ashamed of the club. Making himself even more unpopular, he told her she was a “good-looking bird” but being sour brought her down, and to make matters worse, slapped her bottom.
Later on, he joined Alf and Ray at their table and, not knowing that Alf was a councillor, told them about the film show which charged £2.50 a head for admittance, all the time annoying Ray by referring to him as "junior" and "sonny”. After the two men had walked out, Rita was livid when Dougie insinuated that the “plump one” was a dead cert for watching the films and, for good measure, ordered her to be nice to two unpleasant customers.
After a tip-off from Ray, Len visited another night. Dougie saw his interest in Rita and said that he could fix him up with someone if he got nowhere with her, earning Len's enmity. Rita told Dougie that Len was a councillor and as a result Dougie and one of his bouncers kept a watchful eye on Len for the rest of the evening. Len tried to get Rita to leave her job but, still smarting from his rejecting her as a possible Mayoress earlier in the year when he was up for the role of Mayor, she told him sharply to get lost. A week later, unable to stand the club or Dougie any more, Rita gave up her job.
- The role of Dougie was played by Peter Dudley, some six years before he rejoined the programme in the regular role of Bert Tilsley.