WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
A nostalgia trip for anyone in the UK who grew up on dial-up Internet, Findus Crispy Pancakes, and playground rumours that couldn’t be fact-checked online. We’re not historians — we don’t do dates, and we barely do facts — but science says reminiscing gives your brain a dopamine hit, so think of us as your weekly dose of hazy memories, childhood flashbacks, and confidently misremembered events.
Expect frequent arguments about who remembers things properly as we rummage through the UK’s collective memory box.
WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
Who Remembers........The Free The Weatherfield One Campaign?
A fake pilot, a tie shop at the airport, and a love story that turned into a national scandal—this is the wild ride behind Deirdre Rachid’s wrongful conviction on Coronation Street. We retrace how a believable con, a paper trail in her name, and one painfully honest witness shaped a verdict watched by 19 million viewers and sparked the now-legendary “Free the Weatherfield One” campaign.
We start with Deirdre’s roots—her iconic pull between Ken Barlow and Mike Baldwin, the Old Trafford scoreboard that cheered “Ken and Deirdre united,” and the public’s long memory for those unmistakable glasses. Then we step into the Lindsay plot: the neat uniform, the convenient absences, the romantic urgency that moved Deirdre into signing forms and flashing a card that wasn’t his. Ken’s airport discovery is pure soap gold and cruelly human: he knows, he hesitates, he checks again. Later, that decency becomes the flaw, as his testimony confirms a past lie and tilts the court against her.
What happened next belongs to British cultural history. Newspapers turned a storyline into a campaign, posters filled windows, protests formed outside prisons, and MPs made statements. It was more than fandom; it was collective outrage at a credible injustice, the kind that happens when a smooth operator exploits trust, status, and shame. The case finally broke when a past victim came forward, exposing the pattern and opening Deirdre’s cell. The release, the reunion, and the image of her at the bars sealed a legend: a soap plot that felt as real as the evening news.
Join us for a smart, funny, and heartfelt tour through the biggest Corrie phenomenon of the 1990s. We unpack the conman’s tactics, Ken’s conflicted heroism, and why “Free the Weatherfield One” still resonates in a world obsessed with scams and public trials. If you loved Corrie, British TV history, or great stories about how culture moves people, this one’s for you. Listen, subscribe, share with a friend, and tell us your strongest memory of Deirdre’s case.
Hello and welcome to Who Remembers the UK Nostalgia Podcast? And in this week's episode, we are asking who remembers the Free the Weather Film Campaign.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, this is more a throwback to our uh go on. What were our old Made Life?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Living with Maidlife. You know, that looks like we did it for about eight years. That you were part of. Yeah, so people did listen to Living with Maidlife, which I'm sure you all did, because it's it were amazing. Uh yeah, we used to do TV stuff, old TV. We we've done a few, we did Blanche Hunt uh from Coronation.
SPEAKER_00:We did the Richard Hillman thing quite easily.
SPEAKER_01:Richard Illman. This is probably bigger than the Richard Illman thing, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know how this will go down in this sort of new format without we don't play any clips, it's just we try and remember. You've done some research, I've done a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Um Christ. I've been all over this last few weeks, like changing my head.
SPEAKER_00:If you were around in this era, it really was iconic. And if you weren't, you probably can't quite grasp what now. What do you mean that a soap star got locked up and everybody was talking about it? But yeah, it was absolutely huge.
SPEAKER_01:This yeah, I think if you're a younger listener listening, you might just think we're just picking an old soap storyline. I'm not joking, as we'll get on to later. We're gonna go through the story and stuff, and then we'll get on to the what we've really want to talk about, I suppose, is the aftermath. This was a proper phenomenon, like an absolute I'm trying to think if there's a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00:There were stickers in people's windows, politicians, there's all sorts that like it'll flesh out the story as we get there, but yeah, you couldn't get away from this. I mean, I I sort of dipped in and out of coronation street. I don't even think I was probably watching it at this time, and and I was still really aware of it. You kind of couldn't get away from it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, like I say, well, we'll get to we'll get to the aftermath. This were like main news, genuinely on the main news, not obviously like as a real storyline, but talking about how much this had gripped the nation. But so what we'll do if it like I say, this is the story of Deidre Rashid uh when she got sent to jail on Coronation Street. I'm gonna do a little bit of background on Deidre. Liam, you're gonna do go through the story of what actually happened. I think you need a bit of background on her to sort of understand what's going on before. I'm not gonna go right into Deidre's history, but um, and then we'll talk about the aftermath. But so obviously, play uh Deidre was played by Anne Kirkbride, and she first appeared in 1972. It's 1972, as a 17-year-old, and uh she was immediately a man-eater on the street. She was set to marry the 36-year-old Billy Walker when she was just 19, but it fell through. And she also had a lot of relationship with various other men, and even had a daughter, Tracy, who is she still in it now, Tracey? Oh, I don't know. Yeah, but she had yeah, she had a daughter called Tracey. But outside of this storyline, what if I said to you, Liam, what is what is she most known for outside of the three Didry thing?
SPEAKER_00:Uh the the sort of Barlow Baldwin love triangle, I would say.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely, yeah. The three-way love triangle between uh herself, Ken Barlow, and Mike Baldwin.
SPEAKER_00:Well the love triangle, it's not a closed triangle, is it? Because I don't think there's ever anything between Baldwin and Barlow.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know where End Barlow uh Baldwin dies in Barlow's arms. Did you know that? That's how Baldwin, yeah, he does, yeah. Not like in a sexual sense, that'd be a mad thing to do.
SPEAKER_00:Are you gonna talk about, by the way, because I was just doing a quick sort of skim through? Are you gonna talk about something that happened at Old Trafford?
