Coronation Street in 1962



1962 was Coronation Street's third year. 105 new episodes were broadcast, with Derek Granger stepping down as producer in April, succeeded by writer and script editor H.V. Kershaw, in the first of several stints in the position.

At the beginning of the year, Coronation Street was affected by an ongoing Equity actors' strike, which lasted from November 1961 to April 1962. Consequently, for the first four months of the year the show was limited to fourteen of the main characters, with no guest cast and no extras. However, as the only videotaped ITV drama to continue with new episodes during the strike, a viewership was guaranteed for the duration.

After the strike ended on 3rd April, characters who had disappeared at the beginning of the strike gradually returned, and some storylines which had been left unresolved were wrapped up (although some characters did not return). Key storylines included Ken Barlow and Valerie Tatlock's wedding, baby Christopher Hewitt being snatched, Christine Hardman's depression, Ena Sharples suffering a stroke, Leonard Swindley re-opening his draper's shop as Gamma Garments, and the introduction of apprentice builder Jerry Booth.

Its popularity now assured, Coronation Street logged its highest audience of the year with Episode 190 on 8th October, which was watched in 8,868,000 homes - then highest audience ever recorded for a British television programme (although this record was beaten by the 1962 Royal Variety Performance a few weeks later).

January

 * Ena Sharples proves Dennis Tanner's innocence in the matter of the missing £20 from the Rovers till but a furious Elsie decides that they're boycotting the pub, even to the extent of refusing to enter the premises when Linda Cheveski phones from Canada. Annie's attitude and paranoia worsens and she insinuates that Len Fairclough is dishonest. The regulars boycott the pub. A horrified Annie finds the missing money stuck at the back of the till drawer and makes it up with her former customers who return to the fold.
 * Frank Barlow discovers that Ida Barlow had run up debts at the Corner Shop when Florrie Lindley, with Ken's agreement, adds 10/- to each order to pay off the sum.
 * Ena cannot take any more of Minnie Caldwell's mother, Amy Carlton, and wants to move back to the Mission but Albert Tatlock won't vacate. After a short stay at No.11 (to Elsie's horror), Ena moves back to Minnie's.
 * Ken Barlow interviews the residents about their drinking habits for an article that he is writing.
 * Concepta Hewitt grows tired of Harry's whippets and is horrified when he swaps them for a racing greyhound - Lucky Lolita. Dennis is paid to exercise the dog but promptly loses it. The more intelligent animal makes its own way home. The dog wins its first race and the residents, bitten by the bug, go to the next race and place large bets. Dennis steals Elsie's holiday deposit money to make his bet and Elsie finds out.

February

 * Dennis's gamble pays off and he is able to return Elsie's money together with a share of his winnings.
 * In a sharp freeze, the water pipes freeze. Dennis thaws the pipes in Minnie's house with a blowtorch but they burst and flood the house leading Martha Longhurst to suggest that she sue for damages. When Concepta is sick and Dennis helps out in the Rovers for a night he serves Minnie a strong cocktail that knocks her out.
 * Ken's article appears in a left-wing magazine, earning him twenty-five guineas but there is uproar when the local paper prints extracts leading most of the residents to feel insulted. When Ken tries to explain himself in the Rovers a fight breaks out between him and Len. The notoriety resulting from the articles shames the landlord into undertaking repairs to the houses.
 * Concepta's illness turns out to be morning sickness and she is able to tell a delighted Harry that they are expecting a baby.
 * Albert decides that he no longer wants to be Mission caretaker and he suggests to Mr Baxter, the committee chairman, that Ena be reinstated. The committee agrees and Ena returns to a "Welcome Home" party from the residents.
 * Lucky Lolita runs again after Harry refuses a large sum of money for the dog and, based on its previous performance, some of the residents place large bets – the animal comes in last.

March

 * Dennis organises a charity concert for the Over-Sixties. The "Blue Streak Rockets" are banned from performing by the police and the other main act breaks down on the way to the Mission where the concert audience is waiting. Dennis is forced to cancel the concert and find overnight accommodation for the "Rockets" and two performing sea lions. As the Walkers are way for the night, he thinks that ensconcing them in Rovers is the answer but Jack and Annie return home early. By total coincidence, Dennis soon afterwards moves to London to help Lenny Phillips open a new talent agency office there.
 * Concepta has concerns that she is too old to have a baby.
 * Ken starts to write a novel about three boys growing up in a northern back street (Ken would return to the manuscript in July 2008).
 * Jack collapses behind the bar of the Rovers from overeating but Annie doesn't believe his reassuring news from the doctor. When she investigates herself, she thinks that Jack has been leading her on that he was really ill and loads job after job on him in retaliation.
 * Ena collapses in the Vestry from a stroke one evening and is not found until the next day. She is rushed to hospital also suffering from pneumonia and remains unconscious.
 * Len fits a fireplace for Elsie and causes gossip with the time he spends with her.

