Storylines of Coronation Street

Betty Turpin's Son

At the same time, Irene Sutcliffe had decided to leave the show after six years of playing Corner Shop owner Maggie Clegg. On top of Moss's dramatic departure, Hush had decided to write a controversial storyline turn, in that Maggie's son, Gordon Clegg, was revealed to be not her own son, but the son of her sister, Betty Turpin. Sutcliffe made it known later that she felt very hurt by the storyline turn, especially at the end of her tenure with the show (the original plan was to have an old flame, Ron Cooke, come back from Africa and ask for her hand in marriage, but the maternity revelation happened in conjunction with Maggie's farewell, causing the hard feelings). In an attempt to extend an olive branch in an informal apology, Hush invited Sutcliffe to return for Christmas festivities in a couple of episodes at the end of the year, which she accepted.

Deirdre's attack

In 1977, the writers of the show wrote a controversial storyline turn for actress Anne Kirkbride and her character, Deirdre Langton. In the story, Deirdre walked home from her exercise class, and was attacked by a man who tried to rape her. He molested her, but she managed to run home. Filled with guilt and shame, she would not tell her husband, Ray, what had happened. Eventually, her thoughts turned to suicide. Deirdre decided to jump off a bridge, but was distracted when a passerby asked for directions. At that time, she had an epiphany and told Ray what had transpired.

Although the subject matter was very controversial, the storyline's execution taught many other women who had been in the same situation to tell the police, a loved one, or both, about their respective ordeals.

Rovers Return fire

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The Rovers' Return is set ablaze in 1986.

The programme moved to modernise its sets in 1986. One way the producers and writers chose to do this was to have the Rovers Return set ablaze. Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) was on the upper storey of the pub at the time, and failed to fully execute her escape. Vera Duckworth (Liz Dawn) remarked sarcastically that she was "probably smokin' in bed again," when in reality, Jack Duckworth (Bill Tarmey) had attempted to repair a fuse and, in failing to do so, accidentally sparked a fire in the fusebox which spread to the rest of the establishment.

Kevin and Sally Webster, coming home from a late-night rock concert, happened to walk past at the time, noticed the fire, and alerted the neighbours. The fire brigade eventually rescued Bet when Kevin could not, and she recovered from a case of smoke inhalation. Afterwards, she decided to knock the main area, the Select, and the Snug into one bar.

The serial killer: Richard Hillman

In 2002–3, Coronation Street featured a particularly controversial story of a serial killer, Richard Hillman (Brian Capron), who entered the storyline as a relative of the late Alma Sedgewick. Initially the character was seen offering financial advice to street residents and buying the house of Emily Bishop, in an arrangement where she would have a right to live in it for her lifetime. He then married twice-divorced Gail Platt (Helen Worth). Over the months, questions were raised about his trustworthiness, with suggestions of some irregularities in his dealings with old people elsewhere. He left a business partner, Duggie Ferguson to die after falling over a balcony. Viewers then witnessed his murder of his second wife (and her burial under concrete at a housing development he owned) while hearing of the strange death of his first wife.

In late 2002, viewers saw him subtly (and with typical Corrie humour) give his wealthy mother-in-law, Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls), grounds of questioning whether she was experiencing the onset of dementia, though such things as unlocking doors she had locked, hanging out washing that she (of course) could not remember hanging out, putting on lights she had switched off, taking a dress in to be dry-cleaned, to her surprise as she could not remember taking it in. Finally, he tried to kill her in a house fire, made to look like the result of her dementia, with the battery removed from the fire alarm. She was saved by taxi driver Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson).

In 2003, in severe financial trouble (and failing in his attempt to get his hands on Audrey's considerable wealth) viewers witnessed him try to murder Emily Bishop while all the other Street residents were at a function in the Rovers Return, only to be discovered by the woman she was babysitting for, Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw), whom he then brutally murdered, framing Aidan Critchley — his step-daughter Sarah-Louise's ostracised former boyfriend, who was sleeping rough nearby.

