16. Peter Barlow 1965-1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1986, 2000-2003, 2007- (97 votes)
The son of Ken and Valerie, it is the Peter played by Chris Gascoyne that has made him a compelling and favourite character. Following their mother’s death, Peter and twin sister Susan were brought up by their maternal grandparents in Scotland (although Peter doesn’t have a Scottish accent!). He joined the navy in 1980 and married Jessica Midgeley in 1990. After sporadic returns to the cobbles over 30 years, a divorced Peter returned in 2000, bought the bookies and married both Shelley Unwin and Lucy Richards in a bigamous storyline. He fled in 2003 and returned permanently in 2008 with his and Lucy’s son Simon (Lucy had died and Peter took custody of him). Struggling with fatherhood and relationships, Peter sought solace in the bottle. With Peter now an alcoholic, it was Leanne Battersby who made him seek his responsibilities. But when Leanne left the street for a few months, Peter and Simon nearly died when a devastated and drunk Peter fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand and caused the flat above the bookies to go on fire. Peter escaped death again in the tram crash and afraid he wasn’t going to survive, he married Leanne in the hospital. Prior to their marriage, Leanne did have an affair with ex-husband Nick Tilsley. Peter forgave her but he himself had an affair with Carla Connor in 2011 and he’s currently in a relationship with her and is in a custody battle with Leanne over Simon. This is an echo of when he battled against Lucy’s dad George Wilson for custody of Simon back in 2010. Should hunk Peter be at 16? Should he be in the top 20? Are you a fan? Leave a comment!
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