I don't watch soaps at all, in fact I can't stand them but watching these has made me feel like my mum is back. I would only have been three when this aired but my wee mum loved Corrie so much so I can imagine her watching these with a cup of tea. Thank you so much.
That's lovely - God bless your dear Mum. I agree, I think many of us love these wonderful vintage episodes for their pure nostalgia. They take us back to happy childhood times.
@@glamdolly30, awww thank you. So sweet and kind. She has been gone 18 years last month. My dad sadly joined her in January. These have truly given me comfort. They really have. Corrie was my mums favourite, dad secretly watched it but said he did not. 😂. Xx
@@bibakroll8999 You're right, 'Coronation Street' creator Tony Warren was a fan of actress Doris Speed, having worked with her when he was a child actor on radio. He wrote the character of Annie Walker for her, knowing she'd be perfect casting, and was thrilled that she was available to do it from 'Coronation Street's launch on 9th December 1960. It made her a star. Doris played the 'Rovers' landlady for 23 years, and was superb in the role, so regal as Annie she was dubbed 'The Queen Mother of Soap'. In reality Doris was a very different character to wife and mother Annie. Doris was a lifelong spinster who never married or had children, and she was a Socialist who loathed snobbery, when Annie of course was a true blue Tory with plenty of airs and graces!
The same reason anything from up until the early to mid 00's are more entertaining than anything on telly now...there's no such thing as "woke" back then. No coincidence the popularity of the internet coincides with the rise of the radical far left gen z crack pots😂
Because it’s not a bunch of unrealistic nonsense. Regular people acting out everyday ordinary people that mirrored those who were watching the show. I still have trouble not getting lost in the story like this was real life and I hate soaps and tv. LOVE CORONATION ST
True, Jean Alexander was a superb actress. Before her BAFTA, she won a prestigious National Television Society Award for the moving scenes she did after Stan's death.
@@johnlarkin3821I wonder who decides to give titles? Patrica from Keeping Up Appearances has the title. And I wonder what actually qualifies you for one.
@@soniaclarkstewart Exactly right, I think Gail only became the product of a single parent home when she got engaged to R. Brian and her flighty mum Audrey turned up for the party (which coincided with her 21st birthday, I think).
I didn't see these early episodes. Nor the later ones as I don't live in the UK anymore. I remember my mother turning the TV on and hearing the tune. Now I'm watching these early episodes and love the stories and some of the characters. I don't want to see the recent ones until I've finished with all the early ones. Thank you.
@@cherylreznor181 Mike Baldwin's first appearance was 11th October 1976. He was brought in by the genius Producer who joined the show that same year, the legendary Bill Podmore. Podmore hit the ground running, spotting the problems with the ailing soap and correcting them one by one. He decided the Street would benefit from a strong Southern character. He saw actor Johnnie Briggs in ITV teatime soap 'Crossroads', as the solution (Johnnie had appeared in a bit part on 'Corrie' as a lorry driver two years earlier, on May 1st 1974). Johnnie also hit the ground running in his new role as the dynamic factory king - his portrayal of Mike was fully developed from his very first appearance that October, and remained true and consistent to the end. He was initially booked for three months only - Podmore misunderstood his agent's comment that Johnnie hated soaps, and was delighted when the actor told him over drinks at a local bar he would love to stay on. Three months, became thirty years! Bill Podmore's other early change was to bring back old favourite Pat Phoenix as Elsie Tanner in April, after a three year absence. Mike and Elsie were both big hits with viewers in 1976 and beyond, and the show's flagging ratings quickly soared. 'Corrie' was back as Britain's favourite TV show! Pat's return was the reason Johnnie signed up - she was an old mate he first met at Granada Studios canteen in 1960, looking rather frumpy carrying a tray of tea. He said she got more beautiful with every year. He said she had great style, and he loved going out to nightclubs and posh restaurants with her, where he said the public greeted her like Lady Di. Mike fast became one of 'Coronation Street's best loved, most complex and believable characters, carrying many memorable and diverse storylines. Mike could be ruthless, but he also had a heart of gold as we saw in his unexpected kindnesses to the Street's underdogs, including Hilda Ogden and Eddie Yeates. Bill Podmore confessed to one mistake with the Mike Baldwin character - his age-gap marriage to Ken's daughter Susan Barlow. Or rather, his decision to cast Wendy Jane Walker in that role (from October 1985 - November '87), simply because she had played Susan as a child. Walker and Briggs did not hit it off, and it fast became clear to Podmore her return to the part was a mistake, as there was zero sexual chemistry between the on-screen couple. He said with hindsight he should have cast a totally new actress - probably a sexy, dark-haired diva type, who the viewers would believe had turned Mike's head. Wendy Jane Walker was bland to the point of tedium, and like many child performers had not matured into a talented actress. It was hard to believe Mike not only fell head over heels for her, but married her. Johnnie Briggs later said of Wendy Jane Walker: "She acted like a star, and wouldn't take any criticism. I plotted ways to make her life as miserable as she was making mine. I'd eat meals laced with garlic, the night before a passionate scene". Little wonder the script writers got to work breaking them up, and Mike was soon a bachelor again after a dark plot in which Susan, deciding she wasn't ready for children, had a secret abortion. That plot was taken liberties with many years later, when viewers were told Susan had not actually had the abortion after all, but only told Mike she did - so that their now adult child could suddenly come into the story! Thankfully that dull marriage was a rare fail for the Mike Baldwin character, most of the plots he carried were gripping - and there were many of them. Actor Johnnie Briggs hardly aged a day in his 30 year service, appearing onscreen for the last time on 7th April 2006 (in a poignant exit in his pyjamas, he died of Alzheimers on the cobbles, in the arms of Ken Barlow, uttering the immortal final words: "You're finished Barlow! Deirdre loves me!") After his magnificent performances over three decades, I thought it was a great mistake to give Mike dementia, and send him off as a victim. He deserved far better than that. Many of us would have loved to see the character drive off in a fast car, for a new and glamorous life abroad, like that other charismatic character Elsie Tanner before him. I think Mike Baldwin would have suited retirement in sunny Florida - where coincidentally the actor who played him had a second home, and pursued his passion for golf. Mike could even have left the show triumphantly as a single man. He kept his good looks and charm to the end, and viewers would have every faith his happy ever after would feature many more romances!