SPEAKER_01:Is that yeah, I am gonna mention that right now. So, yeah, incredible. So, Deidre, well, uh so this is the storyline 1983. Deidre, whilst dating Ken, had an affair with Mike Baldwin. Um, the story was absolutely huge. Again, newspaper coverage, got loads of coverage in the newspapers, front page again. Deidre's constant front page, it's like she can't stop making the front page. But this episode in 1983, where she ends her her affair with Mike and goes back to Ken, it was so big, it ended up being announced on the scoreboard during a Man United versus Arsenal match at Old Trafford with the words Ken and Deidre united, Ken won Mike Nil, which led to cheers from the spectators. That's brilliant!
SPEAKER_00:Imagine that, like the other the other bit of trivia that I saw as well was that um, and apologies if I'm stealing your thunder, but I thought it was interesting, is that when she did eventually marry Ken Barlow, yeah, that was actually higher viewing figures than the Prince Charles and uh Diana marriage on on ITV anyway.
SPEAKER_01:I think Deidre and Ken, if you're doing if you're doing a Family Fortunes um name a Coronation Street couple, her the here i either that or Jack and Vera, I'd say.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, although it's weird because I I agree, but I I always think of her as Deidrey Rashid.
SPEAKER_01:Well we'll get on to that. This is why I want us to get do a little bit of background. So Ken and D Ken and Deidre often split up, even though like you know they're renowned as being this like really big couple, they always split up, and even after when Ken got her back after the Baldwin stuff, uh this is a brilliant storyline. This I've not seen this, I've read this. Um, Ken gets Deidre to contest the 1987 uh local council elections as an independent candidate because she wants to split the vote in Labour uh in favour of Labour. So he gets her to like just go in so she can split the vote. So because Ken Ken wanted uh the Labour candidate to get elected. Deidre surprisingly gets elected, but because Ken works for a local newspaper, and he's obviously a massive professional, innit? Ken Barlow, everyone knows that.
SPEAKER_00:Boring Barlow.
SPEAKER_01:But but yeah, but in the in the newspaper, she just starts bad mouthing the council, which means she ends up losing a seat, so she divorces Ken. On the back of that, so yeah, so that's why she divorced because Ken's like I've got my duty to what I've noticed going through this is he sounds so much like David Mitchell, Ken Barlow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he's always kind of trying to take the moral high ground as well, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:It's proper Mark Corrington. Didre, I mean, I can't believe what you're saying. That's a terrible express uh impression of Ken Barlow. We've talked about it before. Les Dennis is the only man in England who can do a good Ken Barlow impression.
SPEAKER_00:Is that right?
SPEAKER_01:I think so. We've done him before when we talked about uh when we did Les Dennis's Christmas Laughter or whatever it was. Remember he was. Yeah, laughter. Yeah, what did he try? Oh, he tried to he did Mavis, obviously. And uh obviously, yeah. I don't really know. Uh but when he were doing Ken, which were like a side character, I was like, he's nailed Ken, and that's a difficult one to do.
SPEAKER_00:So Yeah, I'm not even you know I could do all the voices. I'm not even gonna try Ken.
SPEAKER_01:It's really, really difficult. Yeah, really difficult. Um, but anyway, the reason I'm bringing all this up the background is because you need to know. I don't think even you knew, did you, until I told you why she was called Deidre Rashid? Because at this point she's Deidre Barlow. Did you know what's crazy about this is that and this is how big this storyline was, I think, is that she was known as Deidre Barlow for I don't know, I'm just guessing, but I'm gonna say 20 years.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know why she was called Deidre Rashid until you told me. Presumably she married somebody called somebody Rashid.
SPEAKER_01:Well, yeah. Yeah, but what I'm saying is you didn't know like what what had happened.
SPEAKER_00:I don't remember the story, no, no.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, no. But this is what this this storyline was massive, I think, is because she she was Deidre Bala for like 20 years or whatever it was. But if you say Deidre, it's even like the line of League of Gentleman when he says to uh Pauline, you'll go to prison, and she goes, Do we look like Deidre Rashid? Yes.
SPEAKER_00:But so I don't know why that became so well. I assume it's gotta be the storyline. Yeah, it's because at this time she was Deidre Rashid, wasn't she?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but she were only Deidre Rashid for a few years. So in 1994, she ends up marrying a guy from Morocco. Bringing this up again because it sort of goes into the storyline of this one, uh, called Samira Rashid. Um they were gonna go to Morocco to live, but Sami were killed in a random attack as uh by youths as he was walking to the hospital to donate a kidney to uh Didry's daughter Tracy. So that's why she's called Rashid. And they were only together for a you know a couple of months after they got married, but yeah, it's like a proper soap death, that in it.
SPEAKER_00:Like it's not just attacks by youths, but he's on the way to donate a kidney to save his partner's daughter.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, so he saved Tracy, so that you were like a hero, this Rashid character, which I don't remember him at all. I sent you a picture of him earlier, didn't I? I I don't remember uh Samiya Rashid. No. Sorry, sorry, Samiya. Sorry, yeah, so the back with '94. This is 1997 now, Liam, and I'm gonna let you go through the story. But this is that set the scene that she was with Barlow, they split up, she got with uh Mr. Rashid, he got killed. So she's a single woman, and do you want to take it away, Liam?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean I've I've kind of got my own um cards on the table, AI generated uh notes, but you sent me a slightly more detailed version, so I'll I'll be watching this.
SPEAKER_01:I've gone through hours and hours of footage of this shit.
SPEAKER_00:AI can't touch you on this one, can it?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, absolutely not. So I just people say we don't know anything.