April

 * Jack's mother dies in Barnsley.
 * Ena comes to in hospital and is soon her old self but is surprised when she receives a visit from a concerned Elsie. Minnie and Martha but her a mynah bird as a welcome home present but she rejects the gift when it constantly repeats "Ena won't like it". Martha takes the bird in.
 * As gossip spreads about Len and Elsie, Nellie Fairclough leaves her husband, taking son Stanley with her. When Concepta comforts Nellie, she and Len argue leading Harry to step in and the two friends fighting. Soon after Len is sacked for doing foreigners on Elsie's home and Concepta is suspected of telling his boss but it is Martha who confesses. Len becomes self-employed, working from a yard behind his home at 15 Mawdsley Street.
 * Harry sells Lucky Lolita and uses the money towards a saloon car. Len helps him with a broken headlamp and the two men become friends again. The Hewitts, Len and the Walkers use the car to go to Lyme Park for an Easter Monday picnic but the it breaks down on the way back.
 * There are reports in the press about a night prowler in the area and the women become nervous that there are intruders in the empty No. 9. More and more signs become evident that someone is using the house until Len catches someone in the backing.

May

 * Len finds out that youngster Billy Makin and his friends of the "Black Hand Gang" have been using No. 9 as a hideout.
 * The Brewery approves alterations to the Rovers and Len is given the job. Ken helps him out and the two forget their differences.
 * Frank and Florrie start spending time together to overcome their loneliness.
 * Nellie returns to Len.
 * Billy Walker returns to Weatherfield with his fiancée, London Beauty Queen Philippa Scopes. Annie is horrified and tries to dissuade Billy from marrying her. She causes consternation in the Street by encouraging Lucille Hewitt to experiment with make-up and by being too friendly with Ken. She breaks off her engagement to Billy when he objects to her continuing with beauty contests and returns to London.
 * Esther Hayes decides to move to Moor Lane and leaves the Street.
 * The council decides to rename the Street as there are too many "Coronation Street"'s in the area. The residents protest and Ena writes to Prince Philip to gain his support.

June

 * Christine Hardman becomes clinically depressed at the drudgery of her life. She goes to the roof of Elliston's Raincoat Factory with the intention of committing suicide but Ken talks her down. Soon afterwards she meets old flame Colin Appleby and marries him on impulse, moving away from the area with him.
 * Ken's novel is rejected by the publishers.
 * Frank and Florrie's understated romance continues, with Ken's blessing.
 * Leonard Swindley's shop is taken over by the chain of Gamma Garments. Doreen Lostock is re-employed as sales assistant. Len is employed to convert the loft into a store room and gets stuck in there for the night causing Ena to wonder if he spent the night with Elsie.
 * Sheila Birtles' parents are moving to the country and, wanting to stay, she and Doreen persuade Florrie to let them be tenants in the Corner Shop flat.
 * Len tells Elsie that Bill Gregory is returning to the area.

July

 * Bill arrives and he and Elsie take up their relationship again. Ena is the first one to realise that Bill is married and that Len knows. When he refuses to tell Elsie, Ena takes on the job. A shattered Elsie confronts Bill who tells her that he and Phyllis are separated but when Phyllis turns up and asks for a reconciliation he agrees to her request and they leave the area together.
 * Amy Carlton dies and Minnie Caldwell makes enquiries about moving from 15 Jubilee Terrace to 5 Coronation Street.
 * Valerie Tatlock returns to Weatherfield from Scotland. She and Ken take up where they left off the previous year and quickly become engaged. They set a date for 4th August and decide to buy No. 9. Val's parents can't make the wedding as her mother Edith is ill. Albert is happy to give the bride away and hires a morning suit and top hat for the occasion.
 * Business is good for Len and he takes on twenty-one year old Jerry Booth as his apprentice.
 * Doreen and Sheila move into the flat.
 * Gamma Garments holds a sale but it goes badly when Swindley forgets the key to the shop and Doreen sells hankies at 1/11 a box when the price should be per individual hankie.
 * Annie goes on holiday on her own to Babbacombe when Jack refuses to go with her snobby friends. She returns full of stories about an Arthur Forsythe-Jones.
 * Despite Harry's refusal to do so, Concepta buys a washing machine on HP.

