Plot
Minnie prepares the tea for Hetty Thorpe but Ena, to her surprise, leaves her to entertain her guest alone. Billy bumps into Harold Dewhurst at the barbers and makes pointed comments about his absence from the Rovers and his and Annie’s holiday together. Ena “interrupts” Minnie’s tea. Warehouse storeman Bob Skelton fancies Irma. She pretends to be French to kid him. Annie refuses to speak to Billy about her holiday with Dewhurst. Ena sends Minnie out for three milk stouts while she tells Hetty tales of vandals and the roughness of the area. Harold calls on Annie and they laugh about the way they both fell for others on the cruise, she for an “educated rogue” called Mr Chambers and he for Mrs Stanley, a fish shop woman from Accrington. He gives Annie some holiday snaps. Billy finds them. Annie is furious to see him leafing through them. Billy thinks Harold upset her and threatens to sort him out. Hetty turns down the job, saying her sister is poorly. Alf worries what Ena would say if she knew she was second choice. Bob tells fellow storeman Keith Mason about the French girl in the Corner Shop. He goes in there himself and this time she pretends to be from Belfast. Alf and Ernie call on Ena and offer her the job. She gets an admission from them that she wasn’t first choice, nevertheless she takes it after making them wriggle for a while. Harold turns up at the Rovers with a woman. Billy sends Annie in the back and then throws Harold and the woman out. He tells Annie she won’t be bothered again.
Cast
Regular cast
- Ena Sharples - Violet Carson
- Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant
- Stan Ogden - Bernard Youens
- Billy Walker - Kenneth Farrington
- Irma Barlow - Sandra Gough
- Maggie Clegg - Irene Sutcliffe
- Emily Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire
- Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson
- Ray Langton - Neville Buswell
- Alf Roberts - Bryan Mosley
- Ernest Bishop - Stephen Hancock
- Annie Walker - Doris Speed
- Betty Turpin - Betty Driver
Guest cast
- Hetty Thorpe - Margery Withers
- Harold Dewhurst - Stuart Saunders
- Ralph Frankland - Frank Sieman
- Bob Skelton - Sid Livingstone
- Keith Mason - Tony Milner
- Mrs Dewhurst - Bara Chambers
Places
- Coronation Street exterior
- Rovers Return Inn - Public/Snug, hallway and back room
- 5 Coronation Street - Back room and hallway
- Corner Shop
- Mark Brittain Warehouse - Loading bay
- Barber shop
Notes
- On Saturday 22nd May 1971 Westward Television had launched their full-colour service and this was therefore the first episode to be seen in colour in that region.
- The scene on the Grape Street set and in the warehouse loading bay was OB recorded.
- A second barber in the shop with Ralph Frankland is uncredited although he has lines of dialogue.
- TV Times synopsis: The truth about Annie's cruise.
- Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 7,850,000 homes (1st place).
| May 1971 episodes |
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