Alma Baldwin

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Alma Baldwin is a fictional character and central protagonist of the British soap opera Coronation Street. She originally started out as a supporting character from 1981-1982 before later becoming one of the show's primary protagonists from 1989-2001.

The character was portrayed by Amanda Barrie.

Biography[]

Alma Halliwell originally came to Weatherfield in 1981 before leaving in 1982. She resurfaced years later in 1989 and began to settle her life on the street.

Soon enough, Alma encounters local resident Mike Baldwin and the two fell in love with each other. Alma was briefly devastated when Mike ended things with her in order to marry his late boss' widow, Jackie Ingram, and extract control of her family fortune. Afterwards, Jackie ended her marriage with Mike and he sought to reconcile with Alma. However, it was at that point Alma began dating Mike's love rival and archenemy Ken Barlow. This prompted Mike to seduce Alma and then cause the break-up of her romance with Ken, thereby allowing Mike to fully reconcile with Mike and propose marriage. Alma accepted and, despite reservations from Jackie and Ken respectively, ended up marrying Mike on July 1992.

From then onwards, Alma's marriage with Mike faced many challenges. It began when his old flame Maggie Redman resurfaced with her son Mark and began romancing with Ken at the time. It soon turned out that Mark's biological father is Mike himself, which caused Alma to worry that Mike may want to reconcile with Maggie if he spends most of his time with Mark. Thankfully for her, this proved not to be the case but Mike assured Alma that he loved her more than anyone else.

By then, Alma had established close friendships with both neighbours Audrey Roberts and her daughter Gail Platt respectively. This was soon tested when Audrey's son and Gail's half-brother, Stephen Reid, arrived on the street and Mike sought to embark on a business partnership with him. Alma eventually acquainted herself with Stephen and he started wooing her with his charisma. It soon became clear that Stephen planned to seduce Alma to get one over Mike, but in the end Alma discovered Stephen's plan and slapped him before reconciling with Mike after the couple initially fell out over the matter.

In 1997, Alma found herself caught in the crossfire of Mike's dangerous feud with his fellow nemesis Don Brennan. This soon escalated when Don decided to target Alma in order to get revenge on Mike and settle their grievances. At one point, Don kidnapped Alma by abducting her in his taxi and attempted to make her see that Mike wronged him. But Alma grew scared of Don as his behaviour grew increasingly disturbing up to the point where he had a psychotic breakdown over his vendetta against Mike, going as far as to impulsively say that Alma is as much to blame for Mike's actions because she married him in the first place. Alma's plight culminated in Don trying to kill them both by driving the taxi into a canal; the pair survived and Alma was comforted by Mike over the ordeal whilst Don was taken into police custody for his actions.

Months later, Alma learned from Gail and her husband Martin that Don was dying of terminal cancer and had requested for Alma to visit him. Alma does so and Don apologizes to her for his actions. Alma forgives him and they make peace, much to Mike's chagrin over the matter. Don later escapes and Mike fears that Alma will be in danger, but it turns out that Don has resolved to kill Mike at all costs and is waiting for the right moment to ambush him. After a phone call with Alma in his factory, Mike is ambushed by Don and the latter attempts to kill him before he is forced to flee after one of Mike's employees intervenes at the last minute. Don then steals Alma's car and attempts to kill Mike one last time by running him over, but Mike dodges just in time and Don ends up crashing in the viaduct; Mike watches as Alma's vehicle explodes with Don inside it, killing him in the process. Alma later checks up on Mike in the aftermath of Don's vendetta against him.

In 1998, Alma becomes jealous when Mike spends most of his time with his ex-lover and Ken's former wife Deirdre Rachid after she is falsely implicated for the fraudulent activities that were committed by her fiancé Jon Lindsay. The situation worsens when Mike attempts to help Deirdre abscond the country by letting her use Alma's passport for her getaway, but Ken puts a stop to it and informs Alma of what Mike had done; Alma is furious and calls Mike a "stupid idiot" for his actions. She is nevertheless distraught when Deirdre is wrongfully convicted of her crimes and is happy when she is eventually exonerated weeks later thanks to Mike and Ken. However, she is shocked to learn that Mike spent £10,000 of their joint account money for Deirdre's case funding. Alma then accuses Mike of preferring to marry Deirdre rather than her, but Mike assures Alma that Deirdre is just his friend and states he is happy that Alma is his wife.

In 1999, Alma's marriage with Mike finally ends when he is seduced by his secretary Julia Stone into sleeping with him - little did Mike know that Julia is in cahoots with his old manager, Greg Kelly, to steal money from him. They attempt to succeed by blackmailing Mike with the threat of exposing his betrayal to Alma. Despite the plan failing in the end, Alma still learns about Mike cheating on her and ends their marriage.

Following the Millennium Celebrations, Alma spent the rest of her life bonding with other residents in the street - including her cafe owner successor Roy Cropper, his future wife Hayley, and elected councillor Curly Watts. At one point Alma and most of her friends are held hostage in a siege that ended with Curly's wife Emma killing one of the robbers by shooting him dead. Then in 2001, Alma learned that she had terminal cancer and had weeks to live. Mike found out about this and chose to spend quality time with Alma, much to the annoyance of his new wife Linda over her jealously towards Alma.

While spending time together, Mike tells Alma he made a mistake breaking up their marriage and professes his love for her. She responds by admitting the same but urges him to reconcile with Linda and Mark on separate occasions. She also convinces Mike and Ken to call a truce with each other and put an end to their rivalry, which they promise to do in her memory. Eventually, Alma succumbs to her illness and dies in front of her loved ones. Her funeral takes place weeks later.

Trivia[]

She was born on 18th October 1945.
Alma Baldwin made a total of 1135 appearances throughout her time on the show.

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