SPEAKER_00:I like how you've you you've actually listed that as a as a point as well. Number one, make it quite clear the story starts in 1996.
SPEAKER_01:I think it's important because it goes over to the next year, which we'll get to.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the the yeah, obviously, yeah. Okay. Um so she meets John. Um come on, what's his second name? Uh John Lindsay. John Lindsay, which I do know what, and even as I keep reading it today, I keep forgetting that. John Lindsay. John Lindsay. She meets him at a singles night and he tells her he's an airline pilot. So that that's our introduction into this guy. Quite a sort of clean cut, seems fairly professional guy. Um, and and when she tells her friends and they'll see him. I don't know if you watch some of the clips, they're all like, oh, yeah, he's a deep. Yeah, he's alright, yeah. Look at him in his pilot suit. Ooh, yeah, they love all that, yeah. And actually, I don't know if you saw it as well, but I mean, what a sort of collection of iconic characters in the clips I was watching. There's Emily Bishop, uh Rita Sullivan. Yeah, they're all there. Percy Sugden was there, but I think he was starting to like lose the plot at this point a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Bobby Roberts.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_00:All the sort of big hitters are there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. What's his name who married Mavis? I don't know if you were in this. What were his name? Derek, were it?
SPEAKER_00:No, I think he's gone before.
SPEAKER_01:He died of a heart attack, didn't he? He had an argument with somebody and immediately died of a heart attack with that anger.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he was a bit of a wet lettuce, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lost he lost the plot once and died.
SPEAKER_00:One argument and it finished him off, yeah. Things become serious, uh, despite um, but obviously he's uh he's frequently off. I mean, I suppose if you're gonna be what what do you call it? Is it is it bigotry or what what is it?
SPEAKER_01:Well, we'll get onto this, but yeah, at this moment we're gonna go.
SPEAKER_00:But anyway, so yeah, the pilot excuse gives him the perfect alibi to be missing loads of the time. So we'll get to the the good one, which is the the example of kind of where it gets caught out. But yeah, he keeps telling us going to different places. Um yeah, oh in fact, we're there we're there already. Sorry, on the notes. This is excellent preparation for me. So she sends Ken, so she's working in a travel agent at this point in time. Yeah, not if she owns it or just works there.
SPEAKER_01:Um she's a manager, manager of the travel agents, yeah. She's not only own it, but she's a manager there.
SPEAKER_00:So that I don't think this would be anything to do with a travel agent, but they have to go and collect a passenger at Manchester Airport. So she asks Ken to do it. Ken with his usual sort of I'll do the right thing, I'll step in. He's a bit reluctant, he might look stupid, but he says, Yeah, go on. So he trundles himself off to Manchester Airport. And whilst there, it's brilliant how he does it as well, by the way. He spots John Lindsay working behind a counter in a Thai shop, uh tie and fly, it's called. Yeah. I love like the the sort of terrible sort of shit version of. Do you know like that shop in Jules where the his camera stays at the his face stays in focus, but the camera kind of pulls away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's stunned, innit? Terrible, but like he does like a massive, like almost double take. It makes me think of when Carl Potas says, like, the ant comes back to its nest after there's boiling water there and it does a double take. It's like the most obvious double take.
SPEAKER_01:All he's missing is like a bound, bound, bam, yeah. So he's stunned.
SPEAKER_00:But then it's clearly him. But yeah, he after the ad break, he's still sort of hovering around the ties, like people.
SPEAKER_01:He's just looking at him for about 20 minutes, yeah. For about 20 minutes, the whole episode is Ken Barlow's looking stunned hidden in John Lindsay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But so if he knows it's him, and and this is the thing, actually, as well. Yeah, I I won't sure whether I think in my memory that there was a bit more confusion as to well, well, is it or not? But it's very clear from that shot that he's it's not. So he tells Deirdre Well, no, no, no, hang on.
SPEAKER_01:To be fair to Ken, this is classic Ken. He goes back again, just to be on the same side.
SPEAKER_00:With Emily Bishop as well. I don't know if you saw that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's uh yeah, it tells Emily, she goes, Well, you've got to tell it, you've got to say you've got to tell him.
SPEAKER_00:Which I love that like yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a bit it's quite sad actually, where he sort of says, Well, I I don't want to ruin her happiness by sort of telling her the truth. Like she, you know, she's kind of in the moment.
SPEAKER_01:What I love about it though is Ken's been looking at it, he looks like as we said, he's looking at him for about 20 minutes. But classic Ken, he's like, I better go back, to be honest. So there's another episode where he goes back and looks at him again, not for 20 minutes, but imagine if there were two episodes back to back, where it's just him driving to air. Yeah, just staring. So by the second point, I don't know why he'd need a second, like a second opinion, if you know what I mean. But he goes again and he's right, right, that is definitely him, he is definitely working in this shop.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's uh it's like Ellen Partridge, isn't it? If you listen to the other podcast where his wife's having an affair, and he's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's just so many bits of evidence, but he keeps looking for more. But anyway, um so he tells Deirdre she was not having it. No, that's ridiculous. And then the very end of the episode is her. I mean, to be fair, I kind of quite like how she does it. I suppose you would, you'd be that angry. She's no like she's not peeking through the tide, she just marches straight up to him and sort of says, What the hell's going on?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think that's the very end of the episode then.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so she left.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so she's left him by this point, she goes home and next one is him sort of buzzing outside her room saying, I can explain, I can explain it all. He gives her a story that she she sort of believes, which is that he was a pilot, he had problems with his ears. Um he was too ashamed, and he he thought like he loved that she was kind of proud of him as a pilot, and he didn't want to admit that he wasn't that anymore, and he just works in a tie shop.
