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Wendy Papadopoulos (née Crozier) had an affair with Ken Barlow in 1989 which led to his first divorce from Deirdre.

Wendy worked as a Planning Committee secretary for Weatherfield Council and took minutes at meetings. Wendy was opposed to the corruption of the Council and through her then-professional relationship with Ken, owner of the Weatherfield Recorder, she leaked confidential information on Council plans which Ken then published. Ken agreed not to tell Deirdre the source of the leaks as she worked on the Council but he eventually told her when she promised not repeat it to anyone. Deirdre kept her promise but warned Ken and Wendy to stay away from each other or she would tell her bosses everything. With Wendy's job on the line, they did as Deirdre demanded.

For a while, Wendy and Ken didn't see each other but when Deirdre told Ken about Mike Baldwin selling Baldwin's Casuals to Maurice Jones, he got the full story out of Wendy that Maurice was also buying the Community Centre. Chairman Peter Reynolds was about to sack Deirdre, forcing her to name Wendy as Ken's mole. Wendy was sacked for gross misconduct but a sympathetic Ken, who felt responsible for her losing her job, offered her a position with the Recorder. Wendy accepted.

At a time when he was rowing a lot with Deirdre, Ken's good relationship with Wendy was an antidote to how he was treated at home. When Deirdre forgot Ken's birthday, Wendy laid on a meal for him and they shared a kiss. They then entered into an affair - and both were equally keen; Wendy decided to leave the Recorder so that Ken could use having to run the office himself as an excuse to stay late, when he was actually seeing her and letting the paper go to ruin. This was a good arrangement for Wendy and Ken in the early days of their affair but Wendy grew dissatisfied with being Ken's bit on the side and told him to tell Deirdre the truth. Ken agreed but when Wendy saw Deirdre and noticed she was still in the dark, Wendy told Ken not to call her until he'd sorted his marriage out. Ken still didn't tell Deirdre but Wendy missed him too much and they spend Christmas Eve together.

When Wendy next saw Ken, on New Year's Eve, he told her that Deirdre knew but that he didn't know what to do. Deirdre and Wendy refused to share Ken but he was incapable of choosing between them; Deirdre eventually decided for him and threw him out of their house. Wendy took him in and supported him by helping him with the Recorder while he worked out the arrangements of his split from Deirdre but as he'd mortgaged their house to buy the paper, Deirdre was demanding half of the Recorder's profits and Ken was forced to sell to the Weatherfield Gazette to pay off the remainder of No.1's mortgage. Ken and Wendy were kept on in their current positions by the new owners.

With Ken came his daughter Tracy, who formed a good relationship with Wendy when visiting her and Ken, much to Deirdre's displeasure.

In March 1990, Ken resigned from the Gazette when the editor, Jeff Richmond, criticised him for being too taken up by personal problems. Wendy was offered Ken's job and she accepted. Their relationship deteriorated over the next two months through the strain of Ken's unemployment and the continued involvement of Deirdre and Tracy in their lives. In April, Wendy insisted that Ken meet her stepmother Sylvia Crozier. He had to cancel a meeting with Tracy to be there and ended up rowing with Wendy in front of Sylvia, embarrassing her. When Ken sunk into a depression which Wendy couldn't lift, Ken admitted to her that he should never have left Deirdre and then walked out on Wendy.

Wendy made a surprise return to the show and Ken's life 22 years later, in September 2012.

See also

  • Full list of appearances

External links

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