Coronation Street 60 years and counting - Character By Character

[emm1978]

And now for my own comment on the above that's a bit too harsh to include in the bio?

Does anyone find it bloody weird that Ken doesn't mention is parents ever? Like they just never existed? I know he and Frank had a strained relationship but you'd still think he would get mentioned once in a blue moon (I know he was VE Day but I mean in general 'my dad' rather than 'Frank - war hero' terms.'

Like not even to new characters who might ask about them or to his kids? Just plain weird.

I'm sure Ken does remember his parents. We just don't hear him mention them. Probably because in the scenes he's in, he doesn't have a reason to.

We hear him mention other things from the past, like his daughter Susan, and when his late brother David played for Weatherfield County.

 

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Florrie Lindlay



Florrie Lindlay was introduced on the 9th December 1960 - an essential ingredient to the first episode of Coronation Street. She was as far as the residents and viewers were concerned a widower who was taking over the corner shop from long time resident Elsie Lappin who had owned the corner shop from 1945 until 1960. The character of Florrie was portrayed by Betty Alberge.

It was important for the street to have a new resident in the opening episode as it would allow Warren to introduce established characters through dialogue and visits to the shop - the dialogue between Elsie and Florrie allowing us to get a flavour for the personalities of Elsie Tanner, Ena Sharples and others as they were introduced. This is where Florrie came in….


When she and Frank were both stood up they spent a brief period courting, but it was obvious to Florrie that Frank didn’t have too much interest in her. Florrie was at the centre of a rough storyline in 1963 when she was mugged for £100 of bingo winnings.

In 1964 she employed Dennis Tanner as an assistant but soon let him go as he wasn’t up to it before hiring Irma Barlow. Florrie’s loneliness would come to the fore in 1964 when she had a breakdown in the shop.

In 1965 - to the amazement of her friends and acquaintances on the street who she’d told she was a widower, her estranged husband Norman Lindley arrived on the street - they soon patched together the relationship and fled to Canada.

 

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Ena Sharples



Ena Sharples was played by Violet Carson and introduced as an original character on 9th December 1960 - along with Elsie Tanner she was one of Warren’s two key female characters that would come to define the earlier era of the show with their different outlooks on life and strong dislike of one another.

Ena was the original busybody of British television soap, nobody in Coronation Street could breathe out a new flavoured mint without Ena Sharples being down the road to pick up the scent of it and do with the information as she pleased - either make a show of it or keep it to herself as ammunition.

A hardened woman of Victorian inclination morally - despite being born almost as late as she could to still qualify as a Victorian - Ena would often clash with the more liberally minded woman of the street. In particular Elsie Tanner, to many Elsie was a fun-loving good time girl with a penchant for enjoying male company - as far as Ena Sharples was concerned she brought as much shame on the street as if she’d opened a brothel at her residence.

The two would clash heads on numerous occasions. Perhaps most famously during a pitched battle from the 27th January 1965 episode - watched by the majority of the street when Ena Sharples attempted to throw Elsie Tanner out of her house which she had inherited from its owner, as a result of Leonard Swindley threatening to throw her out of her own home. When she realised she was safe at the mission she sold the home to local landlord Edward Wormold.

Ena was also famous for her relationship with Martha and Minnie - although Ena’s uncompromising attitude would often leave her relationship with Minnie seriously strained - especially if she seemed to think Minnie was paying more attention to others. Initially Ena would work as a caretaker at the mission before taking on the same role at the Camera Shop and then at the Community Centre.

Ena would leave the street for good in 1980 and pass away at some point in the following years. She was the last of the three ladies from the Rovers Return snug to go with Martha being killed off in 1964 and Minnie leaving in 1976.

 

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Annie Walker



Annie Walker was introduced on the 9th December 1960 as the landlady of the Rovers Return. The licensing was in the name of Jack Walker, but anybody who walked into the pub could soon tell you who really ran the shop. She was played by Doris Speed.

Annie was a snob, viewing herself as a cut above her patrons and often letting them know. She had come from a good background in a well to do family, but that had took a tumble leading her to eventually end up at the Rovers in 1937 after several years ending up manning the joint while Jack went to serve in the war.

Her storylines would include assumption that Jack was having an affair and almost splitting up with him, her informal adoption of Lucille Hewitt and the death of her husband Jack Walker.

Essentially Annie served as a constant in the show 24 years running the Rovers - bossing around her barmaids including perhaps the most famous team of Bet and Betty - and snobbing at her neighbours and the commonality of them. She had an obsession with social class and status that stemmed from her own personal fall down the ladder, a desperation to cope with it or rebuild it perhaps?

