Fags On't Windowsill Quiz - The Answer

Well, did you guess the correct answer to our "Fags And Matches In't Picture" AKA "Fags On't Windowsill" quiz? Of the e-mails and comments received, nobody did - William Tarmey and Liz Dawn, Julie Goodyear, Michael Le Vell and Jill Summers were the clear winners, but it was actually an unknown member of the group of actors who played the Clayton family in 1985. The United Newspapers photograph was captioned: The Clayton family (L to R) Susan (Jane Hazlegrove), Andrea (Caroline O'Neill), Connie (Susan Brown) and Harry (Johnny Leeze).

1985: Fags & Matches In't Picture...

Flamin Nora! You're called out on to the Street's exterior set for some publicity photographs, and suddenly find you've nowhere to put your fags and matches (after all, you can't be seen clutching them in't photo). And then you happen upon a handy windowsill.

So, your Silk Cuts and Swan matches are popped down, and there you stand, all fragrant and smoke-free. But, to your chagrin, the fags and matches appear as large as life on't photo anyway - it seems the camera angle was wider than you'd thought...

Can you guess whose windowsill that was, and which 1985 Corrie actor/s are now forever connected with the fags and matches on't windowsill? Was it a single person, duo or group photo? Choose from't followin':

Bill Waddington (Percy Sugden) and Eileen Derbyshire (Emily Bishop).

Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch).

William Tarmey (Jack Duckworth).

Anne Kirkbride and William Roache (Ken and Deirdre Barlow).

Johnny Leeze (Harry Clayton), Susan Brown (Connie Clayton), Caroline O'Neil (Andrea Clayton) and Jane Hazlegrove (Sue Clayton).

Johnny Briggs (Mike Baldwin), Helene Palmer (Ida Clough), Lisa Lewis (Shirley Armitage), Liz Dawn (Vera Duckworth) and Lynne Perrie (Ivy Tilsley).

Liz Dawn (Vera Duckworth) and William Tarmey (Jack Duclworth).

Kevin Kennedy (Curly Watts), Nigel Pivaro (Terry Duckworth) and Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster).

Jill Summers (Phyllis Pearce).

We'll let you know the answer next week.

Bill Webster in 1983 BT Ad... He Were Right About That Saddle...

This much-loved ad from 1983 was part of the "Good Old Yellow Pages" series which also launched JR Hartley of Fly Fishing fame the same year. In this little gem, Peter Armitage, who would make his debut as Bill Webster, father of Kevin (Michael Le Vell) in Coronation Street in 1984, plays a nice Northern Dad who, together with his nice Northern wife, buys his son a bike for his birthday - despite having some reservations about the saddle...

The Shock Of The '80s...

Deirdre Barlow: "Ooh, Ken, I'm a woman of t' '80s!"

Ken Barlow: "You're a woman of taties, Deirdre? Oh, no! Not sausage and mash again for dinner, is it?!"

Casey takes us to task:

Please, please, please, can't you print warnings and "scroll down if you feel strong enough to see" notices when it comes to pictures featuring 1980's fashions? Rita's humping blue shoulders and Deirdre's terrifying hair have nearly given me heart attacks recently.

Back On The Street replies (sulkily); Well, we LIKE '80s fashion, lovey. It's as good for us today as it's always been. Cheeky cat.

1982: When Annie Walker Met The Queen...

Flamin' Emma! The Queen? Visiting Coronation Street? Best get your glad rags on, lovey...

I've just been reading Julie Goodyear's fabulous autobiography, Just Julie, and the lady behind our favourite buxom blonde pub barmaid and landlady reveals much about what went on behind the scenes during her years in Coronation Street within its pages.

It's a lovely, lovely read.

My favourite anecdote (it was hard to choose) concerns the wonderful Doris Speed and something that happened in 1982. The new Street exterior set, bigger, better and far more complete than it had ever been before ("At last we had a real street!" said HV Kershaw), was all set for a visit from the Queen...

Julie recalled...

I FIRST met the Queen and Prince Philip in May 1982 when they came to visit the set of Coronation Street. I was wearing Diana and Charles earrings which I'd had made specially. The Duke peered at my earrings and said: "I think I recognise those two."

As the Queen came towards us, Doris Speed turned to me and said in a very loud voice: "Oh dear, isn't her make-up dreadful?" I know the Queen heard and I just wanted to die. At times I wondered whether Doris just forgot herself or did such things on purpose.

Afterwards, I asked her why she had said that. "Don't be silly, dear," she replied. "You must be hearing things!"

Darling Doris - naughty, but nice!

Sadly, Mrs Walker never made it further than Lady Mayoress. But she didn't let that deter her in her endless quest for gracious living.