August

 * Ken and Val are married and go on honeymoon to London where they meet an old friend of Ken's, Geoffrey Simpson, and spend time with him, much to Val's annoyance. They return to the Street and move into No. 9 where Val opens a hair salon.
 * Concepta goes into labour and gives birth to a son who is named Christopher. Lucille soon shows signs of jealousy over the baby and clashes with Harry when she plays loud records. Ena reminds Concepta that she needs to be a mother to Lucille too.
 * Minnie moves into No. 5.
 * The council drops its plan to rename the Street.
 * Sam Leach, an old man down on his luck is taken on at the Rovers. Jerry recognises him as his Uncle. The regulars start to wonder what happened to his wife and why Sam is on his own and they start to get ideas that perhaps Sam killed her. Sam disappears when the police come looking for him.
 * Swindley holds a fire drill at the shop but locks both himself and the staff out. Len has to smash a window to let them get back in.
 * Ena demands repairs to the Vestry which Len and Jerry carry out.
 * Frank and Florrie's friendship breaks up acrimoniously, not helped when Martha spreads gossip about them. Len threatens her with action for slander if she continues.
 * Swindley joins PPOP (the Progressive Property Owners and Small Traders Party) who are thinking of entering the local elections.

September

 * Swindley is shortlisted as a candidate in the future elections. When the sitting councillor dies, the elections are brought forward and Swindley becomes the PPOP candidate when his opponent fails to turn up for the meeting.
 * Ena finds Sam hiding in the Mission. He is wanted for desertion of his wife. Ena persuades him to go to the police of his own free will but the regulars at the Rovers think she shopped him and they send her to Coventry. Sam writes to the Walkers telling them what really happened and, feeling guilty, the regulars apologise to Ena and welcome her back to the Snug.
 * Another London publisher considers Ken's novel. Enthused, Ken plans to give up teaching and become a writer, living off Val's earnings in the meantime. Val is supportive but Esther and Albert oppose the idea.
 * Elsie meets dodgy bookie Dave Smith when Dot Greenhalgh persuades her to go to the races and she wins on a horse. Dave takes Elsie out but Len is jealous and hits Dave in the Rovers.
 * Ena blackmails Swindley for expensive paper in the vestry by threatening to vote against him in the elections.
 * Lucille reaches breaking point with Christopher when Concepta blames her for making him cry. She runs away from home but is found by Ena and persuaded to return.

October

 * The Hewitts make an effort to be more peaceful with each other. Harry and Concepta organise a party to celebrate their first wedding anniversary but a crisis hits the Street when Lucille, running an errand before the party, leaves the pram outside Gamma Garments only to discover that the baby has been taken when she comes out of the shop. The police start an intensive search of the area that the residents join in with. Concepta breaks down at the loss of her baby. Elsie returns from a holiday and meets a young lady called Joan Akers who knew Linda at school. Suspicious of the baby that Joan supposedly has, Elsie visits her and discovers Christopher in her possession – Joan's own baby had previously died and the event had disturbed her mind.
 * Emily socialises with her cousin Edwin, causing Swindley to feel jealous. He is preoccupied though with his election campaign. Minnie agrees that her house can be election HQ and he goes canvassing with his agent Mr. Spinks. An election meeting in the Mission is curtailed when the boiler in the basement explodes.
 * Mr Spinks finds an abandoned love letter “from Jack” in the Mission and makes the mistake of handing it to Martha who immediately thinks it is to Ena and starts to show it round the Street. Annie realises that it is one of hers that Jack sent her and which she took to the Mission on the night of the gas mains explosion.
 * Albert becomes a lollipop man outside Bessie Street School.
 * Len Fairclough goes to court over his fight with Dave Smith and is bound over to keep the peace.
 * Jerry goes out with Sheila, riding on a tandem bicycle. The date goes badly when the bike falls into a ditch and the two have to walk ten miles back.
 * The Walkers celebrate their silver wedding anniversary with a party in the Rovers but the event goes wrong when Jack and Annie bicker and Swindley accidentally spills a trifle over a dress that Elsie "borrowed" from Miami Modes. She manages to get the dress cleaned and back in the store before her boss Mrs Dumbarton finds out.
 * Frank and Florrie come to an understanding when Frank tells her he only wanted friendship but nothing more. She lies and says she wanted the same thing.
 * Emily joins a literary circle.
 * Christine returns to the area and the residents wonder if she has left Colin. They are shocked to discover that Colin is dead, killed in a car accident only three months into their marriage.

