Neighbours fans have just watched the culmination of one of the most intriguing plots that the show has had in a while - the return of Paul Robinson's ex-wives and their scheme to stop his impending marriage to Therese Willis. What's great for fans of the show are all the familiar faces that have been hitting our screens over the last few days. You sure can't beat a good bit of nostalgia!
There's no denying that Paul has had his fair share of wives. In fact we're willing to bet that Paul has had everyone else's share of wives too! This is a man who clearly has issues with commitment but at the same time, he really loves donning a tux. Paul, if you love wearing tuxedos so much you could just model for a bridalwear company; aim to get invited to awards ceremonies, or audition to be the next Bond. But marriage - nah! Clearly not your thing!
And Paul's not the only male soap character who has been keeping wedding planners in business. Soaps have many characters who have been married more times than they've had pub lunches. Although three does seem to be the magic number, with characters such as EastEnders' Mark Fowler; Grant Mitchell; Frank Butcher, and Patrick Trueman; Brookside's Max Farnham; Dallas's Bobby Ewing, and Neighbours' Toadfish Rebecchi; Joe Mangel, and Max Hoyland all having had three wives (just not all at the same time of course!).
But there are some men who like to be 'above average' and for them three weddings are like Wall's Viennetta - it's just never enough! As Paul Robinson has just wed his sixth wife, we take a look at the men who have been battling it out to be the male Liz Taylor.
1. STEVE MCDONALD (Coronation Street)
When the McDonald twins, Steve and Andy, first arrived on the Street in 1989, there was no denying that they were handsome young lads who were destined to break hearts. But in Steve's case, each broken heart came with a free diamond ring! No one could have guessed that thirty years later, Steve McDonald would have married half the female population of Weatherfield!
There was wife number one, Vicky Arden, Alec Gilroy's granddaughter who Steve married for her money. Wife number two was Karen Phillips who Steve actually married twice. The first time was for a bet, while the second time was most memorable - that was when Tracey Barlow announced that Steve was the father of her baby daughter leaving Karen distraught. Though Karen still went through with the wedding despite the disastrous start which clearly proved to be a bad omen as the marriage did not last, and Becky Granger went on to become the third Mrs. McDonald.
Two weddings for wife number two, Karen!
And it was because of the third Mrs. McDonald that Steve's marriage to the fourth Mrs. M - Tracy Barlow - was annulled after Becky exposed the bride as a liar at Tracey and Steve's wedding reception. Moving on from Tracy, Steve married his on-off-more-times-than-a-light-switch girlfriend Michelle O'Connor. This marriage ended in divorce after Michelle discovered that Steve had fathered a child with Leanne Battersby. So Steve did the only thing he could do - and got married again! And this time to wife number four, Tracy.
Then along came Becky... then Tracy... then Michelle... before going back to Tracy again!
Does this man ever pause for breath in between vows? Probably not! But marriage to Tracy can only mean one thing...
...There's got to be a wife number six out there somewhere...
2. KEN BARLOW (Coronation Street)
Ken Barlow, as unlikely as it may seem, has always had a reputation for being the Street's lothario. He may have only had three wives, which by soap standards is the norm, but he did marry one of his wives twice. And that's before we get on to the countless affairs since he first appeared in Corrie back in 1960.
Ken's first wife was hairdresser Valerie Tatlock, who was famously electrocuted by a faulty hairdryer. She was the mother of his twins, Peter and Susan. After her death, Ken met and married maneater, Janet Reid, who despite her outrageous behaviour was just desperate to be loved. They clashed over Ken's children among other things and separated, although they never divorced. After a last-ditch attempt to win Ken back failed, Janet took an overdose and a distraught Ken found her body the next morning.
Then along came bespectacled, gravelly-voiced Deirdre Langston, Ray Langston's widow and mother of Tracey, who Ken later adopted. When writers put Ken and Deirdre together, did they know that they were creating one of the most iconic couples in soap history? But life as the third Mrs. Barlow wasn't easy for Deirdre, and bored of her life with Ken, Deirdre turned her attentions to former flame Mike Baldwin, and the Ken-Deirdre-Mike triangle was an eighties' Corrie ratings winner and a storyline that has gone down in soap history. Deirdre eventually chose Ken over Mike and the two men remained bitter enemies for years. But the Barlow marriage ended in divorce when Ken began an affair with Wendy Crozier.