SPEAKER_01:Um as he's saying this, and I know it's a lie, I'm thinking, oh yeah, I can see what he's saying, even though I know he's lying. I'm like, I think he's a really, really good actor. Um forgot his name, I had it written down. Uh David Avad uh Avanovich, I think it is. But anyway, brilliant acting because I'm like going, oh yeah, I can see, I can see this is why I think it's a great storyline, because I can see why Deidre's falling for this every step of the way. But I think it's not a bad excuse, really.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And and he also convinces Ken. Ken must hate this, but he convinces Ken to not expose him because it would make Deirdre embarrassed. So I'm bored.
SPEAKER_01:Because he's basically saying, Do you want to do you want to upset Deidrey? If you told the street but that I'm not really a pilot. So the rest of the street still think he's a pilot because Ken's like, I don't I think he does tell Emily again that he's not really a pilot. I think he confides again in Emily.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because she's gonna be in Manchester again and watches him through the ties again just to check that it is actually.
SPEAKER_01:Just to check that it is him, yeah. But yeah, because obviously Emily, um she's a woman of the cloth, isn't she? She's uh uh a devout churchgoer, isn't she? So obviously he knows it's a bit like a confession, isn't it? She knows that she she's not gonna squawk, is she? She's not she's not gonna be.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think she's a woman of the cloth necessarily. Is she not? She's religious, I don't think she's genuinely my plays a role in uh in the church. Is she not?
SPEAKER_01:I thought she were a big churchgoer. Emily.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, she is, but of the cloth kind of implies sort of I don't think she doesn't work at the church.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, sorry, that's a terrible turn of phrase from me. Yeah. Um Emily Bishop.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she isn't.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, I don't think she was I can't find anything about her being she might have brilliantly she's an atheist because I can't find anything. Do you know her son is Oliver Holt, the uh sports writer? No, it's not Emily Bishops, but the the actress.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, now you've said it, I'd uh yeah I'd forgotten that, but I didn't know that. So you've remembered me something there. Um so he tells her um he wants to move in, uh he can't live at home because his devious ex-wife has sold her house from under him. Uh they need to go and find somewhere together. So he sort of says he's had a promotion.
SPEAKER_01:This is where you think Deidre's been a bit of an idiot. This this is the bit where you think, come on, Deeds, come on, Rashid.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and he's now going to be overseeing multiple uh high and tie or whatever it is, tie and dry or whatever it is. Thai and dry shops, branches in the UK. How many can they possibly be? I suppose it could be one at each airport.
SPEAKER_01:That's yeah, good point, yeah, yeah. And he's so he's driving around that's a good point, actually. So he's driving around from airport to airport because he's now basically the manager of every what a quick promotion that is, by the way. You were a pilot about six months ago. High flyer. Yeah, well, you know, if you're good, you're good.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, he's uh they go to view a house. I'm not entirely sure on the timeline of this bit, I've skipped through it by by this time, but they go to view a house, they agree to buy it. There's something to do with a gold card that it gives her, or he ends up staying at his mate's house, does he?
SPEAKER_01:So what he does is he is house sitting for a real pilot. This is what we get through. Um we we get the full story about this later. Um so he basically nicks his card um and gives it to Deidre to spend. So this is where the the actual why she ends up getting arrested down the phone. She gets Deidre to sign the paper, so everything is being bought and signed in Deidre's name.
SPEAKER_00:And she's got the card and he's telling her to use it. Yeah. So so this is where the this is where she starts to get herself in bother. Um she goes, there's a bit where she goes to she takes him some champagne or something at work.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think it's Christmas Day. I think it's or Christmas Eve, she goes, because she she says something like, I can't believe you've got him working Christmas Eve, and Liz McDonald goes, Hey, do you know what you want to do? That's quite a good impression of Liz McDonald. She talks exactly like that. Uh hey, do you know what you want to do? You want to go and surprise him? I can't say, You think it's true? I can't do it. Why can you deal? She's got like a husky voice, aren't you? Yeah, hey, do you think it's true?
SPEAKER_00:Do you think I should take me?
SPEAKER_01:Oh do you reckon I'll show you like some champagne? Um, but yeah, so she says, Yeah, because you know what? I'm gonna do it, he'll love that. I'm going to do it.
SPEAKER_00:I'm going to take him some champagne.
SPEAKER_01:That's not too bad, actually. That's a bit certainly the best so far, Deidre impression so far, anyway.
SPEAKER_00:Best impression you've ever heard tonight so far. But the night is young.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the night is young.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, she takes champagne and goes to the there's a girl behind the desk, I believe, who says, Oh no, he's not working, but he's home with his family. Which is the worst part of the storyline, there, but carry on. I'll tell you when you've finished. So Deidri says, What do you mean he's home with his family? Gives him an address, writes it down. That's what's wrong, right?
SPEAKER_01:There's a bit where this I hated this bit because I think there's very few plot holes in this. Because I think even if you think Deidri's being naive, you can you can sort of see it happening. We know liars, we know liars who've been lying to girls and stuff and got away with it for years. Not us, obviously, gentlemen, both of us. But two Kembalos. Two Kambalos, yeah, boring, yeah. Um but yeah, so I I could I can go along with all the lies that she's fallen for it and stuff. This bit is just such a bad scene where she goes, Well, is he um he's moved house, hasn't he, recently? And then the uh the the one behind the counter goes, I can't remember the address. He's like, No, it still still lives at 153 Avenue Road or whatever it is, like the full address. And she goes, Oh yeah, of course, yeah. Why would you do that? Imagine someone coming into your work saying, I don't know, where's Dave today? Oh no, he's still living at 165 Cheshire Avenue. Do you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I know what you mean. It's unlikely she would know his address, soft by art. She might know the area that he lives in. You shouldn't give it out to anyone anyway. I uh yeah, I I I think you kind of have to accept with a lot of these things that they're not true to life, don't you? Well, you say that, I mean you know.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, to be honest, I've looked on to the aftermath. I don't know if I wrote this down actually. There in the papers they were actually doing um real life deidre stories, people have been ripped off by men. Like they're like a big thing in all the papers, like this woman went the same way as Didre Rashid.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Well, yeah, um I don't know if it if it's written based on anything, but obviously something's inspired it. I I would imagine they've they've sort of picked it up from something. Um but yeah, she goes to his house, he's there, she says uh she she's telling Liz the story. It looked right through me, Liz. It looked right through me.