November

 * Christine starts working with Elsie at Miami Modes. Jed Stone returns to the area and tries it on with her but Frank comes to her rescue. He, in turn, starts to develop a crush on the younger girl.
 * Martha badgers Ena about the love letter until Jack makes her hand it back.
 * Jed lodges with Minnie and tries to sell twenty four wash basins and cons Jerry into buying the lot for the Builder's Yard for £25. Jerry becomes nervous that they’ve stolen. The police investigate but for once Jed is involved in a legitimate deal and made a huge profit from Jerry, having only bought them himself for £6, 10/-.
 * Albert becomes concerned for a young girl who uses his crossing called Susan Schofield. She sports a black eye and, encouraged to tell her troubles to the old man, runs away from home to No. 1 where she tells Albert about her drunken and abusive father. Albert confronts Jim Schofield, backed up by Harry and warns him not to touch the youngster again.
 * The election takes place but Swindley loses, achieving third place.
 * Emily’s literary circle makes plans to put on a play at Christmas for the Over-Sixties but when they back out the residents form the Mission Hall Players and decide to perform an old melodrama, Lady Lawson Loses and Swindley agrees to direct it.
 * Elsie is delighted when the Cheveskis come over for Christmas. It soon becomes clear that Linda doesn’t like Canada.

December

 * Linda wants Ivan to get his old job back in Britain but he refuses, preferring their life in Canada. She worries about Elsie being alone and wonders about staying but after a chat with Ena she decides to return once Christmas is over.
 * Sheila's parents try to force her to come and live with them in Rawtenstall but she refuses. Florrie brokers the peace by agreeing to keep them informed as to how Sheila is really coping and not just rely on their daughter's assurances.
 * Val starts to realise that Frank is serious about Sheila and snubs her. Frank tells his son and daughter-in-law that his intentions are serious and they are to mind their own business. He gives Christine a brooch for Christmas.
 * As the Barlows' money situation gets worse, Val starts to worry as her hairdressing business doesn't cover the bills. Albert tells Ken the predicament that they are in and he manages to save his job at Bessie Street at the last moment and not give up teaching.
 * The residents get to grips with putting on the play. Emily's nerves fray as the opening night gets nearer, especially when she is cast in the lead role. Len builds the scenery and Jed provides the costumes but gets ones from the wrong period. The cast make do and despite several errors on the night all goes well. Emily, plied with tranquilisers and whisky, faints when the play is finished and everyone has gone home.
 * The residents worry about Len who is becoming more and more irritable. He finally reveals to Harry that Nellie and Stanley have run off to Nottingham with insurance man Harry Bailey.

Who lives where
Coronation Street
 * Rovers Return Inn - Jack and Annie Walker
 * 1 Coronation Street - Albert Tatlock (from February onwards). Valerie Tatlock (from July to August)
 * 3 Coronation Street - Frank Barlow. Ken Barlow (to August)
 * 5 Coronation Street - Esther Hayes (to May, then empty to August). Minnie Caldwell (from August onwards). Jed Stone (from November onwards)
 * 7 Coronation Street - Harry, Concepta and Lucille Hewitt. Christopher Hewitt (from August onwards)
 * 9 Coronation Street - (Empty until August) Ken and Valerie Barlow (from August onwards)
 * 11 Coronation Street - Elsie Tanner. Dennis Tanner (until April). Christine Appleby (from October onwards).
 * 13 Coronation Street - Christine Hardman (until June)
 * Corner Shop (No.15) - Florrie Lindley
 * Corner Shop Flat (No.15a) - (Empty until July) Doreen Lostock and Sheila Birtles (from July onwards)
 * Glad Tidings Vestry - Albert Tatlock (until February). Ena Sharples (from February)

Mawdsley Street Others
 * 7 Mawdsley Street - Martha Longhurst
 * 15 Mawdsley Street - Len Fairclough
 * 15 Jubilee Terrace - Ena Sharples (until February), Minnie Caldwell (until August). Amy Carlton (until July)
 * 62 Viaduct Street - Ernest, Nellie and Jerry Booth

Awards and nominations
Daily Mirror Television Awards Variety Club of Great Britain
 * Best Character Actress: Violet Carson (Winner)
 * ITV Personality of the Year: Violet Carson