Episode 3 (16th December 1960)

Plot

Part One: Ivan tells Linda that he's come to take her home but she refuses. Elsie wants them to discuss their troubles in the privacy of No.11 but Linda won't allow him in the house. A row breaks out and Linda hits Ivan with her handbag when he suggests she's been too friendly with another man. Ena, Minnie and Martha enjoy the spectacle. Linda walks out and Elsie prevents Ivan from following, buying him a drink and providing a shoulder to cry on. Ena invites Martha home to her vestry for a cup of cocoa. Ivan tells Elsie that he honestly doesn't know what the problem is with Linda. Ena and Martha are interrupted in their late-night drink by Leonard Swindley, a local draper and the chairman of the Glad Tidings Mission Hall committee, who gives Ena a warning over her frequenting the Rovers and consuming alcohol. She is furious and quotes scripture at him in reply. He tells her that she'll be evicted if she doesn't toe the line.

Part Two: The next morning, Linda is angry when she finds out that Elsie let Ivan sleep the night on the sofa in the front room. Elsie loses patience and fires back at her, demanding that she tells them what the problem is. She claims that she feels constrained by Ivan's thriftiness and that he doesn't want children until they can afford them but she surprises them by telling them that she's already pregnant. Christine prepares to bring May home from hospital. She tells Esther that May is worried about what the neighbours think of her breakdown. Ena writes to the paper for legal advice about Swindley's threat and vows downright defiance from now onwards. Ivan is angry with Dennis when he remarks that Linda will make a poor mother. Linda sees that he does want the baby after all and they are reconciled. May is brought home. She is in a fragile state and Christine assures her that no one's said anything about her but when some children shout abuse about her being "barmy" through the window, she's knows she's been the subject of widespread gossip.

Cast

Regular cast

Christine Hardman - Christine Hargreaves
Elsie Tanner - Patricia Phoenix
Dennis Tanner - Philip Lowrie
Linda Cheveski - Anne Cunningham
Ivan Cheveski - Ernst Walder
Esther Hayes - Daphne Oxenford
Annie Walker - Doris Speed
Ena Sharples - Violet Carson
Mr. Swindley - Arthur Lowe
Martha Longhurst - Lynne Carol
Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant

Guest cast

Places

Coronation Street
Rovers Return Inn - Public/snug
11 Coronation Street - Back room and hallway
13 Coronation Street - Front room
Glad Tidings Mission Hall - Vestry

Notes

First appearance of Leonard Swindley.
Unusually, this episode features a short recap from the previous episode but it is restaged and has some differing dialogue, notably that for the three women in the snug of the Rovers Return Inn.
Ena Sharples mentions Isobel Baillie, the famous Scottish soprano whose favourite work to perform was, as Martha Longhurst alludes to, Handel's Messiah.
To help viewers remember which characters live in which houses, the end credits of this episode are shown against a backdrop of an image of the street (in reality, a composite elongated photograph, the majority of which is Archie Street in Salford), which pans from the corner shop to the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, with the credits of the particular actors displayed when their character's house is on screen. In an error, the Mission Hall is shown to be adjacent to the Rovers Return Inn, even though it had been established in Episode 1 that it was across the street.
TV Times synopsis: "Continuing the everyday adventures of the people who live in Coronation-street"
Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 3,508,000 homes (chart placing unknown).
This episode was included on the following commercial releases:
- Coronation Street - The Early Days released by Granada video on 7th May 2001.
- The Network DVD collection Coronation Street: The Best of 1960-1969, released on 31st July 2006.

December 1960 episodes
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