Raquel Watts (also Wolstenhulme) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sarah Lancashire from 23 January 1991 until 15 November 1996. Lancashire returned on 2 January 2000 for one episode.

Raquel was created by Coronation Street writer John Stevenson. His starting point was Bettabuys supermarket—a Northern "everyman" chain—and a conceptualisation of characters that might populate it. A Miss Bettabuy competition was suggested as a humorous storyline, with comedy derived from the contradiction between a beauty contest and the "prosaic and mundane" setting of Bettabuys. From this, the name Raquel Wolstenhulme was devised, contrasting the glamorous Hollywood connotations of 'Raquel' with the down-to-earth Northern surname 'Wolstenhulme'. This glamorous/mundane contradiction was then encapsulated in the character.

Raquel filled the dizzy blonde and tart with a heart stereotypes in Coronation Street. Her defining characteristics included her "short skirts, big hair and ... even bigger heart." Alongside her bouffant hair and short skirts, Raquel's costume commonly included high-heels and a great deal of make-up, reflecting her glamour model aspirations. The Guardian's Nancy Banks-Smith described her as having an "almost saintly idiocy", and Dominic Maxwell of The Times wrote that her "comic brio and emotional tenderness" made her a standout character. Ben Thompson of The Independent deemed her most affecting qualities to be her "hauteur, kindness and dignity in the face of defeat." AOL's Anne Richardson called Raquel "the very definition of loveable", writing: "Always trying to better herself, but without any social climbing snobbery, she longed for a better life whilst always seeming to be resigned to the fact that she'd never actually get there. Sweetly naive and tragically vulnerable, we longed for her to find her happy ending and our hearts broke every time hers did."

Lancashire initially had reservations about Raquel's characterisation, and believes that the writers were uncertain how to use her in early episodes. She found her two-dimensional, with an unappealing "acidic side" which could have resulted in Raquel becoming the "street bitch" had it been embellished. She took it upon herself to highlight Raquel's potential, playing against what had been written to make her more comic, evoking the sympathy of the audience. Thereafter, Raquel was often used for comedic purposes, though Lancashire attempted to keep her from becoming simply a figure of fun. During one storyline, she was taught French by Weatherfield teacher Ken Barlow (William Roache), leading to what Richardson named one of the series' best comedy scenes:

Raquel: "I met a French man in Corfu who taught me how to say, 'Isn't it a lovely day today?'"

Ken: "Right, let's put a sentence together. I want you to say to me, in French, 'Hello, Ken. My name is Raquel. Isn't it a lovely day today?'"

Raquel: "Ooh, clever. Right, here goes. 'Bonjour, Ken. Je m'appelle Raquel. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir ? '"

The Independent's Deborah Ross feels that Lancashire bought "vulnerability and heartache and real tragedy and painful gullibility" to Raquel, citing the French lesson with Ken and the pride in Raquel's response as an example of her amusing but sad brilliance.