Betty Williams (Coronation Street)
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| Betty Williams | |
|---|---|
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| First appearance | 1969 |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Barmaid at the Rovers Return |
| Family | Maggie Clegg (sister), Gordon Clegg (son) |
| Relationships | Cyril Turpin (first husband, deceased), Billy Williams (second husband, deceased) |
| Portrayed by | Betty Driver |
Elizabeth "Betty" Williams (née Preston, previously Turpin) is one of the longest-standing characters in the UK soap opera, Coronation Street. Since the mid-1990s her name has been Betty Williams, although she is more known as simply Betty Turpin. She first arrived to help her sister Maggie Clegg operate the Corner Shop.
Betty Turpin, played by former music hall star, Betty Driver, has been a barmaid at the Rover's Return since June 1969, and is now, like the actress who plays her, in her eighties. After helping Maggie at the Corner Shop, she took the job at the Rovers, where she worked under Annie Walker and with Bet Lynch, who would become her close friend. While most characters simply referred to her as Betty, her former boss Annie Walker would be the only one to refer to her by her legal birth name.
Betty Turpin's history includes an illegitimate son (Gordon Clegg), marriage to police officer Cyril Turpin which ended with his death in 1974, and a second marriage to her wartime sweetheart, Billy Williams, which also ended in widowhood for Betty. She is also famous for her hotpots, which came under scrutiny in the early 1990s when it was believed that they were contaminated. She was cleared of all wrongdoing when it was discovered that beer, not food, was responsible for a spate of stomach upsets.
Because of her advancing age, Betty nowadays appears only rarely on the show.
[edit] Family
- Sister: Maggie Clegg
- Husband: Billy Williams (deceased)
- Son: Gordon Clegg
- Grandson: Peter Clegg
