Episode 190 (8th October 1962)

Plot[]

Elsie returns from holiday and jokes with Harry who gives her short shrift. Len and Florrie tell her about Christopher's kidnapping. She's shocked. Lucille assures Harry that she's told him everything that's happened. Det Sergeant Sowman reports to Harry that Brenda told them she had to go and left the pram outside the shop. He believes her story. Martha thinks the police are watching Gamma Garments in case the criminal returns to the scene of the crime. Emily becomes suspicious of Joan Akers as she remembers she returned some baby clothes the previous week. Joan's landlady, Mrs. Webb, is puzzled when she doesn't take her baby out much. Everyone worries about Concepta who is too quiet and looks dreadful. Emily continues to worry about Joan and her possible link to Christopher's disappearance. Swindley suggests she tells the police. Harry asks Len to look after Christopher's pram as he doesn't want it around. The Hewitts are hounded by journalists and gawpers and Concepta breaks down as a result. Joan calls into the corner shop and overhears about Concepta. She meets Elsie and introduces herself as an old friend of Linda's. Lucille is upset by two lads who make fun of the kidnapping. Len apologises to Elsie for punching Dave Smith. She tells him that she's had enough of Dave. Elsie shows Joan her photographs of Paul. Joan tells her she's an abandoned wife with one child. She feels guilty about Concepta's condition. Elsie apologises to Harry for her undiplomatic comments. Swindley thinks Joan has nothing to do with the disappearance and doesn't pass on Emily's suspicions to the police.

Cast[]

Regular cast[]

Guest cast[]

Places[]

Notes[]

Jean Alexander makes a pre-Hilda Ogden appearance in the programme as Joan Akers' landlady, Mrs. Webb.
Beatrice Neild, who appeared in the irregular role of Mrs Toft from 1969 to 1974 appears as an extra in this episode.
At the time of production of this episode, Anna Cropper, appearing in the guest role of Joan Akers, was married to William Roache.
The child playing Christopher Hewitt is uncredited but based on press publicity photographs from the period is probably Stephen Ward.
From Episode 172 (6th August 1962) to Episode 459 (5th May 1965) the programme featured a standardised cast list for the regular characters. This means that in this episode William Roache as Kenneth Barlow is credited but does not appear.
TV Times synopsis: The search continues for the Hewitt baby
Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 8,868,000 homes (1st place). This was both the highest-rated episode of the year and the programme's highest-rating to date. Even more importantly, it was at that time the highest figure ever recorded for a British television programme, beating the 8,480,000 homes which had watched the Royal Variety Performance in November 1961. The broadcasting magazine Television Mail stated in its issue of 26th October 1962 that, "The Television industry has a new yardstick by which the success of all TV shows will be measured." However, just a few weeks later the 1962 Royal Variety Performance gained 9,255,000 homes watching and comfortably beat Coronation Street's short-lived record.

October 1962 episodes
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