Alma was formerly married to Jim Sedgewick, owner of Jim's Café (which later became Roy's Rolls), which she ran in partnership with Gail Platt. Wooed by both Ken Barlow and Mike Baldwin, she surprised everyone (or at least, me) when she forgave Mike's previous dalliances, and agreed to marry him.

Currently working her way up through the ranks at Freshco, she appears to have abandoned her former small catering business. Friend of Hayley Patterson and Audrey Roberts.

Mike has left a string of heartache on the street - affairs with Deirdre Rachid (then Deirdre Barlow - he almost broke up her marriage to Ken) and then Ken's daughter have made him a bitter enemy of Ken Barlow. The fact that Mike later stole Alma from Ken cemented their mutal hatred.

Ken has a bitter rivalry with Mike Baldwin: indeed, they each seem to occupy opposite sides of the same coin. Mike is rude and impolite, while Ken is cultured and sophisticated. Their hatred goes even deeper, however, after Mike successfully wooed Ken's wife (Deirdre), daughter, and girlfriend (Alma).

Ken currently lives at Number 3.

However, Natalie is not the cold-hearted bitch she first appeared to be. Later, as time went by, we could see that her actions were only those of a lonely person. Despite the reservations of then-landlady Vera Duckworth, Natalie began working at the Rovers, where she began to see Des Barnes. She and Des were eventually in October of 1998, but their lives together were cut short when Des was murdered one month later. The fact that he was killed while protecting her son Tony from drug-dealers did not soften the blow.

Natalie eventually purchased the Rovers Return from Alec Gilroy late 1998, and has run the pub ever since.

Eventually, things settled down, and Janice, Toyah and Leanne began to live a normal life on the Street. Les...well, Les is still Les. Recently, Janice was tempted to break here marriage vows when a young man at a Caravan camp took a shine to her. She stood firm, however, and resisted temptation...more than her Les could have done (not that he would have tried).

Currently, Les is semi-employed by his mate Charlie West (but is paid in bog rolls and kitchen supplies) and as a local DJ. Much to everyone's surprise, Les actually doesn't suck as a DJ.

Toyah now wants more than the life of her parents, and is hard at work at school while working part-time at "Roy's Rolls". She's studying hard, in the hopes that a university career and higher education can take her farther than her stepfather has evere dreamed.

Emily has had a few lodgers in her time, the most famous being Percy Sugden (a cantakerous, if well-intended, individual). When Percy moved away, Emily thought she would live out her days alone...that is, until her nephew Geoffrey - Spider - Nugent showed up at her door. Since then, Emily has been caught up in her nephew's enthusiasm for saving the world, and even campaigned to save the Red Rec (even going so far as to spend a night up a tree).

It was through Alma that Hayley eventually met Roy Cropper (owner of Roy's Rolls). Here, she felt she had found a soul mate, as Roy, too, was an intelligent, shy, socially awkward individual. They began dating (even if neither of them new it at the time), and eventually came to care for each other quite deeply. Their relationship almost ended when Hayley confided her greatest secret to Roy: she is a transsexual. Eventually, Roy came to grips with this bit of news, and the two became even closer.

In 1999, Roy and Hayley were married by a progressive minister. While legally unable to wed, Hayley had her last name changed to Cropper, a surprise gift to her new husband. Hayley is currently employed as a machine operater at Underworld.

Roy shook his little corner of the world when, in 1999, he decided to close up Roy's Rolls and move to a new location. However, despite a few mishaps (largely due to the fact that his contractor was Steve McDonald), Roy's Rolls is doing well in its new location.

It soon became apparent that there was more to Nita than first met the eye. Fred eventually discovered that she was the daughter of Ravi Desai, a man interested in purchasing the corner store. Apparently, Nita was his spy, sent in to learn the business from the inside. Fred tried to use this information to his own advantage, by feeding Nita information designed to increase the apparent value of the shop, but was foiled by then shop-assistant Maude Grimes.

Nita's father eventually purchased the Corner Shop, and placed her in charge. Nita's only assistant was her brother Vikram - an irresponsible young man who is much more interested in going to parties than in work. Nita was bothered by the fact that, despite her capabilities and Vikram's irresponsible attitude, her father intended to leave his chain of stores to her brother. So, she decided to start a life of her own, and applied for a job at Freshcos.

Nita's father was outraged, and did his best to convince her to stay, but Nita eventually left the store, and is now working for Freshcos (thanks, in no small part, to Curly Watts).

