Tracy Barlow

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Villain Overview Gallery

Evil-doer
Full Name	Tracy McDonald
Alias	Tracy Luv (by her mother Deirdre)
Origin	Coronation Street
Occupation	Businesswoman Local control freak Local nosey parker
Powers / Skills	Manipulation Charisma High intelligence Cunning expertise Business practicing Exceptional wealth at times Capabilities to be a gangland boss
Hobby	Winding people up Prying in peoples businesses Controlling people especially her husbands and boyfriends
Goals	Kill Charlie Stubbs for cheating on her. Get out of prison. Break up Steve's marriage with Becky. Con the Rovers pub out of Liz McDonald (all succeeded). Kill Carla Connor (failed).
Crimes	Drugging Fraud Conspiracy Abuse Murder Incrimination Bribery Perjury Theft Trespassing Arson Perverting the course of justice Harbouring a fugitive Assault
Type of Villain	Anti-Villainous Mastermind

“	Oh look Charlie, on your knees after all. And just so you know.... I hate you! I hate everything about you - I hate the way you strut about in your vest; I hate the way you swirl your beer; I hate the way you lie, and cheat, and twist things! But most of all Charlie.... I hate what you've done to me!! And when I asked you to go down on one knee.... it was just so I can do THIS!	„
	~ Tracy taunts her ex-boyfriend Charlie Stubbs as she infamously kills him in revenge for betraying their relationship due to the extent of his cheating ways.

Tracy Barlow is one of the main antagonists of the ITV British soap opera Coronation Street.

She has been played by many actresses over the years, though she is best well-known for being portrayed by Kate Ford as the actress had played Tracy since the character's villainy began developing over the years.

Biography

Tracy Barlow born in 1977 to parents Ray Langton and Deirdre Langton. When her father left a year later, Deirdre later married Ken Barlow and eventually the latter adopted Tracy. Home life could be difficult at times, with Ken and Deirdre cheating on each other and other issues that often revolved on their mutual acquaintance - Mike Baldwin, a local factory owner who had an affair with Deirdre and ended up becoming Ken's sworn archenemy because of it.

During her teenage years in the early 1990s, Tracy was moody and loud, and this didn't help with the separation of her parents. In 1994 she took an ecstasy tablet which caused kidney problems. Her mother's new husband Samir Rachid agreed to donate, but was beaten to death by thugs on the way to the hospital. She still got the donation, but Samir had died. In 1997 Tracy married a lad called Rob Preston and moved to London with him.

The darker side to Tracy returned on Christmas Day 2002. She left her husband Robert Preston after cheating on him, though Tracy had falsely claimed that he cheated on her instead. In 2003, Tracy made a bet with neighbour Bet Unwin that she would sleep with local café owner Roy Cropper. This virtually happened when Tracy drugged Roy and slept with him. When Roy found out what Tracy had done, he guiltily told his wife Hayley about it. Ken and Deirdre later found out what Tracy did and, believing that she raped Roy because of the fact that he never consented to sleep with him, denounced her as their daughter.

Later on, Roy and Hayley confronted Tracy about her actions and branded her an "evil monster" when she reacted indifferently. Tracy then stunned the couple by revealing that she is pregnant and claimed that Roy was the father. When Tracy gave birth to her daughter Amy, she offered to sell the child to Roy and Hayley in exchange for money; they reluctantly agreed.

However, it soon turned out that the father of Tracy's baby was actually her lover Steve McDonald following a one-night stand between them; Tracy eventually revealed the truth to the Croppers and Steve during the latter's wedding to his wife Karen Phillips, who ended up becoming the first of Tracy's list of sworn enemies in the process. Consequently, Tracy's actions destroyed Steve's wedding and relationship to Karen. As such both Roy and Hayley were forced to give Amy back to Tracy at her insistence, although her grandmother Blanche Reid later offered her sympathy to the Croppers for what Tracy has put them through.

Tracy kills Charlie in cold blood.

In 2006, Tracy began a relationship with nefarious builder Charlie Stubbs. When she found out he had cheated on her, she plotted to murder him. She began to claim he was abusing her, and causing herself bruises. In January 2007, she struck Charlie round the head with a blunt instrument two times. She tried to put it down to abuse, but the courts saw through her and sent her to prison for 15 years.

In 2010, just over three years after being sent to prison, Tracy resurfaced; she was sharing a cell with Gail Platt, who was wrongly accused of the murder of her husband Joe McIntyre a few months ago. Tracy tried to get an early release by claiming that Gail confessed, but the courts knew she was lying again and dismissed the claim and Gail was released found not guilty. Tracy was then beaten up by some women in prison who took a shine to Gail in revenge. However, later in the year, an investigator who worked during Charlie's murder was found to have faked crime scenes before. Tracy was released pending a new trial, and stirred up trouble for the residents, before being attacked by widower Claire Peacock following a dispute between them due to Tracy mocking Claire over the death of her husband Ashley in the Tram Crash.

