Storylines
Alf was married first to Phyllis, who was mentioned by name but never made an appearance on screen. She had been engaged to marry Alf's brother, but Alf had crashed his car, causing his brother's death. Out of a sense of duty he offered to marry Phyllis, and the marriage was a love-less one. Nevertheless, he was very upset when she died of cancer in 1972.
Alf became very close to Maggie Clegg, who owned the corner shop on Coronation Street. Attractive, sympathetic, and a good listener, she seemed to him to be the perfect wife. However, when he proposed, she gently turned him down, unable to bring herself to enter into a marriage with someone she did not love just to avoid being lonely. Alf was very hurt, doubly so when, shortly afterwards, she married wealthy businessman Ron Cooke and moved to Zaire.
In 1973, Alf needed a consort when he became mayor of Weatherfield; he had hoped that Maggie Clegg would accept the role and was surprised when she turned him down. Annie Walker, the social-climbing landlady of The Rovers Return, invited herself to become Mayoress and a desperate Alf was forced to agree. Annie did a good job - she considered herself to be Weatherfield's 'First Lady' - but her snobbishness and pretensions often infuriated and exasperated Alf.
In 1978, Alf married Renee Bradshaw, who now owned the corner shop. Theirs had been an awkward courtship - Alf withdrew his first proposal, telling Renee very unromantically that he had been drunk when he asked her - but when he proposed a second time they married. The marriage seemed doomed from the start - Alf punched Renee's stepfather, Joe Hibbert, at the wedding reception for suggesting that the only reason he had married someone as 'ugly' as Renee was to get his hands on the corner shop. Renee, however, made it clear that the shop was hers, and that Alf should continue to work at the post office.
After a lorry crashed into the pub in 1979, burying Alf under tons of wood, the couple re-assessed their lives. They decided to buy a sub-post office in Grange-Over-Sands in 1980 and Renee took driving lessons. It was while learning to drive that Renee was at the controls of Alf's car, and stalled at a red traffic light in a country lane. While Alf got out of the car to change places, a lorry, coming in the other direction and riding the red light in his favour, struck the car and Renee was killed. Alf, who had been drinking, was unharmed, and later confessed his feelings of guilt to Ken Barlow - seconds before Renee's death he had been arguing with her about her driving, and this petty row was the last thing they ever said to each other.
Alf inherited the shop from Renee, and, over the next few years, Audrey Potter would come and go from his life. Audrey was very unlike Maggie and Renee for she was an unashamed good-time girl, her heart as big as a man's wallet. She set herself up in the back of Alf's shop as a hair stylist, and Alf caused controversy when he painted Renee's name out of the shop sign. However, when Alf suggested marriage to Audrey she turned him down.
Alf continued to run the corner shop, with various assistants, including Deirdre Barlow. He also continued as a local councillor until ill-health forced his retirement.
In 1985, Alf had the shop converted into a self-service establishment. The Corner Shop name was retained newly painted in red on the sign over the frontage, with "Alf's Mini Market" painted on the window.
Also in 1985, Audrey decided that, after a lifetime of heart-ache with unsuitable men young enough to be her sons, Alf was the man for her. They married, living first in the flat over the shop, then at no. 11 Coronation Street before buying a semi-detached house on Grasmere Drive where Audrey still lives.
Alf lost his council seat to his own employee, Deirdre, in May 1987 and suffered a heart attack as a result. Despite this, he was to be re-elected in the following term's elections. The local council decided to rename Coronation Street Alf Roberts Street in his honour, and Alf was hurt when the locals opposed it. He was also made an OBE for services to local Government.
When Alf became mayor for the second time, Audrey declined to be mayoress, and Alf asked Betty Turpin instead. A compromise was later reached. When Alf retired from the council, Audrey held his seat for a while.
The character was written out of the show when actor Bryan Mosley became seriously ill. Mosley stressed that he "wanted to carry on" and "had no intentions of leaving". After Mosley fell ill in January 1998, he returned six months later in July insisting "The Street is in my blood. I'll never quit." Mosley was then forced to retire due to his ill health. A Granada spokesman claimed that "Bryan's one of the Street greats, and his send-off has to be one of its most moving scenes. That is just as he would wish." Mosley died in 1999, shortly after his character had died of a stroke in his sleep at a New Year's party at his stepdaughter Gail Platt's house.
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