SPEAKER_01:That's the honestly, that is the best so far. That is the b uh honestly, that is fantastic. She goes, You're joking. I can't believe it. She can't believe it, Liz. Like because to be fair to him, they're all like sort of Liz is the only one out of the lot of them that are all other than Barlow. And even Barlow, in fact, starts having doubts. Liz is fair play to Liz. She's she's by her side throughout the the entire thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, she stands by her, he comes round to try and explain himself and say, look at the next sort of bit that he weaves is that she's a mental case. I don't know if you're allowed to use that these days, but that's what he says. Well he kind of implies that, doesn't he? And he says basically what she said is she's gonna if he kind of doesn't live with her or stay with her, she's gonna hurt the kids. It's quite dark, really. Like where he's gonna go with it, isn't it? And this is where Deedre says, Fuck off, basically. Yeah, she's seen enough, she's just not having it at this stage, and yeah, kind of everything starts clicking into place. It was all she's basically sort of saying, Look, it was all nonsense, the whole thing. I think she she'd had doubts about which bits were true, and then starts to realise the whole thing is just a lie. And then this is where she's she starts to things start falling down for her. I mean, obviously that in itself is a is a horrible story, but then she discovers that her bank account has been frozen. Um this is where it's it's revealed that he's been impersonating this this pilot, uh the credit card is false. Uh and basically this is kind of where it's revealed that everything's been done in her name.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so he's got a mortgage in her name, he's got um like he's been spending money in her name, because it's all been done by the city.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and the really interesting thing, like at the end, is so one of the kind of key reasons that she kind of ends up so so the verdict is she gets sent down for 18 months. Um he works free because he's basically he he pins the whole sort of the whole plot of what was going on on her, and he holds his hands up to his bit and says, Yeah, look, I got caught along with it. I'm I'm guilty of the bits I was involved with, but it was all her.
SPEAKER_01:She plays a brilliant bit because why did you pretend to be a pilot then? And he said she liked me dressing up in that uniform, that's why I'm in a pilot outfit in a lot of our pictures.
SPEAKER_00:But brilliant. But ultimately, like the sort of quite funny, sort of big plot point here is that most people think she's guilty because she can't have been that stupid. There's a brilliant bit on what are the assumptions based on.
SPEAKER_01:There's a fantastic bit from a solicitor. Uh Ken, she just sat there looking like really gormless, and Ken goes, So what you're saying is she's uh that the court will not believe that anybody could be that stupid to fall for this, and like she goes, Yep, that's what we're saying. And Dean's just like looking around, lads. So it's like uh you're having someone's talking about you, and you're there, like a Tim off office looking at camera. What was happening? Yeah, so Ken goes, Yep, I understand it. But then Ken again goes to a confiding Emily Bishop. But he again goes to Emily Bishop and he said, I just don't believe her. I don't believe anybody could be that stupid. Oh, right.
SPEAKER_00:So this has kind of got past what I'd want. I don't remember that. So Ken doubts her. But Ken, yeah, so Ken's kind of all the way through it being aware of what's going on. Why does he well there's a bit?
SPEAKER_01:Well, but it's brilliant because like he goes, um he he goes to like not confront her, she he says something like, Well, I can't understand why the judges might go against you or something. And he goes, 'She goes, you what?' He goes, 'Well, you know, he goes, Did you he goes he goes? I don't think you actually did it all, but did you get caught up in it yourself? She goes, 'I can't believe she's fuming, obviously.' And he said, 'No, no, I don't think you're like the master.' He thinks, Ken, that she knew all about it. He's involved with it. Yeah, she's been told to because she's loved him so much, he's gone along with it. She's fuming. She goes, 'Well, if you don't even believe me, what chance have I got?' So Baldwin, sort of first time coming to Baldwin, he's got this master plan idea where he's gonna give her a fake passport and she's gonna go to I can't remember what it is, like Bermuda. I might not know where it is, might be Jamaica or somewhere like that. So she goes, right, because Baldwin's basically Baldwin's basically saying she's definitely going down because no one believes her on the street. There's a bit where Audrey Roberts has a go at her where she goes, Well, I have to admit, Deidre, I just can't believe that you fail fell for it all this time. She goes, Well, thank you very much, Audrey. Do you know what I mean? All this sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So she's gone to the airport, so Baldwin tells Barlow, he goes, I'll give her a fake passport. He goes, You what, Mike? And he like drives to the airport and he manages to stop her. And she says, Look, only way I'll stop here is if you admit now that you believe me. And he goes, I do believe you, Dre. I do believe you. And she says, Are you just not saying that, are you? Like, and she goes, He goes, No, I believe you, Dre, and we will get you off and all this. So she comes back to the court case.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but she knows he doesn't, she literally knows he is saying that to stop her from getting on a plane.
