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"You're finished Barlow. Deirdre loves me. She's mine, I'll...".
~ Mike Baldwin's last words before he dies in the arms of his archenemy Ken Barlow after recalling their love triangle with Deirdre in the past, thus signalling the eventual climax of the show's most developed feud of all-time.

Mike Baldwin is a fictional character and major anti-villain in the ITV British soap opera Coronation Street.

The character has been involved in some of the show's most highly-acclaimed plotlines, most notably in a love triangle scenario with the show's main protagonist Ken Barlow and his wife Deirdre in the early 1980s. The storyline of Mike and Deirdre's affair had gripped the nation when Ken ultimately discovered the truth behind their betrayal in 1983, but Deirdre eventually chose Ken over Mike in the end. The storyline's follow-up triggered a longstanding feud between Ken and Mike, which continued to impact the show's events over the next two decades up until they eventually resolved their differences following the "Frescho Siege" week of episodes in mid 2000.

During this time, Mike's other storylines involved a non-lasting romance with Ken's daughter Susan Barlow that leads to the pair getting married until they divorced a year afterwards; having a short-lived marriage with his second spouse Jackie Ingram; establishing a long-running relationship with his third wife Alma Halliwell; starting a dangerous conflict with his fellow nemesis Don Brennan that ultimately concludes with the latter before dying in a road accident; joining forces with Ken to help exonerate Deirdre after she was wrongfully imprisoned by her fraudulent ex-fiancé Jon Lindsay; being engaged to and later marrying his fourth wife Linda Sikes that ends after her tryst with his son Mark Redman is exposed; starting a custody battle with Ken's over his other son Adam Barlow following Susan's death in 2001; finding out that his supposed nephew Danny is actually his eldest child; and briefly dating newcomer Penny King until she rejects his attempt to romantically propose to her in the end.

While Mike is not as malevolently evil as several of the show's most villainous characters such as Alan Bradley and Richard Hillman among several others as well, he still developed traits as an antagonistic regular due to him being portrayed as a self-made cocky businessman who can at times be cruel and prove to be a manipulative cheater - although he would sometimes exhibit a softer side once in a while. In the character's final storyline that saw him being killed-off from the serial, Mike contracted Alzheimer's disease and ultimately died in the arms of Ken. Despite the extent of his developed rivalry with Ken, the pair of them would often be depicted as frenemies and sometimes put their differences behind them.

He was portrayed by the late Johnny Briggs.

Personality[]

Mike Baldwin ghost 2012

The ghost of Mike Baldwin appears in the Text Santa Christmas Sketch in 2012, standing next to his love rival and sworn archenemy Ken Barlow.

Mike had a generally friendly and happy demeanour but had a habit of treating people very badly. An avid womanizer, he was known not to take his girlfriends seriously.

Many of these relationships were shallow but Mike had genuine feelings for some of them such as Deirdre Barlow and Alma Halliwell. Mike could be very tender with the people he cared about which was shown with how he supported Deirdre when she was framed by Jon Lindsay.

On most occasions Mike was self-serving and egotistical. He held most of his staff in contempt and had no interest in making them like him. He treated them unfairly on numerous occasions such as sacking Tricia Armstrong to avoid paying maternity leave and bullying Hayley Cropper over being a trans woman. Mike was also okay with breaking the law demonstrated when he had Ashley Peacock sell dodgy goods and how he had Kevin Webster fiddle his company's bills.

Despite his love for Alma Mike cared about himself more as shown when he dumped her so he could get his hands on the factory by pursuing Jackie Ingram. Despite his many flaws Mike was not incapable of compassion.

Biography[]

Mike Baldwin is a self-made businessman who arrived in Coronation Street in 1976 when he opened up a new factory "Baldwin's Casuals" dealing in making denim jeans and jackets. He flirted with barmaid Bet Lynch behind the back of his common-law-wife back in London, although he later dumped Bet. A few years later, Mike witnessed two gunmen shoot his manager Ernst Bishop in a botched robbery. Ernst later died from his injuries and Mike, racked with guilt over his death, comforted his widow Emily over the loss of her husband.

In 1982, Mike became involved in a love triangle with the show's protagonist Ken Barlow and his wife Deirdre. The couple's marriage soon became tested when Deirdre and Mike began an affair after she had grown bored of her life with Ken and looked for more excitement. In 1983, Mike's affair with Deirdre continued as he wished to start a proper family with her. It was then Mike offered to whisk Deirdre and her young daughter Tracy away from the street. However, after Ken discovered the affair and confronted them over it, Deirdre was forced to choose - in the end she chose to remain with Ken, who gradually forgave her for the affair. This act would create a long-running feud between the two men for many decades to come.

