Jack Duckworth

John Harold "Jack" Duckworth, played by William Tarmey, is a fictional character on the soap opera Coronation Street.

Early life

Jack was born into a dysfunctional family home in Manchester. After drifting through a series of dead-end jobs which he found very dis-sastisfying, he found his dream job when he started to work on a travelling fair, calling himself Jake. It was while he was working the Waltzer (British fairground ride) that he met Veronica Burton, who preferred to be known as Vera as it was "...more romantic." Jack was horrified when Vera told him that she was pregnant; however, he reconciled himself to the morality of the day and agreed to marry her. By the time he learned the truth, that she wasn't pregnant and it was a false alarm, he realised that he really did want to marry her, despite mourning the loss of his freedom.

Information

Jack first appeared in 1979 embarrassing Vera with his common ways at Gail Potter's marriage to Brian Tilsley. (Priot to this, actor William Tarmey could often be seen as an extra in the Rovers Return playing darts; the production team of Coronation Street have since reconciled this by saying he was the same character.) He became a regular character from 1981 and moved into the street in 1983, to the dismay of his new neighbours.

The Duckworth marriage was always rocky due to their wayward son, Terry, and extra-marital flings. Jack once had an affair with Street man-eater Bet Lynch, much to her later shame. He enrolled with a video dating agency, calling himself Vince St. Clair and adopted a white suit, gold medallion and phony trans-Atlantic accent. Vera, who also took part in the dating scheme, under the name of Carole Munroe, was shocked to see Jack's video. She pretended to meet him in The Rovers Return pub, wearing a ginger wig. This led to a classic confrontation; 'Carole Munroe' had been claiming to be a rich widow, which led Jack to say "You're no flamin' widow!" As Vera swiped Jack with her handbag she shouted "No! But I will be ten minutes after I get you home!"

Vera also had her fair share of lovers. She was tempted by a former romance in with the smarmy Lestor Fontaine, but realised she could never leave Jack. In 2000, when she believed she was about to die in an operation, she confessed that to Jack that Terry wasn't his real son, but the product of a fling early in their marriage. Although he would never say as much directly to Vera, secretly Jack is glad about that, as he and Terry are estranged, and likely to remain so.

During a trip to the United States, Jack confessed to having lied at their wedding (by making a smudge on his year of birth to make it look like another number), and said he was two years older than he really was just to impress a young Vera. Since they were not legally married, they tied the knot in the famous Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.

The Duckworths have three grandchildren: Paul (by Andrea Clayton), Tommy (by Lisa Horton), and Brad (by Tricia Armstrong), but they hardly see any of them due to Terry's reluctance to be a father. Paul was conceived in the mid-1980s, but the teenage Andrea Clayton fled with her family to escape Terry. In the early 1990s, Terry made his then girlfriend, Lisa Horton, pregnant. He was imprisoned but vowed to marry her, and the pair were delighted when Terry was allowed out of prison (although handcuffed) for one day only for his wedding. They duly married but the groom escaped from the police and went on the run. He was later re-captured in a supermarket car park, where he had lingered too long in order to tell Lisa how much he loved her and that the flight from the wedding was just opportunistic and didn't reflect on their relationshiop. However, she knew that leopards never change their spots, that Terry was a rogue and always would be, so she broke off their relationship and, despite being pregnant, set up home with Des Barnes at no. 6. She gave birth to a boy, Tommy, and everything seemed perfect for their surrogate factory, until, one night, Lisa was leaving the Rovers and dropped her change in the middle of the street. While bending down to retrieve it, a car turned the corner and fatally struck her.

Following this tragedy, Tommy went to live with his paternal grandparents, but Jack and Vera found it hard to cope, particularly financially. Utterly callously, Terry sold his son to his maternal grandparents, the Hortons of Blackpool. The scenes where Vera begs Terry to change his mind and her subsequent break down when he refuses, are amongst the most powerful ever seen in the programme. Jack's response was more straightforward - he punched Terry on the jaw. (A nation cheered!)

A one-night stand with barmaid Tricia Armstrong resulted in baby Brad, but Terry didn't want to know, and Tricia left with a new lover. The Duckworths have tried several times to win custody of Tommy from the Hortons, but to no avail. They continue to see him occasionally, but relations remain strained.

Jack and Vera have mellowed over the years, changing from the 'neighbours from hell' characters of the early days into a maternal and avuncular figure (most of this down to brilliant performances from William Tarmey and Elizabeth Dawn. They have become surrogate parents for Tyrone Dobbs, and Jack consider him to be more his own son than Terry ever was. They are a down-to-earth northern couple and comic double act, in the great music hall tradition. Jack adores his pigeons, and Vera cannot stand them. Most recently, Jack agreed to sell his dead body for a certain sum of cash to an artist who enjoys painting stuffed humans, so he could buy Vera a Christmas present. When Vera discovered this, she argued with the woman, who then turned up, inspired by Vera. They agreed to both pose nude for the artist, but on condition that they would be buried as normal.

Jack is an integral part of Coronation Street as the cobbles themselves; lugubrious, world-weary, lazy and shifty, the fact that he remains lovable is a considerable achievement from the actor involved. Long may Jack stand at the bar of the Rovers, pint in one hand, fag in the other, trying to work out his latest 'get-rich-quick' scheme!

Family

• Wife: Vera Duckworth
• Adoptive Son: Terry Duckworth
• Grandsons: Tommy Duckworth, Brad Duckworth, Paul Duckworth