Coronation Street icon Julie Goodyear diagnosed with dementia

Coronation Street legend Julie Goodyear has been diagnosed with dementia, her husband has announced.

The actress, 81, is best known for playing Rovers Return barmaid Bet Lynch in the ITV1 soap.

Her husband of 16 years, Scott Brand, said in a statement on Wednesday:

 “My darling wife and I have had to come to terms with this heart-breaking diagnosis.

“Unfortunately, Julie has been suffering forgetfulness for some time and we have been seeking medical advice and assistance, but we now know that there is no hope of a reversal in the situation – and that her condition will get progressively, and perhaps speedily, worse.

“We have taken the decision to publicly announce the diagnosis as Julie still loves visiting friends and eating out.

“Inevitably she is recognised, and fans love to meet her – and she them – but she can get confused particularly if she is tired. I hope people will understand.”

Dementia is the name for a group of symptoms associated with an ongoing decline of brain function, according to the NHS. The condition can affect memory, thinking skills and other mental abilities.

Julie Goodyear as Bet, Doris Speed as Annie and Betty Driver as Betty in Corrie. ITV/Granada

Hilda Hayo, chief admiral nurse and chief executive at Dementia UK, said:

“We’re sorry to hear that Julie Goodyear has been diagnosed with dementia, and hope that she and her family are receiving the support and assistance they need at this time.

“By choosing to speak publicly about her diagnosis, Julie and her family will raise vital awareness of dementia and we hope that this will encourage others to seek advice if they have concerns for their brain health.”

Born in Heywood, Lancashire on March 29th 1942 as Julie Kemp, daughter of George and Alice, who divorced when she was six years old. She later took the surname of her mother’s second husband, William Goodyear.

Her grandmother, Elizabeth Duckworth, played an active role in her upbringing. She drowned when Julie was a teenager – just one tragedy in a private life that has seen many highs and lows.

It was in 1966 when Julie joined Granada’s twice-weekly serial Coronation Street as factory worker Bet Lynch. After that brief stint she joined Oldham’s Reparatory Theatre, before reprising the role of Bet in 1970, remaining with the programme for the next 25-years.

The return storyline saw Bet hired by Billy Walker as a barmaid in the Rovers Return, while his mother, landlady Annie Walker, was on holiday. In the 1980s Bet herself became landlady and married Alec Gilroy.

Julie as Bet, in 1995, as she leaves the show. ITV/Granada

Goodyear left the show in 1995, shortly after winning a Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural National Television Awards. A number of returns to the soap followed; the first in 1999 for a special run of late-night episodes set in Brighton. She made a further return to the saga – now making five episodes a week – in 2002, however, quit after finding the schedule too demanding.

She returned one last time in 2003, as part of a storyline set in Blackpool involving Liz McDonald and her husband Jim, who had recently escaped prison. Other work, since quitting soap, has included performing in a BBC sketch series and working as a television presenter and radio host.

She has also been a feature of reality TV with appearances on Celebrity Fit Club, Come Dine With Me, and Stars In Their Eyes. In 2012 Goodyear finished in seventh place in Channel 5’s Summer Celebrity Big Brother, the same year she ruled out any future return for Bet to Coronation Street.

“I’ll never play her on screen again. I’m in a position where I’ve worked hard so I can pick and choose what I do. I don’t want a return to the spotlight. Fans ask me about Bet every day but I want to leave my legacy as it is. With quantity you lose quality. And I’m a perfectionist.
 
“I have done 25 years and more than 2,000 episodes. The schedule now is so much tougher than when I was on it.” – Goodyear speaking to the Daily Star

Over the years since her departure from Corrie Julie has remained an icon of the series and has taken part in several Weatherfield ventures, including in 2014 opening the Coronation Street studio tour which operated at the former Quay Street production centre of Granada Television and performing in the musical spin-off of the soap in Street of Dreams alongside Paul O’Grady. (Julie’s part was pre-recorded on screens).

She also has a waxwork in the Coronation Street section of the Madam Tussauds experience in Blackpool, where also in the 1980s she was part of the illuminations, with a cartoon version of Bet along with several other much loved Corrie stars forming part of the display.

In 2013, Bet was named the UK’s favourite TV landlady in a survey of 1,000 adults by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). She beat Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor on EastEnders, with 22% of respondents voting in favour of her to Windsor’s 20%.

The actress has been married four times. Her first marriage at the age of 17 was a shotgun wedding when she was two months pregnant with her son Gary. Her second husband, Tony Rudman, left her on their wedding day and later came out as gay. Her third marriage in 1985 was after a long-distance relationship with American Richard Skrob. She married her fourth husband, Scott Brand, 26 years her junior, in 2007 after eleven years of dating. In 1979 she fought cervical cancer, later founding a charity concerning the illness.

Julie remains a patron of Willow Wood Hospice in Greater Manchester.