In the years that followed, Ken and Deirdre both moved on with their lives and entered into other relationships. Ken became a father again when Denise Osbourne gave birth to their son, Daniel, and Deirdre married her third husband, Samir. They eventually got back together again in 1999 - much to the delight of Corrie fans, before remarrying in one of the most talked-about soap weddings ever in 2005. Though as much as they loved each other, The Barlows still couldn't keep their eyes or hands off other people, but they remained together until Deirdre's death.
Incidentally, the first time Ken and Deirdre married, it was shown within two days of Charles and Di's wedding. The second time, they were doing battle with Charles and Camilla. But as Ken and Deirdre are soap royalty, who can blame them?
3. MIKE BALDWIN (Coronation Street)
What is it with Corrie men and weddings? Now we have Mike Baldwin wanting to prove that anything his arch nemesis Ken Barlow can do, he can do better. And seeing as he's had one more wife than Ken, he's probably right!
Mike waited a long time to tie the knot - and when he finally did, his choice of bride raised more than a few eyebrows. For not only was the bride much younger than him but she also happened to be Ken Barlow's daughter, Susan. If Mike couldn't have Ken's wife, Deirdre, than Mike made sure he got up Ken's nose by marrying his daughter instead! The marriage didn't last (shock, gasp!) and Susan left Mike and Weatherfield - while pregnant with Mike's baby.
Mike then went on to marry wealthy widow Jackie Ingram for her money. But it was the third Mrs. Baldwin, Alma Sedgewick, who he'd been having an on-off relationship for years, that Mike truly loved most. But even that didn't turn him into the perfect husband and the pair ended up divorcing when Mike had been unfaithful.
Then Mike wed his fourth wife, the very young, very petite, but extremely conniving Linda Sykes. But marriage to Linda couldn't stop Mike from being there by a dying Alma's bedside - and as he watched her slip away, Mike was heartbroken to have lost the only woman he ever really loved.
4. IAN BEALE (EastEnders)
Adam Woodyatt who plays Ian, once said that he wanted his character to be Walford's answer to Ken Barlow. Walford's answer to Steve McDonald would have been more like it! And Mr. Beale hasn't done too badly on the wives front - even if one did try to kill him, and another walked out on him just hours after the ceremony.
Ian's marriage to Cindy was doomed: she was in love with Simon Wicks, Ian's stepbrother, and pregnant with Simon's baby (although Ian naturally thought he was the father.) When the truth came out, Cindy fled the Square to start a new life with Simon - but a couple of years later, she went back to Ian... and back to her cheating ways. It was her affair with Ian and Simon's half-brother, David (clearly a girl who likes to keep it in the family!) that put the final nail in the coffin of their marriage. That and Cindy hiring a hitman to kill Ian! Cindy died in prison after giving birth to her latest boyfriend, Nick Holland's baby (yes, this is a girl who worked fast, and no, Nick was not another one of Ian's brothers!) Ian's marriage to Cindy is very significant because it changed Ian from a lovable, happy-go-lucky young man into er, what we know today - a lot like Paul Robinson after his disastrous first marriage to Terry.
Glamourpuss Melanie Healy was wife number two. She got cold feet in the run up to the wedding and only went through with it when Ian - knowing Mel wanted to call off the wedding - lied about his daughter, Lucy, having cancer. Mel only found out the truth just hours after marrying Ian, and the new Mrs. Beale wasted no time in walking out on her new husband.
Then there was the children's nanny, Laura Dunn. Loyal, with a good heart, Laura genuinely loved Ian and his kids. Sadly out of all his wives, Laura was the one Ian loved the least. She had the chance to go and work for another family after Ian went bankrupt but chose to stay with him and the kids - probably the worst decision she ever made. Well that and running down the stairs too fast!
Ian ditched Laura when she became pregnant with Gary Hobbs baby after a one-night stand, although Ian being Ian, he was probably relieved to have found an excuse to dump her. But the real twist in the tale came after Laura's death from falling down the stairs. Her son Bobby wasn't Gary's after all...
...He was Ian's.
The most recent Mrs. Beale was the long-suffering Jane Clarke - and probably the only one who was willing to put up with Ian for as long as she did! Jane was a tough, no-nonsense type of woman and probably one of the few people who could put Ian in his place. Their first attempt to make it to the alter ended in a mud-fight after Ian discovered her affair with Grant Mitchell - although they did get married at a later date. But it's their vow renewal that viewers remember well - when the killer of Ian's daughter Lucy was revealed... it was his son Bobby!
