The one-time exotic dancer still likes the odd tipple but she has a wise head on her shoulders and she’s often called on for advice.
Mileage doesn’t count in a relationship - it’s destination that matters.
Life and Times
1964 Exotic dancer Rita Bates shocks the prudish locals by staying the night with friend Dennis Tanner.
1972 Takes up singing and returns to the street and makes a play for teacher Ken Barlow. Has a stormy romance with Len Fairclough and reveals that she wasn’t really married to former ‘husband’ Harry Bates – they had been living in sin.
1973 Len buys the corner shop and names it the ‘Kabin’. Rita becomes manager and Mavis Riley is shop assistant.
1977 Ties the knot with Len in April.
1981 Desperate to be a mum but age is against her. The couple are allowed to foster and they take in teenager John Spencer.
1983 Len dies in a car crash. She’s doubly devastated to discover that Len was on the way to see his mistress when he died.
1986 Takes in papergirl Jenny Bradley when her mum dies. Jenny’s estranged dad, Alan, turns up and he and Rita begin a brief but passionate affair.
1987 Alan returns to Weatherfield after a spell working in the Far East and proposes. Rita turns him down but asks him to move in with her instead.
1989 Alan secretly re-mortgages Rita’s house to finance his business, then attempts to rape his secretary, Dawn Prescott, and tries to suffocate Rita when she finds out! Rita does a runner to Blackpool and Alan tracks her down but he’s run over and killed by a tram.
1992 Starts courting Ted Sullivan and they marry, but Ted is dead from a brain tumour just three months after the June wedding.
1993 Jenny Bradley pays a surprise visit and tries to fleece Rita of her cash. Rita cottons on and gives Jenny £1,000 to leave her alone.
1994 Lonely Rita forms a close bond with pregnant mum Sally Webster.
1998 Best friend Mavis leaves for a new life in the Lake District. Rita nearly dies from the fumes of a faulty gas fire. Friend and former agent Alec Gilroy proposes but Rita turns him down.
1999 Former foster daughter Sharon Gaskell comes back into Rita’s life. Gives Sharon the Kabin as a wedding present but reclaims it and cuts her out of her will when Sharon’s new hubby, Ian, proves to be a no-good cheat.
2000 Employs Norris Cole.
2004 Cilla Brown tries to con compensation money by claiming Rita hit her son Chesney. It goes to court but Cilla is later forced to admit her lies.
2005 Accused of bedding Audrey Roberts’ late hubby Alf when Audrey finds a picture of them apparently together. Audrey apologises when Norris points out that the picture was a double exposure!
2006 Becomes nervous after a break-in at her flat and temporarily moves in with Emily Bishop.
2007 Norris encourages her to join friends website ‘Classmates Reunited’ and she hooks up with old pal and drinking partner Doreen Fenwick.
Barbara was born Barbara Brothwood on 30 September 1933 in Oldham, Lancashire. Her first appearance in Coronation Street as Rita was just one episode in 1964, and she wasn’t to return to the role for eight years.
In between, Barbara appeared in rep and several TV shows, including respected drama A Family At War and sitcom George and the Dragon. Barbara has one daughter, Maxine, from her first marriage to sales manager, Denis Mullaney. Barbara split from Denis in 1977 and she later met and married businessman John Knox, although they divorced in 1994.
