Bet Lynch (also Gilroy) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by Julie Goodyear, the character first appeared on screen during the episode airing on Monday 25 May 1966. Appearing over 25 years, Bet became a Coronation Street icon. Bet first appeared back in May 1966, but did not become a regular until four and half years later in December 1970. In October 1995, Goodyear made a permanent departure after on-screen Bet was unable to raise the funds to purchase the Freehold of the Rovers Return and fled Weatherfield. She returned in June 2002 in what was intended to be a permanent return for the character. However, Goodyear quit after just two weeks in what was put down to the exhausting work schedule. The following year, Goodyear returned temporarily in a storyline that accommodated the return of Beverley Callard as Liz McDonald. She last appeared in November 2003. Fans have called for Julie Goodyear to return one last time to the cobbles for only one episode to see Bet finally make amends with Rita over their 1995 fall out over money to buy the Rovers Return. She was initially made a barmaid at the Rovers Return Inn and later became the landlady. Bet likes to dress in a way she considers glamorous and has a fondness for leopard print clothes and a beehive hairstyle. This iconic appearance became the inspiration for Freddie Mercury's drag character in the music video for "I Want to Break Free" by rock band Queen. Storylines Bet was born to parents Patrick and Mary Lynch. Her father left when she was six months old, and Bet received a strict Roman Catholic upbringing by her mother, but that did not stop her becoming Miss Weatherfield in 1955. When she was sixteen, she met a man named Joe Mason at a party, who was twelve years older than her. After learning Bet was pregnant, Joe left and she gave birth to a baby boy called Martin but her mother insisted that the Downes family adopted him. 1966–1995 Bet arrives in Weatherfield in 1966 when working at the PVC factory. She has an affair with her boss John Benjamin and gives Lucille Hewitt (Jennifer Moss) a black eye, because of her jealousy at Lucille's speed of welding. She leaves a few weeks later but returns to Coronation Street in 1970 when she bumps