Gill Collins was an unemployed friend of Sharon Gaskell who tried to warn her off Brian Tilsley in September 1982 when she realised he was a married man. Sharon discovered that Gill wouldn't be needing her bike for a couple of days and so hatched a plan to puncture the front tyre with a drawing pin and go to S & T Garage so that Brian would repair it. Although Brian knew that Sharon fancied him, he agreed to fix the puncture anyway. Gill was a regular visitor to 7 Coronation Street where Sharon was living with foster parents Len and Rita Fairclough until the end of the year when Sharon left Weatherfield having got a job placement as a kennel maid with a new set of foster parents in Sheffield.
In the summer of 1984, Gill went out with a young Terry Duckworth. She and Mandy Whitworth planned a double blind date with Terry and Kevin Webster but they had a lousy time as they bought along Elaine Pollard who proved to be one person too many. Terry set Elaine up with Curly Watts to get rid of her and planned a foursome, but had to invite Elaine and Curly so that they could use Curly's lodgings at 3 Coronation Street as a party venue. Emily Bishop approved of what she thought would be a quiet evening in and put on a buffet for them but once she left the house it turned into a wild party.
A few days later, the six of them decided to spend the day on Curly's friend's barge. Gill got Curly to agree to go by cutting his hair so that Elaine would fancy him. They were hoping to cruise along at speed but when they found out the boat couldn't go faster than 5mph everyone went to a pub instead, with Curly and Elaine staying behind to make sure the boat didn't get stolen. They ended up staying out all night as the motor conked out.
On another occasion, Curly held court in the Rovers' Snug to an attentive audience of Gill, Mandy and Elaine as he told them about his UFO sighting which he'd been interviewed about on the radio. Gill was also in the Street during the Pub Olympics, taking part in the three-legged race with Terry, but they didn't win. Gill was also present at 9 Coronation Street when the TV licence company called and caught the Duckworths using a TV without a licence.
List of appearances[]
1982[] |
1984[] |