In 2011, Tracy's retrial took place and she was found not guilty of Charlie's murder. Soon enough she resolved to reconcile with Steve and break up his relationship with his new Becky Grander. When Steve and Becky separated, Tracy got into a relationship with Steve and fell pregnant to his twins. But that all changed when Tracy and Becky had another confrontation; it ended when Tracy fell down the stairs and lost the babies, but then she made it appear that Becky deliberately caused her "tragedy" and successfully made Steve believe her over Becky.

In 2012, Steve married Tracy out of guilt. But their marriage only lasted for hours when Becky publicly showed evidence that Tracy was lying, and lost the kids before the fall down the stairs. Steve promptly broke up with Tracy and tried to reconcile with Becky, but she refused and left the country; Steve then blamed Tracy for everything and divorced her. Tracy's attempt to take Steve back was foiled when he began dating his new girlfriend Michelle Connor. As time went on, Tracy grew jealous and she resorted to seducing Michelle's young son Ryan in an effort to break the couple up. But he found out what she was really like and dumped her when she attempted to fake a pregnancy.

In 2013, Tracy got into a relationship with entrepreneur Rob Donovan and the pair of them set up a pawn shop named Barlow's Buys. Her family didn't approve as they felt that Rob would be a bad influence of her (despite her being just as worse). When Ken had to leave Weatherfield for a while to look after his grandson Adam, who had been not feeling well at the time, Tracy convinced her mother to let Rob move in and the pair later got engaged. By then, Rob had been clashing with Tracy's half-brother Peter Barlow during the latter's relationship with Rob's sister Carla Connor. In December 2013, Peter and Carla got married with Tracy and Rob among the attendees present.

In 2014, Tracy joined Rob in getting involved in dodgy dealings with fellow builder Tony Stewart when he gave them supplies for the shop. This came to the attention of Gail's stepdaughter Tina McIntyre, who had begun feuding with Tracy at this point. By then, Tracy is unaware that Tina had kissed Rob and is currently having an affair with Peter behind Carla's back. Later on the night Tracy helped Tony collect stolen goods, Rob ended up bludgeoning Tina to death when she threatened to expose the affair and ruin Carla's marriage. Peter was wrongfully locked up when he was suspected of the crime. Tracy supported her father on his return, especially when Deirdre decided to leave Weatherfield to get a break from the stress. Peter was later found guilty and sentenced to 15-years in prison.

In 2015, Tracy decided it was best to go ahead with the wedding as there would be something happy in the Barlow family. But on the stag and hen night, Rob confessed to Carla that he killed Tina, but begged her not to report him to the police. However on the day of the wedding Carla phoned the police and Rob did a runner. Tracy was angry and attacked Carla, and ended up being arrested on suspicion of conspiring with Rob, but got released due to no evidence. Rob contacted Tracy and she "planned" to run away with him, but ended up phoning the police who arrested Rob at their meet point at a warehouse. Tracy was distraught as Rob was taken away and he refused to answer her pleas for forgiveness.

Tracy was stressed over Rob's incarceration and blamed Carla for reporting him to the police (despite it allowing Peter to be released from prison). Tracy broke into Carla's factory and smashed up the office, and the pair got into a tussle before Carla calmed Tracy down and told her Rob made his choice and that she should move on.

Tracy was involved in a minibus in January 2015 when she attended a night out with the Underworld staff. A racer on the road caused Steve to swerve and the minibus tripped and hung from a quarry. The underworld staff managed to escape, and Tracy went round the side and checked the front and realised Carla was still trapped. When the underworld staff asked Tracy if Carla was there, she was forced to admit to it and climbed in and managed to pull her out just before the minibus went over the edge. Carla was grateful towards Tracy for saving her life. But they fell out again when Tracy grew jealous of Carla bonding with Amy, going as far as to accuse Carla of turning Amy against her mother.

Soon enough Tracy planned to murder Carla in her sofa, but a noise in her flat forces her to flee and leave the candle right where the lamp is, this causes a fire in Carla's flat with herself and Amy inside the burning flat. Amy and Carla are eventually rescued by Kal and Leanne, who are caught in the crossfire as well; unfortunately, just as Leanne manages to escape from the fire, Kal is killed when the flat explodes with him inside it before the fire department could clear the fire away. It was then Tracy's actions caused a second explosion that fatally injured Amy's babysitter Maddie Heath, who later died of her injuries in hospital.

At first Tracy allowed Carla to be implicated as the culprit who killed Kal and Maddie, but eventually she confessed the truth; Tracy was arrested for causing their deaths, but ended up getting away with it scot-free due to lack of evidence.

Quotes

“	"Why she ever came back to this little house I had no idea. Him sat in his chair with his cosy cardigan and yer cryptic crosswords. Yeah, Mike Baldwin must have seemed so much more exciting."	„
	~ Tracy argues with Ken in the aftermath of Deirdre's funeral and even accuses him of being less exciting to Deirdre than his late archenemy Mike Baldwin at the time.

Trivia

• Tracy Barlow is the longest running antagonist in the series, as her villainy stretches back to 2002 - therefore, as of March 2023, she has been the show's central antagonist for twenty-three years. Although in the recent years, despite Tracy's sarcastic manner and sometimes lack of sympathy for others, her behaviour has been mellowed to the point where Tracy has become the show's anti-villain.

External Links

• Tracy Barlow on the Wikipedia