52:03 - "LITTLE POLLY PERKINS WENT AND TUMBLED DOWN THE PLUG" 🤣😂😂. Honestly every scene makes me smile so much but Mavis, drunk as a skunk, belting out Sammy Shuttleworth honestly put the biggest smile of the day on my face! And Fred's laugh after, is priceless too! Thank you ever so much for putting these up. You honestly are smashing, thank you!
Just realised that Renee’s fiancé Harry McLean (Richard Moore) was also in a couple of episodes in 1984. He played Audrey’s creepy boyfriend George Hepworth who ended making a pass at Gail!…..I can’t get the vision out my head about him & a pair of Marigold gloves when he was in Band of Gold! 😯🤣
OMG! Great catch - you're absolutely right, he was Audrey's horrid and thankfully short-lived fiance, I knew I'd seen him somewhere before. Love the way Corrie recycled the same actors, in different roles! Thanks for the info.
These were the best years peaking in 1989 with the Alan Bradley tram episode and marking a steep decline with the arrival of the McDonalds. It never recovered.
Can't believe Ernest was 46 as he said when Baldwin asked his age. He looked 66. Separately, it was interesting to see Gail and Deirdre be friends in these mid 70s episodes. It made sense as they were of similar age. Somehow as the years went on, the writers decided not to continue that friendship between them despite being on the show for another almost 40 years together. In fact their paths hardly ever crossed at all except for that infamous pie throwing fight in the late 00s!
Reggie Shields Ernest Bishop (Stephen Hancock) was actually 51 in 1976.He died aged 89.😊 I think all the actors seem to look an awful lot older than they are! His younger brother Christopher Hancock played dodgy Charlie Cotton in Eastenders! 😊
The Corrie wiki gives Ernest's birth year as 1930, so 46 tracks. He may look older, but it may be a combination of his greased-back hair, huge spectacles, and prissy manner. (FYI: That's not a criticism. I love Ernie and Hancock's portrayal.)
@@annoldham3018 I know - Len looked like a toad, yet the Street's most glamorous women were all falling over themselves to play nurse maid when he hit his head. It's a bugbear of mine that Corrie casting directors never brought any good looking actors into the show as boyfriends for Elsie, Bet and Rita - the only exception being the handsome Mark Eden, who squired Elsie and Rita in two different roles. I would have liked to see Alan Bradley marry Rita and stay in the show, but once the writers decided to make him a villain his days were numbered. Shame! I bet he'd have loved to stay on too, as in real life he was married to Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts).
Agreed, people took pleasure in small things then - like parties at each other's homes. It looks so odd now, to see people dancing together in tiny front rooms! And back then many didn't even have a landline phone installed, never mind mobile phones, which were obviously way in the future. So many plots relied on someone getting a message through on the Rovers' pub phone!
The episode where Albert and Ena get drunk is brilliant. It’s directed by June Wyndham Davies who later produced Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes and also directed the classic episode where Bet learns her son has died. All five queens are in the Rovers at the same time. Ena, Hilda, Elsie, Bet and Annie.
How the norms and culture changes, in 47 years. Anyone else feel uncomfortable at the scenes of the mob of factory girls tearing poor Ernest Bishop's clothes off @ 2:20:52? This plot really made me cringe - at best it's horrible bullying, but by today's standards he'd have a case for criminal sexual assault. And no one present at the party turned a hair - or helped him. Elsie Tanner, Len Fairclough and Mike Baldwin just stood back, laughed and let it happen, even after he begged them for help. Dreadful! I was shocked at Ivy being one of the ring-leaders - you wouldn't expect that behaviour from her, with her pious religious hang-ups. It's much more Vera Duckworth's style!
It wasn't just you. I'm not easily shocked, but I was surprised at how distasteful I found that scene. I'm in my early 50s, so fully remember the old non-PC days. and I'm quite politically incorrect myself, but that wasn't pleasant to watch. Althought I've always found groups of baying women uncomfortable to be around.
Len is portrayed as some sort of rugged sex symbol, slobberig over nubile young women; but what we can all see with our own eyes, is a warty old toad, pestering girls half his age.
