Deirdre Barlow/Rachid in prison (Coronation Street, March-April 1998)

Free the Weatherfield one! The story that gripped the nation in 1998. Here is a big supercut of Deirdre's scenes in prison from her sentencing with the famous "I didn't do any of it" line, to her torturous time in prison, and to finally being released where she crossed eyes with Jon Lindsay for the final time.

The prison warden, Maggie Veitch, is absolutely horrible (deliciously so). And we were introduced to Jackie Dobbs, played by Margi Clarke who would become a regular towards the end of 1998.

As I put the scenes together, it struck me just how little we actually saw Deirdre in prison considering the episodes spanned 3 weeks (and it was 4 episodes a week back then). I thought Anne Kirkbride was incredible, the scene where Deirdre was given a sedative has long stayed with me. Annie really put everything into her acting, quite distressing to watch.

It is quite funny to think about the length of this story as it was probably filmed weeks beforehand, Deirdre was always going to come out of prison. The media/press furore made it seem like it was the 'outrage' that got her out of prison.

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