Coronation Street stalwart - Emily Bishop

With thanks to Corrie fan Llifon Jones from North Wales for writing these wonderful profiles of some of our Corrie faves. Check back each day to see who the next stalwart will be!

Although she’s the longest running female character on the soap, Emily has no delusions of grandeur. A timid lady, she held the mantle of the spinster of Coronation Street for a decade, succeeding Esther Hayes. Her storylines during the 60s was her hunt for the man of her dreams. After jilting Leonard Swindley and dating many gentlemen, she married Ernest Bishop in 1972. Tragically, Ernest was shot dead in a wages snatch at Baldwin’s factory in 1978. Two years later, she found herself being romanced by another man, Arnold Swain. They married but she soon found out that he was a bigamist.

Aswell as holding the mantle of Street spinster for a period, she inherited Minnie Caldwell’s post as the Street’s landlady. Over the years, she has given a home to Deirdre Langton, Norman Watts and Kevin Webster. Her most famous lodgers and the ones she has had numerous comic scenes with are Percy Sugden (from 1988 to 1997) and Norris Cole (from 1999 to present). Over the years, she has had numerous occupations that include shop assistant, hospital volunteer, café manageress and wages clerk. In 2002/03, she was one of serial killer Richard Hillman’s victims, but luckily she escaped his clutches.

See also: Coronation Street stalwart - Ken Barlow