Susan "Sue" Clayton was the daughter of Harry and Connie Clayton and younger sister of Andrea Clayton. The Claytons lived at 11 Coronation Street from January to August 1985.
Biography[]
Sue Clayton moved into 11 Coronation Street with the rest of her family in January 1985. Sue was a somewhat cheeky teenager who had left school and was now looking for a job; at times she seemed to think she was more grown up than her older sister Andrea who was still studying.
Sue had a few interviews, one of which was for factory Birtwistles, before getting a job at Elliston's Bakery, although her first day was overshadowed by a family squabble with the Duckworths. Sue mostly stayed out of the dispute but cottoned onto the fact that Andrea was secretly seeing Terry Duckworth when Kevin Webster asked her about Michelle Robinson, who Andrea was supposedly hanging out with. She later caught them snogging on the sofa but kept quiet, knowing the trouble it would cause.
When Andrea got pregnant by Terry, the war between the families worsened and Harry and Connie decided to uproot the family again, so that Andrea's baby could be raised away from the Duckworths. Sue wanted to stay in Coronation Street but the family moved anyway. In 1986, Sally Seddon mentioned that Sue was still living in Weatherfield and working at Elliston's Bakery.
Personality[]
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Background information[]
The Clayton family was created by Producer Mervyn Watson in January 1985. Watson felt the programme was missing an everyday nuclear family and created Claytons as a stable, happy couple with two teenage children. It was intended that they would be given smaller, relatable storylines and would work as a contrast to the more dysfunctional families in the Street.
The Claytons were written out after less than a year, as they failed to make an impact on writers and viewers. Watson felt they didn't fit in the Street. Watson: "The Claytons seemed to get stuck. It's always quite a complicated, organic thing, planting a whole family. It's down to us to make the right choices. Once we've made the right choice there is an intangible thing which you can't predict which only becomes evident on the screen." (The Coronation Street Story, 1995)
In July 2019, Jane Hazlegrove returned to Coronation Street in the role of Bernie Winter, making her the only actor in the programme's history to have portrayed two regular characters. She is also one of only seven actors who have played a regular character in the show and gone on to make a subsequent appearance in any separate role (ironically, two of the other six are Johnny Leeze and Susan Brown, who played Sue Clayton's parents Harry and Connie Clayton).
First and last lines[]
"'Err, Terry, d'ya know owt about Hi-fi? I've been tryin' to fit up me speakers but all the sound seems to be comin' from the same place." (First line)
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"I'll do me packing when I get back." (Final line, to father Harry)
Appendices[]
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