Spot on, Len Fairclough was revolting - hated his lechery and the way he wore his shirt unbuttoned to the waist, exposing his grotty chest for absolutely no reason! It always annoyed me the three most glamorous women on Coronation Street (Elsie Tanner, Bet Lynch and Rita Littlewood), had at one time or another slept with Len - and Rita had married him! Why was he supposed to irresistible to females? He wasn't sexy, and wasn't rich!
Len was a class act he knew how to pull one his fallowers and, but he had a heart of gold. he might be bombastic at times that was due to attitude from his peers around him who warrant relating his way of doing things,
No you are telling the truth - Len was a desperately unsexy, warty toad, yet we're s'posed to believe the Street's three iconic most glamour pusses - Elsie Tanner, Bet Lynch and Rita Littlewood/Fairclough, were all romantically involved with him! As If. It's sheer misogyny by the no doubt male Corrie casting directors - Len wasn't remotely attractive, he wasn't rich, and by this time he wasn't even young!
ProfessionalGun66 - Can you help? I'm confused about the missing episodes towards the end - we didn't get resolution on what had happened to Stan, or the industrial strife between Annie Walker and the two Bets behind the bar. You usually upload a whole month of episodes - generally with none missing - but I notice this upload is titled differently (ie it isn't October 1976 as I hoped, but extends to Christmas with the party at Mike's new factory etc). But some critical episodes are missing. Have you uploaded them elsewhere on your wonderful channel? Many thanks! X
It's sad but these are the only episodes I have for 1976, so I just packaged them into volumes for everyone's convenience. Their are 80 episodes missing from this year, more or less.
@@professionalgun6674 Ah, fair enough! You've been so amazing giving us so many full months, it didn't occur to me you didn't have those eps - you spoil us!
@@professionalgun6674 No, they're definitely missing episodes from late '76. For example, we saw Annie Walker test-driving a car from Eddie's dodgy mate Lanky Potts, but in the next episode we hear she's been breathalised by police. Yet we hadn't seen her buy the Rover, or the incident when the police stopped her (outside the Rovers, if memory serves correctly!) Not to worry - as I explained, I've become so spoiled with your incredible content, it never occurred to me you wouldn't have those episodes! Thanks again for the fantastic entertainment you provide for so many people like myself, who really appreciate it. I'm an insomniac, and I'd be lost without your channel. God bless you! XXX
Just watched this section, thanks for uploading. Great characters, some great lines , Julie Goodyear firing these out with aplomb . Ena Sharples trying to exit the Rovers after one over the eight had me howling with laughter. Her & Albert sharing a bottle of rum on the quite in the Rovers , heart warming stuff. Although Len Fairclough being passed off as a desirable womaniser is laughable, check out his creepy hands 😬🤪
Those halcyon days when your doctor would visit you at home. Unfortunately, we allowed GP's to remake the rules to entirely suit their own interests. Len would now have to be terminally ill before getting his home visit.
My Mum's GP only turned up hours before she died, he couldn't even look at me as we tried literally YEARS for him to come round and it was one excuse after another.. they're my local GP but I never used them after that, if I have a problem I go to my hospital A&E.
I agree, whenever I watch Madge Hindle's performances as Renee I'm reminded what a great actress she was, and what a lovely Corrie character she breathed life into. As you probably know, she was killed off in 1980 because the producer Bill Podmore decided she and Alf didn't have sufficient chemistry - and he wanted to be able to give Alf more varied story lines as a single man. I always thought Alf and Renee were a very believable couple, and they had some great scenes together. One of my favourites was when he kept flying off the handle for no reason, after he sustained a head injury. Do you remember when he tore Annie Walker a new one in the corner shop for no reason, calling her a snob, etc? And poor Renee had to secretly apologise to her - then Alf found out and kicked off at HER in the Rovers? Wonderful! And Renee and Alf's wedding day was a very entertaining episode, with poor Renee having to tolerate her daft mother and her ghastly stepfather - who Alf knocked out at the reception 'cos he said Renee was quote "No oil painting". Oh the scripts and cast were sublime back in the 'seventies and 'eighties. It's not even nearly the same show today - shouldn't be allowed to carry the same name in my not so humble opinion!
@@glamdolly30 I remember! Great episodes, and looking at Audrey in the 1990 episodes I'm watching at the moment, where she is trying it on with Jim Mcdonald...she never deserved Alf. Alf and Renee were perfect for each other.
@@bsaunders5271 Ooh very true, Audrey led poor Alf a dog's life. It was true to life, I think - narcissists like Audrey, frequently draw in big-hearted souls like Alf. Givers attract takers. And it was hinted she kept him on a leash with sex! It was a huge contrast to his previous dynamic with Renee, who was pretty much equally matched with him in terms of character. But I guess there was noticeably less sexual chemistry between Alf and Renee, than his later, flirty missus Audrey. The two wives were chalk and cheese!
