Janet Dent was the wife of Ron and mother of Marcus Dent. Ron had never come to terms with his son being gay and contact between the two was infrequent. It was only when Marcus fell in love with Maria Connor that Ron and Janet made a visit to Weatherfield to visit him, the two arriving on Christmas Day 2012.
The two arrived, laden with presents at 2a Coronation Street having driven up from Dorking. One of the first sights that greeted them were flatmates Beth and Craig Tinker, the latter absorbed in his pet Darryl the rat, and Beth complaining that she was so hungry she could “eat a scabby donkey”. They at first thought that Beth was Maria but Marcus hastily explained that she was doing the hair for the wedding of Nick Tilsley and Leanne Barlow and would be coming along later. One person they were immediately taken with was Liam Connor and they happily introduced themselves to him as “Grandma Janet” and “Grandpa Ron”.
They were even more taken with Maria when she arrived, both with her looks and friendliness and the obvious affection that she and Marcus felt for each other and they passed approving looks at each other across the room.
After a successful dinner, they pushed Marcus and Maria to visit them in Dorking, saying that she could meet their friends down there but Marcus, bitter at the long period of silence he had suffered, made a remark about celebrating his “coming in” and had to leave the flat for a “breath of fresh air”. While Ron played a game of twister with Craig, Janet immediately began to question Maria if she had any plans to extend her family.
After a chat with Sean Tully, Marcus returned to the flat where Janet told him how much they had enjoyed their day. He replied that they only seemed interested now that he was with a woman and they had never bothered before, batting aside their excuses that in the past he had been busy and working. Janet threw back an accusation that she’d tried to keep in contact with him before but he’d kept them at arm's-length and refused to apologise for being pleased that he seemed more settled than he’d ever been before. Ron told his son that he loved him and they parted on good terms, Marcus and Maria promising to visit them in Dorking next time.