Since becoming a presence on the street, Ravi has proved himself to be a careful, thoughtful man, and has had some good advice for other business people on the street - especially Rita Sullivan. In fact, it was after listening to Ravi that Rita almost decided to take back her gift of the shop to her foster daughter, Sharon Gaskell.

Vikram is currently dating Leanne Tilsey. Both of then know its just for a bit of fun, but Leanne's parents seem bound and determined to see the two of them hooked up on a more permanent basis.

After finding him sleeping in the dumpster behind Freshcos, Curly Watts gave Tyrone a job and a home. Tyrone is now employed as an apprentice mechanic by Kevin Websters, and lives in the Duckworth's Bed and Breakfast.

Jack was a cellarman at the Rover's and Vera a supermarket shelf-stacker when a windfall enabled them to buy into the pub as bosses. It didn't last - they sold the pub to Alec Gilroy, who later sold it to Natalie Barnes. Jack's first loves are booze, baccy, betting, and his pigeons. Sadly, he has had to give up all but the betting, first losing his pigeons when he moved out of the Rovers, and then the rest after having a near-fatal heart attack (while, incidentally, being mauled by man-hungry Eunice Gee).

Although she professes to despise her husband, Vera really does love Jack. Thus, his recent heart problems have here very worried. After losing the Rovers to Alec, and being forced to work there as a cleaner for Natalie (who used to work for her), Vera has been giving a great deal of thought to her future - and the idea of a future without Jack scares her to the bone.

Fred eventually married Maureen Holdsworth, estranged wife of ex-Bettaby's manager Reg Holdsworth (who had left her for a younger woman). After marrying Maureen, he took over the operation of the Corner Store (which she inherited when Reg ran off). When Maureen in turn ran away with Kevin Webster's father, Fred became the store's owner.

After's Alf Robert's death in 1999, Fred decided to renew his attempted courtship of the Widow, Councillor Audrey Roberts. Audrey, for her part, only sees Fred as a friend. For his part, Fred can be a tireless hunter, and hopes to one day win Audrey's heart.

In mid-1999, Fred stunned his nephew, Ashley Peacock, by revealing that he was, in fact, his father. This set Ashley's world on its end, and the corpulent butcher came very close to losing his young son. They eventually reconciled, but have decided to maintain their charade.

Recently, Sharon's life has taken a turn for the better. Her foster mother, Rita Sullivan, has decided to take an early semi-retirement, and gave her the Kabin. She now owns and operates the Kabin, with the help of Rita, of course. She took a dislike to shop assistant Leanne Tilsely, who decided to quit after a particularly vociferous argument.

Until recently Maud worked in the Corner Shop, firstly with owner Maureen and then with Ashley Peacock when it was bought by Maureen's ex-husband of only a few days, Fred Elliott. Maud often offers words of wisdom, but her razor-sharp tongue and scheming ways often keeps people at bay. However, she was a great help to Jim McDonald after his injury.

She had a pretty serious relationship with Ashley Peacock, which she ended when he refused to kick Zoe Tattershall out of their home. Since then, she still has a soft spot for young Ashley, and has taken it upon herself to keep a watchful eye on him.

Jim lives alone on the street, and is employed on a part-time basis by Kevin Webster. He is good friends with Gary Mallet.

Steve married Vicky (Alec Gilroy's rich granddaughter), leaving then live-in girlfriend Fiona Middleton. After their divorce (from which he got little), he talked Fiona into taking him back, but later screwed up again by having an affair with Fiona's best friend, Maxine Heavey. After driving away every woman who was ever important to him (including his mother), Steve remains on the street. He and his father Jim have come to terms with one another, and maintain a tenuous friendship. Jim, for his part, still loves and wishes to help his on, while Steve seems to be interested only in what Jim can do for him.

Spider has had an active life on the street, and has even run for Council against Audrey Roberts - a race he lost by a narrow margin. He also organized and participated in several ecological campaigns, picketing Freshcos (because of their shrimp) and even setting up a small tent-villa in the Roberts' front garden.

While Spider and Curly Watts started out on the wrong foot (as Emily pointed out, they were too much alike - something neither was comfortable hearing), they eventually became good friends. Spider was instrumental (along with Alma Baldwin) in uncovering the truth behind psychopathic Anne Malone's attempts to frame Curly Watts for extortion charges.

