Molly Cosette Dobbs (née Compton) first arrived in Coronation Street in September 2005. She worked at Compton's Bakery - the family business, entered a relationship with Tyrone Dobbs, and they later married in 2009. However, she began an affair with his best friend and work colleague Kevin Webster which lasted a few months, before Kevin decided to remain with his wife Sally; who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Bitter, Molly left Tyrone, but they later got back together when she discovered she was pregnant, although the baby was in fact Kevin's.
In September 2010, she gave birth to a baby boy called Jack (named after Tyrone's friend Jack Duckworth, who died not long after the birth of baby Jack). But she still wanted Kevin, and left Tyrone once again. On the night she left him, she died when a tram derailed from the viaduct and into the Street. She confessed the affair and Jack's real parentage to Sally before dying.
Biography
1984-2009: Meeting Tyrone Dobbs
Molly was the daughter of Diggory Compton, a baker who opened a shop on Victoria Street. When she first arrived, it emerged that she was a victim of bullying at school, with one of the bullies being Fiz Brown. Molly used to work for Fiz's boyfriend Kirk Sutherland, whom she flirted with to get revenge on Fiz.
After briefly working in her father's shop and at Sutherland's Kennels, Molly then started working for Dev Alahan in the Corner Shop. Molly began dating Tyrone Dobbs and moved in with him and his surrogate parents Jack and Vera Duckworth. Molly formed a close bond and friendship with Vera and was devastated when she died in January 2008.
After Vera's death, Molly and Tyrone bought the Duckworths' house and lived there with Jack and also initially Jack and Vera's grandson Paul Clayton until he left in May.
In July, Molly and Tyrone got engaged. The following month, Tyrone introduced Molly to his estranged mother, Jackie Dobbs. They discovered that Jackie was £1,000 in debt to Brian, an old friend of Tyrone's father and much to Molly's despair; Tyrone agreed to help her. They used their wedding savings to pay him off and put their plans on hold for Molly to be able to afford her dream wedding dress. In December, Molly became suspicious of Tyrone's behaviour. He had secretly been selling dodgy merchandise with her aunt, Pam Hobsworth, to help pay for their wedding, but Molly mistakenly thought that Tyrone was having an affair. When Tyrone confessed that he had been selling with Pam, Molly was furious and left him, saying that she can no longer trust him. She later forgave him, and they got married on 12th January 2009.
2009-2010: Affair with Kevin Webster
Molly struck up a friendship with her husband's work colleague Kevin Webster. The pair, along with Jason Grimshaw, trained together for the local fun run. Although Kevin jealously accused Jason of sleeping with Molly, she laughed it off and they remained friends. Kevin was the only person to support Molly at the event and soon found himself falling for her and told her of his feelings. Although Molly was shocked, she couldn't help but feel excited and, having grown bored of her marriage to Tyrone, they later began an affair. A guilty Molly then ended her affair with Kevin and went on holiday with Tyrone but after another fun run she and Kevin had sex in a hotel. The affair continued and although it was initially intended to be a fling they found themselves falling in love with each other and on Christmas Day pledged to leave their respective spouses and start a new life together. However, Kevin's wife Sally Webster had a confession of her own before he could say anything - she had breast cancer. Kevin decided he couldn't leave Sally when she was ill and quickly went over to Molly before she could leave Tyrone and hold her the news. Molly remarked how unfair it was, but not for Sally but for them. Kevin was appalled at her selfishness and ended the affair, telling Molly that his commitment was now to Sally.
In January 2010, Molly promised to be a better wife to Tyrone upon their first wedding anniversary. However, due to the affair, she no longer felt attracted to him and when the anniversary of Vera's death arrived; she decided she couldn't live with Tyrone any more and left. She denied that she had been seeing someone else and moved into the flat above the Corner Shop. In March, Molly was shocked to discover that she was three months pregnant, with the father either being Kevin or Tyrone. When she informed Kevin of her pregnancy, he refused to have anything to do with her and coldly burned the baby scan picture in front of her. With nowhere left to turn, she told Tyrone about the pregnancy and they reconciled. Molly and Tyrone found out that she was expecting a baby boy to the delight of Tyrone; who hoped for a son. Kevin demanded that Molly have an abortion, which he offered to pay for in a private clinic and pass it off as a miscarriage; but she refused.
On 19th April 2010, Tyrone asked Kevin to check up on his car. Whilst fixing it, Kevin was distracted by his daughter Sophie. Thinking that the job was finished, Tyrone took the car for a drive to the countryside with Molly to tell Diggory the news about her pregnancy. The brakes failed and the car somersaulted into a field. Molly was injured, putting the unborn baby in danger too. Tyrone stayed the night at Molly's bedside and received the good news that she was stable. When she regained consciousness, Molly asked Pam what happened and she revealed that Kevin didn't fix the brakes. Molly accused Kevin of trying to murder her and the baby. Eventually she decided against telling the police. Molly then tried to persuade Tyrone to move away as it's not fair on him or the baby to be around Kevin.
