Ida Barlow
Ida Barlow | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Coronation Streetcharacter | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Portrayed by | Noel Dyson | ||||||||||||||||||||
Duration | 1960–1961 | ||||||||||||||||||||
First appearance | Episode 1 9 December 1960 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Last appearance | Episode 77 6 September 1961 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||
Created by | Tony Warren | ||||||||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Stuart Latham | ||||||||||||||||||||
Book appearances | Coronation Street: The Complete Saga Coronation Street: The War Years | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Ida Barlow(alsoLeathers) is a fictional character from theBritishITVsoap operaCoronation Street,played byNoel Dysonbetween 1960 and 1961.[1]
Creation
[edit]Casting
[edit]CreatorTony Warrenoriginally hadBetty Albergein mind for the part of Ida when writing the first scripts, but when Alberge auditioned everyone agreed she was more suited to the role of shopkeeperFlorrie Lindley,[2]leaving auditions for Ida wide open untilNoel Dysonwas found.
Background
[edit]Ida Leathers was born in 1916 toNancy Leathers(Norah Hammond). Ida grew up to be a soft, caring, almost saintly woman and married the love of her lifeFrank Barlow(Frank Pemberton) in 1938. They went on to have two sons -Kenneth(William Roache) in 1939, andDavid(Alan Rothwell) in 1942, and thus Ida found her new place in life as housewife and relished it. She spent most of her time looking after her family and keeping the house running, rarely socialising in theRoversat all.[3]
Storylines
[edit]Ida was the perfect housewife and doted on Frank and her boys. Ida had a special friendship with the Barlows' next-door neighbour,Albert Tatlock(Jack Howarth), and visited him on a regular basis, unlike his daughterBeattie Pearson(Gabrielle Daye), which sometimes caused friction between the two women (or at least disparaging comments from Beattie), despite Ida's calm nature.
Ida's motherNancy Leathers(Norah Hammond) moved into No.3 in 1961, due to her failing health, and no-one expected her to outlive her daughter. One day when Ida was visiting Beattie, concern grew when Ida never arrived. Later that day, Frank learned that Ida had been hit by the bus she was intending to catch and died. Ida's funeral episode saw a new peak in viewing figures forCoronation Street,with 15.6 million viewers tuning in.
Development
[edit]Departure and death
[edit]It was announced thatNoel Dysonhad quit the role of Ida, after less than a year, and that she was tired of playing her. It was then confirmed that the character would be killed off to increase viewing numbers. Ida was struck by a bus andFrank Barlowwas devastated. Dyson played Ida in 41 episodes overall. Her final appearance was in episode 77; although no death scene was shown and the events of her death unfolded on-screen from the next episode onwards. She was the first regular character to die and the second overall (May Hardmanbeing the first in episode 7).[1]
Reception
[edit]In a 2019 article, Claire Crick fromDigital Spycalled Ida "saintly" and a "perfect wife and mother" and noted that fans were "left devastated" by the character's death.[4]
References
[edit]- ^abLittle, Daran(1995).The Coronation Street Story.Boxtree.ISBN1-85283-464-1.
- ^Nown, Graham (1985).Coronation Street 25 Years.Ward Lock.ISBN0-7063-6405-8.
- ^Little, Daran(1992).Weatherfield Life: A Portrait of the Street 1902-1992.Boxtree.ISBN1-85283-186-3.
- ^Crick, Claire (1 March 2019)."Where are Coronation Street's missing Barlows now? Here's what happened to Frank Pemberton, Anne Reid and more".Digital Spy.Hearst Communications.Retrieved1 November2023.