SPEAKER_01:Changed his mind, can it's changed his. He's looked at the evidence, probably, hasn't he? Imagine him. I imagine him up all night with different books and stuff. Do you know what I mean? Like writing graphs and things like that, like on his wallpane. She she might not have known. She can be that stupid. But it's actually Baldwin who ends up in a way sending her down. So in the court case, obviously goes to court, and again, brilliant there. So I don't know if you watch the court case.
SPEAKER_00:I saw a little bit of uh bit where Baldwin stands up and says, Hey, you've got the wrong bloke. It's him sat there grinning, easy problem.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they're going up, and when Lindsay's on uh stand, you think, Well, he's not getting away with this, John Lindsay. Like, no way he's gonna get because he's coming out with bollocks, but again, everything he's saying, he's like saying, It's in Deidre's name. Why would I put it in Deidre's name if I wanted the money? Why would I do this in Deidre's name if it were just do you know what I mean? Like, and you're thinking, oh yeah, he's got a point here. And then Ken gets up and says, Have you ever lied for her in the past? And this is where it comes back to the do you know where like John Lindsay told her not to lie for uh told her to lie for her about not being a pilot, and he went, because he's he's on an oath, isn't he, Ken? So we don't want to, you know, we don't want to upset the big man, don't want to upset the big man upstairs. So he says, Yes, there are there has been a time, yes. And he goes, like, well, when when did that happen? He goes, Well, I I knew John wasn't a pilot, um, but I I didn't want to tell anyone because he goes, Oh, so you're already lying for her about that, so you were part of this. He goes, No, no, no, that's not the you know what I mean. So, like, and then so that makes her look like he goes, Oh, so this woman here has basically told you to lie for her, and you've done it once already. Why should we believe you now? Brilliant writing. Yeah, so Barlow's part of the problem, because he's too honest. Yeah, so it comes to the judgment, and then right before she gets um the the the verdict comes, her lawyer, I think it's a lawyer, comes up to her and says, Look, plead guilty, you are not gonna win this. Plead guilty, and you will get off. You will not, or you'll not get as many, you know, you might get community service or whatever. And she goes, I'm innocent. He goes, right, I'm only trying to well, walks off. And then we come to the famous court case where it she gets charge, she gets found guilty on all counts.
SPEAKER_00:Um she gets 12 months for something and six months for something else, or it's uh it's a combined 18-month sentence anyway.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so she pleads not guilty, but because John's portrayed her as like the brains behind it all, she's found guilty of fraud, she gets a prison sentence of 18 months. John walks free because he's admitted guilt, saying he had some part to play in it, but he she was the mastermind. So it was by 19 million people, the guilty verdict. And there's that famous scene where she goes, I didn't do it, and then she gets taken off.
SPEAKER_00:Quite a good acting. I felt I felt sorry for her in that that moment.
SPEAKER_01:Why's Les Bows being caught, by the way? Because I don't think he's part of storyline at all, but he's on the backbench, isn't he? Like, hey, what's going on here?
SPEAKER_00:There's around this time. This is what I love in South World as well, because obviously I was clicking through the episodes. It's around this time while all this is going on that Ken Barlow falls through the Battersbury's roof and they think he's pervert.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, hey, he's trying to go and ride the author here. Have you seen him? He's come through roof.
SPEAKER_00:Imagine how if this is not big enough that Barlow's falling through a roof and been accused of being a pervert.
SPEAKER_01:There's a bit where Emily Bishop actually, the judge says to uh the uh prosecutor says to her, he says, Well, how can we trust your judgment? You got arrested last year for trying to save I don't know what it is, like the cobbles or whatever on and she goes, Yes, I do fight for my um my my rights and all this sort of stuff. There's loads of shit going pretty much criminals. So they go to a pub and everyone's uh like Rover's return and they're all like guttered, go, Oh, she got sent down and all this. But uh Baldwin is fuming with Barlow. He goes, Well, right, thanks for that, Ken. Or what does he say now? He says something along the lines of I think I sent it to you as a clip where he's going, he's going like he he shouts to John Lindsay, we will take this all the way. And he goes, Yeah, yeah, yeah, nice one, Barlow. Do you know what I mean? Like you've basically got us sent down. So yeah. This is the aftermath of it. I'm not going to go into the storyline, we'll go into the storyline after. But this is when it became massive, this storyline. When she finally got sent down, because I don't really remember following the storyline, but I knew that she'd been sent down.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly. And I I think the outrage is the injustice of it. So obviously that we the viewer, the characters in the self have got the doubts, they're not sure. We know that she's just been completely spun a lot spun alight, it's all nonsense. And so this innocent, this innocent woman has now been sent to prison. And and obviously, like for for huge fans of the show, that's massive. But it became bigger. It became like everyone was like, Oh my god, I can't believe it's sent down what Deidre Rasheed's gone to prison. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01:Not Deidre Rashid, who's next? Yeah, Grenada was swamped by complaints with the angry viewers, and a public campaign uh started, led by the tableau newspapers, who used the slogan uh Free the Weatherfield One, which is again that must sound mad to younger viewers, Free the Weatherfield One, but the younger listeners, should I say, but that that to me is just like part of British culture now, Free the Weatherfield one. And it's her image as well. Do you know the image of her really close to the bars? Yeah, really up to the bigger. Massive glasses on. It was just on those glasses, by the way, before I forget. So I read this as I were uh getting some research, nothing to do with the story. She wore the same style of glasses for 30 years, but they were crushed in a box uh when someone sat on them. Do you know who sat on them? Dev. Oh really? Yeah, I didn't mean to. Yeah, so he sat on them and um crushed the glasses. What in his story or in real life? No, no, no, like in the story.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Um so if you look at the later episode, she's like sort of using um smaller glasses and stuff. Uh but he even made the front page of The Express and the Times. But the Daily Mail came out and said uh they well, they accused the nation of mass madness.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I remember obviously the I presume you're gonna mention sort of it. I think it was mentioned in Parliament, but I do like literally remember, do you know, like when you're coming up to an election and some people put in the windows like vote Labour, vote conservatives. I remember people having like that picture up in the window saying free the Weatherfield one, like a big face up right behind the bars.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, free free Rashid. Um protesters stood outside Risley Prison in Warrington calling for a release. Um and one fan sent£5,000 to the campaign to see her released. It got to the point where the newspapers had to make they were asked by the writers or whatever to to put in the newspaper she is going to be released at some point because people were that outraged about her.
