Coronation Street Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Stanley Fairclough was Len Fairclough's son. In 1961, when Stanley was at Bessie Street School, teacher Ken Barlow made him go out in the snow with a bad chest. Len threatened Ken when he suggested Stanley was a liar.

By his own admission, Len was a bad husband and father, and he often ignored Stanley and Nellie to drink and socialise. In December 1962, Nellie decided she'd had enough and left home to live in Nottingham with insurance agent Harry Bailey, taking Stanley with her. Len didn't stop them but asked Ken to keep an eye on Stanley at school for him.

When Nellie died in 1964, Bailey asked Len if he wanted to look after Stanley but after consideration Len decided Stanley should stay in Nottingham.

In September 1967, Bailey sent Stanley to Weatherfield to visit Len, hearing from Jerry Booth that Len was depressed. In the years between, Stanley had grown into a man who looked down on his "small and grimy" roots and who wasn't afraid to show his contempt for Len. Len felt he owed it to Stanley to make an effort with him and overlooked his cheek and disrespect, and instead took an interest in his education, setting him up with a place at Granston Technical College and showing him the ropes at the Builder's Yard. When Stanley refused to change his attitude towards him, Len realised he was wasting his time and washed his hands of Stanley. Stanley was about to leave Weatherfield when he accidentally started a fire in the yard office, trapping him and Len. They were rescued and during a brief period where it wasn't clear if Len would make a full recovery, Stanley expressed remorse for his behaviour, but when he learned that his dad would be okay, Stanley immediately returned home to Nottingham.

Stanley got on with his life, and had little to no contact with Len. In 1976, working as a draughtsman for a chemical firm, Stanley got friendly with canteen manageress Liz Brocklebank. By the end of the year they'd got engaged and fixed a date, 4th April, for the wedding. Liz was close to her family and wanted to meet Len before the nuptials, despite Stanley trying to put her off. After a lot of badgering, Stanley agreed to a visit in the first week of January 1977.

Len made an effort with Stanley, as he wanted to forgive and forget but Stanley wasn't nearly as accommodating, only tolerating the visit for Liz's sake, hoping that once she'd met Len they could put the issue to bed; however Liz liked Len and, to Stanley's horror, invited him to the wedding. Before returning to Nottingham, Stanley told Len that he wasn't to go to the wedding and that he should come up with an excuse. As Len was only planning on going if the invitation came from Stanley, he backed out, but didn't invite him to his wedding to Rita Littlewood later in April either.

In February 1984, several months after Len's death in a car crash, Stanley wrote to Rita telling her he was unemployed. Rita ignored the letter, as it was obvious he wanted money.

Stanley len

Peter Adamson with Peter Noone as Stanley

Pictured right is Len with Stanley as played by Peter Noone, later of the successful 1960s rock group Herman's Hermits (although worth noting is the "Fairclough and Booth" sign in the background, indicating the picture was taken later than 1961, when Noone made his sole appearance as Stanley). Pictured in infobox is Jonathan Coy as Stanley.

List of appearances[]

As played by Peter Noone:
1961

As played by Ronald Cunliffe:
1967

As played by Jonathan Coy:
1977

External links[]

Advertisement