Christmas in the Street

Title caption

Christmas in the Street was a Christmas-themed Coronation Street clip show transmitted on Saturday 28th December 1968 from 6.15pm to 7.05pm.

The special features archive clips of previous Christmas editions of the programme. Arthur Leslie and Doris Speed appear in linking scenes set entirely in the Rovers Return Inn, playing their usual characters Jack and Annie Walker.

H.V. Kershaw was the Executive Producer (and possible writer) while Tim Jones directed the linking sequences.

The clips featured in the special (in order) are from:

• Episode 5 (23rd December 1960)
• Episode 108 (25th December 1961)
• Episode 317 (25th December 1963)
• Episode 212 (24th December 1962)
• Episode 630 (26th December 1966)
• Episode 733 (25th December 1967)
• Episode 421 (23rd December 1964)

Plot

Jack and Annie Walker are clearing up after a long evening's post-Christmas opening in the Rovers. Jack adjusts a piece of hanging mistletoe which Annie dislikes because it's artificial, reminding her too much of Elsie Tanner, and because it's now eight years old, Jack having bought it the same Christmas that Ena Sharples spent in hospital. He remembers the following year when a depressed Elsie had made no preparations and had to get Florrie Lindley to specially open up the Corner Shop while Annie recalls Ena, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst sharing a bad-tempered Christmas dinner together on the same day. An amused Jack thinks his most unforgettable Christmas moment was when Dennis Tanner sprung a special This Is Your Life surprise on Annie in 1963, including her humiliation at being reminded of appearing as Lady Godiva in a parade in 1930 by guest George Stubbins. An annoyed Annie prefers to remember her triumph in Lady Lawson Loses the year before that. A mention of Jack playing bowls makes Annie think of Sir Francis Drake and her appearance as Elizabeth I at the street's 1966 fancy dress ball. As the two have their evening cocoa, they think of children at the festive season and Jill Morris spending last year with David and Irma Barlow. They then recall 1964's version of the Cinderella pantomime before remembering that in the seasonal rush they haven't wished a "Merry Christmas" to each other. They make up for lost time and retire to bed.

Cast

(The cast were credited in alphabetical order by their actor name only and not the characters they play.)

• Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson
• Florrie Lindley - Betty Alberge
• Hilda Ogden - Jean Alexander
• Edgar Nuttall - Michael Barrington
• Joan Davies - June Barry
• Harry Hewitt - Ivan Beavis
• Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant
• Martha Longhurst - Lynne Carol
• Ena Sharples - Violet Carson
• Jill Morris - Linda Cook
• Jed Stone - Kenneth Cope
• Linda Cheveski - Anne Cunningham
• Miss Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire
• Billy Walker - Kenneth Farrington
• Dot Greenhalgh - Joan Francis
• Irma Barlow - Sandra Gough
• Jerry Booth - Graham Haberfield
• Christine Appleby - Christine Hargreaves
• Vera Lomax - Ruth Holden
• Albert Tatlock - Jack Howarth
• Concepta Hewitt - Doreen Keogh
• Alf Chadwick - Eddie King
• Jack Walker - Arthur Leslie
• Leonard Swindley - Arthur Lowe
• Dennis Tanner - Philip Lowrie
• Lucille Hewitt - Jennifer Moss
• Esther Hayes - Daphne Oxenford
• Frank Barlow - Frank Pemberton
• Elsie Tanner - Patricia Phoenix
• Valerie Barlow - Anne Reid
• Kenneth Barlow - William Roache
• Charlie Moffitt - Gordon Rollings
• David Barlow - Alan Rothwell
• Day Nurse - Christine Shaw
• Annie Walker - Doris Speed
• Ivan Cheveski - Ernst Walder
• George Stubbins - William Wymar
• Stan Ogden - Bernard Youens
• Myra Booth - Susan Jameson (Uncredited)

Notes

• The programme's production code on the studio countdown clock was P/620.
• The programme is a rare and possibly unique example of an edition of Coronation Street that was made prior to 1969 existing on its original transmission tape and not as a filmed telerecording. Moreover the clips from Episode 630 (26th December 1966) and Episode 733 (25th December 1967) are also taken from a videotaped version of those episodes which today only exist in the ITV archive as telerecordings.
• The restored videotape shows an additional contemporary countdown clock with a recording date of Thursday 19th December 1968 which, if correct, means it went before the cameras on the first of two consecutive days, in separate studios, that also produced the run of the four double-banked episodes from Episode 837 (30th December 1968) to Episode 840 (8th January 1969). Arthur Leslie and Doris Speed appeared in the latter two of these episodes.

• The programme was in three parts and had a special set of caption cards produced for the title itself and the advertisement breaks. The cards for the start of "Part Two" and "Part Three" had an illustration of Coronation Street itself but this contained an error in that the gap for the collapsed house was in the space occupied by No.9 and not No.7 (pictured right).
• The opening caption (shown at top of page) was displayed after a shot of the front door of the Rovers Return Inn, over which was run film of falling snow. That scene then dissolved to the caption and a close-up and artistically defocused shot of a decorated Christmas tree in the Rovers. Over this was played a slower-tempo version of Eric Spear's theme tune, complete with Christmas Glockenspiel bells overlaid. Only Mr Spear, by this time deceased, receives a credit and therefore the arranger of this unique version remains unknown.
• The Singers of the Boy's Choir, St. John's Church, Oldham who appeared in the hospital scene from Episode 5 (23rd December 1960) are uncredited in the special although they are heard in the clip chosen.
• The four writers of the episodes (H.V. Kershaw, Geoffrey Lancashire, Jack Rosenthal and Tony Warren) are credited but not the writer of the linking material although it was probably H.V. Kershaw. No credit is given for Tony Warren's pseudonym of Carol Nicholas that was used for Episode 108 (25th December 1961). Tim Jones receives a credit of "Studio director" for the linking sequences. No designer was credited although it was in all probability Roy Graham who was occupying this role on the programme at the time. The Kaleidoscope British Christmas Television Guide 1937-2013 states that John Finch produced the special although no credit is given on screen or in TV Times.
• The programme was advertised in TV Times under the title Christmas on Coronation Street with the name change probably occurring between the magazine going to press and the recording taking place. The billing read: "Jack and Annie Walker, clearing up the remains of Christmas 1968 conjure up memories of Christmases past"

Notable dialogue

Annie Walker: "You know, if I were Prime Minister I would abolish extensions at Christmas time. They are just not fair to the trade."
Jack Walker: "Yes love."
Annie Walker: "What would you abolish, Jack?"
Jack Walker (mutters): "Women."
Annie Walker: "What was that, love?"
Jack Walker "I said, er, I don't know love. I'm just thinking about it."