SPEAKER_00:She was sent. I don't know if you've got anything about this. I kind of vaguely remember because it did sort of spark people's interest. And I I remember watching a little bit when she was in prison. The prison with Jackie Dobbs. She's not the scousewoman, is it? Yeah, the scouse woman, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do remember that, yeah. Quite a kind of hostile scouse woman. I think she was really like like a uh a friend of us, though, weren't she?
SPEAKER_00:Like in the end, like it didn't be getting. I think they ended up getting on, but I think she were quite intimidated at first, weren't she?
SPEAKER_01:Right. She but there were stickers and cups and t-shirts, like you say, like all saying free Deidre. I remember going to the FA Cup semi-final seven, Sheffield United versus Newcastle. And people were wearing t-shirts saying Deidre as a blade. Ridiculous with that image, like Deidri as a blade. But you said politicians expressed their opinions on the story. Uh Tony Blair said he would be command commanding his own secretary, Jack Straw, to investigate it. Um William Eager, a leader of the Conservative Party, said that his party were very concerned about Rashid's treatment.
SPEAKER_00:Well, very concerned about the treatment of uh G.
SPEAKER_01:He actually said the whole the whole nation is deeply concerned about Deirdre conservatism, as anyone else. Um, but yeah, so this was huge to the point where, like I say, when there's protests outside of prison, there's people sending money in, it's up in Parliament or something.
SPEAKER_00:He said it says you sent to Redford prison, but that's not yeah, it's a yeah, I don't know why they were outside Warrington prison.
SPEAKER_01:I presume that's the closest one to where Corona Street Prison, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I presume so, yeah. Um but so how did she get out?
SPEAKER_00:You don't know this, do you? It might be that you tell me and it and it makes me remember it, but I I don't remember it at the minute, but I might remember it once you told me what it is.
SPEAKER_01:It's a bit shit, actually. Like, so it all happens really quickly, which I don't know if that's because of the pressure Coronation Street were under. Do you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, let me try and let me try and think. So So you're saying it happened fairly quickly. There's there's gotta be some sort of he's gotta be found guilty something else, or something else comes out. There's there's gotta be some reason why they'd let her out quickly. So her story and our body can't change. So it's got something's gotta come out about him, I would say.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so the at firstly, like Barlow's like, get an appeal, Mike. Mike, I don't know why Mike's involved so much, because Mike, you need to get an appeal started. So Baldwin tries to get an appeal, and he's basically told that by the time the appeal gets into court, she'll have served the time, so there's no point in her appealing. So they're basically helpful. There's no, you know what I mean? And she's having a really bad time of it in prison. She's like, she stops eating, and she's really depressed, and there's a prison warden who is a bit like someone on prisoner cell blockage, she's just a complete bitch and stuff to her, and you know, it's an awful time for Deirdre. But just randomly, someone knocks on Ken Barlow's door called Mary Doerte. Um, and this is a woman who John Lindsay had duped previously, and she'd read about the trial in the press. But it makes sense. Yeah, um, he was using the alias James Anderson at that time, still pretending to be a pilot, by the way. So they got married, they actually got married in 1994, so it it was a bigger mess as well. So he's got he's got two marriages that go, and he's obviously doing that with Deirdre. And in the the uh I love how he loves being a pilot in the wedding photo, he's wearing his pilot outfit.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, before he would turn up to call for it when he gets sent down and his pilot.
SPEAKER_01:I've got to wear this. So thanks to this information, Deidre were received from jail um and walked out as a free woman. Again, a really bad bit of but you want this, you want the I I'd have loved to have seen an aftermath of this of like I don't know, Deidre going speaking to his ex-wife saying, you know, you were wrong about him and all this sort of stuff. As Deidre is getting free, for some reason, John Lindsley's going into the same prison. And she goes, Yeah, you like it. She says something like, You like it in there, John. They've got a uh they've got a pathway under the prison right to the airport. What is he saying?
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah, actually, because Deidre, I'm a pilot, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:I could be brilliant if that he goes, she goes, What really? Oh my god, come on. Come back to me.
SPEAKER_00:Right, yeah, write it to me, run it to me, John, about being a pilot.
SPEAKER_01:So it's brilliant when she comes out, Barlow's there. Uh Barlow and Baldwin's there. Baldwin straight away goes, Hey, I told you I'd get you out of there now. Like it's about proper like wide boy, Baldwin. And um, and then she she he goes, Right, you're coming back to mine. And Deirdre goes, if it's all the same, Mike, I'd rather stay with Ken. He's guttered Baldwin. Absolutely fuck it. Even though he's going out with Alma, so I don't know why he's like so bothered about it at this point. But she goes, I want to go back with Ken. And then two months later, she would reunited with Ken at Valentine's.
SPEAKER_00:I'd rather be with Deirdre or Alma.