The storyline in February 2003 saw a number of normally conspiracy-orientated street residents, urged on by his mother-in-law who survived the fire, suspect him of Maxine's murder, with Audrey challenging him at Maxine's funeral. Audrey had realised he had made two slip ups with her; knowing there was no battery in a smoke alarm before the fire brigade had checked it (he had removed it), and leaving in the dress to be cleaned on a day when she had independent witnesses to confirm that she had been with them all that day. Emily's lodger Norris had also suspected that Richard was less-than honest in his financial dealings with his elderly clients, a belief he had held since Richard processed Emily's house conversion some time earlier. Meanwhile Ken Barlow, having seen the drunken state of Aidan — a former student of his — doubted his ability to carry out the crime. However, Audrey, Norris and Ken were boycotted by other street regulars, especially Richard's wife, Gail (who became estranged from her mother after Audrey accused him of lighting the fire in her house), Maxine's family and Emily (who survived with no memory of the attack on her) all of whom saw him as a perfect husband, neighbour and friend.

Hillman himself was racked by guilt at his actions, all the more so when it turned out that someone else whose house he owned had died the previous week, meaning that his financial problems were already solved before he tried to murder Emily and murdered Maxine. In a cruel twist of fate, he was only contacted by the daughter of the dead person after he has done his own killing, and is distraught with guilt, all the more so when he is asked out of the blue to do a reading from the Bible about judgment day at the funeral service.

One of Coronation Street's most controversial yet widely watched storylines, played out grippingly yet slowly over two years, it received critical and viewer acclaim and was one of British TV's most shocking, horrifying and moving storylines, tinged with typical Corrie black humour; many of Richard's comments (constantly asking Emily about her health, his 'concern' at Audrey's forgetfulness, etc) having macabre double meanings which the viewer got but which the characters, oblivious to his true nature and plans, don't grasp. Such was the strength of the storyline than the actor playing Hillman had his contract extended, with the original scheduled date for his exposure (Christmas 2002) being put back February 2003, when his trusting wife, Gail, finally twigged and challenged him, leading to his full and frank admission, in the belief that she would stand by him and not reveal his sordid and brutal actions. She however refused to protect him. Pursued by the police, who eventually found the remains of his second wife, he returned to kidnap his family and try to gas them in the family car, before being discovered, driving off and crashing the car into a canal. The underwater scenes that followed, staged with the help of stunt people who have worked on James Bond films, saw the death of Hillman in the car, but the survival of the rest of the family. In the aftermath, Hillman's financial dealings saw his wife and family facing the possible loss of their home, as did Emily Bishop, while the Duckworths lost their entire life savings, reducing them once again to the breadline, allowing the reintroduction of the famed 'Corrie' humour with the street's resident comic/tragic couple, Jack and Vera Duckworth.

The Hillman Hoaxer

Friday 3 February 2006 saw the start of one of the most talked about stories so far this year. It began when Sarah Platt, on her 19th birthday, received a birthday card which said, "To Sarah, I still think of you as my daughter. Weren't we a wonderful family until your mother insisted on spoiling everything? Happy birthday. Love, Richard." Since then, Gail has received other cards from the hoaxer: one a Valentine's day card, and one a condolence card (the anniversary of Hillman's death); and Audrey received a Mother's Day card from the hoaxer. On Easter Sunday 2006, the Hoaxer's campaign heated up when Gail received a birthday card which said the hoaxer was looking forward to seeing them very soon. Then Les picked a person up in his cab who appeared to be the hoaxer. When the street's gossips found out, it led to Gail having a showdown with Eileen in the Rovers on 24 April. It also led to Gail calling in the Police. However, things went from bad to worse when she saw a man that looked liked Hillman get out of a taxi; after which she resorted to sleeping pills to help her sleep. Possible suspects have been Phil Nail (Gail's boyfriend), Gail's son David, her enemy Eileen Grimshaw, undertaker Archie Shuttleworth and an evil twin/son. However, past characters have also been suspected by the soap forums, such as Aidan Critchley, who was framed for Maxine's murder by Hillman wanting to conceal the true identity of her attacker, and an internet pervert who stalked Sarah in July 2001. The hoaxer was revealed to be David Platt on 21 May 2006.

