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Plot[]

Swindley returns to the street from Hilda Barnett's, having heard about Martha's death. Ena lays Martha out herself in the vestry bedroom and she and Albert take turns watching over her. Stuart Hodges pays his respects and meets Swindley. They agree that the funeral arrangements must be left to her frequently absent daughter Lily Haddon who, along with husband Wilf, goes through 7 Mawdsley Street to find her mother's insurance policies. They find that for nine months she had been taking glyceryl trinitrate for a heart condition that she had never told anyone about. Lily regrets that she had never got on with her mother. A happy Minnie returns from her convalescent holiday in Southport and goes straight to the Rovers. Len gently breaks the news of Martha's death to her and she breaks down. She goes to the vestry but refuses to see the body. Neither she nor Ena can understand why Martha never told them she was ill. A Whit walk goes down the street, watched by the residents. The regulars remember Martha. Insurance man George Entwistle tells Lily and Wilf that Martha's policies come to only £22, 4s and 9d and they'll have to pay the rest of the funeral for themselves. Ena calls on the Haddons and insists the funeral tea is held in the vestry. Minnie joins her at Martha's house and they look through her belongings. They find a record made on Blackpool's Golden Mile on which she swears her love for a strange man named Phil and they sing I'll String Along With You to each other. Ena dates the recording to 1934 when Percy Longhurst went off on a trip with another woman. She's pleased to know her old friend once had some fun in her life.

Cast[]

Regular cast[]

Guest cast[]

Places[]

Notes[]

Notable dialogue[]

Leonard Swindley (about Martha Longhurst): "I always found her very willing."
Ena Sharples: "You found her catty and nasty and don't claim anything else, Leonard Swindley. She wasn't the biggest comedian we had round here but she was good company for me."

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Annie Walker: "Well I remember the time when widows wore black for at least three months. Nowadays you're laid out in one, buried in three, forgotten in five."

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Len Fairclough (about Martha Longhurst): "She always looked as though she'd lost a quid and found a ha'penny".

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Ena Sharples: "Well, that's one summer she got a kiss without a kick coming after it, though God knows, one summer in sixty-eight isn't all that much to live for."

May 1964 episodes
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