@glamdolly30 that scene between Alf and Annie is, for some reason, etched on my brain. She had gone to ask Alf for a tin of Vichysoisse. Alf said he didn't have any as there was no demand for it and Annie said that the fact that she was asking for it proves there was demand. Alf lost the plot and as you say, tore her a new one. Never known why that scene has stuck with me for decades 😂😂
Bernard Youens suffered a stroke in late October 1975, and had to take 2 months off to recover - his longest ever absence from the show in his 20 year tenure. Stan was off screen from 12th November 1975 - 19th January 1976, then had to take it easy for the rest of the year due to problems with his speech. The writers had to give him a more relaxed role as a result, and less dialogue - which is why Eddie Yeats was moved in as the Ogdens' lodger, to help carry the load. Bernard Youens was working hard off screen with a speech therapist, and by 1979 could handle more dialogue again.
That "cheeky" woman in the factory interview thought she was the bees knees 🙄 she thought she was some sort of supermodel, and totally not like the other girls. She thought she was Bet Lynch 😂
LMAO! Yes, her voice sounds very theatrical and old fashioned by today's standards. In fact I think it was a bit 'show tunes' even back in the 'seventies! The actresses who played Rita and Elsie (Barbara Knox and Pat Phoenix) were daggers drawn on and off screen. I've often wondered if it annoyed Pat that Barbara had this added string to her bow as a supposedly wonderful singer. I love them both, but for me Elsie was far more fascinating than Rita, more of a whole woman somehow.
I don't watch soaps at all, in fact I can't stand them but watching these has made me feel like my mum is back. I would only have been three when this aired but my wee mum loved Corrie so much so I can imagine her watching these with a cup of tea. Thank you so much.
@Long John Silver , Totally agree. I feel the same.
me too, my mum loved it. miss her much
I think the same way. Vintage Corrie takes me back to our old house, and all those who lived there
That's lovely - God bless your dear Mum. I agree, I think many of us love these wonderful vintage episodes for their pure nostalgia. They take us back to happy childhood times.
@@glamdolly30, awww thank you. So sweet and kind. She has been gone 18 years last month. My dad sadly joined her in January. These have truly given me comfort. They really have. Corrie was my mums favourite, dad secretly watched it but said he did not. 😂. Xx
Doris Speed as Annie Walker, perfect casting.
I read somewhere that the character was written for her.
@@bibakroll8999 You're right, 'Coronation Street' creator Tony Warren was a fan of actress Doris Speed, having worked with her when he was a child actor on radio. He wrote the character of Annie Walker for her, knowing she'd be perfect casting, and was thrilled that she was available to do it from 'Coronation Street's launch on 9th December 1960. It made her a star.
Doris played the 'Rovers' landlady for 23 years, and was superb in the role, so regal as Annie she was dubbed 'The Queen Mother of Soap'.
In reality Doris was a very different character to wife and mother Annie. Doris was a lifelong spinster who never married or had children, and she was a Socialist who loathed snobbery, when Annie of course was a true blue Tory with plenty of airs and graces!
Why is this so much more entertaining than today’s soaps?
The same reason anything from up until the early to mid 00's are more entertaining than anything on telly now...there's no such thing as "woke" back then. No coincidence the popularity of the internet coincides with the rise of the radical far left gen z crack pots😂
@@MarcoNegrisEye Very true!
Because it’s not a bunch of unrealistic nonsense. Regular people acting out everyday ordinary people that mirrored those who were watching the show.
I still have trouble not getting lost in the story like this was real life and I hate soaps and tv. LOVE CORONATION ST
Because these were an imitation of how life for real people in the working/poor class. Even today it is relatable 1000%
Only Hilda can make you cry! The first soap actor to ever be nominated for a BAFTA. June Brown was nominated later.
True, Jean Alexander was a superb actress. Before her BAFTA, she won a prestigious National Television Society Award for the moving scenes she did after Stan's death.
She should have been Dame Jean!
@@glamdolly30 A real shame she never won best actress!
@@johnlarkin3821I wonder who decides to give titles? Patrica from Keeping Up Appearances has the title. And I wonder what actually qualifies you for one.
Thank you so much Professional Gun 66. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning.......I don't know what to watch first. Lol.
The quality of the episodes was because they didn't churn them out like they do today...These are classic
Yes they did! They filmed 2 hour long episodes a week!
And the actors were chosen for their talent rather than their looks
The warmth of the community of Corrie.
Seeing Mavis drunk is just hilarious 🤣.
Gail referred to her 'mam and dad.' but she was portrayed as having grown up without her father being around, or maybe even known to her.
That's right. She was supposed to have been dragged up by that Audrey.
Well spotted 😏
Maybe they hadn’t developed the character that far ahead at the time.
@@soniaclarkstewart Exactly right, I think Gail only became the product of a single parent home when she got engaged to R. Brian and her flighty mum Audrey turned up for the party (which coincided with her 21st birthday, I think).
I really wish the older episodes of Corrie got a Blu-Ray Release or a proper HD re-runs.
It’s funny 😆 how Elsie was laughing 😂 at Rita’s singing.
I suspect that was pure Pat Phoenix, as she and actress Barbara Knox (Rita) were genuinely daggers drawn, and couldn't stand each other off camera! 🤣
Give me Elsie anyday. Never liked selfish gold digging Rita. Or Elsie the legend
I didn't see these early episodes. Nor the later ones as I don't live in the UK anymore. I remember my mother turning the TV on and hearing the tune. Now I'm watching these early episodes and love the stories and some of the characters. I don't want to see the recent ones until I've finished with all the early ones. Thank you.
