Emma Watts in Coronation Street was the brave – though sometimes hotheaded – police officer wife of cobbles legend Curly Watts.
She made some (a lot!) of mistakes in her career during her time on the Street and eventually packed her bags and moved to work in Newcastle instead.
So what was her story?
Coronation Street: Emma and the Freshco siege
Emma – then called Emma Taylor came to Weatherfield when she helped Curly Watts solve the mystery of his creepy stalker – who turned out to be a corrupt police officer called DC Simon Cavanagh.
She and Curly hit it off and started a relationship.
Emma was right in the thick of the action again when she became an armed officer – which Curly wasn’t happy about because he was scared she might get hurt.
But in October 2000, a gunman called Dean Sykes and others, took customers and staff hostage at Freshco’s supermarket, where Curly worked.
Emma and her colleagues surrounded the supermarket and when they burst in to save the hostages, it was Emma who shot Dean dead.
Dean was the brother of Linda Sykes – later Linda Baldwin.
She gave her other brother, Ryan, a job at the factory but when he found out Emma lived on the same street, he was furious.
He started stalking Emma, watching her every move, and even throwing a brick through her window.
Eventually he broke in, intending to attack Emma with a chisel. But instead he found a stash of booze and got drunk.
When Emma found him, she managed to talk to him and he realised he was more sad than angry.
Emma also managed to form a truce with Linda. Though Curly was less keen to put it behind them!
When did Emma and Curly get married?
Curly was devoted to Emma and he wanted to make it official, so he whisked her off to Paris and proposed. The pair tied the knot in a sweet Christmas Eve wedding in 2000.
Not long after getting married, Emma fell pregnant.
She gave birth to little Ben in December 2001 – with Norris Cole as midwife!
Emma v Les Battersby
When one of Emma’s colleagues, Mick Hopwood, started a feud with Street troublemaker Les Battersby, Emma should have kept away from the drama.
Mick had been dating Les’s ex-wife, Janice Battersby, and Les was jealous.
Instead of steering clear, though, Emma found herself involved when she and Mick pulled Les over for a minor traffic offence and then Mick beat Les up.
Emma knew Les hadn’t deserved his beating, but she backed her colleague anyway. Curly was so horrified that he and Emma split up over the drama.
Emma felt so guilty about it all that she decided to go and tell her superiors the truth and Curly was relieved.
But in the end, Emma changed her mind. She committed perjury – lying in court to make Les seem guilty of assault – and Les was sent to prison.
Leaving Weatherfield
Emma was put forward for promotion, but in a new role in Newcastle. Curly realised that if he wanted to be with his son, he’d have to swallow his misgivings and move too.
So the couple set off for a new life in the north east.
A few years later, though, in the spin-off Corrie DVD A Knight’s Tale, Curly revealed he and Emma had split.
Who played Emma Watts?
Emma was played by actress Angela Lonsdale.
Angela’s real-life dad was a police officer and she certainly followed in his footsteps!
Though it was playing Emma Watts in Coronation Street that made her name, she went on to have roles in The Bill, and played DI Eva Moore in Doctors.
But Angela’s talents go much further than police officers! She’s also appeared in the CBBC drama Wolfblood, playing a werewolf and more recently played Grace Lane in Our Girl.
Grace was the mother of Georgie Lane, played by another former Corrie star, Michelle Keegan.
Angela was with EastEnders star Perry Fenwick, who plays Billy Mitchell, for many years.
The pair have three children and tied the knot in 2005 after being together for a long time. Sadly they parted ways in 2010 and divorced.
Coronation Street usually airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV.
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