Ashley had a crush on Maxine Heavey; Max, for her part, thought of Ashley as being a bit dull and uninteresting, but used him as a date to take to the clubs. At one point, Maxine even went so far as to introduce Ashley to friends as her cousin. Ashley was incensed, and refused to be treated so poorly, and told Maxine just that. At this point, Max recognized that Ashely was a good, honourable man, and they began a real relationship together.

That relationship ended when Ashley took pity on young Zoe Tattershall, an unwed mother. Zoe had sold her baby to the Mallets (Judy was believed infertile at the time), but took her back when her maternal instincts proved too strong to resist. With no place to go, Ashley took her in. However, rude, obnoxious Zoe soon came between Ashley and Max, prompting the young hairdresser to deliver an ultimatum: either Zoe went, or she did. Ashley refused to kick Zoe out, and Maxine left him.

As time passed, Zoe and Ashley came to have a relationship of their own. While Ashley fancied himself in love, and was willing to take on the roll of father, Zoe never really saw him as anything more than useful. After the death of her baby, Zoe joined a religious cult, and disappeared from the street.

Ashley had taken in two lodgers (Nick and Leanne Tilsley) at Zoe's insistence, and even though she was gone, they remained. The three got along well together, until spoild, selfish Nick moved to Canada, abandoning his wife. Leanne reacted poorly, throwing off her responsible lifestyle and reverting to her previous party-girl mentality. At one point, three weeks behind on her rent, Leanne gambled away her entire paycheck, and then lied to Ashley, telling him she hadn't been paid. When he discovered the truth, Ashley decided that he was tired of being taken advantage of. After a huge argument with Leanne, she moved out.

On top of all this, Ashley has had to deal with the fact that the man he thought was his uncle, Fred Elliot, has turned out to be his father.

Sarah Louise was later adopted by Martin Platt.

Gail's main weakness for many years was her ex-mother-in-law, Ivy Brennan. Not only was Ivy a highly religious woman, who disapproved of Gail and her ways, she refused to let the ghost of her dead son Brian rest, and constantly made sure to bring him up whenever possible.

Gail currently works at Roy's Rolls, along with Roy Cropper.

Martin turned out to be the consumate family man. After pestering Gail repeatedly, they finally purchased Number 8 in Coronation Street. While Gail worked at the Cafe, Martin stayed home (a pioneer house husband) and raised the children. After landing a job as a porter in the hospital, Martin later trained very hard, and became a nurse a few years later. This training has allowed him to save the life of Les Battersby on two seperate occasions (much to Martin's regret).

In later years, Martin had some difficulties with his adopted son Nick. Nick's grandmother, Ivy Brennan, had always done her level best to make sure that Nick never forgot his father (her son). When she died, she left her home to Nick - despite the fact that her husband Don was living in it at the time. The catch was, he had to change his name back to Tilsley. Nick eventually did just that, opening huge rifts between himself, his grandfather, and Martin.

Thanks to the efforts of con-man Jon Lindsay, Deirdre recently did time in prison, where she met Jackie Dobbs. After Deirdre's name was cleared, and the charges dropped, she returned to the street, hopefully to return to a normal life. She had lost her job as manager of the travel shop, but had managed to find a good job, working as Mike Baldwin's assistant and Underworld. She thought things were getting back to normal - when Jackie Dobbs showed up on her doorstep.

Brash, impetuous, and a user of people, Jackie dropped by to "visit an old mate", but soon ended up moving in - and moving in her teenaged son, troubled youth Tyrone Dobbs. Deirdre eventually got rid of her unwanted guests, but soon found new troubles when her mother, Blanche moved in. Blanche was determined to see Deirdre get back together with ex-husband Ken, and did her level best to orchestrate such a reunion.

Ken and Deirdre had to join forces to counteract Blanche's plots and plans...and in the process, grew closer together. By trying to fight off Blanche's machinations, they came to realize that they still cared deeply for one another. They eventually decided to give it another try, and have moved back in together. They both have years of mistakes and disasters behind them, but have never stopped caring for one another.

Audrey managed to talk Alf into buying the Hair Salon from Fiona for her, despite his protestations that he was short of cash. She didn't believe him - Alf was always moaning about money - and kept at him until he agreed. However, after he died, Audrey discovered that her husband was not as rich as she had suspected. In fact, due to the fact that Alf's insurance policy expired shortly before he died, Audrey was left almost penniless. The Salon, which had before been little more than a hobby, has now become Audrey's sole means of support. She has her pride, however, and refuses to let on to her friends just how poor she really is.

