Jackie Dobbs

Liverpudlian Jackie first appeared in March 1998 as the cellmate of Deirdre Rachid (Anne Kirkbride); Jackie was in prison for ABH. Jackie's introduction was part of a high-profile storyline that saw Deirdre framed by her boyfriend and wrongfully imprisoned. Jackie first appeared in a specially constructed prison cell at Granada Studios.[2] Deirdre's conviction was quashed within three weeks and she was released; Jackie soon followed her to the soap's primary setting of Weatherfield on parole, needing a friend to turn to, having been dumped by her partner and left homeless. Jackie moved to the area with her teenage son Tyrone (Alan Halsall), squatting in Curly Watts' (Kevin Kennedy) vacant premises. She became a factory worker for Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs), where she had numerous run-ins with Janice Battersby (Vicky Entwistle) over flirtations with Janice's husband Les Battersby (Bruce Jones). Jackie remained on the show for one year before leaving in the midst of a property feud with Curly, who had returned to Coronation Street to find her formally renting his house. Jackie fled back to Liverpool with her husband Darren (James McMartin), though Tyrone stayed behind as a lodger with Jack (Bill Tarmey) and Vera Duckworth (Liz Dawn).

Tyrone contacted her about his engagement in August 2008. Jackie was living in a nice home with a cat and she claimed to have turned over a New Age leaf, but she was actually only catsitting, and was being menaced by an ex-boyfriend to whom she owed a £1,000 debt. Tyrone and Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns) cashed in their wedding fund to pay her debt. Jackie asked for more money for travel fare, and when they said no, she effectively disowned Tyrone. Soon she went to Tyrone's home in an attempt to see him, but was asked to leave by Molly's aunt Pam Hobsworth (Kate Anthony), as well as Jack Duckworth.

Jackie returned again on New Year's Day 2009, ahead of the wedding of Molly and Tyrone.[3] She claimed to be in severe pain due to a ruptured breast implant. When Jack asked her to leave, she faked a fainting spell. Molly looked up the details Jackie had given them and discovered nothing was wrong with her. She still decided to give Jackie another chance, for Tyrone's sake. Her forgiving mood vanished when Jackie showed up at the hen night and quickly got drunk, encouraging Graeme Proctor (Craig Gazey) to do a striptease and groping one of the men hired to serve food until he asked to leave. Pam physically ejected Jackie.

Jackie missed the wedding, but, wearing a dark wig, she attended the reception at the Rovers. She was hurt that Tyrone had no kind words for her in his wedding speech. When Jackie revealed herself, Molly once again pledged to give Jackie another chance, for Tyrone's sake. Jackie perked up when she learned the newlyweds had received Eurostar tickets to Paris as a honeymoon gift. She managed to pocket the tickets without anyone noticing. As Jackie crept off into the night, she took one final look at her son and his new wife, a brief hint of pride on her face at the man Tyrone had become.

Tyrone's relationship with Molly changed drastically in the year since he had seen his mother. Molly had grown distant and they had split up. Tyrone took the news badly. Jackie learned of this when she called and Jack's new girlfriend Connie Rathbone (Rita May), who knew nothing about Jackie, gave her some details. Jackie immediately returned to see Tyrone, and feeling that he had already lost so much, accepted her.

Jackie went round to Dev Alahan's (Jimmi Harkishin) corner shop and confronted Molly for dumping Tyrone and accused her of cheating on Tyrone. Molly denied it and insulted Jackie, prompting her to knock food off the shelves so Molly threw her out of the shop and fought in the street until Tyrone stepped in. Molly threw flowers at Jackie, and the police told them to stop or they would get involved. Molly then told Tyrone, Jackie started the fight and Tyrone says, 'at least she is fighting for me'. Jack and Connie tried to warn Tyrone about what Jackie was doing in his house but this infuriated him and he threw them out of his house. Jackie told Tyrone that she really did love him even if she had been a useless mother in the past but she was here for him now. Although Jackie seemed to care about her son, she also fell back into old patterns of bringing men back for one night stands. Jackie was coming home when she saw Molly packing up some belongings. Molly insisted she was leaving Weatherfield and Jackie was getting what she wanted, but Jackie was convinced that Molly was burgling the place. She dragged Tyrone home, hoping this would be the last straw for his feelings towards Molly. Instead, Tyrone felt sorry for Molly, and threw Jackie out, telling the cab that Molly had ordered to take Jackie anywhere but where he lived.

