Episode 4 (21st December 1960)

Episode 4
Production code	P228/4
ITV transmission date	21st December 1960 (Wednesday)
Writer	Tony Warren
Designer	Denis Parkin
Director	Michael Scott
Producer	Stuart Latham
Navigation
Previous episode	16th December 1960
Next episode	23rd December 1960

Plot

Part One: Annie is short-tempered with Jack when she finds a glamour magazine in his bowling bag. Elsie is livid when Dennis admits that he turned down a Christmas job at the Post Office as it involved working nights. He storms out, determined to find a job. She warns him that she'll throw him out if he does anything illegal. Annie overhears Jack and Harry talking and realises it's about the magazine. They show her one of the pictured girls who is the granddaughter of a local man and tell her that's why they had the publication in their possession. Ena tells Harry there's a policeman knocking at his front door. Christine tells Esther that she feels May's come out of hospital too soon. Esther is surprised by someone she knows knocking at her back window. Ena, Minnie and Martha are interrupted in the snug by carol singers. They're from the Glad Tidings Mission Hall and catch Ena red-handed drinking.

---

Part Two: Esther's visitor is eleven-year old Lucille Hewitt, who has run away from her orphanage, wanting to be with her father for Christmas. Harry insists she goes back but she cries, feeling unwanted. Esther offers to help look after her for the holiday season. Lucille is delighted. Ena feels victimised by the Mission committee. Esther puts a reluctant Lucille up for the night as Harry has to work. Christine gets annoyed with May when she lectures her for not getting on with her well-to-do boyfriend Malcolm Wilkinson and thinks her breakdown is to blame. Ena feels dizzy but forces a confrontation with Swindley. In the middle of their argument, she suddenly collapses and he calls on Mission helper Miss Nugent to look after her while he fetches a doctor. Ivan assures Linda that he doesn't mind if they have a boy or a girl and they discuss names. To her delight, he insists they give up their flat and get a house. Dennis comes home late with a wad of money. Elsie thinks he has been up to something illegal again.

Cast

Regular cast

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

Guest cast

• May Hardman - Joan Heath

Places

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

Notes

• First appearance of Lucille Hewitt.
• The character of Miss Nugent appears in this episode as a non-speaking part but the unnamed actress is not Eileen Derbyshire, who would debut in Episode 15.
• As in Episode 2 (14th December 1960), Annie Walker states her birthday is in June whereas it is later established to be 11th August.
• Harry Hewitt tells Lucille that he has sent all her presents to the orphanage with exception of her grandad's. This goes against Thomas Hewitt's death in 1947, unless this is a reference to Lucille's (unnamed) maternal grandfather.
• 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: No synopsis appeared in the magazine between Episode 3 (16th December 1960) and Episode 25 (6th March 1961).
• Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 3,269,000 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.