Coronation Street - 1989: A Pivotal Year...

Pump Up The Jam...

Flippin' 'eck! 1989! What a year it was! Rita Fairclough was nearly smothered by Alan Bradley, and a tram dominated the end of that saga... but what ELSE happened down Weatherfield way?

Well, one half of the Street disappeared and new buildings rose in its place, courtesy of one Maurice Jones.

Deirdre Barlow (note her squarer framed glasses and nice '80s perm) found out that Ken had been up to naughties with former town hall mole Wendy Crozier. The icy atmosphere at No 1 ruined Tracy's Christmas.

Meanwhile, the Corner Shop suffered a direct hit - from a football, causing the front window to fall out. The McDonald twins, Steve and Andy, were responsible. The Roberts household was already under strain as Alf and Audrey's attempt to buy a new house had fallen through and they'd gone to live in the flat above the shop. Audrey was not pleased. "It's only temporary," wheedled Alf, taking her a nice early morning cuppa. "LIFE'S only temporary!" snapped Audrey.

And for Curly Watts his new job as assistant manager (trainee) at Bettabuys Supermarket was fraught with complications. Manager Reg Holdsworth asked him to write reports on all the staff, and then announced his intention to use them as the basis for making redundancies in January 1990.

Curly was gobsmacked - particularly as his landlady, Vera Duckworth, was on the redundancies list.

There's so much more to write about 1989...

We'll be returning soon.

We've Got Rita's 1980 Dream Kitchen!

1980 - and Rita tells Len where to get off.

Judging by various publicity photographs I've seen, Coronation Street now has the worst interior decorating schemes it's ever had. Not sure why. A lot of them don't look like anything around my own rather common housing estate. "It's 1970s!" screech various nerdy types, almost peeing themselves with excitement. But, of course, that's not true. Look back at the Street in the 1970s and nowhere was as bad as today, and there are few similarities! And anyway, sorry '70s nerdy types, but "1970s" decor was usually 1960s, all those lovely gaudy wallpapers, etc, were actually a product of - or inspired by - the 1960s (probably designed by hippies on bad "trips" by the look of them) - and tarried on through the '70s and into the early 1980s.

In the photograph above, we see Rita Fairclough telling husband Len where to get off in 1980. No 9 was a shambles, apart from a spot of wallpapering in the back room, Len hadn't touched it since years before they were married, and Rita wanted different.

Well, lovey, there were 'ell to pay. Rita left home, Len clobbered her one, then she fled to Blackpool to work in a laundrette and live with her Uncle Harry. In the end, Harry told Len where she was, and Rita finally returned home.

To please Rita, Len made changes at No 9 - second hand central heating, new wallpaper (probably chosen by Rita and absolutely skank, even though this was 1980) and new kitchen units. Rita was thrilled by the kitchen units, and so were me and my Mrs when we re-watched the episode in which Len and Eddie Yeats fitted them recently. They're exactly the same as ours!

Rita's fake wood effect, self assembly units, with the lovely hard wearing work surface, are precisely the same design as the ones still doing service in our kitchen today! As for the rest of our house, our front room is trapped in the 1980s (lovely pastel blue walls, and lots of black furniture, including a glorious black up-lighter), our hall is trapped in the 1980s (a very pretty pink), our bedroom is a style we call "near derelict" (one day we'll decorate). It's not that we created a mostly 1980s style house on purpose. We just somehow got stuck taste-wise circa 1987 and we're comfortable with the look and feel of the place.

The kitchen has not been touched by us (apart from re-painting it a few times) since we moved in, it's not our choice. The kitchen units are flanked by glorious brown and cream flowery tiles, giving the room more of a late 1960s/1970s/early 1980s effect than the mainstream '80s feel elsewhere, and we didn't like it much. The house was built in 1980, so it's obviously all original.

But now we've witnessed Rita's delight, we're thrilled with it. She always did have style, our Reet.

Me and the Mrs went dancing round the kitchen in a frenzy of merriment as soon as we'd viewed the episode. Even better, we think Rita's units did long service with the Duckworths after they moved into No 9 in 1983.

We're chuffed to little mint balls!

Just imagine, us serving up our cheese and spud pie on our trendy Fairclough/Duckworth style work surface, in our trendy Fairclough/Duckworth style kitchen.

Viewing by appointment only.

