Julie Goodyear MBE (née Kemp; born 29 March 1942) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Bet Lynch in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She first appeared as Bet for nine episodes in 1966, before becoming a series regular from 1970 to 1995. She returned for eight episodes in 2002 and another seven in 2003. For her role on Coronation Street, she received the Special Recognition Award at the 1995 National Television Awards. She was made an MBE in the 1996 New Year Honours. Biography Goodyear was born in Bury, Lancashire, to George and Alice Kemp, who divorced when Goodyear was six years old. Her mother remarried to William Goodyear, whom she knew as her dad. Goodyear was brought up by her grandmother, Elizabeth Duckworth, who died by drowning when Goodyear was thirteen years old. She attended St Anne's Academy in Middleton. Career Coronation Street Goodyear is known for playing barmaid Bet Lynch on the ITV1 soap opera Coronation Street. She started playing the role for a brief time in 1966, but left when senior cast member Pat Phoenix (who played Elsie Tanner) advised her to get some more training. It was at that time she joined Oldham's Repertory Theatre. Goodyear returned in 1970 and remained in the series for 25 years. She quit Coronation Street in 1995, shortly after winning the Lifetime Achievement Award for her role as Bet Lynch in the first ever National Television Awards. She returned to the role of Bet in 1999 for the home video spin-off The Rover Returns. In 2002, Goodyear made a brief return to the series. She returned to the show again in 2003, though this time, her appearances were part of a storyline set in Blackpool that involved Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard) and her husband Jim (Charles Lawson), who had recently escaped from prison. Career after Coronation Street In 1996, she signed a deal for advertisements for Shredded Wheat. Her other work included filming a pilot of The Julie Goodyear Show for Granada, presenting Live Time on the Granada Breeze network every week day throughout January 1999, and being a DJ on Manchester Talk Radio. In 2001, she appeared in the BBC television comedy sketch series Revolver and on several episodes of the ITV1 game show Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. In 2004, she won the first series of the Living TV reality series, I'm Famous and