Well-loved actress Sarah Lancashire is adored by fans for many impressive roles, including Catherine Cawood in the BBC drama Happy Valley. You can read everything you need to know about Happy Valley here. But TV fans of a certain age will remember Sarah's iconic soap role which catapulted her to national fame back in the 1990s - Coronation Street's Raquel Wolstenhulme.
While Sarah is currently delighting fans as tough, no-nonsense and slightly broken Catherine in Happy Valley her early alter ego Raquel, on ITV soap Coronation Street, could not be more different.
Sarah played Raquel from 1991 to 2000, primarily from 1991 to 1996 and returned in 2000 for just one, very memorable New Year's Eve episode where she reunited with on-off-love-of-her-life, Curly Watts. Rovers barmaid Raquel was introduced as the daughter of a strict Catholic father and heavy-drinking mother, estranged from her father after partaking in semi-nude modeling.
READ MORE:Happy Valley fans hail Sarah Lancashire as GOAT after 'best TV scene in years'
Iintroduced as an assistant at Weatherfield's Bettabuy supermarket she worked alongside Curly Watts, played by Kevin Kennedy, who loved her from afar, while she hankered after Des Barnes, but Raquel and Curly later become a couple. The couple split when Raquel fell in love with a photographer and moved to London to become a model, however, this didn't work out and soon Raquel is back as a barmaid at the local pub, Rovers Return Inn.
Throughout her time on the soap, which was initially only meant to be three months, Raquel was not very lucky in love and even pushes one ex-boyfriend, Wayne Farrell played by Ray Polhill, into the canal when she finds out he has been cheating on her. She also breaks off her engagement with Curly, as she is in love with Des, but later married Curly after accepting she will never mean as much to Des as Des means to her.
At first Curly and Raquel had a successful marriage but Raquel leaves Curly within a year of married life. Raquel's story finishes with her moving to Kuala Lumpur, finding out she is pregnant with Curly's baby, moving to France as a housekeeper, falling in love with her boss and divorcing Curly.
Originally Sarah has reservations about playing Raquel and wanted to show the character's potential. Raquel was often used as a funny character and one of her funniest moments include her getting confused while talking in French and asking long-time cobbles resident Ken Barlow (William Roache) if he wants to sleep with her.
Many fans have loved seeing Sarah as both ditzy Raquel and stern-talking Catherine, praising her incredible acting ability to play both roles so well. One said: "I always thought that Sarah Lancashire was brilliant in Coronation Street as Raquel. She’s a very versatile actress."
Another added: "My Mom was a huge Coronation Street fan, and *loved* Raquel, and I think of Mom whenever I read about how good Sarah Lancashire is. Mom knew years before I did." A third said: "I loved Sarah Lancashire as Raquel in Coronation Street all those years ago. What an actor she turned out to be!"
Sarah's other TV roles include starring in Where the Heart Is, Last Tango in Halifax, Welsh drama The Accident and MotherFatherSon. You can read more about Sarah Lancashire's life here.
Happy Valley continues on BBC One on Sunday, January 22 at 9pm.
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