Plot
The police seal off both ends of the Street, apart from the Rovers, and have No.5 surrounded. Joe starts to crack up. Minnie tells him she isn't frightened of him, just worried for him. The US Military Police tries to talk him out from the back yard but Joe fires at them through the window, frightening the residents. Irma confesses the fear that she's been living under the past few weeks to Hilda. Len hears from the police that they think Minnie is in the house, causing Ena to start panicking as she waits in the Rovers. Gregg tries to talk Joe out, or at least send Minnie out. Joe goes into a reverie about his hatred of his stepfather and his loneliness as a child after the death of his father. Minnie cries as she listens. Stan listens sympathetically to Irma's story and gets furious at both what Joe has put her through and for Minnie being held hostage. Elsie assures Len she hasn't spent the past two years thinking he killed Steve. Detective Chief Inspector Castle turns up, having heard of a rumpus on the street involving American soldiers and saw a link with the 1968 case, even though Donelli had an alibi at the time. Stan manages to get past the police and into No.13. From there he makes his way over the back walls to No.5 and inside, substituting himself with Minnie as Joe's hostage. She and Bobby are brought into the pub, to Ena's relief. Castle rips into Gary for giving Joe a false alibi. Joe insanely makes Stan sing Silent Night before turning the gun on himself and firing. The next day, Stan is proclaimed a hero by the residents and the press and his drinks are on the house. Albert takes Minnie in when she doesn't want to stay in No.5. All the residents cancel their bookings for Emily's Christmas outing except for Albert. Len gives the tickets to a gang of rough kids on the Red Rec but doesn't tell Albert he'll be the only adult in the party.
Cast
Regular cast
- Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant
- Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson
- Billy Walker - Kenneth Farrington
- Annie Walker - Doris Speed
- Ena Sharples - Violet Carson
- Irma Barlow - Sandra Gough
- Bet Lynch - Julie Goodyear
- Elsie Howard - Patricia Phoenix (Credited as "Elsie Tanner")
- Hilda Ogden - Jean Alexander
- Albert Tatlock - Jack Howarth
- Emily Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire
- Maggie Clegg - Irene Sutcliffe
- Alan Howard - Alan Browning
- Stan Ogden - Bernard Youens
Guest cast
- Joe Donelli - Shane Rimmer
- Detective Inspector Seabright - Doel Luscombe
- Sergeant Stevens - John Higgins
- Detective Chief Inspector Castle - Hugh Cross
- Gregg Flint - Bill Nagy (Credited as "Greg Flint")
- Gary Strauss - Callen Angelo
- Detective Sergeant Jones - Richard Steele
- Police Sergeant - Dan Gillan
Places
- Coronation Street - Main street view and ginnel
- Rovers Return Inn - Public/Snug
- 5 Coronation Street - Back room and kitchen
Notes
- This was the 140th and final script by long-term contributor John Finch. He had intended Episode 917 (8th October 1969) to be his final script but wrote this one as a favour to a desperate H.V. Kershaw when the script submitted by another writer was deemed to be sub-standard, despite Mr Finch being heavily involved at the time with the scripting and editing of the second season of A Family at War.
- Despite being set on the same night as the previous episode, the Rovers is now sporting its Christmas decorations whereas it was bare in Episode 1035.
- All the scenes on the Grape Street set were OB recorded. The shots of the ginnel were possibly recorded on location as the set didn't contain these until December 1972.
- Beatrice Neild, who appeared intermittently as Mrs Toft between 1969 and 1973, is an uncredited customer in the Rovers.
- Although ITV had begun full-colour transmissions on 15th November 1969, the ITV Colour Strike which began on 13th November 1970 caused this episode to be recorded in black and white.
- TV Times synopsis: The siege of No. 5.
- Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 7,600,000 homes (4th place).
- This episode was included in the Network DVD collection Coronation Street: The Best of 1970-1979, released on 25th July 2005.
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