Episode 1770
Production code	P694/770
ITV transmission date	2nd January 1978 (Monday)
Stories by	Esther Rose Peter Tonkinson
Script editor	Leslie Duxbury
Writer	H.V. Kershaw
Designer	Eric Deakins
Director	George Spenton-Foster
Producer	Bill Podmore
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Previous episode	28th December 1977
Next episode	4th January 1978

PlotEdit

Len has a black eye, he swears vengeance. Annie reprimands Fred for fighting Len. Fred refuses to pay Ray any money for the coffee table. Hilda decides to camp out for Perkins sale to buy a colour TV for £5. The residents hang around the Rovers in the hope of a fight. Hilda camps outside the store. Len hits Fred in the Rovers. Rita drags him home. Hilda is horrified when a meths-drinking tramp, Ozzie, camps down with her.

CastEdit

Regular castEdit

• Annie Walker - Doris Speed
• Rita Fairclough - Barbara Knox
• Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson
• Alf Roberts - Bryan Mosley
• Hilda Ogden - Jean Alexander
• Bet Lynch - Julie Goodyear
• Eddie Yeats - Geoffrey Hughes
• Renee Bradshaw - Madge Hindle
• Stan Ogden - Bernard Youens
• Elsie Howard - Patricia Phoenix
• Fred Gee - Fred Feast
• Ray Langton - Neville Buswell
• Mike Baldwin - Johnny Briggs
• Ernest Bishop - Stephen Hancock
• Emily Bishop - Eileen Derbyshire

Guest castEdit

• Ozzie - Denis Carey

PlacesEdit

• Rovers Return Inn - Public
• 9 Coronation Street - Back room/kitchen
• 13 Coronation Street - Back room and kitchen
• Corner Shop
• Perkins - Exterior

NotesEdit

• The part of Ozzie was written for Laurence Olivier who was a fan of Jean Alexander's portrayal of Hilda Ogden and agreed to take part in the programme. At the last minute re-shoots on a film prevented him appearing in Coronation Street. Bill Podmore states that the film in question was Marathon Man but as that was released in October 1976 it was undoubtedly another production, possibly The Boys from Brazil.
• TV Times synopsis: What's Hilda Ogden after when she starts her all-night vigil at the sales? Tension mounts as the Rovers' regulars sense impending violence…
• Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 13,493,000 viewers (19th place).