Plot
Part One: Esther drops off Lucille at No.13 for the day. She admires the dress that Christine has for the rugby club dance but the lady herself is dissatisfied with it. She and May argue over her bolero jacket made to go with it and Christine storms out. May again has a bad head and sits down, feeling faint. Elsie worries sick over Dennis who has been down to the police station three times since Friday but still won’t tell her what’s wrong. May has to go to the market and leaves Lucille alone in the house. As soon as she has gone, the young girl starts to investigate the dress. Ena is convinced she's going to die and tells Martha she’s not welcome when she visits her in hospital. Elsie gets annoyed at “New Year” carollers but nevertheless hands them money. She frets that Dennis won’t return home. Christine comes home and finds Lucille wearing her dress. Furious, she forces it off her and finds that it’s marked.
Part Two: May manages to get the mark off and Esther borrows a silk stole from Ida for Christine to wear. Malcolm collects her. Dennis comes home and tells Elsie that the police suspect him of breaking and entering a shop and he has no alibi. Martha tells Minnie that she’s considering legal action against Ena. Harry mentions to a delighted Elsie in the Rovers that he saw Dennis at the dogs himself and he’s willing to tell the police. Ivan tells Dennis who is preparing to pack and run off from trouble. At night, the hospital staff find that Ena has discharged herself. Returning from the dance, Christine and Malcolm see her arrive back home in a taxi.
Cast
Regular cast
- Christine Hardman - Christine Hargreaves
- Elsie Tanner - Patricia Phoenix (Credited as "Pat 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
- Jack Walker - Arthur Leslie
- Annie Walker - Doris Speed
- Ena Sharples - Violet Carson
- Martha Longhurst - Lynne Carol (Credited as "Lyn Carol")
- Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant
Guest cast
- May Hardman - Joan Heath
- Ron Bailey - Ray Mort
- Vera Lomax - Ruth Holden
- Malcolm Wilkinson - Anthony Booth
- Day Nurse - Christine Shaw
- Night Nurse - Louise Jervis
- Children - Elisabeth Butler, Joy Nicholson
Places
- Coronation Street
- Rovers Return Inn - Public/snug
- 11 Coronation Street - Back room
- 13 Coronation Street - Front room and hallway
- Viaduct Street
- Hospital - Women’s ward
Notes
- Concepta Riley (Doreen Keogh) and Mr Swindley (Arthur Lowe) are both credited but do not appear.
- Also credited are the Singers of the Boy's Choir, St. John's Church, Oldham (Choirmaster: H. Winterbottom) who appear as a group of carol singers in the street.
- Part Two begins with May Hardman playing the piano and not the usual Eric Spear theme.
- 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 - 3,275,000 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.
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