The absolutely brilliant Michael Vernon Baldwin!
He played abrilliant part. And so handsome
Is this his first appearance?
@@cherylreznor181 Mike Baldwin's first appearance was 11th October 1976. He was brought in by the genius Producer who joined the show that same year, the legendary Bill Podmore.
Podmore hit the ground running, spotting the problems with the ailing soap and correcting them one by one. He decided the Street would benefit from a strong Southern character. He saw actor Johnnie Briggs in ITV teatime soap 'Crossroads', as the solution (Johnnie had appeared in a bit part on 'Corrie' as a lorry driver two years earlier, on May 1st 1974).
Johnnie also hit the ground running in his new role as the dynamic factory king - his portrayal of Mike was fully developed from his very first appearance that October, and remained true and consistent to the end.
He was initially booked for three months only - Podmore misunderstood his agent's comment that Johnnie hated soaps, and was delighted when the actor told him over drinks at a local bar he would love to stay on. Three months, became thirty years!
Bill Podmore's other early change was to bring back old favourite Pat Phoenix as Elsie Tanner in April, after a three year absence. Mike and Elsie were both big hits with viewers in 1976 and beyond, and the show's flagging ratings quickly soared. 'Corrie' was back as Britain's favourite TV show!
Pat's return was the reason Johnnie signed up - she was an old mate he first met at Granada Studios canteen in 1960, looking rather frumpy carrying a tray of tea. He said she got more beautiful with every year. He said she had great style, and he loved going out to nightclubs and posh restaurants with her, where he said the public greeted her like Lady Di.
Mike fast became one of 'Coronation Street's best loved, most complex and believable characters, carrying many memorable and diverse storylines. Mike could be ruthless, but he also had a heart of gold as we saw in his unexpected kindnesses to the Street's underdogs, including Hilda Ogden and Eddie Yeates.
Bill Podmore confessed to one mistake with the Mike Baldwin character - his age-gap marriage to Ken's daughter Susan Barlow. Or rather, his decision to cast Wendy Jane Walker in that role (from October 1985 - November '87), simply because she had played Susan as a child.
Walker and Briggs did not hit it off, and it fast became clear to Podmore her return to the part was a mistake, as there was zero sexual chemistry between the on-screen couple.
He said with hindsight he should have cast a totally new actress - probably a sexy, dark-haired diva type, who the viewers would believe had turned Mike's head. Wendy Jane Walker was bland to the point of tedium, and like many child performers had not matured into a talented actress.
It was hard to believe Mike not only fell head over heels for her, but married her. Johnnie Briggs later said of Wendy Jane Walker: "She acted like a star, and wouldn't take any criticism. I plotted ways to make her life as miserable as she was making mine. I'd eat meals laced with garlic, the night before a passionate scene".
Little wonder the script writers got to work breaking them up, and Mike was soon a bachelor again after a dark plot in which Susan, deciding she wasn't ready for children, had a secret abortion. That plot was taken liberties with many years later, when viewers were told Susan had not actually had the abortion after all, but only told Mike she did - so that their now adult child could suddenly come into the story!
Thankfully that dull marriage was a rare fail for the Mike Baldwin character, most of the plots he carried were gripping - and there were many of them. Actor Johnnie Briggs hardly aged a day in his 30 year service, appearing onscreen for the last time on 7th April 2006 (in a poignant exit in his pyjamas, he died of Alzheimers on the cobbles, in the arms of Ken Barlow, uttering the immortal final words: "You're finished Barlow! Deirdre loves me!")
After his magnificent performances over three decades, I thought it was a great mistake to give Mike dementia, and send him off as a victim. He deserved far better than that.
Many of us would have loved to see the character drive off in a fast car, for a new and glamorous life abroad, like that other charismatic character Elsie Tanner before him. I think Mike Baldwin would have suited retirement in sunny Florida - where coincidentally the actor who played him had a second home, and pursued his passion for golf.
Mike could even have left the show triumphantly as a single man. He kept his good looks and charm to the end, and viewers would have every faith his happy ever after would feature many more romances!
52:03 - "LITTLE POLLY PERKINS WENT AND TUMBLED DOWN THE PLUG" 🤣😂😂. Honestly every scene makes me smile so much but Mavis, drunk as a skunk, belting out Sammy Shuttleworth honestly put the biggest smile of the day on my face! And Fred's laugh after, is priceless too! Thank you ever so much for putting these up. You honestly are smashing, thank you!
Ll,
Just realised that Renee’s fiancé Harry McLean (Richard Moore) was also in a couple of episodes in 1984. He played Audrey’s creepy boyfriend George Hepworth who ended making a pass at Gail!…..I can’t get the vision out my head about him & a pair of Marigold gloves when he was in Band of Gold! 😯🤣
OMG! Great catch - you're absolutely right, he was Audrey's horrid and thankfully short-lived fiance, I knew I'd seen him somewhere before. Love the way Corrie recycled the same actors, in different roles! Thanks for the info.
He was great in a band of gold. Also in emmerdale lot of years later
Can't beat classic coronation street
This looks like the start of the late 70s / early-mid 80s era: Mike Baldwin, Fred Gee, the Ivy/Vera patnership.. that's the era I'm accustomed to.
