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Plot[]

It’s Sunday morning in Coronation Street: Frank and Ken step out to buy newspapers while Elsie is still furious about Ena. She goes to the vestry to confront her but Swindley, about to start a service, tells her that Ena is visiting her sister and will return at midday. Elsie takes her rage out on Dennis. She’s worried also about how to make her peace with Annie. At the Rovers, Annie herself confesses to Jack that she feels very sorry for Elsie but she is cold and haughty with the lady herself when she arrives to apologise for her actions. After Elsie’s gone, Annie tells a flummoxed Jack that if she had given her an easy time, she would have done it again. Elsie’s humiliation at Annie’s hands only makes her even more short-tempered with her own family. Doreen accidentally breaks Annie's family heirloom plate in the Rovers. Jack tells her it’s a Beaumont family heirloom and Harry offers to get Albert to fix it. Martha and Minnie overhear Elsie making threats against Ena. The Cheveskis receive a letter from a workmate of Ivan's in Canada. His photos of the affluent life there interest Linda. Swindley sees that Ena is back home and tells her that Elsie is looking for her. She goes to the Rovers where Martha stirs up trouble repeating what Elsie’s been saying. Ivan passes this news on to Elsie. The two women meet in the street and a furious row breaks out as the residents watch on. Accusations and insults fly and Dennis has to hold Elsie back from hitting Ena. She rages at Elsie that the contents of the letter are undoubtedly true and, if she had written it, she’d have signed it as she’s never been ashamed of her beliefs. Elsie realises with a shock that she’s right. The argument ends with neither of the women happy about it. Returning to the Rovers, Annie spots Albert handing Jack the repaired plate. She berates him without pausing until Doreen confesses, upon which she happily forgives her. Harry reminds everyone that the mystery isn’t over yet as they still don’t know who wrote the letter.

Cast[]

Regular cast[]

Guest cast[]

None

Places[]

Notes[]

  • This episode has no cast credits, only production credits.
  • This episode was transmitted at the slightly earlier time of 7.25pm to allow for later coverage of international football. It was the first occasion that the programme was not transmitted in its regular timeslot.
  • Both this episode and the previous one were hurriedly rewritten after the commencement of the Equity actors' strike which had started on 1st November and which necessitated the storyline being changed to explain the sudden absence of Bill Gregory.
  • Last appearance of Doreen Lostock until 4th June 1962 due to the Equity actors' strike.
  • TV Times synopsis: A feud springs up in the Street, and while sympathies are divided among the residents, Elsie becomes determined to seek out her accuser.
  • Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 7,253,000 homes (2nd place).
  • This episode was repeated on BBC2 on Monday 28th December 1992 at 8.00pm as part of an evening of programmes called Granadaland. When Granada Television began broadcasting on 3rd May 1956 one of the programmes on its opening night was A Tribute to the BBC and thirty-six years later, in view of the fact that Granada was by then the sole survivor of the original ITV stations, the BBC returned the compliment. Various programmes were shown as part of the evening, either documentaries or clip-shows, and to commence the proceedings this famous episode was repeated. It was given the name of "High Noon", by which it has been referred to by various commentators ever since. It is one of three episodes of Coronation Street to be shown on the BBC, the others being Episode 500 (27th September 1965) and Episode 700 (30th August 1967).
  • This episode was included on the following commercial releases:
  • This episode was added to streaming service BritBox in late 2020 under the Coronation Street: Greatest Episodes banner and included an introduction by William Roache.

Notable dialogue[]

Ken Barlow: "If you read a decent paper for a change you'd find there's more to worry about in this world than Elsie Tanner and her boyfriends."

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Ena Sharples: "...it's a well known fact people 'ave been talkin' about you for years!"
Elsie Tanner: "Oh, I'd expect you to know somethin' like that - every lying bit o' gossip that goes about. What you don't know, you make up - we don't need sewers round 'ere, we've got Ena Sharples!"

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Ena Sharples (following the confrontation with Elsie): "By gum... every street 'as its own Aunt Sally. You can talk 'til yer blue in the face, but if there's owt goes wrong round 'ere, I know which way the finger points."

November 1961 episodes
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