Speak Easy - June 2011

Above: Mrs Connie Clayton, official portrait; text below - Mrs Connie Clayton having a "natter" in the pork butchers, 1985:

"So, we've just moved into this house in Coronation Street. To be honest, I'm not that keen, but Harry likes it. Mind you, he'd settle anywhere. Seems a bit rough to me, this district, and I'm worried about Sue. She's pretty impressionable. I'm glad our Andrea's got her head screwed on - she'll be all right. Mind you, she were saying last night that she'd like a computer to help her with her studies. A computer! How daft can you get? Harry says we must look to't future. Apparently, Ernie Wise made the first mobile phone call in England during January just gone. 'We'll all have them in twenty-five years or so,' says Harry. 'And there'll be serial killers in this street and life round here'll be like a bad soap opera!' I said. He does talk wet - watches too much Tomorrow's World... Anyway, what were I sayin'? Oh aye, No 11. Ooh, you should see the outside cludgie - disgustin' in't word for it..."

And so from the thoughts of Connie Clayton, played by Susan Brown, in 1985, we pass to your questions and opinions in 2011.

Jamie asks:

Why did Philip Lowrie leave Corrie in 1968?

Reports at the time indicate that he was frustrated with the character of Dennis Tanner, who was used a great deal to comic effect in the story-lines. Mr Lowrie felt that Dennis was not being allowed to grow up, but was pleased with Dennis's final story-line in which he finally married, despite some opposition from his mother, Elsie.

Paula asks:

There was a young blonde actress around in the soaps in the early 1980s. I believe she appeared in the Southern TV soap "Together" and in Corrie, very briefly. I can picture her very clearly, but can you give me a name?

Gina Maher, Paula - she played Debbie Nuttall in The Street, daughter of Eunice Nuttall/Gee.

Albert writes:

A friend of mine says that Mavis Riley received anonymous phone calls in one plot, and had a nervous breakdown. Is this true?

Yes, and no, Albert. Mavis suffered a series of strange phone calls in February 1980, but she didn't have a nervous breakdown over them. The story-line was in comic vein and saw Eddie Yeats being mistakenly arrested as the caller. The identity of the true caller was never discovered, but Mavis had other fish to fry at the time and managed to put the incident behind her without resorting to a breakdown.

Coffee asks:

Why is this blog updated so rarely?

Because I'm working elsewhere, Coffee. I do update whenever possible though. Thanks for dropping in.

Elsie Tanner's Ending....

The e-mails have been coming thick and fast, all asking the same thing: what do we here at Back On The Street make of Philip Lowrie's return to the show as Dennis Tanner? Well, although we don't watch, good luck to him. Dennis is an all-time favourite Coronation Street character, and one of the originals.

We hope the writers are good to the character and that he doesn't encounter any horrid explosions or nasty serial killers.

Be warned, Dennis lad, the Street's changed a lot since your day...

A couple of people have also asked what we make of the ending of Elsie Tanner, related by Dennis to Rita Sullivan.

Love it.

Straight out of an old Hollywood movie, and very Elsie, who mixed melodrama with margarine and crumbs on't table cloth in a way no other character ever did - or has since.

A dramatic accident - Elsie going over the cliff in a red sports car, aged eighty-one, hand in hand with the love of her life, for whom she had searched for many years, lost, found, lost and then finally, in late 1983, found again.

It's infinitely preferable to the ending offered in the VHS release The Life And Loves Of Elsie Tanner, which we are now delighted to lay to rest.

Percy Sugden - A Groundbreaking Character...

1987 - Percy pokes his nose into Deirdre's business.

It just occurred to me, toying with me rubber duck in the bath this morning, that Percy Sugden, who arrived at the Coronation Street community centre in 1983, was actually quite a groundbreaking character.

Percy, played by Bill Waddington, is often written off as simply being a replacement for the dearly loved Albert Tatlock (although the two characters overlapped) and he definitely continued the "old soldier" role, although he was Second rather than First World War.

But as we've pointed out elsewhere, Percy wasn't Albert. Whilst Albert was chiefly known for moaning and miserliness (and an inner core of pure gold), Percy was a man of action - he saw himself as a righter of wrongs, and was constantly sticking his nose in where it wasn't wanted.

Percy was, I believe, Corrie's first male "sticky beak" character, forming something of a bridge in older male characterisations between grumpy Albert and nosey Norris.

Can you think of any other habitually nosey male Corrie character before our Mr Sugden?

If not, caps off to Percy!

Of course, Percy sticky-beaked out of concern for the community, and an unshakable belief that he was right in most things. But we should also remember his background - the loss of his wife five years before his Street debut, and the way he cared for his niece, Elaine Prior.

We miss him.

Back On The Street - On The Tour....

Found some more Granada TV Studios Tour pics the other day...

It was the early 1990s, and Bet Gilroy was doing her lone landlady bit at The Rovers,
whilst Alf Roberts had briefly regained control of the Corner Shop...

