Marcus Berlin

Marcus Berlin was a businessman and son of Sir Julius Berlin, the managing director of the Mark Brittain Warehouse group. The company opened a new site on Coronation Street in May 1971 and Marcus paid his first visit there at the end of the following month when the red carpet was rolled out for him. He chatted to checking supervisor Elsie Howard at a reception in the management dining room where he told her that that they had had trouble with checking in the past due to problems with suppliers and that she was doing an important job. Elsie was on edge though as personnel manager Dennis Maxwell had tried to include her in a scheme to defraud the company and she had refused. Maxwell suspected that Berlin was there following a complaint from Elsie and there was a tension in the room which evaporated when Berlin announced that Maxwell had been promoted to head the services division and would be leaving Weatherfield.

Berlin unknowingly caused further tensions in the Howard household later in the year when he suggested that Elsie be promoted to the Solihull branch. Neither Elsie or husband Alan initially knew that Berlin was behind the suggestion and Alan reacted badly when he discovered from warehouse gossip Marion Mason that Maxwell was now in charge of Solihull, thinking he was behind the move and knowing that he had attempted to seduce Elsie. Although Alan told Elsie the decision was hers as to whether they moved or not, the pressure got to her and she turned the post, only then discovering from Marion both that the impetus came from Berlin and that Maxwell was moving to Australia.

Berlin's next visit to Weatherfield was in November 1974 following the aversion of several potential industrial disputes. Ken Barlow had been employed as the Northern Executive Administrative Assistant and he was the one who poured oil on the waters to calm the situation however this incurred the jealousy of personnel manager Edward Pollard who discovered that Ken was in a relationship with union representative Peggy Barton and knowing that Sir Julius hated unions, gleefully told Berlin what Ken was up to. He hadn't reckoned with the fact that the Berlins now rated Ken more highly than him and it was Pollard who was forced to resign instead.

Pollard's parting shot to Ken was a warning that Sir Julius dropped people as easily as he took them up and this warning came to fruition in April the following year when Berlin came up north when rumours were rife that redundancies were soon to be made. Ken insisted on speaking to him about those rumours and although Berlin was perturbed to hear that someone was talking, he claimed he had a dinner engagement and rushed off, making Ken suspicious. The next day he confirmed that the firm had rationalisation plans, saying that cutbacks were better than closures, but the staff would know more that afternoon. Ken tried to avoid Berlin but when he caught up with him the next afternoon he handed Ken a folder of facts and figures showing the numbers of 20% that had to go. Later on he had a small revision to make to the statistics - the numbers were being extended to the executives and Ken was one of the people who was being made redundant.

1971

 * Wed 30th Jun

1974

 * Mon 25th Nov
 * Wed 27th Nov

1975

 * Wed 9th Apr
 * Mon 14th Apr