There's no denying that Ian and Jane loved each other deeply, and out of all of Ian's wives, Jane was the one who was best suited to him. The fourth Mrs. Beale fled the Square in a taxi after being threatened by Max Branning. Max isn't a threat anymore but Jane still hasn't returned and is said to have 'moved on.'
Smart move!
5. PHIL MITCHELL (EastEnders)
Is Phil competing with his former stepson Ian to see who can have the most wives in Walford? Since arriving on the Square, Phil has had four wives, not to mention an engagement to Shirley Carter, and he was very nearly wed to evil lawyer Stella Crawford.
Phil's first wife, the now-forgotten, never-mentioned-again Nadia Borovac, was a young, pretty, Romanian woman who wanted to stay in the UK. In a bid to forget about his recent disastrous fling with his sister-in-law, Sharon, Phil agreed to marry Nadia. When Nadia scuttled off to her boyfriend - who also had to marry a British citizen in order to get a visa - soon after the wedding, Phil hoped he wouldn't have to see her again and only had to sign the divorce papers once her visa came through.
But Nadia turned out to be more trouble than she was worth, and she reappeared when Phil started dating Kathy Beale - who would go on to become the next Mrs. Mitchell. Having suddenly developed an attraction to her husband, and jealous of his girlfriend, Nadia set about causing as much trouble as she could for Phil and Kathy, and even succeeded in seducing him, which enabled Nadia to cause more problems for them. What started out as a marriage of convenience became a marriage of great inconvenience to Phil, who came to regret his bright idea (but probably not the night of passion!) But that was until little brother, Grant, stepped in and 'sorted aaht' Nadia by threatening her unless she left Phil alone. And she did - but when Phil went looking for her to get a divorce so that he could marry Kathy, Nadia used his request to her advantage by asking for a pay-off. Phil begrudgingly paid up and Nadia left, never to be seen, heard of, or mentioned again.
Enter wife number two! A lot of people didn't get what kind, caring Kathy saw in thuggish Phil whose idea of kindness was calling an ambulance for someone he'd just roughed up! Before she'd even said I do, Kathy had to deal with the whole Nadia saga, and the infamous 'Sharongate.' Being eleven years older than Phil and already in her forties, it was considered unlikely that kids would ever be part of the plan. But Kathy was the one to give Phil his first child; a lovely surprise for the Mitchell clan. What wasn't so lovely was that the child was Ben Mitchell!
But marriage to a Mitchell was hard and eventually Kathy, who always did have the patience of a saint, realized that she was never going to get the family life she wanted with Phil, and even though she still loved him, she called time on the marriage and went off to start a new life in South Africa with baby Ben.
The third Mrs. Mitchell was Kate Morton, who posed as a beautician called Kate Tyler when they first met. Kate helped Phil through his grief when Jamie Mitchell died and the two ended up falling in love. The problem was that Kate was actually an undercover policewoman who was investigating Lisa Fowler's disappearance and was sent to honeytrap Phil. Falling in love with the suspect was never part of the plan, and neither was marrying him. But that's exactly what Kate did, which of course meant having to leave the force.
The marriage got off to a bad start with Lisa Fowler's reappearing at Phil and Kate's wedding and catching the bouquet! And sure enough, Kate didn't get her happy ever after with Mr. Mitchell, as Phil was caught red-handed after he was lured by Den Watts into taking part in a robbery. That was the last straw for Kate, who handed Louise back to her mum, and then ended her marriage to Phil. Kate eventually left Walford after being offered her old job back with the police - but not before having flings with Dennis Rickman and his dad Den. The saucy mare!
And that brings us up to the current Mrs. Mitchell - Sharon Watts-Mitchell-Watts-Rickman-Mitchell. Phil eventually did get the woman he had loved for so many years. Sharon once said that she felt she'd married the wrong brother. Well after having finally married Phil after being on-off for years, she still feels that way! Too bad Phil and Grant don't have any more brothers - but there's always cousin Billy!
Once the truth comes out that Sharon's baby isn't Phil's, what's the betting we'll be seeing a fifth Mrs. Mitchell? Shirley, we suggest you start picking out gowns!
Photos from YouTube
Word cloud by Angel Noire
