Curly Watts

The character was originally a paperboy for Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox), before working as a binman with Chalky Whiteley (Teddy Turner) and Eddie Yeats (Geoffrey Hughes), whilst lodging with Jack (William Tarmey) and Vera Duckworth (Elizabeth Dawn), and later Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire). He later worked for Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) alongside his best friend Terry Duckworth (Nigel Pivaro). Curly's first serious romance was with Shirley Armitage (Lisa Lewis), a black sewing-machinist from Baldwin's factory. Opposition from his old-fashioned parents Arthur (Kenneth Waller) and Eunice (Angela Rooks) led to tension between the couple, and Shirley left when Curly threw out the guests at his surprise party so he could revise for upcoming HND exams in Business Studies.

Having obtained his HND, Curly became an assistant manager at Bettabuy supermarket, where he became a protégé of manager Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley). Whilst working there, he had a relationship with employee Kimberley Taylor (Suzanne Hall). Once again, opposition – this time from both sets of parents – caused problems. Despite other brief flings with girls such as Anne Malone (Eve Steele), Angie Freeman (Deborah McAndrew), a much older woman in Reg's future wife Maureen Holdsworth (Sherrie Hewson) – who tried to get him sacked when he rejected her advances – and a much younger woman in Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw). Curly seemed doomed never to find domestic happiness.

After a prolonged on-off relationship, Curly married Raquel Wolstenhulme (Sarah Lancashire), who left him less than a year later to work as a beautician in Kuala Lumpur, and later moved to France with their daughter, Alice Diana. Curly did not know about the child until Raquel turned up unexpectedly on New Year's Eve 1999 to ask for a divorce. This episode was the first two-hander in the soap's history.

Curly met his second wife, policewoman Emma Taylor (Angela Lonsdale), when she came to investigate a series of crimes in the area in which Curly was innocently implicated. The couple married and had a son who was born on Boxing Day 2001. As Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) had helped delivered the child, they decided to name him Ben, as it was Norris's middle name. Later, Emma committed perjury in order to protect a colleague, causing friction between herself and the ultra-honest Curly. The couple left the Street during 2003 to start a new life near Newcastle upon Tyne, in the small town of Ryton. When the character made a comeback for the 2010 spin-off DVD movie Coronation Street – A Knight's Tale, Curly revealed that his marriage to Emma had ended since their departure from Weatherfield.

Since his departure, Kevin Kennedy has expressed interest in reprising his role as Curly.[1][2] However, ITV has announced that there are no plans for Curly to return.[3]

Kevin Kennedy appeared in character as Curly on University Challenge Challenges Coronation Street, a special edition of University Challenge produced for the 1997 Comic Relief telethon.

Curly Watts made a return in a Coronation Street DVD Special in 2010 titled A Knights Tale, which saw the return of another Corrie character Reg Holdsworth.

• Corrie.net profile
• Article on Curly leaving Coronation Street