Kimberley Taylor was an employee at Bettabuy supermarket who was engaged to Curly Watts. Kimberley ended the relationship and transferred to another store when Curly pestered her to have sex before marriage.
They reunited through a dating agency a year later before splitting for good when Curly blew £2,000 converting his loft into an observatory against Kimberley's wishes.
Biography[]
1989-1991: At Bettabuy[]
Kimberley Taylor was the daughter of Randolph and Brenda Taylor. She was an only child and had a strict, sheltered upbringing as her parents were old-fashioned church-goers.
In October 1989, Kimberley met Curly Watts, the new assistant manager at Bettabuy supermarket in Albert Road where Kimberley was a general assistant. On Curly's first walk around the shop floor, manager Reg Holdsworth invited him to point out where Kimberley had made a mistake in her shelf-stacking technique. Curly re-arranged the display so that it would be more eye-catching to the customer, introducing himself to Kimberley as he did so.
Kimberley was taken with "Mr. Watts" but was unsure how Curly felt about her as he'd praise her one minute and criticise her the next. Curly's landlady Vera Duckworth noticed the mutual attraction when she started at Bettabuy and tried to matchmake by inviting Kimberley over for tea at 9 Coronation Street as a surprise for Curly, who didn't want to ask her out himself as he was her boss. Away from the cutthroat world of retail management, Curly was nicer to Kimberley and they started to date.
1990: A slip of the tongue results in Curly and Kimberley getting engaged
The following May, Kimberley was promoted to checkout at Curly's recommendation. Curly was keen to take their relationship to the next level and an opportunity presented itself when the Duckworths went on a second honeymoon to Pwillheli. Kimberley agreed to lose her virginity to Curly, but changed her mind at the eleventh hour, deciding to save herself for her wedding night, and slept in the next room instead. The next morning, Kimberley's mother Brenda appeared at No.9 having found out that Kimberley had lied about where she was staying the night, and caught her daughter there in her dressing gown, proving to her that nature had taken its course. Kimberley enlisted Curly's help in smoothing things over with her parents, but while doing so, Curly gave the impression that he and Kimberley were planning a wedding. Her parents were so happy with this news that Kimberley - salivating at the prospect - railroaded Curly into getting engaged.
Kimberley spent the next few months on a doomed mission to bring Curly into the family. When he turned down invitations to live with the Taylors and accompany them to Barmouth on their traditional caravan holiday, Kimberley started having second thoughts about marrying him. To please her, Curly agreed to go to Barmouth, but he was saved when Reg Holdsworth made his computer training course clash with it as a favour.
In December, Curly made plans to whisk Kimberley away to a hotel for Christmas and convinced her to break her vow against pre-marital sex for the occasion. As far as the Taylors were concerned, he and Kimberley were spending Christmas Day and Boxing Day at his parents' house in Crewe, but their cover was blown when Brenda sent the Watts a letter of thanks and Eunice Watts called her to put her straight. When confronted by the Taylors, Kimberley was shamed into confessing and Curly was thrown out for seducing their "little girl".
Curly was prepared to let Kimberley go - he'd had enough of her mother - but when the Taylors visited him a few days later to make amends he agreed to reconcile and bring the wedding forward to placate them. Having won back Kimberley, he implored her to stop letting her mum run her life. However, Kimberley loved her mother dearly and his attacks on Brenda upset her. To prove that she had a mind of her own, Kimberley returned his ring and broke off the engagement.
Kimberley wanted to make clean break and forget about Curly. Helping her in this endeavour was Adrian Gosthorpe, Kimberley's second cousin who began lodging with the Taylors in January 1991. Their relationship was platonic at first but within a few weeks Kimberley allowed Adrian into her bed. To get away from Curly, Kimberley requested a transfer to another branch of Bettabuy, though Curly intercepted it and tore it up in front of her. When he found out that she'd slept with Adrian, incensed Curly caused a scene on the shop floor, telling all the customers their business. Reg then intervened and forced Curly to transfer Kimberley to Bettabuy's Bolton branch effective immediately.
1992-1994: Return[]
By August 1992, Kimberley had joined Cupid's Arrow Introduction Bureau and under the guise of Janet Shaw was paired up with Gerald Murphy who turned out to be none other than Curly. Deciding fate had brought them together they gave their relationship another go.