In 1986, Mike began dating Ken's 21-year-old daughter named Susan and the pair later married against Ken's wishes. Mike dotted on Susan and bought her gifts and hoped to start a family with her, although she was more interested in making a career for herself. When Susan discovered she was pregnant, Mike was over the moon. But Susan claimed she had an abortion, and a disgusted Mike threw her out and Susan left Weatherfield.

In 1989, Mike started dating estate agent Dawn Prescott when they got acquainted with each other. He also helped her made amends with his longtime neighbour Rita Fairclough after the two women had suffered a traumatic ordeal by Rita's ex-lover Alan Bradley, who had previously tried to rape Dawn before later attempting to kill Rita after she discovered his villainous nature. Later on Mike planned to go into business with Dawn's brother Robert and sought to buy a port of land from him, only to later discover that the land he bought had been worthless. Mike impulsively blamed Dawn for this and she broke up with him before leaving Weatherfield for good.

From the early 1990s, Mike became acquainted with cafe owner Alma Halliwell. They begun a relationship until Mike was forced to end it in order to put his latest scheme in motion - seduce widowed Jackie Ingram and marry her so that he can extort control of the business that had previously belonged to her late husband Peter Ingram, who was also Mike's former boss around the time. In 1991, Mike successfully wooed Jackie into marrying him. But the marriage lasted only for a week after Jackie discovered Mike's ulterior motives and divorced him.

Soon enough, Mike planned to reconcile with Alma and was unhappy to learn that she had begun dating Ken. But then Mike managed to woo Alma into accepting his marriage proposal and dumping Ken. In 1992, Mike and Alma got married and bought a house for them to live in together. From then onwards their marriage would face several complications, most notably in Mike's ongoing rivalry with Ken. This involved Mike discovering Ken's affair with his secretary Wendy Crozier and then prying on Ken's newfound romance with his old flame Maggie Dunlop, the mother of Mike's long-lost son Mark Redman whose father was originally believed to be Maggie's late spouse Harry around the time. At one point, Mike contemplated on having a business partnership with fellow entrepreneur Stephen Reid over the factory; Stephen then attempted to get one over Mike by wooing Alma, but she rejected his advances and made amends with Mike sometime afterwards.

Coronation-street-1997-mike-baldwin-injured-but-alive

Mike Baldwin is injured but alive upon surviving a dangerous attempt on his life by his fellow nemesis Don Brennan.

By 1997, Mike had embarked on a dangerous quarrel with taxi driver Don Brennan. The conflict between them started when Mike bankrupted Don in a poker game many years ago before later conning him into buying a garage worth more than it's original value, which consequently led to Don losing everything around him. Don subsequently blamed Mike and swore revenge on him. In his quest for vengeance, Don vandalized a car that he thought belonged to Mike and later set fire to his factory; both of those acts failed, however, as the car Don vandalized had belonged to somebody else before Mike later received insurance money following the factory fire. Don later kidnapped Alma and tried to kill her by plunging the taxi in the canal. When that failed, Don ambushed Mike until the police were called to arrest him. Don tried to run over Mike, but he crashed the car and Don was killed in the resulting explosion - which Mike watched alongside both Ken and Rita after they rushed to his aid.

In 1998, Mike and Ken were forced to team up with Deirdre gets arrested for a crime she didn't commit - having been implicated for fraudulent dealings that her ex-fiancé, Jon Lindsay, had been perpetuating. When Deirdre is wrongfully convicted for Jon's crimes whilst Jon himself is released without caution, Mike and Ken resolve to find any evidence against Jon to settle Deirdre's exoneration. This nearly collapses until Jon's bigamy past is revealed, which Mike and Ken use to exonerate Deirdre and have Jon arrested for his crimes.

It was at this point that Mike's marriage with Alma was put at risk due to his antics, with Alma even accusing Mike of loving Deirdre and not her. Mike assured Alma that he loved her and their marriage seemingly continues going into 1999. But then Mike was seduced by his receptionist Julia Stone and they had a fling for a while. It then turned out that Julie had been in cahoots with Mike's former employee Greg Kelly, also the son of wayward resident Les Battersby who had planned to steal Mike's business until he was fired for his underhand tactics. Although Greg and Julie were arrested for their illicit activities, Alma discovered Mike's betrayal and divorced him.

