Jacqueline "Jackie" Dobbs was the gobby and troublesome legal mother of Tyrone Dobbs and ex-cellmate of Deirdre Rachid.
Jackie wasn't Tyrone's biological mother, and found him abandoned as a baby. Separated from her husband Darren Dobbs at the time, Jackie was able to sell the lie that she had given birth to Tyrone. The Dobbs would split up and get back together throughout Tyrone's childhood and were terrible role models to their son, with Jackie going to prison several times.
In 1998, while incarcerated for assaulting Darren's latest fling, Jackie shared a cell with Deirdre. Jackie helped toughen Deirdre up in order to help her survive her time inside. When she was paroled later that year, Darren kicked Jackie out of their home and she turned to her ex-cellmate for somewhere to stay. After spending several weeks abusing Deirdre's hospitality, Jackie and Tyrone squatted at the empty 7 Coronation Street, later going to war over the house with its owner Curly Watts. Eventually, Darren took his wife and son back to Liverpool. Later in 1999, with Jackie back in prison, Tyrone abandoned his parents to live with Jack and Vera Duckworth.
Jackie made several more appearances in Tyrone's life, with returns in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Like a bad penny, Jackie always brought trouble to Tyrone's door and stole from him and his new wife Molly. She passed away in 2018, age 63.
Biography[]
1954-1998: The unfit mother[]
Jackie was born on 24th August 1954 in Liverpool. She later met a man named Darren Dobbs and the pair got married, and in late 1982 began raising a son, Tyrone, who Jackie found abandoned as a baby and passed off as her own. Jackie and Darren's relationship would become estranged and most of the time she raised Tyrone on her own, and although she did care for him she proved not to be the best mother in the world which meant Tyrone had an unhappy upbringing and became troublesome in his youth.
Jackie continued to have a string of flings and relationships and also ended up in prison several times, with one of the occurrences being in 1998.
1998: Meeting Deirdre Rachid[]
Jackie proved to be an old hand at prison knowing how to adapt to the system. We learned that she has had at least one prior spell in jail when she spotted an old friend from an earlier stretch in Styal Prison and shared a cell inside Redford Prison with Deirdre during Spring 1998. Jackie initially gave Deirdre a hard time but claimed this was for her own good as she was guaranteed a tough spell in prison if she thought she was better than the other inmates.
Jackie's protective attitude towards Deirdre was demonstrated when she punched a prison warder, Officer Veitch, on Deirdre's behalf, who took particular pleasure in baiting Deirdre. Jackie knew that Deirdre was due out on appeal and declared that as she was in for at least six more months Deirdre could "have this one on me" as she floored Veitch. Just before Deirdre left prison Jackie made it clear that she owed her.
1998-1999: Calling on Deirdre's "debt"[]
Jackie called the debt in by turning up unannounced on Deirdre's doorstep seven months later. Jackie was out on parole and found that her man had taken up with another woman. She looked to Deirdre for help. Jackie made herself comfortable, though unwelcome, at Deirdre's flat.
Jackie soon showed she was a chancer out for a good time by sizing up the male clientele of the Rovers and latched on to Les Battersby whom she got to buy her drinks by declaring he had "come to bed eyes". Jackie continued this throughout her stay on the Street, teasing Les and leading him on, usually to get him to buy her more drinks.
Jackie further established her credentials as a mouthy troublemaker by embarrassing Audrey Roberts when she made it clear that she did not want to let her rent the flat above the hairdressers. Jackie loudly announced that Audrey was a "stuck-up cow" and shouted to the salon customers that she "hoped they all got nits".
Jackie managed to talk Mike Baldwin into giving her a job at Underworld and regaled the girls with tales of lurid goings on during Deirdre's spell in prison.
Jackie's next surprise for Deirdre was the arrival of her delinquent son Tyrone Dobbs, who had been thrown out onto the streets by his father. Tyrone broke into No. 7, left empty by Curly Watts. Jackie and Tyrone ended up squatting at Curly's place when Deirdre's patience finally cracked at their abuse of her hospitality.
Jackie again got help from Deirdre when she was sacked from Underworld for stealing knickers. Deirdre persuaded Mike not to call the police as this would probably have resulted in Jackie being sent back to prison.
Jackie asked Alma Halliwell, who was looking after No. 7 in Curly's absence, to allow her and Tyrone to stay on a more formal basis paying rent (or at least Social Security would pay rent on her behalf). Alma had her hand forced when Jackie told her that the building society was looking to repossess the house as the mortgage was not being paid.
Jackie's life became complicated with the return of Curly Watts who, understandably, wanted his house back. Jackie prepared for a siege, pouring water over Curly's head as he banged on the door demanding to be let in. Jackie got Les Battersby to change all the locks by again leading him on. She invited him for the evening but arranged for Tyrone to arrive home early. She managed to steal Les's wallet, which led to her eventual downfall as Les gave Curly a spare key in revenge when he realised what she had done.
1999-2007: Departing Weatherfield[]
Curly, assisted by Spider Nugent, let himself back into his house and a stalemate ensued as both sides prepared to sit it out. Tyrone announced that he had phoned his father who was on his way, claiming that he was prepared to do anything for Jackie and would sort Curly and Spider out. Jackie told Curly she would move on in exchange for £1,000 but he refused. She promised that now "her fella" was on the way Curly had "signed his own death warrant". When Darren eventually arrived he turned out, despite his fearsome appearance, to be quite a reasonable man and whisked Jackie back to Liverpool. However the reconciliation didn't last as Jackie was back in prison for assaulting Darren's girlfriend, and Tyrone returned to Weatherfield on his own where he began a new life without her.