Molly gave birth to her son Jack on 6th September. The speed of her labour meant that Sally and Kevin had to deliver the baby. After Kevin agreed to him and Sally being godparents, Molly was furious as she wanted Kevin to play no part in Jack's life. At the christening, Kevin stole Jack's dummy in the Rovers for DNA testing, since Molly refused to let him get Jack tested. Kevin received the DNA test results in November, proving that he was indeed, the biological father. He showed the results to Molly and she was distraught and furious with Kevin for going behind her back. A terminally-ill Jack Duckworth overheard the conversation and told Molly to either move away with Tyrone and get away from Kevin, or end the marriage if she didn't really love Tyrone. This proved to be their last conversation as he died hours later.
2010: Death
On 19th November, Molly told Kevin that she was still in love with him. However, Kevin told her that he wanted to be with his wife, Sally. Realising that Kevin no longer had feelings for her, Molly was left heartbroken. For weeks, Tyrone had been pushing Molly to have another baby with him. When he discovered that she was still on the pill, he confronted her. After much soul searching, she decided to leave him for good in early December. Tyrone told her that she could not take his son with her, prompting her to confess that Jack was not really his son. She left with Jack, refusing to tell Tyrone who the baby's father was. As she headed to catch a bus to Diggory's house, she stopped at the Corner Shop to say her goodbyes to Sunita Alahan. Kevin turned up at the shop and while Sunita was in the back of the shop, Molly told Kevin to say goodbye to his son. After saying goodbye, Kevin left the shop and crossed the road before a massive gas explosion ripped apart the Joinery Bar in the viaduct at the end of the street. Molly was dazed by the blast and walked out of the shop cradling Jack. As she opened the door, she was horrified to see the blast had derailed a tram which was falling towards the shop. She ran back inside as the tram hit and destroyed the shop, burying her and Jack in the rubble. Emergency services eventually reached her, and Jack was taken to hospital but specialist equipment was needed to be able to move Molly. The wait was proving critical as Molly was bleeding heavily, and Sally was allowed to enter the building and comfort her. Molly told Sally that she was dying and that Jack was going to need his father. When Sally told her that nobody knew who Jack's father was, Molly told her it was Kevin. Molly begged Sally not to hate her, but all a horrified Sally could do was watch as Molly died moments later.
Legacy
Molly's confession to Sally had caused her and Kevin to separate. On the day of Molly's funeral, Tyrone had twigged that Kevin had the affair with Molly and was Jack's real father, and punched him; causing Kevin to fall into the grave and on top of Molly's casket. In the aftermath of the events, Kevin was a single man once again and Tyrone had given him Jack to take care of, as he couldn't cope with raising Kevin's son as his own. Sally also had a less sympathetic outlook on Molly and hated her for causing a wedge between her and Kevin's relationship.
Tyrone's confidence in particular was destroyed due to Molly's betrayal, although less than a year after her death, he had met Kirsty Soames; although that relationship would turn out for the worse. On the first anniversary of the tram crash, a tribute was held for Molly along with Ashley Peacock, who also died in the crash.
The relationship between Kevin and Tyrone became quite frosty due to the affair, with Kevin even going far as colour-coding their tools at the garage so they would have to use seperate equipment. However, the pair would eventually make up by 2013. Even though Sally and Kevin tried to make a go of their relationship several times, Sally made it clear in 2012 that she couldn't face raising Jack as it would remind her of the affair. Since then, the two have remained friends and Sally got married to builder Tim Metcalfe in 2014. As for Kevin, he began a relationship with Jenny Bradley in February 2015, but this was finished by July after she developed a really close relationship with his son Jack, and had comprised a devious plot to kidnap him and start a new life together in Hull. Kevin's youngest daughter Sophie had suspicions about Jenny and the two did not get along. She tried to warn her dad about what she was doing after she walked in on Jenny trying on a wig, but Kevin did not believe Sophie. Jenny tried to jump off the roof of an apartment balcony with Jack, but was successfully persuaded not to. Later, it was revealed that the reason for her strange behaviour was the fact her own son died in a tragic accident when he was just four years old, and she saw her own child in Jack.
Background information
- When Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson took over in 2010, Molly was axed along with other characters in the show. The axing of Molly was a mutual agreement between Phil and actress Vicky Binns.
- Although Molly's death was screened on 9th December 2010, the character's date of death is 6th December due to the entire week's episodes being set on the same evening.
First and last lines
"Hey, hey, hey! What's all this racket?" (First line, to Maria Sutherland)
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"Sally... please don't... don't leave me..." (Final line)
See also
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