Liverpudlian Jackie first appears in March 1998 as the cellmate of
Deirdre Rachid (
Anne Kirkbride), Jackie is in prison for
ABH. Jackie's introduction was part of a high-profile storyline that saw Deirdre framed by her boyfriend and wrongfully imprisoned. Jackie first appears in a specially constructed prison cell at Granada Studios. Deirdre's conviction is quashed within three weeks and she is released; Jackie soon follows her to the soap's primary setting of Weatherfield on parole, needing a friend to turn to, having been dumped by her partner and left homeless. Jackie moves to the area with her teenage son
Tyrone (
Alan Halsall), squatting in
Curly Watts' (
Kevin Kennedy) vacant premises. She becomes a factory worker for
Mike Baldwin (
Johnny Briggs), where she has numerous run-ins with
Janice Battersby (
Vicky Entwistle) over flirtations with Janice's husband
Les Battersby (
Bruce Jones). Jackie leaves in the midst of a property feud with Curly, who had returned to find her formally renting his house. Jackie goes back to Liverpool with her husband
Darren (James McMartin), though Tyrone stays behind as a lodger with
Jack (
Bill Tarmey) and
Vera Duckworth (
Liz Dawn). Tyrone contacts Jackie about his engagement in August 2008. Jackie appears to be living in a nice home with a cat and claims to have turned over a New Age leaf, but she was actually only catsitting, and was being menaced by an ex-boyfriend to whom she owed a £1000 debt. Tyrone and
Molly Dobbs (
Vicky Binns) give their wedding fund to pay her debt. Jackie asks for more money for travel far and she effectively disowns Tyrone when they refuse. She later goes to Tyrone's home in an attempt to see him, but is asked to leave by Molly's aunt
Pam Hobsworth (
Kate Anthony) and Jack. Jackie returns again on New Year's Day 2009 ahead of the wedding of Molly and Tyrone. She claims to be in severe pain due to a ruptured breast implant. When Jack asks her to leave, she fakes a fainting spell. Molly looks up the details Jackie had given them and discovered nothing is wrong with her. She still decides to give Jackie another chance for Tyrone's sake. Her forgiving mood vanishes when Jackie shows up at the hen night and quickly gets drunk, encouraging
Graeme Proctor (
Craig Gazey) to do a striptease and groping one of the men hired to serve food until he asked to leave. Pam physically ejects Jackie. Jackie misses the wedding, but, wearing a dark wig, attends the reception at the Rovers. She is hurt that Tyrone had no kind words for her in his wedding speech. When Jackie reveals herself, Molly once again pledged to give Jackie another chance, for Tyrone's sake. Jackie perks up when she learns the newlyweds had received
Eurostar tickets to Paris as a honeymoon gift. She manages to pocket the tickets without anyone noticing. As Jackie leaves during the night, she takes one final look at her son and his new wife, a brief hint of pride on her face at the man Tyrone had become. Tyrone's relationship with Molly changes drastically in the year since he had seen his mother. Jackie learns of Molly and Tyrone's breakup when she calls and Jack's new girlfriend
Connie Rathbone (
Rita May), who knew nothing about Jackie, gives her some details. Jackie immediately returns to see Tyrone, and feeling that he has already lost so much, accepts her. Jackie confronts Molly for dumping Tyrone and accuses her of cheating. Molly denies it and insulted Jackie, prompting her to knock food off the shelves, so Molly throws her out and they fight in the street until Tyrone steps in and the police threaten to get involved. Jack and Connie later try to warn Tyrone about what Jackie is doing in his house but this infuriates him and he throws them out. Jackie tells Tyrone that she really did love him even if she had been a useless mother in the past but assures him that she is here for him now. However, she also falls back into old patterns of bringing men back for one night stands. Jackie is coming home when she sees Molly packing up some belongings. Molly insists that she is leaving Weatherfield, but Jackie is convinced that Molly was burgling the place. She drags Tyrone home, hoping this would be the last straw for his feelings towards Molly. Instead, Tyrone feels sorry for Molly and throws Jackie out, telling the cab that Molly had ordered to take Jackie anywhere but where he lives. In July 2018, Tyrone receives news from the police that Jackie has died. In subsequent weeks, it transpires that Jackie and Darren were not Tyrone's biological parents, having found him as a baby outside a police station and registered him as their own, due to Jackie's desire to have children. This leads to Tyrone eventually discovering his long-lost grandmother
Evelyn Plummer (
Maureen Lipman) in September 2018, where she reveals that his mother and Evelyn's daughter,
Cassandra Plummer (
Claire Sweeney), gave birth to him as a teenager, before leaving for
South Africa and had since died. However, this is later revealed to be a lie and Cassie is still alive. ==Reception==