These were the best years peaking in 1989 with the Alan Bradley tram episode and marking a steep decline with the arrival of the McDonalds. It never recovered.
Can't believe Ernest was 46 as he said when Baldwin asked his age. He looked 66.
Separately, it was interesting to see Gail and Deirdre be friends in these mid 70s episodes. It made sense as they were of similar age. Somehow as the years went on, the writers decided not to continue that friendship between them despite being on the show for another almost 40 years together. In fact their paths hardly ever crossed at all except for that infamous pie throwing fight in the late 00s!
Reggie Shields Ernest Bishop (Stephen Hancock) was actually 51 in 1976.He died aged 89.😊 I think all the actors seem to look an awful lot older than they are! His younger brother Christopher Hancock played dodgy Charlie Cotton in Eastenders! 😊
I was thinking the same thing!😅
@@pamib29kids grew up faster they had chores = responsibilities and love n respect for family 😊
;±v cc'd d
The Corrie wiki gives Ernest's birth year as 1930, so 46 tracks. He may look older, but it may be a combination of his greased-back hair, huge spectacles, and prissy manner. (FYI: That's not a criticism. I love Ernie and Hancock's portrayal.)
Ah this were a treat luv. Had nought else doin tonight, so got stuck into your channel for a soap fix, and it did the trick luv. Cheers chuck👍🏻
Peter Adamson gets a lot of bad press but you have to admit it was kind of him fixing up Stans cart as Len
Yes. Although what Rita, Elsie and Bet saw in him 🤔 😂......
@@annoldham3018 I know - Len looked like a toad, yet the Street's most glamorous women were all falling over themselves to play nurse maid when he hit his head.
It's a bugbear of mine that Corrie casting directors never brought any good looking actors into the show as boyfriends for Elsie, Bet and Rita - the only exception being the handsome Mark Eden, who squired Elsie and Rita in two different roles.
I would have liked to see Alan Bradley marry Rita and stay in the show, but once the writers decided to make him a villain his days were numbered. Shame! I bet he'd have loved to stay on too, as in real life he was married to Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts).
I think he did it for Hilda not Stan.
It's only makebelieve, you know ..
Mavis left Annie Walkers toilet in a disgusting mess - Hilda was fuming
34:42 I don't know if that was intended or not but that is some world class acting in my opinion.
I loves the simpler lives they lived then. I know we have technology now.
Agreed, people took pleasure in small things then - like parties at each other's homes. It looks so odd now, to see people dancing together in tiny front rooms!
And back then many didn't even have a landline phone installed, never mind mobile phones, which were obviously way in the future. So many plots relied on someone getting a message through on the Rovers' pub phone!
The episode where Albert and Ena get drunk is brilliant. It’s directed by June Wyndham Davies who later produced Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes and also directed the classic episode where Bet learns her son has died. All five queens are in the Rovers at the same time. Ena, Hilda, Elsie, Bet and Annie.
Rita wasn't a patch on Elsie. Or Hilda for that matter. She seems to forget she lived over the brush with Harry bates when it was frowned upon
I totally agree. I hate Rita
Brilliant! Thanks!
How the norms and culture changes, in 47 years. Anyone else feel uncomfortable at the scenes of the mob of factory girls tearing poor Ernest Bishop's clothes off @ 2:20:52?
This plot really made me cringe - at best it's horrible bullying, but by today's standards he'd have a case for criminal sexual assault. And no one present at the party turned a hair - or helped him. Elsie Tanner, Len Fairclough and Mike Baldwin just stood back, laughed and let it happen, even after he begged them for help. Dreadful!
I was shocked at Ivy being one of the ring-leaders - you wouldn't expect that behaviour from her, with her pious religious hang-ups. It's much more Vera Duckworth's style!
It wasn't just you. I'm not easily shocked, but I was surprised at how distasteful I found that scene. I'm in my early 50s, so fully remember the old non-PC days. and I'm quite politically incorrect myself, but that wasn't pleasant to watch. Althought I've always found groups of baying women uncomfortable to be around.
I’m so glad you said that! I thought I was the only one that found that scene difficult to watch.
Len is portrayed as some sort of rugged sex symbol, slobberig over nubile young women; but what we can all see with our own eyes, is a warty old toad, pestering girls half his age.
Spot on, Len Fairclough was revolting - hated his lechery and the way he wore his shirt unbuttoned to the waist, exposing his grotty chest for absolutely no reason!
It always annoyed me the three most glamorous women on Coronation Street (Elsie Tanner, Bet Lynch and Rita Littlewood), had at one time or another slept with Len - and Rita had married him!
Why was he supposed to irresistible to females? He wasn't sexy, and wasn't rich!
@@glamdolly30 So true. Alf Roberts is a more attractive chap than Len.
I couldn’t agree more. He was a pig and a violent one.
So sweet very gratefully lady brought tears to my eyexx
Deirdre's new blouse looks like it's been through a boil wash with colours.
This is the first time, I ever saw Hilda down in the dumps ☹️. She’s usually angry 😡 @ snapping at Stanley.
Is Bet really chewing gum in court?🤦🏾♀️
Not sure what’s worse iffy Len belching his breakfast or Rita scrubbing out Len’s y fronts 🤢
Len was a class act he knew how to pull one his fallowers and, but he had a heart of gold. he might be bombastic at times that was due to attitude from his peers around him who warrant relating his way of doing things,
He was horrible and an abuser of women.