Either way she managed to find somewhere her eccentricities were tolerated - and even became much liked among the locals to the point of them helping her keep her pub following Jack’s death - on a backstreet in Weatherfield.

She left the show in 1983 - sadly as a result of a press story getting out showing that Doris Speed's real age was 14 years older than she had always claimed. An unnecessarily cruel thing to do to a lady her age and quickly followed by a burglary at her home address that sealed her departure from the show. Initially as a brief period of rest she never returned - moving into a nursing home shortly afterwards.

 

[Ome]

Betty Alberge

I've only seen little bits of her stuff in Corrie, she is more about Edna Cross in Brookside for me. A lovely actress who induced so much love and humour to the close, I was sad when they killed her off.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Annie Walker

If I were asked today to pick just one favourite character, there's a good likelihood it would be Annie Walker. I never get tired of watching Doris Speed's performance, which was possibly one of the most consistent. Whatever changes went on around her, Annie could be guaranteed to be behind the bar with a frozen smile, and her blue eyes staring into the middle distance as she came out with almost weary put downs. Her double act with Jack in the early days was (from what I've seen) wonderful. And her interactions with the staff were hilarious. She embodies the series' winning combination of humour and heart.

she is more about Edna Cross in Brookside for me.

Oh - I'd forgotten that she was Edna Cross.

 

[Ome]

If I were asked today to pick just one favourite character

If I was asked that question, this would be my reaction.

 

[cobbles]

Apologies for not getting one up last night. Forget to post it....
Great comments above - I can see why some would choose Annie as favourite character. And a comment that leads me on to one of my favourites.....

Albert Tatlock (1960-1984)



For just over 23 years Jack Howarth would portrayed grumpy old war veteran and pensioner Uncle Albert. A character who could often be found either giving solace to Ken Barlow from his father's anger or just giving him someone to talk too or down his favourite haunt - the Rovers ordering a rum from the bar. Albert was largely a background character, but also managed to be vital to the fabric of the street through sheer longevity and his relationships with more major characters.

He served as a chairman of the over 60s club organising trips away for them and local events to keep the pensioners occupied. His major story-lines involved when Ken married his daughter Valerie and of course the later tragic death of Valerie.

Ken and Albert would live together at various points during the 70s and 80s, Ken living with Albert and later Albert being taken in by Ken as his health failed. Like many of the characters in the early days of the show he served a soap archetype that also reflected people in the real world, embittered and worn down by a world that had been a complete mess for most of his life - a great depression and two world wars he had become frustrated with everyone and everything - a frustration he would often show outwardly to anyone who would stick around long enough to hear it.

Albert was also interested in remarry at one point but his bride Alice Pickins jilted him at the altar because the vicar was late. He later offered to marry Minnie Caldwell for financial reasons until they realised they'd actually lose money from the arrangement.

But underneath the bitter old man routine was a softer side that took happiness from seeing great things happen to those close to him - such as when Ken and Valerie.

Albert was written out following actor Jack Howarth's death at the age of 88 in March 1984 . His death left Bill Roache as the only remaining continuously serving original cast member in the show from 1984 onward until he left in 2013 briefly.

 

[Ome]

Apologies for not getting one up last night. Forget to post it....

Absolute nonsense! Honestly, just post when you can. Some days I can have all the time in the world on here and other days I'm in and out like a fiddler's elbow. There should be no pressure on anyone, we all here at our own leisure and here to have fun, agree, disagree and even learn new things.

 

[Ome]

And a comment that leads me on to one of my favourites.....

This thread is really making me yearn for the ability to watch all the 60s and 70s episodes.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

For just over 23 years Jack Howarth would portrayed grumpy old war veteran and pensioner Uncle Albert.

My memories of Albert are mostly from his last years on the Street, interacting mostly with Ken and Deirdre and being generally curmudgeonly. But from watching older Corrie (and possibly some behind the scenes stuff), there's something endearingly childlike about Jack Howarth's performance at times. I think there was a Christmas special or two where Albert did some kind of recitation and really came to life, and you could tell Jack was enjoying holding court and entertaining. I suspect he was very different from the character he played.

 

[cobbles]

My memories of Albert are mostly from his last years on the Street, interacting mostly with Ken and Deirdre and being generally curmudgeonly. But from watching older Corrie (and possibly some behind the scenes stuff), there's something endearingly childlike about Jack Howarth's performance at times. I think there was a Christmas special or two where Albert did some kind of recitation and really came to life, and you could tell Jack was enjoying holding court and entertaining. I suspect he was very different from the character he played.

I seem to remember a throwaway comment in one of those Corrie documentaries by an actor (possibly Bill Roache) that Jack was basically a real life version of Albert a lot of the time. Can't for the life of me remember which one or who said it though......

