WPC Burns attended several incidents involving Coronation Street residents. In December 2003, Sarah Platt had trusted Brenda Fearns to take her daughter Bethany to stay with her overnight. Brenda was the paternal grandmother of the child and was suffering after the death of the teenage father and her son Neil three months before. Brenda failed to return Bethany at the appointed time and Sarah and boyfriend Todd Grimshaw started to grow frantic with worry. The character was billed as "WPC Burns" on her first appearance, "PC Burns" on her second and unnamed in all other subsequent appearances.