Deirdre Anne Barlow (also Hunt, Langton and Rachid) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Anne Kirkbride. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 20 November 1972. Her final appearance was on 8 October 2014. Kirkbride decided to take an extended break from the soap in autumn 2014 and last appeared on-screen on 8 October 2014. She died in January 2015 before she could return to work. The character of Deirdre was killed off and given a farewell storyline, with her funeral taking place on 13 July 2015. An official book focusing on the character's history was released as a tribute for fans of the show in October 2015. Storylines Aged eighteen, Deirdre goes on a date with Jimmy Frazer (John Barrie), but when she is introduced to his business partner Alan Howard (Alan Browning), she quickly loses interest and flirts with Alan instead. Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) finds them in the pub where they are drinking, and announces herself as Alan's wife. Deirdre then sets her sights on Billy Walker (Kenneth Farrington), and despite the fact that he is nearly twenty years older than her, they become engaged in 1974, to the horror of Billy's domineering mother Annie Walker (Doris Speed), who disapproves of Deirdre and sees her as a harlot. The wedding is meant to be a low-key affair paid for by Billy and scheduled for May the following year, but weeks away from the wedding, Deirdre begins to have doubts, wondering whether she is prepared to be tied down to Billy. She asks Billy for more time and he agrees, but a little while later he calls the engagement off and leaves to run a wine bar in Jersey. Deirdre's typist skills are noticed by troublesome Ray Langton (Neville Buswell), and he hires her as a secretary in the builder's yard, but due to Ray's constant needling she resigns in June 1975 after they have a blazing row. However, the hate turns to feelings for him, and they marry in July. They later move into No. 5 Coronation Street in March 1976, shortly after their daughter Tracy (Christabel Finch) is born on 24 January 1977. After Deirdre is attacked by a rapist while walking home, she contemplates suicide, standing on the parapet of a motorway bridge and only snaps back to reality when a lorry driver