Michael Vernon "Mike" Baldwin is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, portrayed by Johnny Briggs.

Before his debut on the series, Mike started off his career as a market stall holder until a few years later the character had evolved into a legitimate businessman who was running his own factory.

Mike soon opened his namesake denim-maker business, Baldwin's Casuals, in Weatherfield and moved there after ending his relationship with his common-law wife Anne Woodley.

The follow-up of their love triangle with Deirdre created a longstanding feud between Mike and Ken, with the rivalry between the two men dominating the show's impact for over the next two decades.

This involved Mike meddling in Ken's subsuqent relationships with the latter's old mistress Wendy Crozier (Roberta Kerr) and later with the farmer's old flame Maggie Redman (Jill Kerman) respectively.

However, there were times where Ken and Mike were often forced to work together in events which saw Deirdre being wrongfully imprisoned by her fraudulent former love interest Jon Lindsay (Owen Aaronovitch) in 1998 and then the two rivals later becoming hostages in an armed robbery at Fresco's Supermarket in 2000.

In his other major storylines, Mike conducted a short-lived marriage of convenience with his second spouse Jackie Ingram (Shirin Taylor); established a much-more prolonging marriage with his third wife Alma Halliwell (Amanda Barrie) that progressively lasted until the pair's divorce and Alma's eventual death of cervical cancer; triggered a dangerous conflict with fellow nemesis Don Brennan (Geoffrey Hinsliff) that culminated with the latter kidnapping Alma and then attempting to kill Mike in their final confronation; formed a complicated romance his fourth spouse Linda Sykes (Jacqueline Pirie) after their ill-fated marriage collapsed as a result Linda's gold-digging agenda that gradually emerged ever since she cheated on Mike with his long-lost son Mark (Paul Fox); and formed a close companionship with Danny (Bradley Walsh) along with the latter's family after it had slowly transpired that Danny is actually Mike's son.

A couple of years later, Mike would posthumously reappear in a 2012 short special episode shown as part of Text Santa - with the character appearing as a ghost sent from Hell to give Ken's next-door neighbour, Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden), a warning to change his ways.

Problems for the pair soon emerged when Maggie became pregnant and she eventually ended things with him after Mike refused to buy the florist's she worked in.

In 1986, Mike began dating Ken's daughter, Susan Barlow (Wendy Jane Walker) – who was many years his junior – and soon proposed to her.

Mike eventually married Susan in May 1986, but their marriage steadily failed a year later due to the pair having a dispute about their plans for the future.

Eventually, after Deirdre discovered Ken's betrayal and ended their marriage in 1990, he faced many problems and went in The Rovers Return Inn public house to cope with his troubles.

He initially abandoned Alma to marry wealthy widow Jackie Ingram (Shirin Taylor), who inherited a factory from her late husband Peter - the latter of whom had died of a heart attack during an argument with Mike over their past as business competitors.

The year 1996 saw Mike making another sworn nemesis – this time with local taxi driver Don Brennan (Geoffrey Hinsliff).

Don, enraged by his failure to get revenge on Mike, decided to target Alma by kidnapping her in his taxi while her husband was taking his solicitor for dinner.

In 1998, Mike clashed with Ken again over Deirdre when the pair learned that she was facing a prison sentence after being implicated by her ex-fiance Jon Lindsay (Owen Aaronovitch) for his fraudulent activities.

Unable to win Alma back, Mike began to romantically settle himself with loud-mouthed machinist Linda Sykes (Jacqueline Pirie).

However, Mike later overheard Linda taunting Mark over their past affair and how she managed to trick his father into believing her over his son.

He once asked his close friend Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox) how her husband Len (Peter Adamson) was doing – when he had in fact died more than 20 years earlier.

He also went into The Rovers Return and asked where his old flame Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) was, not remembering that she had left the pub 10 years earlier.

The Mike Baldwin character was thus an embodiment of England's north-south divide as his affluence and success in business contrasted strongly with the generally downtrodden lifestyles of the locals.

Mike and Alma Sedgewick's (Amanda Barrie) romance stemmed back to 1989 and they wed on-screen in 1992, the marriage lasting seven years.

[1] It was suggested in an ITV documentary in 2006 that Ken and Mike's hatred was a clash of cultures: "Barlow the lefty do-gooder versus Baldwin, the cut-and-thrust money grabber.

[3] In her 2003 book, Hobson suggested that Ken "spent at least nineteen years unable to cope with the sense of rejection and betrayal" caused by Mike's and Deirdre's affair.

[7] To promote Mike's final scenes, Radio Times released a series of photographs with Ken and Mike re-enacting Arthur Devis's (1807) painting of the death of Horatio Nelson—Baldwin was shown surrounded by his nearest and dearest during his final moments, with Ken prominently positioned next to him, taking on the role of Captain Hardy, Nelson's trusted colleague to whom Nelson famously uttered "Kiss me" before he died.

Behind the scenes Bill Roache has even suggested to Johnny Briggs that they should make a version of Brokeback Mountain for the two elderly cowboys.

When we see him breaking from his dementia-fever for a moment and asking his old flame Deirdre to dance – an almost unimaginably sad scene, as he beams in mid-dance and says: 'This is lovely', while she quietly weeps over his shoulder – the performances are layered with literally decades of shared experience.

"[10] Grace Dent, writing for The Guardian heaped similar praise on the storyline as she paid tribute to the legendary character: "So, farewell Mike Baldwin.

Laid on the cobbles in front of the Kabin, this week Mike took his last breaths, clutched to the breast of his nemesis Ken Barlow, witnessed by Rita and Emily, both neighbours of 30 years.

No more Mike Baldwin in his Edinburgh Woollen Mill golfing jerseys and smart-casual slacks sneaking a fine single malt and a lamb hotpot.