Oh jeez. The way they were fussing over Len after he fell off a barstool. 🙄 And after all the fist fights he’s been part of over the years. 😏
Poor hilda
Hilda..what a gem.❤
£45 quid a week was quite good - i had just started work as an office junour and was getting £18 a week and happy as larry to be getting that
Bet chewing away on the stand.too funny.🤭
I don't see the attraction in Len Fairclough? Am I missing something? 🤔
No you are telling the truth - Len was a desperately unsexy, warty toad, yet we're s'posed to believe the Street's three iconic most glamour pusses - Elsie Tanner, Bet Lynch and Rita Littlewood/Fairclough, were all romantically involved with him! As If.
It's sheer misogyny by the no doubt male Corrie casting directors - Len wasn't remotely attractive, he wasn't rich, and by this time he wasn't even young!
No, you aren't. He's awful.
He’s hideous.
Exactly I could have understood it if it was Ken they were fighting over.
He is hideous , and those hands 🤮 sort of like a dead woman's hands 🤪😬
When did Hilda get her murial painted? I must have missed it
It's wallpaper. Eddie got the scene wall for them after his mate ran out of the wallpaper that Hilda had wanted him to get.
I always remember Ena Sharples as a Gorgon. Actually, she's a lovely woman.
That slag that Ernest interviewed @ 1;:46 - smoking - trying to flirt with him - we can tell what her experience is !
I think all female factory workers are a bit like that - My mummy warned me about them
Never knew Crossroads Arthur Brownlow was a Weatherfield copper.
ProfessionalGun66 - Can you help? I'm confused about the missing episodes towards the end - we didn't get resolution on what had happened to Stan, or the industrial strife between Annie Walker and the two Bets behind the bar.
You usually upload a whole month of episodes - generally with none missing - but I notice this upload is titled differently (ie it isn't October 1976 as I hoped, but extends to Christmas with the party at Mike's new factory etc). But some critical episodes are missing.
Have you uploaded them elsewhere on your wonderful channel? Many thanks! X
It's sad but these are the only episodes I have for 1976, so I just packaged them into volumes for everyone's convenience. Their are 80 episodes missing from this year, more or less.
The incidents you mentioned, aren't they from episodes during 77 - 79?
@@professionalgun6674 Ah, fair enough! You've been so amazing giving us so many full months, it didn't occur to me you didn't have those eps - you spoil us!
@@professionalgun6674 No, they're definitely missing episodes from late '76. For example, we saw Annie Walker test-driving a car from Eddie's dodgy mate Lanky Potts, but in the next episode we hear she's been breathalised by police. Yet we hadn't seen her buy the Rover, or the incident when the police stopped her (outside the Rovers, if memory serves correctly!)
Not to worry - as I explained, I've become so spoiled with your incredible content, it never occurred to me you wouldn't have those episodes! Thanks again for the fantastic entertainment you provide for so many people like myself, who really appreciate it. I'm an insomniac, and I'd be lost without your channel. God bless you! XXX
October 27 episode storylines centre on Minnie , Ray ,and an argument between Stan and Hilda , yet again.
Just watched this section, thanks for uploading. Great characters, some great lines , Julie Goodyear firing these out with aplomb . Ena Sharples trying to exit the Rovers after one over the eight had me howling with laughter. Her & Albert sharing a bottle of rum on the quite in the Rovers , heart warming stuff. Although Len Fairclough being passed off as a desirable womaniser is laughable, check out his creepy hands 😬🤪
Jack duckworth playing darts at 13 min in the rovers
Thought that was him😊
I like Ms Sharples most
Bet and Eddie dancing to Paul Nicholas…. I’ve got dancing in me blood 😂😂they were in time at least..
Love Bet turning tables on Solomon and Mrs Walker failing in her machinations
Those halcyon days when your doctor would visit you at home. Unfortunately, we allowed GP's to remake the rules to entirely suit their own interests. Len would now have to be terminally ill before getting his home visit.
My Mum's GP only turned up hours before she died, he couldn't even look at me as we tried literally YEARS for him to come round and it was one excuse after another.. they're my local GP but I never used them after that, if I have a problem I go to my hospital A&E.
Definitely ❤
Rita whacks Len ,then gets him arrested and he loses his council position wow Rita was the 1st abusive woman
Couldn't stand rita
@@marieince3239me too.l hated her
I love Madge Hindle, I hated that they chose to kill her off.
I agree, whenever I watch Madge Hindle's performances as Renee I'm reminded what a great actress she was, and what a lovely Corrie character she breathed life into.
As you probably know, she was killed off in 1980 because the producer Bill Podmore decided she and Alf didn't have sufficient chemistry - and he wanted to be able to give Alf more varied story lines as a single man.
I always thought Alf and Renee were a very believable couple, and they had some great scenes together. One of my favourites was when he kept flying off the handle for no reason, after he sustained a head injury. Do you remember when he tore Annie Walker a new one in the corner shop for no reason, calling her a snob, etc? And poor Renee had to secretly apologise to her - then Alf found out and kicked off at HER in the Rovers? Wonderful!