Other storylines

• On New Years Eve, 1960 May Hardman died of a brain tumor, the first charecter to be killed off.
• On September 11, 1961, Ida Barlow was struck by a bus and killed.
• In 1961 Else Tanner recieved a poison pen letter during her affair with a married man.
• In 1967, Elsie Tanner wed former GI Steve Tanner (his surname was almost changed at the last minute; no one would have changed Elsie's, since she was such a popular character) in the Street's first lavish wedding shoot. Steve Tanner was played by Canadian actor Paul Maxwell.
• In 1968 Valerie Barlow was held hostage an escaped convict and nearly raped..
• In 1969, in time to usher in colour television transmissions, the show planned an outing to the Lake District, so the viewers could see the autumn foliage in all its glory. However, there was no colour film available for the episode (leading the videotaped studio footage in colour, and the filmed exterior footage in black & white), and the first full colour episode aired was after the core cast members had been involved in a car accident on the way back from the Lake, while they were all in hospital.
• On January 27, 1971, Valerie Barlow died of a severe electric shock after her faulty hairdryer malfunctioned.
• In 1975 a warehouse fire killed Edna Gee.
• In late 1977, after vocal dissent in the press from actor Stephen Hancock, the writing staff decided to write out his character, Ernest Bishop, by having him die in a robbery attempt at Baldwin's Factory. The episode was aired in January 1978.
• In 1980, bespectacled Corner Shop owner Renee Bradshaw Roberts (Madge Hindle) was killed off after public opinion polls showed the character (as well as her marriage to Alf Roberts, played by actor Bryan Mosley) to be very unpopular. She died when a lorry driver hit her head-on while Alf was giving her driving lessons.
• In 1983, Len Fairclough died in a car accident off-camera; this was in response to the sudden sacking of Peter Adamson, who told his life story to a newspaper and breaking his contract in the process.
• In 1984, Bernard Youens's character, Stan Ogden, died in hospital (in conjunction with Youens's real-life death). The episode featuring his funeral (filmed only months following Youens's funeral) ended with his grief-stricken widow, Hilda, crying over his glasses case.
• In 1991, in an innovation the first of its kind, the Queen's Speech was broadcast by ITV in the middle of the festive episode of Coronation Street. The episode transferred to the speech by making mayor Alf Roberts announce he was going to watch it, then sit down in front of his television. When the speech was broadcast, Alf was seen getting out of his chair again.
• In 2001, it featured a controversial story on the rape of Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor), Les Battersby's teenage step-daughter.
• In 2001, it featured the death through cancer of Alma Sedgewick (Amanda Barrie), the ex-wife of Mike Baldwin.
• In 2000–2, it featured the pregnancy of thirteen year old Sarah Louise Platt (Tina O'Brien), daughter of Gail Platt, dealing with such issues as community reaction, the reaction of parents and the experience of a thirteen year old girl in having and rearing a baby. Sarah-Louise initially couldn't cope with having a child at such a young age but eventually came to view her child as the most important thing in her life.
• In 2003–4, the soap featured its first homosexual kiss when Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) kissed Nick Tilsley (played by Adam Rickitt). In the story, Nick is Gail Platt's son, with devastating results for Todd because he happened to be going out with Nick's sister Sarah-Louise Platt at the time. The storyline continued as Todd could no longer deny his sexuality and fell into a relationship with Karl Foster, a co-worker, even though he and Sarah-Louise were engaged and expecting a child.
• In 2004 Maya Sharma the spurned ex-fiancée of Dev Alahan first framed Dev's new bride Sunita Parekh, getting Sunita arrested on her wedding day. After Sunita's release, Maya firebombed all six of his shops, before holding Dev and his new bride Sunita hostage and trying to burn them to death when she set alight Dev's seventh shop.
• In 2005 Katy Harris (Lucy-Jo Hudson) beat her father, Tommy Harris, to death with a wrench. Katy and her mother Angela Harris decided it was best if they denied all knowledge of the murder. The police arrested Angela on suspicion of the murder of her husband. When in court Angela believes Katy wouldn't survive in jail so she takes the blame. Angela is sentenced to prison. Katy, who is diabetic, is feeling overwhelmed with the guilt of killing her father and sending her mother to jail, she commits suicide by drinking a bag of sugar mixed with cola and not taking her insulin. Katy's brother Craig has now lost his mother, father and sister in just one month. Katy had fallen out with her father after she commenced a relationship with Martin Platt who was at least 20 years older than her.
• 2005: Craig Harris and Rosie Webster have underage sex and are caught by Rosie's mother, Sally.
• In 2006 Archie Shuttleworth (Roy Hudd) embarked on a relationship with shopkeeper Rita, much to the chagrin of former love interest Blanche.
• In 2006 Fred Elliot died of a heart attack at Audrey Robert's house when he was supposed to be getting married to Bev Unwin. Audrey was one cause of the heart attack because she had confessed to him she still had feelings for him even though he had proposed to her twice and both times she had rejected.
• In January 2007 Tracy Barlow hit Charlie Stubbs round the head with an ornament, the conclusion of a storyline where Tracy was out for revenge against Charlie, and feigned domestic violence. Charlie expired in hospital, and Tracy faces a murder charge.