René Dubois

René Dubois was a lorry driver from Charleville who came over to Weatherfield on an exchange with the twin town in November 1973. By the time of his arrival in Coronation Street, René had already raised a few eyebrows; Stan Ogden, who was putting René up at No.13 while Hilda was away, had assumed "René" was a woman, and was pushing the boat out to impress his houseguest. Fully aware that René was a man, Len Fairclough teased Stan by informing him that René was "built like a brickie's chicken house", however Emily Bishop was horrified when Stan told her he was having a woman, fearing it would make the Sunday papers.

When they actually met, Stan's expectations - and the language barrier - were quickly forgotten as Stan and René discovered they shared passions for driving and knocking back drink, and the conversation flowed easily with each man demonstrating what they were saying with gusto. Stan later introduced René to his favourite place, the Rovers Return, where they met up with the other Frenchmen, Charles Follette and Marcel Lebeque, and René, Stan and Marcel spent the night playing poker in the Rovers back room before continuing the party over at No.13. The French returned home the next day.

A few days later, Stan got a postcard from René which was intercepted by Hilda. Making the same mistake about René's gender, Hilda was alarmed at the mention on the postcard of their night together and a proposal (which was actually a suggestion by René that Stan come over to Charleville for a visit). Despite being told numerous times by the neighbours that René was a man, she didn't believe it until she saw a photograph of Stan and René together in the paper.

René was Marxist and was described by Alf Roberts as a bigwig in the local Communist party.