In 2000, Mike had grown romantically involved with his newly-hired machinist Linda Sykes. They started an unlikely romance around the same time as Mike reunited with his long-lost son Mark Redman. Soon enough the couple were engaged in the build-up to the wedding. However, Mike is unaware that Linda and Mark have been having an affair behind his back for several months. He found out not long after marrying Linda, but she tricked him into believing that Mark was pestering her; Mike believed Linda and disowned Mark before setting off on his honeymoon.

Soon after returning from their honeymoon, Mike supported Linda when her criminal brother Dean was on the run from the police. Soon Mike and several others were held hostage by Dean in a siege at the supermarket, during which Mike and Ken found themselves tied up in a room together. The two men argued and threw insults at each other, but the matter got serious when Mike suffered a heart attack and Ken had to calm him down to prevent him from dying. In the end, they were rescued and Dean was shot dead; Mike comforted Linda over her brother's death.

In 2001, Mike learned that Susan had resurfaced and that he is the father of their son Adam - whose existence he never knew about since Susan never told him. When Mike found out and confronted the Barlow Family about it, he and Ken squared off against each other once more. This escalated when Susan's brother, Peter, informed everyone that she and Adam were later involved in a car accident after she attempted to get away from Mike from good - consequently Susan died, though Adam survived.

At Susan's funeral, Mike told Adam that he was his father before the latter threw a punch at him. Ken thereupon blamed Mike for Susan's death and the pair got involved in a custody battle, up until Adam eventually convinced them to make peace for his sake and in Susan's honor. The two agreed and Mike won the custody battle, though Adam was allowed to spend time with the Barlows after Mike allowed it as well; Adam would eventually be sent to boarding school months later. From then onwards, Mike and Ken would finally put their feud behind them and Ken even helped organize a surprise birthday party for Mike a year later.

Beforehand, though, Mike learned that Alma was dying and resorted to spend time with her in her last moments. By the time she eventually passed away, Mike realized that Alma was his true love and that he made a mistake marrying Linda instead. Mike later delivered a heartfelt eulogy to his "beloved" Alma at her funeral. At the same time, his marriage with Linda was facing problems. They appeared to reconcile a few months later on the day her mother was due to marry his friend Fred Elliot. However, Mark returned to reconcile with his father - as Alma had urged Mike to reconcile with his son despite their problems. It was then Mike overheard an argument between Mark and Linda over their affair, in which Linda boasts about how she'd been playing Mike - which in turn caused him to realize that Mark was telling the truth about Linda all along. Disgusted with Linda for the extent of her lies, Mike dumped her and settled a divorce with her before parting ways with Mark on good terms.

In 2002, Mike took Ken and their friend Audrey Roberts for a drink in The Rovers Return Inn at the point where Fred looks set to be replaced by the snobbish Lillian Spencer. She seeks to woo Mike, but he rejects her after she impulsively bars both Rita and her colleague Norris Cole for no reason whatsoever. As such, Mike and Fred remain on good terms after the pair were nearly conned by pub landlord Duggie Ferguson over an investment for The Rovers a year ago.

In 2003, Mike is the first resident to observe the police responding to the scene where Audrey's villainous son-in-law Richard Hillman had just killed Fred's daughter-in-law Maxine Peacock after trying to kill Norris' roommate Emily Bishop for financial matters; the public initially believe that Ken's delinquent ex-student Aidan Critchley was the culprit after Richard had framed him for the crimes, though the truth was soon revealed weeks later - including the fact that Richard killed his ex-wife Patricia a year earlier, left Duggie to die from a fatal accident, and tried to murder Audrey by setting her house on fire and then manipulating everyone into believing that she is responsible over the untruth possibility that she has Alzheimer's Disease.

Later on, Mike is present when everyone learns that Richard had kidnapped his stepfamily and drove them all in the canal in a last-ditch attempt to kill himself and them all in a suicide-familicide pact; they are all relieved though when Richard's stepfamily survive and Richard himself died after being drowned from the canal.

Soon enough, Mike is having trouble with the staff; he employs his manager Joe Carter to take charge in overseeing the business. It is then Joe planned to rip off Mike and enlisted one of his regular employees, Karen Phillips, to collaborate in his scheme by seducing her - even though she is already married to taxi driver Steve McDonald. On the day Joe executes his plan, though, Mike discovers the rule after growing suspicious of Karen and forcing her to disclose the truth; Mike later fires Joe and he leaves the street in disgrace, whilst Karen is given a lengthy suspension as penance for her involvement in Joe's plan.

