during the episode broadcast on 4 October 1998. Dobber and Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor) were involved in a notable storyline surrounding the subject of under-age sex. After a holiday romance, Dobber persuaded Toyah into losing her virginity to him in the back of his car. Tony Purnell from the Daily Mirror called Dobber "Mr Wrong", while the Daily Record's John Millar stated he was "one of the sleaziest characters to ooze across the cobbles of Weatherfield." He added "From the first instant we laid eyes on shifty Philip Dobson, we've known he's no good. But love is blind and so Toyah is prepared to do anything for what she believes is the man of her dreams." Linda Sykes Linda Sykes (formerly Baldwin), is played by Jacqueline Pirie. Linda arrived in 1998 and immediately found work as a machinist at the Underworld factory. She befriended fellow machinists Janice Battersby (Vicky Entwistle) and Alison Wakefield (Naomi Radcliffe), becoming bridesmaid at Alison's wedding to Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) in January 2000. She strongly disapproved of Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh), as she was disgusted when she learned that Hayley was a transsexual, but they later became friends. Linda had a particularly tough background. Her mother, Eve (Melanie Kilburn), walked out when Linda was young and she, being the eldest, had to help her father Ray (Peter Guinness) raise her three younger brothers. When she was 15, her close friend, Karen Phillips (Suranne Jones), moved in after she became estranged from her parents and they later went on to work as machinists in a factory called Wheelers. Shortly after her arrival, Linda's boss Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) and his ex-wife Alma (Amanda Barrie) separated, following the revelation of Mike's affair with a former prostitute named Julia. Linda comforted her boss, who was 33 years her senior, and they soon started sleeping together. They began an affair which culminated when Mike proposed marriage and she accepted, knowing that he was a millionaire entrepreneur. As they planned to marry, Mike got in touch with his son Mark Redman (Paul Fox) and invited him to the wedding. Linda took a shine to Mike's son, who was not much younger than her, and she soon began an affair with him. However, as the wedding day approached, Linda decided to end the affair with Mark so that her wedding could go ahead. Mark, however, was infatuated with his father's