FAREWELL MIKE (baldwin)

03 April, 2006 by The_Boss

ITV1 Friday 7th April 2006 8:00 PM to 8:30

After 30 womanising years, which have seen 23 girlfriends, four wives, seven illicit lovers and three illegitimate children come into his life - Mike Baldwin has finally walked Coronation Street’s cobbles for the last time.

In moving scenes, which will see him dying in the arms of his rival Ken Barlow, Johnny Briggs plays the Weatherfield Romeo for the last time as his character finally loses his battle with Alzheimer’s.

Now ITV1’s Farewell Mike takes a look back over his life - featuring an exclusive interview with Johnny himself, as well as moving tributes from his fellow cast members and friends and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage as he filmed his final scenes.

Narrated by Matthew Kelly, the documentary features archive footage of some of Mike Baldwin’s best moments – from the minute he stepped on the street as Bet Lynch’s flashy southern lover, to the heated affair with Deidre Barlow, the emotional scenes when his wife Alma died of cancer and the moment he discovered his young bride had been sleeping with his son.

Long-standing cast members Bill Roache, Anne Kirkbride, Sue Nicholls and Liz Dawn reveal what it has been like working with Johnny over the years and Bradley Walsh and Pauline Fleming discuss filming the emotion-filled final scenes.

Bill Roache talks about his character’s long-running feud with Mike and reveals that Ken felt threatened when Mike arrived on the street, but it made the part more exciting for Bill.

He says: “Ken is a nice guy, a loyal guy, reliable guy. But he isn’t terribly exciting. So the exciting guy comes along and he’s a bit flash.

“But I’ve always liked the physical side of acting, so my punch ups with Johnny were probably the best bits. I shall miss those terribly.”

Amanda Barrie, who played Mike’s wife Alma, tells the programme she thought the truth behind Mike and Ken’s ongoing feud was that they really loved each other.

She says: “I think…they probably could have had the first gay marriage on the street. Poor Ken and Mike, for god’s sake, stop them rowing, just put them together, that’s what all this rowing has been about all this time, they’ve always rowed with each other because deep down they loved one another. That’s what that’s all about.”

The women, who’ve come in and out of Mike’s life, reveal the secrets of kissing one of the most famous soap characters in the country.

Anne Kirkbride says: “We were just about to go for a take and it was a kissing scene and I said Johnny open your mouth and he opened his mouth and I squirted gold spot in it because he had garlic the night before.”

Pauline Fleming, who plays Mike’s current girlfriend, says: “I remember feeling a little bit nervous, thinking, ‘oh my god I’m about to kiss Mike Baldwin’.

“It was a bit nerve wracking, the way it is when you kiss somebody that you fancy for the first time, and you never ever forget the first kiss.”

And Anne Kirkbirde reveals what was really going on when she filmed an emotional scene with Johnny in the factory office.

She says: “When we did the close ups I was taller than Johnny so I took my shoes and then my feet were freezing and…I said, ‘have you got anything I can stand on, a bit of card or something because this floor is freezing’, and all they could find was a pile of knickers so I stood on a pile of knickers.

“Then the sound man came up and said, ‘here you are Annie put these on your feet’, and he took his gloves off and put his gloves on my feet. So I did this very moving scene with Johnny, standing on a pile of knickers with the sound man’s gloves on my feet and Johnny bless him just looked down and went, ‘I can’t work like this’ and then carried on. If people knew what really goes on.”

Producer Maire Tracey says: “The fact that Mike dies in Ken’s arms says it all. For most of Mike’s life, it was his battles with Ken that kept him going. Like two cowboys, they spent their lives sizing each other up.

“Behind the scenes Bill Roache even suggests to Johnny Briggs that they should make a version of Brokeback Mountain for the two elderly cowboys. Both Ken and Mike will miss the bust-ups.”


The producer of Farewell Mike is Maire Tracey and the executive producer is Sarah Murch.