Since his first appearance, Mike was involved in several of the show's highly-profiled events. This included a love triangle scenario which saw Mike having an affair with local resident Deirdre Hunt (Anne Kirkbride) while she was still married to her husband Ken Barlow (William Roache). The storyline continued onto 1983 and became a ratings winner, with the UK's newspapers giving the story much coverage. The episode where Deirdre ends her affair with Mike and reconciles with Ken was the show's highest-rated episode at the time; as such, the news was so big that it ended up being announced on the scoreboard during a Manchester United v Arsenal match at Old Trafford - with the words "Ken and Deirdre reunited. Ken 1 – Mike 0" resulting in cheers from the spectators.