The following year Jackie was meant to visit Tyrone and his fiancée Maria Sutherland, however she was arrested for stealing an engagement present for them.
In 2007, Jackie was arrested in Spain for shoplifting and contacted Tyrone about the matter. He flew out from the United Kingdom in order to bail her out of prison.
2008-2018: Back in Tyrone's life[]
When Jackie eventually returned to Weatherfield after Tyrone contacted her about his engagement to Molly Compton, she had dyed her hair pink. She acted quite friendly to Molly, but when Tyrone and Molly discovered that Jackie owed money to an old friend of Darren's named Brian, Jackie failed to pay this debt but Tyrone and Molly came to the rescue after she lied that the debt was for the utility bills and claimed to have only went to Brian as she was desperate. Molly persuaded Tyrone to use their wedding cash in order to repay Jackie's debt. When Brian told them that Jackie had lied, they refused to speak to her. When she visited No. 9 later that day, she was asked to leave by Jack Duckworth.
Jackie returned to Coronation Street on 2nd January 2009, homeless without any money. She broke into the Duckworths' house to use the toilet. She used a guilt-trip in an attempt to secure a place in the household. Molly, Pam and Jack wanted her out, but Tyrone agreed to let her stay. Jackie did not attend Tyrone and Molly's wedding, but did show up at the reception in a black wig. She was upset that Tyrone had nothing to say about her. She pocketed Tyrone and Molly's tickets to Paris for their honeymoon, and left the Street - looking back with a bit of pride for the man Tyrone had become.
When Molly left Tyrone in February 2010 after stating she didn't love him, Jackie turned up again on the Street. Believing Molly had been having an affair (which was actually true), she turned up at the Corner Shop to start a fight with her and threw cans about the shop. She warned Molly away from Tyrone, claiming she would kill her. Even though Jackie seemed to be a changed woman and was there to support Tyrone, she began to slip back into her old ways and ended up taking men back to the house for one-night stands. When Tyrone got back with Molly after the pregnancy was revealed, he threw Jackie out and got her into a taxi, telling the driver to take her anywhere away from the Street.
Later in the year, Jackie was back in prison for assaulting a police officer, which prevented her from attending Molly's funeral and supporting Tyrone.
In February 2018, eight years following her final visit to the street, Jackie was diagnosed with a terminal condition, however she chose not to contact Tyrone that her time was nearly up, and passed away in July of that year. The news of her passing was broken to a stunned Tyrone, who was devastated by his mother's death despite her past misdeeds. He was reluctant to attend the funeral as he felt that she didn't care about him, but eventually did go with the support of his fiancée Fiz Stape.
Personality[]
Jackie was the archetypal gobby Scouser, brash and cheeky. She was one of the few women who could match Janice Battersby in a stand up row. This was confirmed when they both turned up at the Valentine's Day fancy dress disco as the same character, Blondie's Debbie Harry. Janice saw Les frisking Jackie after he caught her attempting to steal some of his prized records. Janice thought they were in a romantic clinch and, when she steamed over, a catfight ensued.
Relationships[]
Background information[]
Margi Clarke was axed from Coronation Street in 1999 due to personal problems interfering with her work, which led to Jackie being written out of the programme and initially departing in Episode 4583 on 26th March 1999.
In 2008, producers of the show decided to reintroduce Jackie over nine years since her last appearance, and considered recasting the role. However during a writers meeting Liverpudian scriptwriter Carmel Morgan spoke up for Clarke, stating that she was now in a better place than back in 1999 and that she would want to make up for her short-comings from last time. Clarke was required to audition for the role and sent scripts for reherasal, however due to no scripts for Jackie's return being finalised, she was instead sent a script for the character of auntie Pam, a relation of Molly Compton's. Clarke assumed it was for a new part and dyed her hair pink in order to make her visually different to Jackie. The producers were impressed with her, and she was offered a two-month contract with the show, with her return airing on 24th August 2008. She appeared for three episodes, before later reappearing for a further six episodes in January 2009 before exiting again in Episode 6990 on 14th January 2009.
Clarke returned to filming again the following year, appearing for five more episodes from February to March 2010, departing once again in Episode 7296. This would be her final appearance as Jackie as a whole, as the character was given an off-screen death over eight years later in July 2018.
A silhouette of Jackie was briefly seen via a pre-recorded VHS tape on 5th September 2018, although her face was obscured and only her hand, arm and body was briefly seen when she adjusted the camera, due to the fact Clarke wasn't brought back to film new scenes for the character.
First and last lines[]
"Whatever you say, Miss." (First line, to Maggie Veitch)
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"Where am I going to go?" (Final line)
Appendices[]
List of addresses[]
Address | Duration |
---|---|
17a Victoria Street | 22nd November 1998 to 16th December 1998 |
7 Coronation Street | 16th December 1998 to 26th March 1999 |
Liverpool | 26th March 1999 to unknown date |
Spain | 2007 to August 2008 |
9 Coronation Street | 2nd January to 9th January 2009 |
9 Coronation Street | 22nd February 2010 to 18th March 2010 |
Employment history[]
Role | Institution | Duration |
---|---|---|
Machinist | Underworld | 4th December to 28th December 1998 |