Felicity "Flick" Khan was a Manchester Polytechnic student who lodged at 7 Coronation Street with Jenny Bradley from April to August 1990.
Biography[]
Born in the early 1970s, Felicity - Flick to her friends - grew up in the south of England. She and her younger sister Joanne were the first members of the family to be raised in the UK after they moved over from Karachi. One consequence of the move was that Flick never knew her grandmother, who had remained in Pakistan.
As a young girl, Flick was close to Joanne but they drifted apart when Flick got older and felt the need to leave home to escape their strict father. The first time she fell in love, Flick made a fool of herself with an older man and got badly hurt, but didn't tell her dad as she knew that he would overreact. After leaving school, she struck out on her own, leaving the family home in Canterbury to study at Manchester Polytechnic in 1989.
Living in the student halls, Flick became friends with classmate Jenny Bradley. Jenny was at that time coping with the loss of her father Alan, for which she blamed Rita Fairclough. In February 1990, Jenny locked herself in her dorm room and turned away visitors. Worried and knowing Jenny's past history, Flick went to see Rita at the Kabin to alert her to the latest development and urged her to visit her. Having made up with Rita, Jenny got over her slump and rejoined the outside world.
Jenny decided that being cooped up in a tiny dorm room had been bad for her and, with Flick also keen to get out of the halls, the girls decided to leave at the end of term and rent a place together. As Rita was due to move into 10a Coronation Street, above the new Kabin, she offered them the tenancy of 7 Coronation Street, which they keenly accepted. On their first night with the house to themselves, Flick and Jenny invited their friends Tom and Justin over and prepared dinner for four, only to be stood up. As the girls both fancied Tom, this was perhaps the best outcome!
The neighbours were worried that having a student house in the Street would mean a lot of noise and parties but the girls gave them no cause to complain, with Jenny putting a ban on friends using it as a doss house. When Rodney Whitworth was thrown out of his lodgings, Flick let him sleep on No.7's sofa until he got himself sorted, against Jenny's orders. She came to regret her kindness as Rod lazed around on the sofa all day and upset the neighbours with his loud music, but due to a surprising change of heart by Jenny, Flick thought that her friend must fancy him and allowed him to stay. After conferring with Jenny, Flick discovered that she had thought the same thing about her, and they asked Rod to leave. Rod gave the girls the runaround to buy himself time before being seen off by Mark Casey.
Mark followed up his gallant act by asking Flick out on a date. Thinking Mark vain and aggressive, Flick tried to let him down gently but he badgered her into accepting. The "date" was a washout beyond even Flick's low expectations, with the young mechanic taking her out with his friends and eating at a service station. Flick tried to break it off, only to have a gold necklace foisted on her as a gift, which unbeknown to her had been appropriated by Mark after he found it on the garage floor. Rather than return the necklace to Mark, Flick donated it to a charity shop, and absolved herself of any responsibility when Kevin Webster demanded that Mark return the necklace to its rightful owner. After buying it back from the charity shop, Mark gave up his pursuit of a relieved Flick.
1990: Flick throws Steve out of the house after catching him alone with Joanne
After finishing college for the summer, Flick and Jenny helped out occasionally at the Kabin before landing jobs in a sweet factory. In July, once again jobless after getting the sack, the girls decided to work in France over the summer months instead, stopping by her home in Canterbury on their way to the ferry. Their plans were scuppered when Flick's grandmother fell ill in Karachi, and Flick was asked to look after Joanne for a few days while her parents flew out to Pakistan. Joanne proved to be a handful, attracting the attentions of Steve and Andy McDonald, with Steve and Joanne falling for each other. After spending a few days trying (and failing) to keep Joanne away from Steve, Flick prepared to take her home to Canterbury only to discover that the pair had gone off on Jim McDonald's motorbike during the night. Terrified of her father's reaction, Flick made an excuse not to come home while they awaited Joanne and Steve's return but she was forced to tell her parents the truth when Liz McDonald reported the youths missing to the police. After a few days, Joanne returned on her own having fallen out with Steve and hitchhiked her way back to Weatherfield from the Lake District. Flick and Jenny were then able to go to France as planned.
Towards the end of their stay in France, when the girls were in Marseille, Flick fell for a final year medical student called Eric and, offered a job looking after two children, decided to remain behind. Her decision greatly upset her parents, with her father disowning her. Later, when Flick's college friend and former schoolmate Angie Freeman was looking for lodgings, Flick - who had kept in touch with Angie to ask her to pass messages onto her mother - suggested she ask Jenny if she could have her old room at No.7.
Personality[]
Flick was a responsible, serious-minded student and a good friend to Jenny. Although she was more industrious than the student stereotype, Flick liked to unwind after classes, preferring an intimate dinner over parties. She was willing to put herself out for friends, as shown when she went on at Jenny about letting Rodney Whitworth sleep on their sofa when he was kicked out his digs and installed him there despite Jenny saying no. She had matured a great deal when she left the family home to study in Manchester but had the occasional lapse, such as when she refused to call the police when Joanne Khan and Steve McDonald went missing as she was afraid to tell her father, and later when she decided to give up her studies and remain in France.
Background information[]
Rita Wolf joined Coronation Street in 1990 and was part of the main cast for six months. Her character was nearly always called by her nickname "Flick" however she was credited in all of her appearances by her full name of "Felicity Khan". Wolf was the first Asian regular in Coronation Street.
Flick had no on-screen exit and her decision to remain in France was revealed in Episode 3131 (8th October 1990), in which Angie Freeman debuted.
First and last lines[]
"Mrs Fairclough?" (First line)
---
"Well I hope you've packed your sunblock, I don't want any complaints from you over the next six weeks about how your delicate redhead complexion's getting fried." (Final line, to Jenny Bradley)
Appendices[]
List of addresses[]
| Address | Duration |
|---|---|
| Canterbury | 1970s to late 1980s |
| Manchester Polytechnic student halls | Late 1980s to 4th April 1990 |
| 7 Coronation Street | 4th April 1990 to summer 1990 |
| France | Summer 1990 onwards |
Employment history[]
| Role | Institution | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sweet factory | May or June 1990 to July 1990 |