Tracy Barlow
Encyclopedia : T : TR : TRA : Tracy Barlow
| Coronation Street character | |
| | |
| Tracy Barlow | |
|---|---|
| Played by | Dawn Acton / Kate Ford |
| Duration | 1977- 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002-2007 |
| Date of Birth | 24th January 1977 |
| Date of Death | |
| Marital Status | Annulled/ In a relationship with Charlie Stubbs |
| Occupation | Former florist, now full-time mother |
| Family | Ken, Deirdre, Blanche, Ray, Amy |
Tracy Barlow (born Tracy Lynette Langton,), born 24 January, 1977, is a fictional character on the soap opera Coronation Street. She is currently portrayed by Kate Ford since 2002, the latest in a series of actresses who have played Tracy at various ages. Christabel Finch played her from birth in 1977 to 1983, with Holly Charmette taking over from 1985 to 1988. Dawn Acton is the actress best known for playing her from 1988-1996 and then for brief reappearances in 1997 and 1999.
Information
Tracy is the daughter of Ray and Deirdre Langton. Ray left the family when Tracy was young, and she was raised by her mother and stepfather, Ken Barlow, whose surname she later took on.Tracy is known primarily as a soap bitch, for which she has been nominated in the soap awards, but this represents a complete character change. As a teenager, she hung out with Steve McDonald and his brother Andy, and was something of a tomboy and rebel.
She married Robert Preston and moved to London with him, and she returned several years later, in 2002, now played by Kate Ford. She announced that Robert had been cheating on her, but it was only until he turned up it was revealed that she had been having an affair with his best friend.
She started a fun relationship with her mum's ex-lover, Dev Alahan. When she overheard him saying that she wasn't 'marriage material', and that he was only in it for fun and nothing serious, she dumped him and cut up his best suits. At her stepbrother, Peter's, bigamous wedding to Shelley Unwin, she and a few other women agreed that boring geek Roy Cropper would be the only man who'd never cheat on his wife, Hayley. An eager Tracy placed a bet that she could bed him. Everybody was stunned when he got drunk (probably the first time he'd done so) and slept with Tracy. Poor Roy was racked with guilt, and his wife, Hayley, found out when she came home after nursing her sick aunt. Tracy then revealed her pregnancy, and told the Croppers (who couldn't have children since Hayley is a transsexual woman), whose marriage had almost been torn apart by the fling, that the only way she wouldn't abort the child is if they payed her £15,000 to buy the baby. They agreed, and Tracy's family were disgusted. The Croppers grew fearful that Tracy would flee with their cash, so he told Tracy that she'd have to marry him (to secure the relationship, because she wouldn't be able to leave the country with the baby without her husband's permission). The pair wed while Tracy was pregnant. Her baby daughter (who Roy and Hayley named Patience Cropper) was born, and Tracy has duly handed her cash. Tracy then confided in Peter that Roy wasn't actually the biological father -- in fact, she hadn't even had sex with him! She drugged Roy, and placed him in her bed, where he went straight to sleep, and made it look like they had slept together. The real father was Steve McDonald, who Tracy'd always fancied, with whom she'd had a one-night stand a couple of weeks before the 'Roy incident'.
The truth came out as Steve prepared to re-marry Karen, and Tracy blurted out everything. After Karen tried to attack her, the pair still married, and Tracy demanded that the Croppers hand over the baby. They did so, and Tracy re-named the child Amy Barlow. With the encouragement of her family, Tracy made the Croppers godparents to Amy.
For most of 2004 Tracy was feuding with the McDonalds, especially Karen. Steve secretly started meeting his daughter and Karen went over the edge. The marriage soon started to disintegrate, and after Karen miscarried the couple's baby, she had a breakdown and kidnapped Amy in Tracy's car. She burned the car, allowing Steve and Tracy to believe that Amy was inside. She had pushed Steve too far, and after Tracy fought with her on a rooftop, Steve kicked Karen out on Boxing Day much to Tracy's joy and she left Weatherfield.
Steve and Tracy since tried to make a go of their relationship, but Steve didn't truly love Tracy, and only wanted Amy, and when this became known, Tracy made it look like Steve had tried to abduct Amy and take her abroad, but the law fell on Steve's side and Tracy now has to let him have access. Despite Tracy's protestations that she loves her daughter, she is always ready to leave her with various family members at the drop of a hat to go shopping or to the pub. In the absence of any available baby sitters, she once left Amy at home completely unattended while she went out for New Year's Eve.
Tracy found herself a new boyfriend in December 2005 in the shape of Charlie Stubbs. After a very short relationship, she moved into his flat, but Charlie was unimpressed with the fact that Tracy had brought Amy along. After initially throwing them out, he informed Tracy that she could move back in on the condition that she did not bring her daughter with her. Tracy agreed with this and, to the disgust of her parents, moved back in, leaving Amy to live at her grandparents' house.
Other incidents were the return of her father, Ray Langton, with whom she built a relationship before his death to cancer. She also tried to rip off Penny King with the help of her Irish boyfriend, Ciaran, but when he backed down, she dumped him.
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