One problem was Angie Freeman, Curly's lodger. Kimberley wasn't comfortable with Curly living with a woman and told him to throw her out. Curly tried to make her believe their relationship was platonic, and tried to satisfy her by asking her to marry him. Kimberley accepted but they hid his living arrangements from her parents. When Brenda found a bra at No.7 which Curly said wasn't Kimberley's, she assumed Curly was a womaniser and refused to give her blessing to the marriage. Curly decided to stand up to the Taylors, telling them all about Angie and that they wouldn't stop him from marrying Kimberley.
At this point in time, Kimberley was working for Krazy Kuts, a rival supermarket to Bettabuy. Reg Holdsworth briefly entertained the idea that Kimberley's engagement to Curly was actually a front for her to steal Bettabuy's secrets. Once he realised he was mistaken, Reg tried to get Curly to pump Kimberley for information about Krazy Kuts' festive plans. Kimberley told Reg they were using topless checkout girls.
With their wedding delayed until Spring because of Randolph's hernia, Kimberley and Curly went on holiday to Cornwall. Their plans to consummate their relationship during the outing were scuppered by Kimberley's sickness, though they did finally have sex when they got back.
Since Curly last knew her, Kimberley had become more assertive. Curly took this as a sign she was turning into her mother and, looking with horror at the Taylors' marriage, started deliberately upsetting Kimberley to let her know she wouldn't be the boss in their relationship. In November, he converted No.7's loft into an observatory, and bought an expensive telescope. He let Kimberley believe he was having a third bedroom converted, but Neil Mitchell innocently told her the truth. At first Kimberley was upset about Curly not trusting her but once she discovered the project would cost £2,000, when they were saving for a wedding, she told him to choose between the telescope and her. Angie had accused Curly of using the telescope to push Kimberley into breaking the engagement, but whatever his motivation, Curly went ahead with the loft conversion and let Kimberley walk out of his life for the last time. Kimberley collected her things from No.7 and returned Curly's ring, telling him he had given her the confidence to believe in herself.
Curly's behaviour towards Kimberley came back to haunt him two years later. In October 1994, he was confronted with a file of harassment claims made against him and sacked from Bettabuy. One of the complainants was Kimberley, who'd lodged the complaint in January 1991 due to him hounding her about Adrian Gosthorpe.
Personality[]
1989: Kimberley at Bettabuy with Vera Duckworth
When Kimberley met Curly Watts in 1989, she was a naive, romantic young girl in her early twenties who dreamed of being swept off her feet. Having fallen for Curly, she tried to make herself more desirable to him by getting some business books from the library to talk shop. Both parties were reluctant to take the first step and it fell to Vera Duckworth to bring the shy couple together with some match-making. Curly was Kimberley's boss but this didn't factor into her attraction to him; when he was officially made assistant manager in July 1990 and became full of himself, Kimberley poured a pint over his head to bring him down to Earth.
Kimberley was prim and proper but immature for her age and prone to hysterics, especially when caught between Curly and her parents. She loved and obeyed her strict mother Brenda Taylor, who had continued to treat her like a child into adulthood. Curly tried to break through her conditioning, but only succeeded in turning her against him.
Background information[]
Kimberley first appeared in Episode 2983 (25th October 1989), which also introduced Bettabuy and its manager Reg Holdsworth. In Episode 2986 (1st November 1989), Kimberley tells Curly Watts that her birth name was Louise and that she was found under a cinema seat as a baby and spent her childhood in foster care before being adopted and baptised at 14. This backstory (if meant seriously) was never referred to again and was contradicted when Kimberley's parents were introduced in June 1990.
Kimberley was off-screen between August and December 1990 due to actress Suzanne Hall being on maternity leave. She was written out two months after her return, departing in Episode 3187 (13th February 1991). Her 1992 stint ran from Episode 3420 (5th August 1992) to Episode 3469 (27th November 1992).
First and last lines[]
"Hello Mr Watts." (First line)
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"Please don't take this the wrong way - and please don't hate me for it... but I know I've got a future. Thanks Curly. I'll always be grateful." (Final line)
Appendices[]
List of addresses[]
| Address | Duration |
|---|---|
| Taylor residence | Unknown |
Employment history[]
| Role | Institution | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| General assistant | Bettabuy | c.1989-1991/1992 |
| Unknown | Krazy Kuts | 1992 |