The new side of the Street was in fine form, and the viaduct was (thankfully) silent...

I was thinking the other day about 1989 and the building of the new houses and the Duckworths' stone cladding. Was it really a good year for the Street's architecture, I wondered?

Mind you, at least 1989 didn't go beggaring about with the (now) late, lamented pillar box! Looking at the newly rebuilt Street, post-tram crash, I cannot see any noticeable differences to the old. Although Producer Phil Collinson said that Weatherfield would never be the same again, the only real difference I can spot is that darned pillar box!

Whose Living Room Is This?

Several thousand years ago, we asked you, our readers, to identify a character's dinner as seen in a 1979 episode of The Street. That wasn't beyond you. So, today, we're going to ask you to identify a Street living room from the past. This pic dates back to the early 1990s, when I visited the Street a few times on the Granada Studios Tour, and the room was quite trendy at the time. Many of the trends represented were actually continuing from the 1980s.

The figure with the blanked out face is me - it's for the best, I know you all relish your sleep.

There's an absolutely mega-clue as to the location of this room... take a look, go to the comments, and let me know!

Speak Easy - February...

In one of her despondent moods, Mavis Riley came across a book called 1001 Ways To Fill Your Spare Time in The Kabin library. "None of them work!" she sighed. But that was 1976, and things are very different today. So, Mavis, if you fancy writing to Back On The Street from your home in the glorious Lake District and letting us know how you're getting on, we'd be very glad to hear from you. And it would be a great way for you to fill the odd minute or two!

All comments and ponderings welcome here at the Speak Easy!

And so, here we go...

Jane writes:

Your stuff about the Corrie pillar box was genius - just a pleasure to read. You're very funny, but obviously know your stuff. Watch out, Daran Little!

LOL - Mr L has watched every episode of the show, acted as archivist and written episodes. We just like looking back in our own way and sifting through old episodes and newspaper articles. We do promise accuracy though, in fact we're downright pedantic!!

Sara writes:

Loved your article about the teens in the show. I remember an episode in the '70s when Gail Potter made Mike Baldwin feel old by mentioning Stevie Wonder. "Stevie WHO?!!" said Mike. But Stevie had his first hit in the late 1960s, so you would of thought Mike would of known about him!

I've got that episode, and yes, it was funny. The Street being terribly modern in the late 1970s... never mind the Buzzcocks - let alone the Sex Pistols!

James writes:

Don't you think Phyllis Pearce was a fruitcake?

Eccentric and highly colourful she was! But there was a reality about her. She hadn't aged mentally - very much the oldest swinger in town - but in the back of her mind lurked the knowledge that she was no spring chicken any longer. She was very grateful to Martin Platt when he was nice about the dress she chosen for a dance in the late 1980s, after Gail Tilsley had made a good natured joke about what Phyllis SHOULD be wearing at her age, and she was terribly insecure about her job at the cafe. It gave her something to do, a place out there in the community, but she knew her age was against her, that the job might be taken from her and given to somebody younger, and that she stood zilch chance of getting another.

All flirty and cheerful on the surface, relentless in her pursuit of Percy Sugden, underneath it all Phyllis knew she was far from being sweet sixteen. I admired her courage - and zest for life.

That's it for now, folks - keep 'em coming. I'm off for a little lay down and a spot of Classic FM...

Name That Cliffhanger 2 - The Answer!

Mavis Riley (Thelma Barlow) thought that Fred Gee (Fred Feast) was a very nice man. Rita Littlewood (Barbara Knox) was quite unmoved.

Thanks so much to those participated in our latest Name That Cliffhanger challenge. Only one right answer this time - and congratulations to Coronation Street Corner , who wrote:

Am I right in saying that she pretended he was her boyfriend because Fred Gee was pestering her to go out with him - she kissed him when Fred came to the shop to check up on her. What would be interesting if you could evaluate the Fred/Rita relationship in a blog post. Fred was one of many that held a torch for our Rita!

Absolutely correct answer, and an interesting idea for a future blog post. Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Had Rita been drinking? Was she not responsible for her own actions?

Well, knowing how our Reet liked to nip in The Rovers at lunchtimes, she probably had BEEN drinking, but that didn't contribute to her actions in this case!

Greg wrote:

1976 - the year before Rita married Len - so I wonder if she was kissing Derek to make Len jealous? Mavis was probably in on it.

Interesting scenario, Greg, but not the right one!

Cerys wrote:

Mavis was sick of Derek and asked Rita to take him off her hands. However, Rita's overtures made Derek realise that he loved Mavis.

Another interesting scenario - have you ever thought about taking up soap scriptwriting?!

