Mr. O'Flaherty

Mr. O'Flaherty was a coughing old Irish drunk who appeared in Weatherfield Magistrates Court in May 1966 on the same day that Ena Sharples was there to appear on a charge of shop-lifting.

O'Flaherty dumped himself next to Ena on a bench in the waiting room and tried unsuccessfully to engage her in conversation, admitting that he was there on a charge of being drunk and incapable and admitting with some pride that he was in court every second Friday as regular as clockwork and that this was his 77th appearance. He gave Ena some unwanted advice as to how to present herself in the court and how to try and elicit sympathy from the judges. She grudgingly admitted her charge and was monetarily interested in his ramblings when he told her he too had been up on an indentical offence for which he told her he was discharged. After his hearing, he happily came back to the waiting room to tell Ena he had been fined £1 with three months to pay and told her that he'd buy her a drink - if they let her out. He then scuttled off to the local pub himself as fast as his legs could take him.


 * Credited as "Old Man", the character was named in dialogue and in the "TV Times" cast listing.