Episode 16 (1st February 1961)

Episode 16
Production code	P228/16
ITV transmission date	1st February 1961 (Wednesday)
Writer	H.V. Kershaw
Designer	Denis Parkin
Director	Michael Scott
Producer	Stuart Latham
Navigation
Previous episode	27th January 1961
Next episode	3rd February 1961

Plot

Part One: The policeman tells Ena to see the superintendent if she objects. The residents are asked to hurry with their bedding and belongings. Len agrees to look after Harry’s whippets for the night. The policeman tells a protesting Ena that Swindley agreed to put the residents up in the hall. Elsie wants to take her make-up and wedding photographs with her. Annie complains when one of the items that Jack prepares to take with him is his precious bowling bag. Swindley finds Emily clearing away the chairs that she has just set up. He speaks with Ena who claims she has just returned from her sick friend but her lie is proven when the Walkers arrive and Jack gives Ena her gloves back that she left on the Rovers' bar. The Walkers grab the prime spot in the hall in front of the stage. Swindley next welcomes the Barlows and Albert, followed soon afterwards by Harry who beds down on the stage. Esther, Christine and Florrie arrive together. When Florrie praises Joe, Esther is cold about him, puzzling Christine. Ida apologises to Christine for not coming round to see her after her mother’s death. Emily makes cups of tea for everyone and Swindley makes a long-winded welcoming speech. It is interrupted when the Tanners arrive with a bang, complete with their television set.

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Part Two: Swindley takes Ena to task again for visiting the Rovers and tells her she’ll be reported to the committee. Ena demands the residents turn their music down but backs down when Jack threatens to bar her from the Rovers. Elsie strips off to her nightwear under cover of a blanket. The night makes Albert remember the war. Ena tells everyone the lights are going out at 11.35pm sharp. David volunteers to wake people up according to a rota. Harry unwittingly finds a love letter from Annie to Jack, who reveals to his happy wife that he’s also brought his collection, secured in his bowling bag. The lights are put out. In the small hours, Dennis returns home and is sent on to the hall by the policeman. In the morning, Harry leaves for work as the policeman arrives to tell everyone that the emergency is over. He delights in waking Ena up to tell her the news as everyone packs to go home.

Cast

Regular cast

• Florrie Lindley - Betty Alberge
• Christine Hardman - Christine Hargreaves
• Elsie Tanner - Patricia Phoenix
• Dennis Tanner - Philip Lowrie
• Linda Cheveski - Anne Cunningham
• Ivan Cheveski - Ernst Walder
• Harry Hewitt - Ivan Beavis
• Esther Hayes - Daphne Oxenford
• Frank Barlow - Frank Pemberton
• Ida Barlow - Noel Dyson
• Kenneth Barlow - William Roache
• David Barlow - Alan Rothwell
• Albert Tatlock - Jack Howarth
• Annie Walker - Doris Speed
• Jack Walker - Arthur Leslie
• Billy Walker - Kenneth Farrington
• Concepta Riley - Doreen Keogh
• Ena Sharples - Violet Carson
• Mr Swindley - Arthur Lowe
• Miss Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire
• Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson

Guest cast

• Policeman - Jack Cunningham

Places

• Coronation Street
• Rovers Return Inn - Public/snug
• 11 Coronation Street - Back room
• Glad Tidings Mission Hall - Main hall and vestry

Notes

• In the previous episode, the policeman in the Rovers is heard to tell customers there who live in Mawdsley Street to go to St. Mary's Church for the night whereas in this episode Len Fairclough agrees to take Harry Hewitt's whippets for the night, it not yet being established within the programme's storylines that Len is a resident at 15 Mawdsley Street.
• Ena Sharples is stated not to be a member of the congregation of the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, contradicting later storylines.
• From dialogue in the episode as Swindley welcomes the street residents to the Mission Hall, it is made clear that the only ones he has met before, excepting Ena Sharples, are Albert Tatlock, Esther Hayes and Florrie Lindley.
• Esther Hayes speaks of visiting her sister, although it is later stated that she lives in Australia.
• From dialogue, it is inferred that Billy Walker was born during the Second World War but it was later established that the event took place in 1938.
• TV Times: No synopsis appeared in the magazine between Episode 3 (16th December 1960) and Episode 25 (6th March 1961).
• Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 4,967,000 homes (chart placing unknown).
• This episode was repeated on Tuesday 5th May 1981 at 10.35pm as part of a week of repeats celebrating Granada's 25th anniversary. The transmission time of the repeat by Tyne Tees Television was 10.37pm and by both Westward Television and Channel Television at 10.39pm, all to allow for brief local news bulletins. This repeat was not aired by Ulster Television, Anglia Television, Border Television or HTV Cymru although HTV West did carry the programme. This means that the episode received its first-ever transmission in the regions covered by ATV, Westward Television, Grampian Television and Channel Television. This repeat was seen by 8,879,000 viewers (chart placing unknown but outside the top twenty). The other episodes repeated in the week were Episode 1 (the first episode), Episode 375 (Emily Nugent jilts Leonard Swindley), Episode 668 (the viaduct collapse), Episode 702 (Elsie marries Steve Tanner) and Episode 923 (the coach crash in the Lake District) although these repeats were not screened in all of the ITV regions (see individual episode entries for details).
• The Granada Plus repeat of this episode on 25th December 1996 was edited down for timing reasons and omitted 14" from the scene at the Tanners' where Elsie goes to fetch her wedding photograph, 11" from the beginning of the next scene where Annie Walker lays her bedding down on the Rovers' bar, and from the Mission Hall scenes, 25" in which Ida Barlow panics thinking she's left the gas on, only to be told by Frank that he turned it off, 28" in which Harry Hewitt asks Elsie for a match, interrupting her as she's changing out of her frock. Also, the 1'02"-long scene where Dennis Tanner arrives at the Mission and Elsie directs him by lighting a match was cut in its entirety. The Next Episode caption was also omitted, bringing the total length of the cuts to 2'23".
• This episode was included on the Granada Video The Magic of Coronation Street released on 16th November 1982.