Coronation Street Wiki
Advertisement

Fred Marsh was a canvasser for the Conservative candidate for the seat of Weatherfield in the 1964 general election. Along with the other candidates, he canvassed the residents of Coronation Street, putting leaflets through their doors and calling to their houses in person.

One residence he called at was the vestry where Ena Sharples mistook him for a salesman when he addressed her as "madam". He announced the true reason for his call but refused to answer her question as to who else in the area had given him their voting promise. Ena then commented on his looks, saying that he didn't look the type to go grouse shooting on the moors and was shocked to find that he was a local lad, brought up on Victoria Street. As Nigel Hunt, the Labour canvasser had previously grudgingly admitted to her that he had been educated at Winchester School and the London School of Economics, she wondered aloud at how upside-down the world now seemed. Getting a promise that a car would take her to the polling station, and unwilling to talk to him at that moment, she insisted he return at 8.00pm.

She made similar arrangements with Nigel Hunt and Miss Stafford from the Liberal agent's office. All three turned up within a moment of each other and were equally surprised to see the others there. Ena announced she was off to the Rovers Return Inn and was leaving them to "argue, insult one another and set the world to rights" between the three of them and she would be voting for the first one to put £2 on the old age pension. She then left, singing Land of Hope and Glory and chuckling to herself as she walked down the street.

This was a rare storyline involving national politics since the 1964 general election was the first one held since the programme began and the production team felt it couldn't be ignored. The storylining decision to show Ena's contempt for the candidates and the political system was illustrated in a statement later made by H.V. Kershaw in his 1981 autobiography that, "knowing how difficult it is to please everybody the only alternative is to displease everybody and this we did", thus showing scrupulous impartiality in the process.
Advertisement