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I seem to remember a throwaway comment in one of those Corrie documentaries by an actor (possibly Bill Roache) that Jack was basically a real life version of Albert a lot of the time.

Ah well. Bang goes my theory then.

 

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Ah well. Bang goes my theory then.

As I said I 'vaguely remember' it to the point it could never have happened....

 

[cobbles]

Something a bit different as neither of these a really worthy of full biographies....

Elsie Lappin



Elsie Lappin was the first owner of the corner shop in the show, though she quickly sold it Florrie Lindley and upped sticks within two episodes. The character was brought into the initial episode to help Warren write the gossiping aspect of the show that would enable him to introduce some of the other characters on the street through opinions of an established resident to a new resident. Elsie wasn't short of advice for the newly incumbent Florrie Lindley with a load of tidbits

Susan Cunningham



Susan Cunningham was a short term girlfriend of Ken Barlow's in the earlier episodes who he was concerned about bring back to Coronation Street. She was at the centre of his row with his father Frank about taking her to the imperial hotel. A rather inconsequential character until a baffling recon in 2010 than saw Ken finding out that a lost letter she'd sent in 1961/1962 regarding the fact Susan had found she was preggers by Ken with a son who she'd name Lawrence. Ken never met Lawrence until 2010 Ken found the letter down the back of his skirting board and got in contact with his long missing son Lawrence - his grandson James would briefly move into No 1 Coronation Street.

 

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Ivan Cheveski



Ivan Cheveski was played by Ernst Walder. He was the husband of Linda Tanner who fled home to Elsie nominally to get away from Ivan but in reality hiding the secret that she was pregnant and unable to confront Ivan about it. The two soon reconciled and moved together into Coronation Street living at number 9 where they would have their first son Paul Cheveski. Ivan was focused on his role as a breadwinner, a traditionalist who saw his place as the earner and Linda's at home bringing up the kids.

They would move to Canada in 1961 in what is perhaps an early example of a long running sequence of characters who are no longer needed or available crossing the ocean to go and live in the cold and less populous country that borders America. It was later retconned in that Ivan and Linda had a second son called Martin who turned up in the 1970s to stay with Elsie for six months despite never having been mentioned in the 1960s when Linda and Ivan made repeated visits back to the street with their other son Paul in tow... (did I mention before my hate of that character, only 20 years of characters to get through til we get to the rant *ahem* biography on that one.)

Either way Linda and Ivan would split up in 1984 for good.

 

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And we're back in the room....

Christine Hardman



Christine Appleby ne Hardman was one of the original characters on Coronation Street. Her primary storylines where the death of her mother May Hardman - the first character to die on Coronation Street, dying from a brain tumour in Episode 7. She initially received a lot of help following May's death as she came to terms with managing her household finances having already lost her father a few years ago - but a close male friend Joe Makinson also turned up to help with the plumbing and ask her out on date.

Christine was a character who felt very trapped in the street and wanted to move away as soon as she could. Although oddly given this she was the one who convinced Ken to stay in Coronation Street when he tried to runaway following Ida's death- talking him round at the train station. Tragedy would soon follow joy for Christine as she engaged and married Colin Appleby, who would die in a car crash in 1962.

Christine would later end up in a relationship with Frank Barlow, Ken's father, however she soon realised that she didn't love him and both of them were in the relationship for the wrong reasons. Her particularly seeing it as a way for her to leave the street. Christine would eventually get her wish to leave Coronation Street in 1963 when she was promoted and then subsequently transferred through Miami Modes.

 

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At this rate it might take us 60 years. However....

Harry Hewitt



Harry Hewitt - potrayed by Ivan Beavis - was a bus driver who lived on Coronation Street from his birth in 1921 until he moved away in 1964. His first wife Lizzie would die in 1959 at which point he would put his daughter Lucille into an orphanage, struggling to cope with single fatherhood. She would soon return back to the street to live with Harry in 1961.

One of his major storylines would be his romance and resulting marriage to Concepta Riley and the dynamic of Concepta and Lucille. Concepta and Harry would soon have a son, Christopher, resulting in another of Harry's major storylines when during a 1st wedding anniversary party Christopher would go missing, resulting in a worrying time for the Hewitt family. Thankfully he was returned safely once the bereaved mother who had taken him was convinced to hand him back.

In 1964 Harry and Concepta would move to Ireland, with Harry taken over his ailing father in laws business. Lucille would remain in Weatherfield. In 1967 Harry was killed on route to attending to see a friend after Elsie and Steve Tanner, with Harry being crushed under the weight of van while attempting to repair it.