50 Years Of Corrie In 50 Days – 1992

Day 32 of our 50 day countdown of Coronation Street - written by blogger Sunny Jim.

Since his arrival on Coronation Street the character of Jim McDonald had been pretty one-dimensional. He shouted at his sons, hurled insults at other characters and condescended to his wife, Liz. But 1992 saw the culmination of a story that melted the hearts of the viewers as the McDonald family came to terms with the loss of a baby. Liz had been surprised to find out she was pregnant and initially considered an abortion before Jim talked her out of it, pointing out that this was her last realistic opportunity of having another child. Steve had been involved with a gang selling stolen car radios and after Andy was beaten up as a warning to him, he went on the run. Liz was worried that Steve was lying dead somewhere and with the stress of the situation she went into labour prematurely. Baby Katie was born on January 1st 1992 but sadly died the following day. In the aftermath Jim was shown to be caring, sensitive and supportive and at last the viewers started to warm to him.

1992 was a year of weddings with no fewer than three marriages taking place within the space of a month. The first pair to tie the knot was Terry Duckworth and his pregnant girlfriend Lisa Horten. Terry had been allowed out of jail for the day accompanied by two prison officers but Vera persuaded them to remove his handcuffs for a wedding photograph. Seizing the opportunity, Terry did a runner leaving Lisa wondering if he’d only got married so that he could escape from prison. When he was eventually apprehended in Bettabuy’s car park he assured her that the wedding was genuine and he really did love her.

A week later the residents gathered at the register office to witness the wedding of Rita Fairclough and Ted Sullivan. Only one of the guests, Audrey Roberts, knew the real pain behind the smiles of the happy couple. Rita had broken down at her hen party and confessed to Audrey that Ted had a brain tumour and wasn’t long for this world. Three months later Rita found Ted asleep on a bench and realised that he was in fact dead.

Finally we saw the long awaited wedding between Mike Baldwin and Alma Sedgewick. Alma had been cited as co-respondent in the divorce between Mike and Jackie Ingram and she was distraught. After Mike told her that he had her name removed at the cost of thousands of pounds she happily agreed to marry him. However, the day before the wedding Jackie informed her that it had been Mike’s idea all along to cite Alma and she had doubts about going through with the wedding and only made up her mind to go through with it at the last minute: ‘The only sin I’ve committed, Mike, is knowing you. And I’ll be regretting that for the rest of my life.’

Also in 1992: Raquel takes up with Des Barnes; Tommy Duckworth born; Alec Gilroy sails away with Sunliners; Bet back in charge at the Rovers; Denise Osbourne opens salon; Mark Redman ages 2 years; Curly Watts buys no. 7 and puts a telescope in loft; Martin Platt trains as a nurse; Don Brennan attempts suicide.