Worst Story-Lines - The 1960s: The Collapse of No 7...

The fall of No 7's frontage on the studio built exterior set of 1965. The front door's shifted quite a long way from the front window, hasn't it? I suppose the other houses must have shuffled along to make room.

Well, we've done the 1980s (Rita's amnesia) and the 1970s (the lorry crash) so now we turn to the 1960s. What was our worst and daftest story-line of that illustrious first decade of Coronation Street? Well, as with the '70s and '80s, there were several contenders, but we had to plump for the collapse of the frontage of No 7 in 1965.

Why on earth did this happen? Oh sure, it made for a bit of short-term drama, especially because Lucille Hewitt was thought to have been in there at the time (she wasn't), but afterwards it left the Street with one house less, and a gap in the terrace which exposed the ridiculously scaled-down size of the other houses.

A single bench filled the entire space.

When Len Fairclough bought the site in 1981 and set about building a new No 7, a witty reader wrote to a national newspaper:

The only people who could live in there would be Marti Caine and the Thin Man!

But other things troubled us. Why didn't the collapse destabilise the adjacent houses at all? And if we'd been Val Barlow, we'd certainly not have been happy continuing to live next door at No 9 with the baby twins, Peter and Susan. No amount of calm reassurance and technical twaddle about 'faulty main beams' from surveyors would have convinced us of the safety of the houses in that street after the fall of the No 7 frontage.

The collapse was very convenient too. After all, Harry and Concepta had left for Ireland with baby Christopher the year before. The house hadn't been empty long enough for it to collapse through neglect but, it was the only unoccupied house in the Street. How convenient to ditch it. Chuck in concern about Lucille possibly being in there for a bit of drama and Bob's your uncle!

Naff.

Back On The Street Disasters Poll - Andy Makes A Boo-Boo...

1965 and 1967 - Consternation Street.

I'm very sorry, luvs, but I've made a cock-up with this blog's first poll! I meant it to run for a month, but somehow managed to set it to end on 30 July! I've only just noticed it was closed. I thought it was odd that there had been no votes at all since the 30th!

Anyway, the Poll has been re-opened, and will run until 30 August, so please vote - I've re-posted the original explanatory blog article below.

Ta very much and ta-ra for now!

Each of Corrie's first three decades seemed to have it in for our cherished Weatherfield back Street. The apparently hippy-trippy, peace loving '60s demolished a house and then attempted to demolish the entire Street - with a train; the pissed off Punky '70s sent a raging fire and an out-of-control lorry to the Street; and the turbulent, technological and hugely shoulder-padded 1980s tried to destroy the Street's central meeting place by fire.

In detail: 1965 saw No 7 come crashing down, and in 1967 the whole Street almost followed suit when a train hurtled off the viaduct.

1975 and 1979 - EEK Street!

The 1970s were just as unkind - the Street was threatened by a huge fire at the warehouse in 1975, and then, in 1979, a lorry crashed into the Rovers Return.

1986 - Conflagration Street.

The 1980s gave absolutely nothing to report on the major structural catastrophes front until 1986, when the Rovers went up in smoke.

Which Street-shattering catastrophe gripped you the most? Was it the shuddersome moment when No 7, former home of Harry, Concepta, Lucille and Christopher Hewitt, came roaring down?

The awesome drama of the train crash, no mean feat to create on an exterior set which was built in the studios?

Or what about the warehouse blaze - with the whole Street evacuated and Edna Gee meeting a terrible end?

Memories of the horrifying Rovers lorry crash still linger - "TRACY! TRACY!"

And as for the Rovers fire - courtesy of Jack "Duck Egg" Duckworth and the wonky old electrical wiring in the pub, well, what can we say? The Street's legendary meeting place temporarily bit the dust in highly dramatic style and would never be the same again...

So, eyes right to our Poll and click on the Street-threatening drama which most sent you screeching to the edge of your seat...

1965: Violet Carson, OBE

Violet Carson and singer Frankie Vaughan with their OBEs at Buckingham Palace, 1965.

Ena Sharples was, and is, quite simply a Coronation Street legend.

Played by Violet Carson, Ena appeared in the very first episode of Coronation Street, lambasting new Corner Shop owner Florrie Lindley (Betty Alberge). In that first episode, she didn't wear a hairnet. But that quickly followed.

Early Ena was a fiery treat, a real harridan, with nowt good to say about her neighbours and, in particular, Mrs Elsie Tanner (Patricia Phoenix) of No 11. Clashes between Ena and Elsie in those early days still make breath taking viewing today.

Ena sat in the snug at the Rovers in the early years, with her two pals, Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant) and Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol), providing the show with many a moment of high class comedy. What a trio they were! Ena headed the group, vinegary Martha often sought to usurp her, but never succeeded, and Minnie was largely away with the fairies.

Over the years, Ena mellowed more than somewhat. Never afraid to speak her mind, and a stern upholder of "good", old fashioned morals, Ena was also a friend and confidante to many. And her relationship with Elsie evolved - these two very strong, very different woman, developed a respect and fondness for each other, and when Ena found herself temporarily homeless in 1980, it was Elsie who came forward to offer her a roof over her head.

Ill health caused Violet Carson to take several lengthy breaks from the show in the 1970s, and when she made her final appearance in 1980, none of us were aware of the fact that we had seen the last of the glorious old battle-axe.

Ena was in her heyday in the 1960s, and in October 1965 that fact, and Violet Carson's long career in show business before The Street, were recognised when Miss Carson was awarded the OBE.

From The Real Coronation Street, by Ken Irwin, 1970:

When Violet Carson received an important-looking envelope bearing the Royal crest through the post at her home in Blackpool, one morning in the autumn of 1965, she had absolutely no idea what it might be.

She even hesitated before opening it. Then, with much surprise, her trembling fingers pulled out the official notification - she was to be awarded the OBE by the Queen.

She was stunned but immensely pleased. Yet a little puzzled. She could not explain the Royal award. "I do not know why I have been singled out," she said. "I would like to think that it was some sort of recognition for the whole of my career. People tell me I have managed to make a lot of folk happy. I hope I have."

The Real Coronation Street by Ken Irwin, the Daily Mirror TV critic who declared that Coronation Street had "little reality" and was "doomed from the outset" back in 1960! The book - "The fascinating, true story behind a TV serial and how it has affected the lives of the actors involved in it over a period of ten years" - sometimes pops up on eBay and is well worth a read.