SPEAKER_01:Gotta be Alma, hasn't it? Probably Deirdre, because you could just con her. Who took this last biscuit? Definitely weren't me. Okay. Can you imagine? I was coding her all the time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Maybe that's why it worked with Ken. Honest Ken, because he he never conned her. No, no, no, honest man.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'll say that, he had plenty of affairs, didn't he?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, well, actually, yeah, that's nonsense, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:He had loads of affairs. Yeah, loads of affairs. Uh Kirk Bride passed away in 2015, obviously. Kirk Bride had played Deidre. And apparently, I didn't I didn't clock this at the time, but apparently free Deedre t-shirts became really popular again. A lot of people were wearing them in tribute to her. But honestly, that is a fucking brilliant, brilliant storyline. And I and the aftermath of it is obviously the big thing about it. But I've I've been watching this and I I'm very much gonna do what I hate to do is soaps were better in my day.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, definitely. No, they were. I mean I I don't know. Everything feels like it's been done a hundred times before. I false imprisonment, I don't remember that being done before.
SPEAKER_01:No, I don't know if I think there were one in Brookside before, which we're just judging from what I read. But Brookside to be fair, that's another that's that's another thing that I sometimes watch clips of. We might have to do with something in that as well, because that were that were really, really edgy, weren't it? Brookside for us all.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I never really liked it, but my grandma and granddad loved it, so I'd I did see more of it than I would have liked to. But so yeah, yeah, we might see on a fair looking.
SPEAKER_01:Do you remember Mick Johnson? Yeah. The character. Yeah, so he's playing someone out that the actor's playing someone else in Hollywood. This is brilliant. Obviously, it's Phil Redman who writes both or created both. So it turns out he's got a double life, and he's actually playing Mick Johnson in Hollywood. So he there's a there's an episode where he goes back to Brooks. Yeah, so again, yeah, they say characters in two soaps. So he said that there's a there's been an episode where he goes back to Brookside and he starts talking to fucking Jim Royal's wife, what's her name, Sue Johnson? And um he's there, Barry Graham, and and everyone's going, Oh my god, it's Mick Johnson. In this in Brookside, he died in a fire like 30 years ago, whatever. But he basically like in the Hollyoak storyline, he faked his death and started a double life in Hollyoaks. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:No, yeah. Brilliant.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just having a look, I do remember him, yeah. And uh Mick Johnson. There were ones where he got I think it was like something, I think like sauce fell on his head, and because obviously he's bold, he looked he had his hand in the air, he looked like the World Cup. He looked like sort of like a both hands in the air. I'll try and find that image and try and post it, but yeah, it looked like World Cup. But honestly, um, I always say uh I've really enjoyed that. I've massively enjoyed going into this.
SPEAKER_00:You've watched it, aren't you?
SPEAKER_01:Um, it's fucking bad.
SPEAKER_00:I mean it's quite big at the minute. Like I know uh Jody's dad watches like Retro Coronation Street.
SPEAKER_01:Um RTV three, I think, I believe. Have you seen that woman and somebody? This another thing that came up on my thing. She got uh horrible, horrible death. She got locked in a freezer at Fresco's. Um and she dies because she's in there overnight, and in the morning, like the open door, and she's just there frozen. Like, it's a horrible scene.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know if you ever went in freezers in the supermarket we worked in, but yeah, I I could well believe it. I remember Yeah, very cold. Believe it or not. Well we had a chart, actually.
SPEAKER_01:Massive tangents obviously saying this, but uh we would we were having a bit of a bit of a debate actually about how long do you reckon you could stay in a in a minus 18 freezer? I mean what what sort of gear have I got? You're in your normal clothes, you're in your work clothes, so if you're not gonna be a few years.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, fair enough.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she didn't have a f to be fair, she didn't have a freezer coat on, she were in like a suit.
SPEAKER_00:If I needed to, sort of I'd be making myself sort of uh something out of cardboard to lie on, some cardboard to cover me. I I'd just do 24 hours in there, no problem.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, fair enough. Well, that's it. That's it. That's all you need to do then, folks. If you want to go in a chiller, Liam's got you covered. Thanks for that, Liam. Um I don't know what exactly we're doing next, but we're gonna do some Christmas episodes after this. This should be going out on 1st of December. So the the festive season is well upon us, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we'll have some it's like that time uh this is the equivalent now if you're listening. Do you know? I I love that as well. Do you know on Sky Sports when they start playing that Christmas music and all snowflakes are coming down in the background?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this is the equivalent.
SPEAKER_00:It's that from uh Holly Oaks, isn't it? Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas. Not Holly Oaks, Home Alone. Home Alone.
SPEAKER_01:I'm talking about Home Alone. I think it's Home Alone 2 where Donald Trump's on it. And someone they must have been joking, but it was uh uh an headline in a serious newspaper. It said Donald Trump, star of Home Alone 2. As if that was Star is 10 seconds, you know. As if that's what he's most known for, being an Home Alone. Imagine him running around setting traps and things like sliding on micro machines and things traps of the birds, everyone's at the end of the day. I said the best traps, beautiful chapters. He honestly said recently, um, I know this guy, a really big guy, one of the biggest men in the world. He doesn't know what the biggest men in the world. What's the other Val? Like a nine foot man who said, Hey Doc. And he said to me, Brilliant. Anyway, thank you, William.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Christmas season is upon us.
SPEAKER_01:Ding dun didl did. That's not Christmas music. No, it isn't ding dun didle do. We're trying to do the ding ding-dong merely on I don't know what we're doing. Anyway. Ding dong merrily on high. Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to Who Remembers. If you want to get in touch with us, you can find us at Whorremembers Pod at Outlook.com. If you are a right wing fascist, you can find us on Twitter at Who Remembers Pod. Or if you're a woke note, you can find us on Blue Sky at WhoRemembers Pod. Once again, thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time for more remembering.