Episode 700 (30th August 1967)

Plot[]

Part One: The residents are on their respective day trips. Lucille has a letter from the Hewitts saying that they are coming over for a visit and Elsie says they can come to the wedding. Coach driver Frank Hoyle makes it clear to Elsie that he fancies her. Meanwhile, Dennis prepares to steer a horse-drawn barge full of the men, including Gregg, through the canal. Len and Stan bring the crate of beer on board. The women admire the gardens at Tatton Park. To get rid of Frank, Elsie throws the coach keys into an ornamental fountain. Minnie is courted by Herbert Whittle, an man at house. The women move inside the house to admire its rooms. The men get stuck in the mud of the canal. Their horse, Horace, keeps refusing to move but Dennis manages to persuade him. Albert is seasick. Frank continues to pester Elsie. Minnie thinks Herbert is "Lord Tatton Park". Trying to get through a lock, the men are horrified when the crate of beer falls into the water. The women eat at a cafe in the grounds where Frank is forced to sit at the same table as Ena and Minnie. Both parties are shocked when the barge rises up out of the lock right next to the cafe.

Part Two: Stan and Jack are forced to go back and look round the house by Annie and Hilda. Set up by Steve, Emily drags Gregg to the library. Val takes Steve away from Elsie for a word in private. Herbert gives Ena and Minnie their private tour of the house. Ena finds out he's only a local man who frequently visits the house to avoid his daughter. Val tells Steve not to mess Elsie about and that if he doesn't intend to love her forever he shouldn't marry her. He assures her he does. Jack and Stan are unimpressed by the house and Stan receives a lecture from Irma for neglecting his wife. Len finds a new stock of beer and the men run off to resume their barge trip. Irma hurriedly runs to say goodbye to them when Frank turns his attentions on her. Emily rescues her by offering to take Frank to the library. Steve tells Elsie he's busy all weekend so won't see her until the wedding on Monday. Elsie, Irma and Emily wave the menfolk off as they continue onwards.

Cast[]

Regular cast[]

Guest cast[]

Places[]

Tatton Park - House, including the music room, library, dining room, gardens and Japanese garden
Cheshire country lane
Canal, including canalside tea shop and lock

Notes[]

This was the first episode of Coronation Street to be made totally on location with no indoor studio scenes. Outside broadcast videotaping took place at Tatton Park (whose grounds were later used by Granada for scenes in Brideshead Revisited) and on the Macclesfield Canal at Bosley Locks, specifically Lock No.1 which is situated on the north side of Bullgate Lane. The scene where the crate of ale falls into the water was recorded under Bridge 54 where Bullgate Lane crosses the canal. The tearoom is Higher Lock Cottage on the western side of the canal adjacent to Lock No.1 and it can also be seen in the far background of the episode's closing shot. Despite the boat travelling some distance in the episode, all the scenes were recorded within a few hundred yards of each other. Also, unlike in the narrative, no canal goes through the grounds of Tatton Park and Bosley Locks is some 16 miles from the park. The recording of the park sequences began on Thursday 17th August 1967. No date is known for the recording of the canal scenes, but the Staffordshire Sentinel reported in its issue of 9th August 1967 that the canalboat Iona was undertaking a four-day journey to Bosley to enable recording to take place, "in the next fortnight". The scenes were in all probability recorded in the days immediately before the Tatton Park shoot.
The narrowboat Iona, was built in 1935 under the name Bellerophon. It was renamed in 1963 and for many years was available for hire from the Godalming Packetboat Company on the River Wey in Surrey. Following the company's closure, Iona moved to Tiverton Canal Co. on 28th August 2020, and now operates on the Grand Western Canal in Tiverton, Devon.
Producer Jack Rosenthal devised this episode as a treat for the cast. In Daran Little's 1995 book The Coronation Street Story he said, "I went to see Cecil Bernstein [joint-founder of Granada television] and said, 'For years and years, these people have been coming into the studio every Monday and working until Friday night. I think it’s a treadmill and we need to break it.'" He proposed filming an entire episode in one week, all on location and with the cast put up in a plush hotel. To his surprise, Bernstein agreed, even though this one episode cost the same as two normal episodes. The cast were not appreciative of Rosenthal’s efforts on their behalf as they viewed his "treadmill" to be a cherished routine. Also, they did not enjoy a week of constant location work: "When they got out into the country they hated it. One of them hated walking on grass because there were worms in it, another one couldn’t act in the open air because of the butterflies, and they drove me crazy for the whole week. I went mad and regretted it."
The full title sequence isn't shown, but cuts to a location shot over which the programme title is shown immediately after the usual film shot of the rooftops of Ordsall. This shot, together with the sequence of the ladies having a coach stop, was recorded in Bullgate Lane, a few yards west of the Lock No.1 canal bridge with Beehive Cottage being seen in the background.
TV Times: No synopsis appeared in the magazine between Episode 678 (14th June 1967) and Episode 701 (4th September 1967)
Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 7,600,000 homes (2nd place).
This episode was repeated on BBC Four on Saturday 5th June 2004 at 7.05pm as part of a Summer in the Sixties season of various 1960s programmes. It was shown again the following month, on Sunday 18th July again at 7.05pm as part of a retrospective season of the work of Jack Rosenthal following the death of the writer two months earlier. It is one of three episodes of Coronation Street to be shown on the BBC, the others being Episode 95 (8th November 1961) and Episode 500 (27th September 1965).
This episode was included in the Network DVD collection Coronation Street: The Best of 1960-1969, released on 31st July 2006.

August 1967 episodes
← Wed 2nd • Mon 7th • Wed 9th • Mon 14th Wed 16th • Mon 21st • Wed 23rd • Mon 28th • Wed 30th →