Audrey is currently being wooed by Fred Elliot. However, she sees him as little more than a friend, but does enjoy his company. A good friend of Alma Baldwin, she has taken her in after leaving cheating husband Mike.

Rita has had her share of good - and bad - men. On the good side were her two husbands, Len Fairclough and Ted Sullivan. Sadly, she outlived both men. On the bad side, the most noted is Alan Bradley. The father of Rita's foster daughter Jenny Bradley, Rita met Alan when she tried to negotiate a reconciliation between Alan and his daughter. They fell in love, and Alan moved in with the two girls. However, after Rita discovered that Alan was committing fraud by using her late-husband Len's name, she gave him his marching orders.

Alan blamed Rita for all that was wrong with his life, and at one point tried to choke her to death. He would have succeeded if it hadn't been for Jenny, who came home early after a night with friend Martin Platt. Alan fled, and was later killed by a tram in Blackpool as he chased Rita across the street.

Rita has always had a close relationship with the Websters, and was dismayed when the couple split up. She still maintains close ties with Sally, Kevin and the girls, and is careful not to interfere or take sides.

Linda has managed to insert herself neatly into Mike Baldwin's life. A string of lies and deliberate deceptions has fooled Mike into thinking she's honestly interested in him. What she wants from Mike, we can only guess.

However, after her marriage to Nick Tilsley (son of Gail and adopted son of Martin Platt), she seemed to calm down, and proved to the world that she had a serious, respectable side to her. She managed to get a job at the Kabin as Mavis' replacement, and surprised everyone by sticking to it. Marriage seemed to have a good influence on her.

After her husband Nick ran away to Canada (what a selfish git!), Leanne's wild side reasserted itself. She quit the Kabin after a fight with new-owner Sharon Gaskell, and manage to land on her feet with a job at the Rovers. The late nights fit her party-lifestyle schedule better than the early mornings at the Kabin, so Leanne was quite pleased. After stiffing one-time Ashley Peacock for her share of the rent, Leanne moved back home briefly, but now resides in the spare room at the Rovers.

Despite the best efforts of poison-tongued mate Linda Sykes, Alison has managed to weather some rocky times with Kevin, and the two now plan to move in together.

Never a ladies' man, Curly had a string of relationships before falling in love with would-be model Raquel Wolstenhume. Raquel was originally more interested in the manly, take-charge kind of man (like Des Barnes), but eventually agreed to become Curly's wife. The marriage was short-lived, and Raquel ran off to become massage therapist in Kuala Lumpur. Shortly afterwards, she asked for, and was granted, a divorce.

To make life even more difficult, Curly was framed for blackmail by Frescho's (Curly's new employer) manager Anne Malone, and spent several months on the run from the law. He eventually returned, and was gratified to discover that good friends Spider Nugent and Alma Baldwin had cleared his name.

Curly has managed to re-claim his old life and job, and things finally seem to be settling down.

Sadly, even a marriage as seemingly perfect as Kevin's and Sallys can have its problems. In 1998, hile Sally was away caring for her sick mother, Kevin had an affair wtih Natalie Horrocks, his partner in the garage. When Sally eventually found out, she kicked Kevin out of their house. She was deeply hurt when Kevin told her that he wanted Natalie more than her.

Kevin eventually changed his mind, and he and Sally got back together. Sally discovered that she couldn't forgive Kevin that easily, however, and soon began an affair of her own with Greg Kelly, son of Les Battersby. Kevin eventually found out, and the at one time perfect couple split up yet again.

Kevin is currently running the garage, and is planning on moving in with new girlfriend Alison Wakefield.

After being forced to live her life with no stability or control, Rosie is now striking out the only way she knows how. Unable to control her own life, she has started bullying her classmates in an attempt to control theirs. Sally and Kevin don't know what to do about Rosie's sudden personality change, and this problem has given the estranged couple yet another topic of argument.

She managed to salvage some of her lost investment by sneaking into their offices and removing their stock; several boxes of underwear. At first she was unsure just what to do with so many knickers, but ended up opening a stall a the market, and experiencing a fair bit of success.

Sally has manged to get her life back on track, but is still having problems with husband Kevin, and now with daughter Rosie.

Betty's chief claim to fame is as the originator of Betty's Hotpot, famous the world over!