Episode 2790 (25th December 1987)

Plot[]

Christmas Day: The Bradleys are depressed as they have to spend Christmas with Mavis. Audrey gets out of doing any cooking or washing up, letting Ivy and Gail do everything. The Websters spend Christmas with Hilda who is sentimental about leaving No.13. Mavis gets drunk and maudlin. She likens Derek and herself to Edward and Mrs Simpson. Don enjoys meeting Ivy's family. Hilda is stunned when all the residents throw a surprise farewell party for her in the Rovers. Lisa Woods and her boyfriend Gary Grimshaw bring Jenny out of herself by taking her to a party. Hilda innocently tells Alec that Bet once lived with Mike. Bet and Mike present Hilda with some heated rollers as a present from the residents. Hilda gives a speech thanking them all for being good neighbours and friends and that a part of her will always remain on Coronation Street. Hilda then leads everyone in singing Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye...

Cast[]

Regular cast[]

Guest cast[]

Amy Burton - Fanny Carby
Lisa Woods - Ruth Whitehead
Gary Grimshaw - Colin Kerrigan
Sam Tindall - Tom Mennard
Piano Player - Robert Maxfield

Places[]

Rovers Return Inn - Public
5 Coronation Street - Downstairs rooms
7 Coronation Street - Downstairs rooms
13 Coronation Street - Back room, kitchen and hallway

Notes[]

Final appearance of Jean Alexander as Hilda Ogden within standard episodes of the programme, although she did return in a special mini-episode shown on 28th May 1990 as part of the Telethon for that year and in the VHS spin-off The Women of Coronation Street.
First appearance of Nicky Tilsley since 22nd July 1987.
Hilda makes a mistake in telling Alec Gilroy that Mike Baldwin and Bet Lynch used to live at No.3 - between 1976 and 1977, Mike and Bet lived at No.5.
This was the first episode to be shown on a Friday since Episode 24 (3rd March 1961) except for the transmission of Episode 631 (28th December 1966) in the ITV regions covered by Associated Rediffusion and Television Wales and the West.
For the first time ever, three episodes of Coronation Street were transmitted in one week.
This episode, together with Episode 2789, was given a special omnibus repeat on Sunday 27th December 1987 from 5.15pm to 6.15pm.
TV Times synopsis: Hilda Ogden waves goodbye to Coronation Street - but she feels her friends and neighbours have let her down - little does she know!
Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 26,629,000 viewers (1st place). This figure is the combined number for both the first showing (17,973,000 viewers) and the omnibus repeat (8,656,000 viewers). This is commonly quoted as the highest-rated episode of Coronation Street of all time but, among the episodes whose original showing and omnibus repeat figures were combined by BARB, it was beaten by Episode 2918 (15th March 1989) which achieved 26,930,000 viewers. The record for a single showing is 21,400,000 viewers, held by Episode 2479 (2nd January 1985).
This episode was included in the Network DVD collection Coronation Street: The Best of 1980-1989, released on 31st October 2005.
This episode was added to streaming service BritBox in late 2020 under the Coronation Street: Greatest Episodes banner with an introduction by Sally Dynevor, and also in the Britmas section with an introduction by Alexandra Mardell.

Notable dialogue[]

Hilda Ogden: "I've come in 'ere more times than I care to remember. Cold. Wet. Tired out. Not a penny in me purse. And the sight of them ducks and that muriel... well they've kept my hand away from the gas tap and that's a fact."

December 1987 episodes
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