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Josie Clarke was a short-term Coronation Street resident who moved into No.5 with Don Brennan after his marriage to Ivy ended.

In 1996, Josie and Don were scammed into buying MVB Motors at an inflated price by Mike Baldwin, who employed Josie as office manager at his factory Baldwin's Sportswear. When the garage went into receivership due to Don's poor business decisions, Don turned against Josie, causing her to leave him. Away from Don, Josie's life improved and as of 1997 she was married to a doctor.

Biography[]

Josie Clarke was a doctor's receptionist with one marriage behind her by 1995. Before working at the health centre, she was at Marshall's for fifteen years, starting out in the wages department and working her way up to manager's PA. She lost her job when the firm went under.

Josie had at least one child, a daughter. In January 1995, following a row which ended with her offspring storming out of the house, Josie hired a cab to search the probable places she might have gone. After a two-hour round trip, Josie admitted defeat and returned home, however she found herself £2.50 short of the taxi fare. Resigned, her driver Don Brennan decided to let her off. Josie subsequently tracked down Don through Weatherfield Cabs to repay the money, and as a thanks for her kindness Don bought Josie a drink and the pair hit it off.

With their friendship progressing nicely Don introduced Josie to his daughter-in-law Gail Platt, but Josie feared that she had come on too strong when she bought presents for Gail's children. The pair caused a stir with the other residents, especially Vera Duckworth who was disgusted to see Don entertaining another woman whilst his wife Ivy was at a religious retreat.

As the pair grew closer, Josie offered to stay the night at 5 Coronation Street but Don turned her down, causing Josie to think he didn't fancy her. Don explained that he wasn't ready for a sexual relationship and she agreed to take things slowly. The next hurdle came when Don confessed to stalking Denise Osbourne over the phone in 1993. Although shocked by the revelation, Josie believed that he regretted his actions and continued seeing him, staying overnight night at No.5 for the first time a few weeks later after a theatre date with the Duckworths.

Episode 3881

1995: Josie is threatened by a youth at the health centre

In July, Josie had a terrifying ordeal at the surgery when a youth came in looking for drugs and refused to let her leave. Don interrupted them and saved Josie from coming to any harm, but scared of being on her own she moved into No.5 with Don. She was pleased when Don then decided to sever ties with Ivy and wrote to his wife to ask for a divorce. Ivy passed away from a stroke before Don could initiate divorce proceedings, and Don spent the next few months mired in a legal battle with the Platts over ownership of No.5, which Ivy had left to her grandson Nick. Josie was generally supportive of Don, but she was troubled by his obsession with beating Ivy, with Don refusing to entertain her suggestion that he let Nick have the house and move in with her. The dispute was resolved amicably the following January when Don paid Nick £12,000 for the property and took Josie away to the Canary Islands to celebrate.

Ready for a new challenge, Josie successfully applied for the position of office manager at Mike Baldwin's new factory, Baldwin's Sportswear, dismissing a warning from Don about Mike's shady business practices. She also became keen on buying Mike's garage MVB Motors and persuaded Don to take out a loan on No.5 to raise the money. Having seen a letter supposedly from Mike's solicitor at the factory saying that the garage was worth £50,000, Josie was thrilled when she and Don got the business for £43k. However, when Josie discovered that the factory was overproducing in order to sell behind their client Kbec's back and rowed with Mike, he bragged that the solicitor's letter she'd seen was bogus, and he'd conned her and Don into paying over the odds for the garage. Josie refused to continue working with Mike and resigned from the factory.

Josie decided to focus her energies on making the garage a success, but this was to be an uphill struggle. Equipment failure forced her and Don to shell out £6,000 to keep the business open, and Don's poor business ideas such as giving taxi drivers cut prices for pre-test services were costing the firm money. Don refused to take responsibility for the mess they were in, blaming Josie for letting herself be duped by Mike. Josie, accusing Don of scapegoating her like he had Ivy, Denise, and Nick, walked out on him and demanded that he buy her out of the garage.

Two months later, Josie returned to the street to find the garage in the hands of the receivers. In the interim, she had moved back into her old house and found a job as a telesales agent. Desperate to recover some of her investment, she sold the garage to Kevin Webster and Tony Horrocks for £25,000. She visited Don, finding him a drunken mess, and consumed with hatred for Mike, convincing her that she had done the right thing by getting out while she could.

In March 1997, less than a year after their split, Don was upset to learn that Josie had married a doctor. The news led him to use Josie's factory key - which she'd left at No.5 - to enter the premises at night and set it alight to get back at Mike for ruining his life, continuing his mental decline.

Personality[]

You weren't suited, y'know. She were too bossy by 'alf." - Vera Duckworth

Josie was a divorcee in her forties when she met Don. They met as cabbie and fare, with Josie seeking out Don to repay his act of kindess after he let her off without paying the full amount for her taxi ride. Valuing his friendship, and hoping for more, Josie turned a blind eye to several red flags early in their relationship, such as his contempt for his estranged wife Ivy, his confession to having pestered Denise Osbourne with phone calls, and his tendency to hold grudges, particularly against Mike Baldwin. Josie tried to be supportive to Don, but after seeing that he would rather wallow in misery than take the steps necessary to fix the problems in his life, Josie left him and never looked back.

Josie took an interest in her neighbours in Coronation Street and helped out where she could. In February 1996, she disapproved of Jack Duckworth telling the local press that the Rovers Return Inn was haunted by Ivy's ghost, and informed Vera that Don's exorcism of her spirit at No.5 by a Catholic priest was fake. A month later, she cottoned on to Jamie Armstrong's scheme to puncture the residents' bicycle tyres and then repairing them for a fee, and told Tricia what her son had been up to. Feeling sorry for Tricia as a single mother, Josie convinced Mike to interview her for a job at the factory.

Hobbies and interests[]

Josie used to play for a ladies' darts team. In June 1995, she gave lessons to Raquel Wolstenhulme at the Rovers Return.

Background information[]

Ten years before portraying the role of Josie in Coronation Street for eighteen months between January 1995 and August 1996, actress Ellie Haddington played Faye Duffield for three episodes in November 1984.

First and last lines[]

"Thank you. Oh, the lights aren't on... look, I'm not running away!" (First line, to Don Brennan)

---

"No, no. You have... have yer tea, ta-ta." (Final line, to Kevin and Sally Webster)

Appendices[]

List of addresses[]

Address Duration
Lowcross Street Until July 1995
5 Coronation Street July 1995 to 26th June 1996
Lowcross Street 26th June 1996 onwards


Employment history[]

Role Institution Duration
Wages clerk Marshall's Unknown
Personal assistant Marshall's Unknown
Doctor's receptionist Health centre Until March 1996
Office manager Baldwin's Sportswear March to 19th June 1996
Co-owner MVB Motors April to August 1996
Telesales agent Unknown By August 1996

See also[]

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