In July 2018, Tyrone receives news from the police that Jackie has died. In subsequent weeks, it transpires that Jackie and Darren were not Tyrone's biological parents, having found him as a baby outside a police station and registered him as their own, due to Jackie's desire to have children. This leads to Tyrone eventually discovering his long-lost grandmother Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman) in September 2018, where she reveals that his mother and Evelyn's daughter, Cassandra, gave birth to him as a teenager, before leaving for South Africa and dying whilst over there. It later became apparent that Cassandra had intense drug addiction issues, and Evelyn left Tyrone outside the police station in order to help Cassandra get clean.

Jackie as she appeared in 1998.

Margi Clarke has described the character of Jackie: "I don’t think she’s vile – there’s definitely a heart beating in Jackie. She has an obvious intelligence but she’s not had opportunities in life and has made some mistakes. She’s a born survivor but doesn’t know how to play straight"[4] Discussing Jackie's severed relationship with her son Tyrone, Clarke said "She's not the best mother in the world. Even though she's trying to spiritually develop herself, there is a side that's under-developed, a side that thinks only about herself. It makes the character interesting, though. I think that Jackie realises that Tyrone's going to do what she never did - that he's going to get it right first time. I think he'll stay with Molly - he's one of those lads that wants to correct what his mother's done. Mother and father split up, mother being with all kinds of fellas. I think that's how he wants to live - he's a one woman guy".[5]

Speaking of the apparent changes her character underwent in 2008, Clarke said "on the outside she's a reformed character. She's into yoga and natural living, but deep down, Jackie Dobbs is going to burst back out again. She's mellowed a little bit, though. I think it's the pink hair."[5]

Off-screen, actress Margi Clarke was axed from Coronation Street due to personal problems that interfered with her work. Clarke explains, "[My mother] was a Corrie fan and I was still grieving for her when I first appeared on the show. As a result, I don’t think I played the part to the best of my ability."[4]

In 2008, producers decided to reintroduce the character of Jackie, 9 years after she had last appeared.[6] They initially considered recasting the role, however, Liverpudian scriptwriter Carmel Morgan spoke up for Margi Clarke at a writers meeting,[4] saying that "Margi's in a great place right now, she looks fantastic, she's healthy, very positive, and would love to make up for her shortcomings last time".[5] So, she was asked to re-audition for the role.[4] Clarke was sent scripts to rehearse for the audition, however, as no scripts for Jackie's return had been finalised, Clarke was sent a script for a character named auntie Pam, Molly Compton's relation. Mistakenly believing that she was being asked to audition for a new character, the sister of Jackie, Clarke dyed her hair bright pink to make her visually different from Jackie, who was known to viewers for her peroxide blonde hair. The look impressed the directors and after a successful audition, Jackie Dobbs was brought back with pink hair.[4] She initially signed a two-month contract and appeared in the lead up to her son's engagement to Molly Compton.

Speaking about her comeback, Margi Clarke has said

When I got the phone call, I was crying tears of joy out of my living room window. It was nine years ago since I last walked the Cobbles, so I've been lost at sea for that long. It was like finding my way back to the land of milk and honey. I couldn't believe it. I'm delighted to be back, though [...] I'd always wanted to go back and I hoped that it would always be a possibility. Jackie Dobbs lived on. She was referred to every now and then, what with Tyrone being her son. If Tyrone wasn't there, I wouldn't be going back! Thanks God for my 'son'! Not many actors leave a soap. I left and I thought I was going to get a long run of work. With my character being quite an explosive one, I was never going to go into the corner shop and ask Dev for a loaf. Characters like mine don't tend to survive long because they're wild, but she's brilliant to play.[5]

Clarke has vowed to take the soap more seriously after wasting her "golden opportunity" in the late 1990s. She said: "It's one of Britain's top soaps and to be called to play on that stage, it's on a par with being asked to play for England and you should really honour it, have the commitment and give it everything you've got. I'm 54 now, and I'm never going to look a gift horse in the mouth again."[5]