Episode 156 (11th June 1962)

Episode 156
Production code	P228/156
ITV transmission date	11th June 1962 (Monday)
Stories by	Harry Driver
Writer	John Finch
Designer	Denis Parkin
Director	Richard Everitt
Producer	H.V. Kershaw
Navigation
Previous episode	6th June 1962
Next episode	13th June 1962

Plot

At what is now the sixth store in the growing Gamma Garments empire, Swindley, Emily and Doreen prepare for the coming of their new Greek owner, Niklos Papagopolous, and are conducting a stock check in preparation for the visit from their exacting boss. Doreen worries about Christine. At the factory, she is still depressed and wants to be left alone, refusing to go on lunch with Sheila. Frank buys a new blouse for Florrie, having spilt soup on her old one. Swindley is annoyed when Papagopolous fails to turn up and Doreen is late back from lunch. In addition they have only had three customers all morning. Sheila finds a morose Christine on the roof, looking down on the people below and bemoaning that no one cares about her. Soon afterwards, Annie spots a police car outside the factory. Christine is on the edge of the roof and threatening to jump. Det Sergeant Sowman tries to talk her down, asking what her mother would think, and not realising that she's dead. Among the watching crowds of factory workers and onlookers, Sheila becomes hysterical, thinking her friend will jump. Sowman asks Sheila to talk to her but she can't control her own emotions. Sowman rings for reinforcements and asks Jack to ring for an ambulance. Swindley finds out that Papagopolous rang for him but Doreen told him he was out sizing up the opposition, pleasing their new owner. A panicking Lucille fetches Doreen to help with Christine. Ken thinks Christine would talk to someone who understands. With the police's permission, he goes on the roof and reminds her about the time she talked him out of running away from home and that he has also lost his own mother. He tells her that she has a lot of friends who care about her. She agrees to come down but tells him that if things don't change, she'll blame him. They start to make their way down as the onlookers disperse.

Cast

Regular cast

• Christine Hardman - Christine Hargreaves
• Doreen Lostock - Angela Crow
• Sheila Birtles - Eileen Mayers
• Leonard Swindley - Arthur Lowe
• Miss Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire
• Jack Walker - Arthur Leslie
• Annie Walker - Doris Speed
• Albert Tatlock - Jack Howarth
• Lucille Hewitt - Jennifer Moss
• Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant
• Martha Longhurst - Lynne Carol
• Kenneth Barlow - William Roache
• Frank Barlow - Frank Pemberton
• Florrie Lindley - Betty Alberge
• Elsie Tanner - Patricia Phoenix (Uncredited)

Guest cast

• Policeman - Philip Stone
• Audrey - Mary Duddy

Places

• Coronation Street
• Rovers Return Inn - Public and hallway
• Elliston's Raincoat Factory - Sewing room, roof, entrance and surrounding streets
• Rosamund Street
• Gamma Garments

Notes

• First appearance of Leonard Swindley and Emily Nugent since 6th December 1961 due to the Equity actors' strike.
• As Leonard Swindley opens the door of Gamma Garments to let Frank Barlow leave, the corner shop can be seen directly ahead, indicating the Gamma Garments set was adjacent to the street studio set.
• The scenes on the factory roof were OB recorded on the top of the County Municipal School building immediately next to Granada Television's Quay Street studios on Atherton Street, Manchester. This building later became a canteen facility for Granada and is now the Great John Street Hotel. The same location was used in Episode 827 (25th November 1968) for shots of Stan Ogden chasing Minnie Caldwell's missing cat Bobby.
• Ken Barlow's talk to Christine Hardman about the time she talked him out of running away from home references the events in Episode 99 (22nd November 1961).
• TV Times synopsis: Christine reaches the end of her tether and brings a note of alarm to the Street.
• Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 4,785,000 homes (8th place). This low-rating for the period, and the lowest-rated episode of the year, is explained by the fact that the episode was broadcast on a Whit Monday holiday.
• This episode was included on the following commercial releases:
  • Coronation Street 1962 released by Granada and Windsong Video on 5th November 1990.
  • The Network DVD collection Coronation Street: The Best of 1960-1969, released on 31st July 2006.

Notable dialogue

Christine Hardman: "Girls like me are stupid. An' we don't ger anythin' - the only way we can get owt different is by gettin' married."