Granada Report's Entertainment Correspondent, Caroline Whitmore with her memories of Annie

I interviewed Annie many many times during my time as theEntertainment Correspondent on Granada Reports. I found her to be avery open and honest person who as much as she loved playing DeirdreBarlow on Coronation Street she loved her home life and family more.She had a villa in Andalusia in Spain which she enjoyed visiting mostweekends and would often joke 'I might not come back for work!!'. Shealways did though because playing Deirdre was one of her many passions-she loved acting and felt it was in her blood. I remember her sayingto me once that of course it can get like any job you've been in for along length of time but her Coronation Street colleagues were like asecond family to her so she never felt like it was hard work.

In 2011 she unveiled her waxwork figure of Deirdre with her on screenhusband William Roache who unveiled Ken at Madame Tussaud's inBlackpool. Her real life husband David was present too and I rememberAnnie joking that she had her two husbands with her and not many womencould say that!! She had been married to her real life husband Davidsince 1992.

Annie invited me along to her art exhibition at the Wendy Levy artgallery in Didsbury back in 2012. She had done a few of theseexhibitions by then but she said she always felt nervous about them.Her love of painting came from spending so much time in Spain. She waslooking to find pictures to decorate her Spanish villa but couldn'tfind any she liked- so she did her own. She created art canvases outof photographs and free much persuasion from family and friends sheended up showcasing them.

She was from Oldham and as I'm from the town too she used to joke that we had a connection- her father Jack was a cartoonist for the Oldham Evening Chronicle and she always thought her acting was her form of art. Then when she started painting she knew then that she had more of her fathers flare than she realised. Her brother still lives in Saddleworth and she used to tell me how she'd return to the town to visit him.

Then there was the Annie Kirkbride that most people knew her for- herrole as Deirdre Barlow in the nations favourite soap. She was thefourth longest serving character on the street behind Ken, Emily, andRita and had been in the show since 1972. Her most memorable storylineas Deirdre was THAT love triangle between ken and mike when she had anaffair with mike-this was the highest rated episode and I remember hertelling me Bill actually hadn't rehearsed putting his hand so near herneck so her reaction was real she was genuinely crying. Theirreconciliation was announced at a Manchester United match and it was anational event. She was falsely put into prison when the campaign'Free the Weatherfield one' began. More recently she was known for herstuffed marrow and terrible pottery skills and she's been given lotsmore comedy lines after the passing of her on screen mother Blanche.

Annie died at the age of 60 on Monday 19th January 2015 she would havebeen 61 in June. She was an icon of British television, a trueprofessional and a lover of life. She will greatly be missed by fans,family and friends.