The full, unexpurgated truth, is below.

At that time in 1976, Fred Gee was new to the permanent cast, and the lazy, randy, ogling Fred of the late 1970s and early 1980s had yet to emerge.

This was Fred's first venture into the romantic arena since losing his wife, Edna, in the warehouse fire the previous year.

He was completely smitten by Rita, took her a pot plant ("Keep blooming," he told her), and invited her to a big band concert.

Rita was horrified and took the coward's way out - telling Fred she already had a boyfriend.

Fred, however, did not give up, and called at The Kabin just to make sure Rita's sweetheart turned up for their date, ready to whisk her off to the big band concert if not.

Derek's arrival at that point, with a message for Mavis, was a gift from the gods for Rita. Fred didn't know him, and she swooped on him, giving him a big kiss and greeting him as her boyfriend.

Fred was crestfallen, telling Derek he was a lucky man - and to look after Rita.

Rita couldn't resist teasing Derek after Fred had left the shop, with her "just ask and it shall be yours!" comment.

Of course, it all came out - and Mavis was furious, telling Rita she couldn't keep her hands off any thing in trousers. She also gave Derek his marching orders.

Rita managed to win Mavis round, and engineered a meeting between her and Derek in The Rovers. So, the relationship which would culminate in marriage in 1988 was back on track.

Meanwhile, Fred was hurt to discover the truth about Rita's fella, and told her there had been no need to make a fool of him.

And Rita was left feeling rather shabby.

Renee Bradshaw - Not What She Seemed...

Renee Bradshaw (Madge Hindle) breezed into Coronation Street in 1976.

Her arrival was foreshadowed by her brother Terry (Bob Mason), who warned Ray Langton (Neville Buswell) that Renee would eat him on a cream cracker!

Bit of a tyrant, our Reen. Terry was clearly in awe of her.

She was clearly an astute businesswoman, ousting tenants Gail Potter (Helen Worth) and Tricia Hopkins (Kathy Jones) when she took over the Corner Shop, and announcing plans for an off-licence - which brought her into conflict with Rovers landlady Annie Walker (Doris Speed).

Renee was successful in her application for an off-licence, and settled down to run the shop and look after Terry.

She wasn't as bad as she was painted. In fact, quite soon, viewers grew to like Renee, famous for standing behind the Corner Shop counter and saying: "Yer what?!!" on hearing the latest daft spoutings of Eddie Yeats (Geoffrey Hughes) or the latest piece of hot gossip.

Terry left at the end of 1976, rebuffed by Gail Potter, a girl he harboured romantic notions about, and unable to find work in the area having been laid off by Fairclough and Langton.

Renee retained her excellent business sense, refusing to let Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) move into the Corner Shop flat when she couldn't afford the rent Renee was asking, but changing her mind when Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) secretly offered to subsidise Bet.

Having been dropped by her sailor boyfriend, Renee began seeing Alf Roberts (Bryan Mosley) and a romance developed which ended in marriage in 1978.

Coronation Street producer Bill Podmore later described the marriage as "rather humdrum" - which it undoubtedly was, and so, in the summer of 1980, Renee and Alf seemed set to go off and run a sub-post office at Grange-Over-Sands.

Unfortunately, Renee was killed by a lorry when she, by then a learner driver, took the wheel of the car whilst out with Alf and managed to stall it.

Alf inherited the Corner Shop, and decided to stay on.

Madge Hindle said of the production team's early vision of Renee:

"I think they wanted somebody to be strong and argumentative like Ena Sharples. But unfortunately you can't do that in a shop because people won't come in."

And so Renee lost her feisty side.

However, Madge Hindle, an accomplished actress, managed to invest the character with a likeable warmth and many viewers (including me) were sorry to see her go in 1980.

But not sorry to see the end of the Alf/Renee humdrum marriage.

Still, for me personally, the character of Renee, particularly in her Bradshaw days, remains a favourite Street memory.

Perhaps it might have been better if Renee and Alf had developed separate areas of interest and not been cooped up in the shop so much together, taking it in turns to mind the counter? Renee taking evening classes at the Community Centre with Mavis is one storyline I thought of which had great potential to be lots of fun. There were plenty more just waiting to be dreamt up.

Together, the Roberts weren't great, but apart they were. Alf was very important to the Street - an everyday man in a street full of absolute characters, and we cared about him. Renee wasn't an OTT character, but she had several facets, and Madge Hindle could do comedy with ease, without sacrificing the reality of the character.

I think dispatching Renee was a mistake, but there, chuck - we 'ave our memories and re-runs of the Renee years on the telly to enjoy, don't we?