And Renee and Alf's wedding day was a very entertaining episode, with poor Renee having to tolerate her daft mother and her ghastly stepfather - who Alf knocked out at the reception 'cos he said Renee was quote "No oil painting".
Oh the scripts and cast were sublime back in the 'seventies and 'eighties. It's not even nearly the same show today - shouldn't be allowed to carry the same name in my not so humble opinion!
@@glamdolly30 I remember! Great episodes, and looking at Audrey in the 1990 episodes I'm watching at the moment, where she is trying it on with Jim Mcdonald...she never deserved Alf. Alf and Renee were perfect for each other.
@@bsaunders5271 Ooh very true, Audrey led poor Alf a dog's life. It was true to life, I think - narcissists like Audrey, frequently draw in big-hearted souls like Alf. Givers attract takers. And it was hinted she kept him on a leash with sex!
It was a huge contrast to his previous dynamic with Renee, who was pretty much equally matched with him in terms of character. But I guess there was noticeably less sexual chemistry between Alf and Renee, than his later, flirty missus Audrey. The two wives were chalk and cheese!
@glamdolly30 that scene between Alf and Annie is, for some reason, etched on my brain. She had gone to ask Alf for a tin of Vichysoisse. Alf said he didn't have any as there was no demand for it and Annie said that the fact that she was asking for it proves there was demand. Alf lost the plot and as you say, tore her a new one. Never known why that scene has stuck with me for decades 😂😂
@@multimill it was really startling
Can anyone tell me where Stan went? Poor Hilda.
I was wondering too
Probably stopped off at his fancy lady’s digs on Inkerman Street, or summat like that.
Bernard Youens suffered a stroke in late October 1975, and had to take 2 months off to recover - his longest ever absence from the show in his 20 year tenure.
Stan was off screen from 12th November 1975 - 19th January 1976, then had to take it easy for the rest of the year due to problems with his speech.
The writers had to give him a more relaxed role as a result, and less dialogue - which is why Eddie Yeats was moved in as the Ogdens' lodger, to help carry the load. Bernard Youens was working hard off screen with a speech therapist, and by 1979 could handle more dialogue again.
@@glamdolly30 yer but do you know what happened to his character whilst he was off?
@@cherylreznor181 he was supposed to have been staying with Hilda's brother at his chip shop.
Rita spitting on the iron eeeuugghh🫢
and washing Len's drawers in the kitcthen sink yukk
I love Hilda... "It's all relativity!" 🤣
1:55:58 the chessiest of v.o's "dra ma" proto Steven Toast 😁
Poor ole hilda
Poor thing, even went round to one of his old lady friends.
That "cheeky" woman in the factory interview thought she was the bees knees 🙄 she thought she was some sort of supermodel, and totally not like the other girls. She thought she was Bet Lynch 😂
Rita acting all Shirley Bassey 😂😂
Rita seems to forget Shirley bassey could sing
The Christmas party was great but ruined by Peter Adamson with the very young girls.
Art imitating life.
What did happen to Stan Ogden?
I notice how many Brits say an “r” sound instead of the “a” sound at the end of words that end with “a”. Like Hilda is pronounced as “Hilder”.
1.05.05 the great Mike Baldwin appears in the Rovers for the first time. .its the only time he asks for a pint..,.its scotch every time after that
Eddie was cute and baby faced when he first started as well as trimmer! I don’t know why he gained so much weight.
Used to watch this with my mother, I think she gained conflict resolution skills from this show, I was too conflicted to notice any of that, lol.
Why did Dreary forever wear those huge glasses??! Why didn’t she wear contact lenses??!
FIFTY-FOUR!!
Didn’t mrs sharpies have a birthday in 76
Hahaha MRS Sharpels
Presumably she had a birthday every year - what's your point?!
Why didn’t anyone think to have started a kitty to buy Eddie a bra and a haircut!
Mutton chops will never come up to fashion again. Poooooobz on face. NO.. It was not right the first time round. 😮😮😮😮
Had forgotten what an awful singer Rita was. 😫😱😣
LMAO! Yes, her voice sounds very theatrical and old fashioned by today's standards. In fact I think it was a bit 'show tunes' even back in the 'seventies!
The actresses who played Rita and Elsie (Barbara Knox and Pat Phoenix) were daggers drawn on and off screen. I've often wondered if it annoyed Pat that Barbara had this added string to her bow as a supposedly wonderful singer.
I love them both, but for me Elsie was far more fascinating than Rita, more of a whole woman somehow.
And I had forgotten what an awful frump Deirdre was! I can't believe what she was wearing to go to that club. Wasn't she only 21-22 at the time?
@@glamdolly30 I remember reading somewhere that Pat felt there was only room for one fiery redhead on the show.
She wasnt a bad singer, she could sing but i found her very cruise ship
Nah, she was a TERRIBLE singer love😩
Just wish they had subtitles
You can get auto-generated subtitles if you click the little round 'wheel' icon on the bottom right of the screen, then click 'Subtitles'.
Lots of the words are wrong, subtitles must not understand a manchester accent lol. If you watch it with the subtitles on its hilarious!
So fake
… .Emily would never invite anyone
Annie was tigher than a tick
Woman`s fate...