Samantha Failsworth Samantha Failsworth grew up in Hale , Cheshire , the daughter of a dentist , and read Electronics at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology ( UMIST ) . However , she fell for Ritchie Fitzgerald , a barman who worked near where she lived , and unbeknown to her parents , dropped out of university and married him . It took her all of two days to realise this was a major mistake , and she only married him as an excuse to drop out . Biography . Samantha fled , and breezed into The Rovers as a motorbike - riding , leather - clad modern woman . After landing the job of barmaid at the Rovers in January 1997 , she moved into No . 7 - though not quite as she ' d planned , as she ended up sharing with Curly Watts . In March 1997 , after taking part in a charity parachute jump with Des Barnes , she managed to break up Des ' relationship with Claire Palmer by throwing his trousers out of No . 7 ' s bedroom window after he tried it on with her . By August 1997 , she had curiously taken up with Des , and after rescuing Leanne Battersby from an attempted rape , opened up to Des and admitted that when she was 17 she was raped by her tennis coach Ian Phillips - resulting in her sexual problems . Consequently , she faced up to her past and reconciled with her parents . Samantha ' s husband Ritchie tracked her down in September 1997 , and she introduced him to Des and Curly . She told him that she should never have married him , but he told her that he loved her . Samantha confided in Ritchie about the rape and allowed him to stay overnight on the sofa at No . 7 . Ritchie told Des that he and Samantha were getting back together , but when he fell into a drunken sleep , she told Des that her marriage was definitely over . Over the course of the next few months , both Samantha and Des tried to sort out the divorce with Ritchie . Des proposed to Samantha in January 1998 , which she initially agreed to . Des was more persistant in the divorce matter , giving her doubts about the whole thing . Samantha confided in Natalie Horrocks , fearing that marriage would trap her and force her to run again . She packed her bags and told Des that she would make his life a misery , but Des managed to talk her out of leaving . Samantha went to London to speak to Ritchie behind Des ' back , and told him she ' d changed her mind about wanting a divorce , however Ritchie decided to keep her dangling on a string and wouldn ' t give a decision either way . Soon afterwards , Des went to confront Ritchie again , and Samantha , worried that he would tell Des about her going to see him , left an answerphone message for Ritchie begging him not to tell Des that they ' d spent the night together . Des refused to leave Ritchie ' s flat until he ' d signed the divorce papers , but Ritchie told Des that Samantha didn ' t want a divorce afterall . After hearing the answerphone message that Samantha had recorded , Des returned to Weatherfield and called her a slut . After a few more months of stringing both men along , she cheated on Des again - this time with garage mechanic Chris Collins . Samantha was jealous that Des was forging a close friendship with Natalie . After trying to sabotage their friendship , Samantha told Des and Natalie that she was pregnant . Again , Samantha played with everyone ' s emotions - she ' d apparently gone and had an abortion , then it came to light there was no baby , and then she ' d suffered a miscarriage - so nobody knew what to believe about the pregnancy . In September 1998 , Samantha rode out of Coronation Street on her motorbike after telling Des that she really was still pregnant with his child , and although Natalie told him that Samantha was lying , Des felt that he would never find out the truth . Quotes . " Are you the landlord ? " ( First line , to Jack Duckworth ) " I ' ll see you , Jim . Take care of yourself , and say goodbye to Curly for me , will you ? " ( Final line )