She is most famous for playing barmaid-turned-proprietor Bet Lynch on the British soap opera Coronation Street. She started playing the role for a brief time in 1966, but left when senior cast member Patricia Phoenix advised her to get some more training. It was at that time she joined Oldham Repertory Theatre.
Goodyear returned in 1970 and played, arguably, the Rovers' most memorable barmaid, until retiring in 1995. Her character made such an iconic impact on the culture that Goodyear has often been referred to as the Queen of British Soap Opera, in parallel to her American contemporary Susan Lucci (Erica Kane on All My Children). In the 1970s, Bet was known for shocking Landlady Annie Walker by wearing provocative clothing, but by the 1980s, her character became synonymous with outrageous leopard prints and a bleached-blonde beehive hairdo.
She quit Coronation Street in 1995, shortly after winning the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for her role as Bet Lynch in the first ever National Television Awards. She returned to the role of Bet in 1999 for the spin-off The Rover Returns.
She made a brief but unsuccessful comeback to the show in the 2002. Her comeback was intended to boost ratings, and the writers had planned to keep her character back in the show permanently, but the pressure of increased recording schedules led to her departure amid reports of ill-health, and she was written out after just a few episodes. She did, however, return to the show again in 2003, though this time she didn't set foot on the cobbles of Coronation Street itself and her appearances were part of a storyline that involved Liz McDonald (Beverly Callard) and her husband Jim (Charles Lawson), who had recently escaped from prison.
Read more about this topic: Julie Goodyear