Maurice Gordon

Maurice Gordon was a toolpusher on an oilrig (although his first chat-up line was that he was an economist) and, out on the town with his friend and colleague Stuart Bellshaw, got friendly with Rita Littlewood and Deirdre Hunt at the Gatsby Club. Rita was fulfilling her first singing engagement there and owner Ralph Lancaster encouraged her to mingle with the clients. Deirdre had delivered Rita's gown for the night at the last minute from her dressmaker mother Blanche and had agreed to do some bar work for Ralph. Her engagement to Billy Walker recently broken, Deirdre was happy to go back to Maurice and Stuart's hotel for more drinks when the Gatsby closed but Rita cried off with the truthful excuse that she had to be up early for her "paper round". Deirdre eventually got home at 3.00 in the morning, blind drunk and the next day had a blazing row with Blanche over her behaviour.

Rita's spot at the Gatsby was successful and she was given further engagements. Several residents went along to watch her, Deirdre among them, and she was mortified to see Maurice there again, this time without Stuart. He thought he was on to a good thing with Deirdre and tried to force her to dance with him. She angrily resisted his blandishments and as the dispute got more rancorous, Ray Langton came to her aid and got involved in a punch-up. The two men were thrown out of the club but the end result was that Ray and Deirdre, who had spent the past couple of years sniping at each other when working at the Builder's Yard, realised that they had romantic feelings for each other. To the disbelief of their friends and family, they were married one month later.

List of appearances

 * Episode 1495 (19th May 1975)
 * Episode 1500 (11th June 1975)
 * Episode 1501 (16th June 1975)