Character Study: Norman "Curly" Watts

Norman "Curly" Watts, so nicknamed because his hair was straight, was a Weatherfield lad though we never met him until he was an adult working on the bins with Eddie Yates and Chalkie Whitely. He lodged with Emily Bishop and set up business with Terry Duckworth, an association he would eventually regret. Poor Curly was a smart lad but a bit gormless, especially when it came to relations with the opposite sex. He was keen and eager to please, like a puppy and that seems to be how most women saw him. Each knock back didn't seem to put him off, though. He was ever the optimist looking for love.

He had his first proper girlfriend in factory worker, Shirley Armitage, round about the same time as he decided to go back to school and get some qualifications in business studies. Curly and Shirley split (how could they possibly have made it work with names that rhymed like that!) with very little warning, really, having overcome racial discrimination at the start of their relationship.

Curly lodged with the Duckworths and started his retail career in the Bettabuys empire with manager Reg Holdsworth as his mentor. Bettabuys was the source of two major relationships in his life. First, the righteous Kimberly Taylor, whom he dated and nearly married. Lucky escape there, I think, because I think he let himself be railroaded into the engagement thinking nobody else would ever have him.

His next relationship was a fantasy. He fell hard for Raquel Wolstenhulme who had her own ambitions and never appreciated the steady and faithful Curly. She would be continually hurt by other more "exciting" men and keep coming back to Curly to pick up the pieces until she finally married him on yet another rebound. Curly thought all his birthdays had come at once and thought that Raquel might grow to love him.

She didn't. Curly had his heart well and truly broken. He knew Raquel would leave him eventually though it didn't hurt any less when she left him after only a year. He thought he'd try to travel the world and rented out his house to Samantha Failsworth but was only gone for about 6 hours in the end.

As he gained more confidence in his job, he started moving up the career ladder but had a bit of trouble with obsessive stalker, Anne Malone, who framed him after he rejected her amorous advances. This did have him saying good bye to Weatherfield for a time, hoping to find Raquel. He never did find her but in the process, seemed to have finally found himself. He discovered that he was a dad when Raquel returned to ask for a divorce, revealing that she had had his baby, now a three year old little girl called Alice. It seems like about this time, Curly came into his own and lost most of that daftness he used to have. He even had a makeover and it seemed to do the trick!

Before long, all-grown-up-Norman met police officer Emma Taylor and found the first real mutual love of his life. He turned to local politics and was elected town councillor where he really tried to do some good. Curly always had strong principles and a social conscience and this was a way to bring some good to help people. After he and Emma got married, they had baby Ben and his dream of being a full time dad was realized. He and Emma went through a rocky patch when her career nearly faltered because an unethical situation she got into clashed with those principles but they reconciled and moved away to Newcastle to start again.

We haven't heard from or about Curly since. I like to think he and Emma had another baby. Maybe he's involved in local politics or some other local group that works to better the lives of people that need help. Maybe he's running a Citizen's Advice Bureau!

What was your favourite Curly moment? Was it when he gave Raquel her own personal star in the sky? Was it the Reg and Curly storylines? What about when he freaked out on the Battersbys and ended up getting nutted in the head by Les? Wouldn't it be great to see Curly again?

Corrie Character "Spare Parts" list

I know that not every character can be on screen all the time. There are usually a couple of major storylines and a couple of minor ones on the go at any given time and you see characters involved in those ones and some peripheral characters as well. There are also characters that seem to be around all the time but never or rarely have a storyline. I call them "Spare Parts". Mostly, they're great actors and their characters have so much potential that it's a shame they are wasted. They have had storylines in the past and they no doubt will again but it seems like they aren't front and centre too often.

These days, one of the "spare part" characters that I've noticed is Kelly Crabtree. I think Kelly is a fun character to watch. She's selfish and vain and thinks she's all that but she's not always very bright and she can be nasty, too. Yet she can also be perceptive and I think she could be a really good friend. Mainly, she seems to be around to strut her long legged stuff or gob off in the factory. You would never know that she and Becky used to be adversaries for the most part though there was a sharp mouthy exchange around the time Steve and Becky's relationship went public. I'd like to see Kelly get a proper storyline again!

Hayley Cropper is sadly reduced to spare part status these days, ever since she returned from Africa. The occasional shoulder lent to Becky or Fiz and a sometimes appearance in the cafe, we don't see very much of her these days. There was a flurry of activity when she returned, when she'd had a crush on her do-gooder-turned-love-rat volunteer team leader and she tried to find herself a new job or volunteer position but then...nothing. Let's see her get more involved in a friendship with Anna or have she and Roy finally plan a wedding now it's legal for them to do so!

They've brought Teresa back to the Street but really haven't done anything with her, nor with Darryl and Amber lately. Amber may be gone to London to attend uni and will anyone miss her? She's not been involved in much for awhile. Will this mean the end of Darryl and Teresa or will someone give them something to do? Dev has gone underground after his humiliation but that's understandable.

Another character that seems to be "resting" is Sean Tully who hasn't had a storyline of his own since he and Marcus broke up. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing, though, as he was front and centre for quite awhile for a couple of years. Michelle Connor is another of those characters that seemed to be the storyline darling for a couple of years and hasn't really left stage centre until her recent departure on tour with JD's band. There always seems to be one character that the Powers That Be seem to focus on and who gets storyline after storyline, but that's probably an essay best left to another post sometime!

In some cases, especially with the older members of the cast, they seem to be semi retired and only appear once in awhile as supporting members. This is often the case with Emily, Rita and Betty though Blanche always seems to find her way into someone else's business ;) What a joy when they are seen though, as they always have something to add to a scene. Even Jack Duckworth, though he's got a new storyline and friendship with Connie is only seen on occasion.

I would have said Claire Peacock was a spare part too but she's been popping up more recently now that Josh is a budding footballer and she's about to have her own summer crisis storyline so she's off the spare part list on which she's been malingering. Lots of people find her boring but I don't. She comes across as meek and mild but she's pushy, has got a temper and an iron will when there's something she wants. She isn't that far removed from Maxine in that respect.

Who else are your favourite characters that haven't seen the light of a script page for all too long?