In 2004, Mike's nephew Danny arrived to help him out at the Underworld factory. Mike's brother passed away, and it was discovered that Danny was actually Mike's son as Mike had an affair with his brother's wife. Danny was disgusted by this and was close to hitting Mike, but they soon put their differences aside and worked closely in the factory together.

Mike Baldwin ghost 2012.jpg|The ghost of Mike Baldwin in the Text Santa Christmas Sketch in 2012, appearing before Ken Barlow himself.

Coronation-street-ken-and-mike-final-moments

Mike Baldwin dies in the arms of his archenemy and love rival Ken Barlow after a tragic battle with Alzheimer's Disease, which also concludes the show's most dynamic rivalry in history.

Mike later began suffering memory loss and during a Christmas meal with his family he began asking for his brother, not realizing he had been dead for months. It was discovered Mike had developed Alzheimer's disease and got increasingly worse overtime, subjecting the once powerful man to weakness and hopelessness. Mike also began living in the past and asking about previous dead residents of the street.

After being soaked in the rain, Mike was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. He managed to escape and returned to Coronation Street and hung around outside his old factory. He was found by his old rival Ken, who tried to help Mike back home. However, Mike began to believe he was back in 1983 and told Ken he needed to collect Deirdre and Tracy to come and live with him. Mike collapsed and Ken held him in his arms, which leads to the two having a somewhat emotional conversation as Mike blissfully told him that Deirdre wants him. Mike then suffers a massive heart attack, and Ken could only watch in horror as Mike ultimately succumbs to his condition and dies in his arms.

Moments later, Danny arrives to find that Mike has died - which is thereupon disclosed to Deirdre and all the other residents. Mike's will later gets settled before his funeral eventually takes place, which Ken and Deirdre attend as they say goodbye to the man who had impacted in their lives on different accounts.

Years after his death, Mike would be referenced on several occasions. In 2013, Ken compared Tracy's boyfriend Rob Donovan to Mike over their similar behaviours. When Mike's son Adam Barlow returned to the street in 2016, he visited Mike's former factory and took a bottle of scotch out of the filing cabinet, Mike's favourite drink. Adam reminisced about his father and paid tribute to him. Adan attempted to continue Mike's legacy by trying to gain back control of the factory from the Connor family (who began running it a few months after Mike's death in 2006), although gave up in the end.

Quotes[]

"If I come back and find another card school, it's down the road for the lot o'yer!".
~ Mike Baldwin's first quote on the show.
"Why did you put the phone down on me?".
~ Mike visits Deirdre just as Ken has discovered their affair.
"Nice one Kenneth - nice one!".
~ Mike sarcastically congratulates Ken on getting one over him.
"Anyone serving you or are you monopolising the place?".
~ Mike taunts Ken and provokes another showdown between them in The Rovers Return Inn public house.
"At least it was a happy ending - he's dead!".
~ Mike telling everyone he is glad that Don is dead.
"If Deirdre goes down, it's because of you Barlow!".
~ Mike blaming Ken for Deirdre's wrongful conviction in March 1998.

Trivia[]

  • Because his onscreen archenemy Ken Barlow is argued to be the leading main protagonist of Coronation Street due to being the longest-serving character in British Soapland and due to their feud lasting for over 20 years, Mike is considered to be the main antagonist in Ken's story arc throughout the course of their rivalry.
  • Johnny Briggs reprised the role of Mike Baldwin for a Text Santa sketch in December 2012 in which he appeared as a ghost to Norris Cole.
  • He made a total of 2348 appearances throughout his time on the show.
  • The storyline of Mike's involvement in a love triangle surrounding his character, along with his wife Linda Sykes and his son Mark Redman, won the "Best Storyline" category at the 2001 British Soap Awards ceremony.
  • The storyline of Mike's battle with his Alzheimer's Disease was nominated for the "Best Storyline" category at the 2006 British Soap Awards ceremony.
  • There are conflicts regarding how Johnny Briggs came to be written out of the show after serving for so long as Mike Baldwin. Around the time of his departure it was revealed Briggs quit the show in order to enter into semi-retirement. But according to a Coronation Street book released in 2010 which provide behind the scenes material, it was revealed Mike Baldwin was axed from the show in order to give him to the Alzheimer's Disease storyline, which would mean Mike would have to be written out. Apparently Briggs wasn't too pleased at being axed from the show, although accepted the decision in order to take part in the story.
  • Also in the 2006 British Soap Awards ceremony, Johnny Briggs (the actor who played Mike Baldwin) received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his long-lasting dedication into the character's acclaimed performance and its contribution to several of Corrie's high-profiled storylines.

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