julie cooper, played by louise plowright, is a bubbly, big haired salford girl, who has a hungry appetite for men. she arrives in walford in june 1989 to sell a house left to her by her late grandmother, and she uses the money from the sale to open a salon. she has brief affairs with paul priestly (mark thrippleton), laurie bates (gary powell) and grant mitchell (ross kemp), but is shocked when she discovers that grant has been using her to take over the lease on her salon, with his brother phil (steve mcfadden). she agrees to give up the lease anyway, but for more money, and returns to salford in march 1990.