Who knew the Corrie cast had green fingers?

I love this story. Last night I was reading former Coronation Street producer Bill Podmore's memoir about his life working on Corrie, and it's a great read. Some of the stories are familiar, and one in particular I had heard of before but it really makes me smile. 

Apparently the Coronation Street green room, where the cast relax between recording scenes, has a permanent fixture in the form of a very large, lustrous plant. It was originally brought into Granada way back in 1961 by Noel Dyson, who played Ken mother, Ida Barlow. She left it as a present to the cast when she was written out that year. 

Despite the dankness of the original green room the plant flourished and was tended to by many of the Corrie cast. Bill Podmore recounted how Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) even crossed a picket line during an industrial dispute to water the plant and keep it thriving. I don't know about you, but I never had Pat Phoenix down as a Percy Thrower type! In the late 70s and early 80s the green room was moved and the plant started to die. It was at this point several of the cast began to think Coronation Street was cursed!

At that time there had been several instances of bad luck which coincided with the poor health of the plant. Many of the Street's longstanding actors either left or died, including Jack Howarth, Bernard Youens, Peter Dudley and Violet Carson. Doris Speed also retired. The cast began to think the survival of the plant meant the survival of the show! Apparently this had a lot to do with Bill Roache's druid beliefs, but we won't explore that any further!


I had heard about this plant before. A few years ago I read Amanda Barrie's autobiography - another excellent read. Amanda recounted how the plant went missing at the time of Corrie's 40th anniversary. The green room was being tarted up as Prince Charles was due to visit. Several of the cast panicked when they couldn't locate the plant - Amanda eventually found it in a skip and brought it back to life.

Anyway, I love this rather sweet little story, and I wonder if the plant is still thriving in the green room today? If the suspicions of the original Corrie cast are true, I certainly hope so!


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