Here we go with the second of nine guest blog posts from David at Corriepedia as their site celebrates 10 years online!
Hello! Flaming Nora has kindly agreed to host a blog post from me relating to the tenth anniversary of Corriepedia, the Coronation Street Wiki. After some thinking, I've decided to expand on something my friend and fellow admin John brought up in his interview with the wonderful Conversation Street podcast last week.
To help readers understand why these episodes are so special, and why David from Corriepedia rates them as hidden gems, you might want to read his original blog post here which explains all.
Here we go with the second of nine. The remaining seven gems will be blogged every morning for the next eight days.
Jack gets locked out (#125, 21/2/62)
"Dennis Tanner, first thing tomorrow morning I'm gonna see the club man about you, there must be some way of insuring against you!"
The Equity strike of 1961/2 limited Corrie to its fourteen (later thirteen) surviving regulars, resulting in a slower pace, restricted storylines and a smaller Weatherfield (well, Weatherfield hadn't been named yet, but go with me on this). On the positive side, the programme became more experimental and we got some unusual pairings. It was Coronation Street at its most episodic with one only storyline running at a time.
Here, with Annie visiting Joan in Derby, Jack Walker has made the dubious decision to employ Dennis Tanner as a temporary barman. It ends as you'd expect, with Dennis accidentally locking the pair of them out of the Rovers after closing time. The stage is set for a classic farce, as Minnie and Martha overhear Elsie shouting down to Jack from her bedroom to come inside to warm up, Jack falls off Ivan's ladder leading to speculation about him drinking the profits and Annie makes an unexpected return and walks into the Tanners' just in time to hear Elsie complimenting Jack on his legs. Brilliant stuff.
After the ad break we pick up the next day. Where a lesser programme would have a tedious row between the Walkers we instead have Annie believing that nothing went on between Jack and Elsie - but that doesn't mean Jack is off the hook. After getting the last word, Annie declares the subject closed.
The only cutaway from Jack's nocturnal activities comes at the end when Concepta Hewitt announces her pregnancy to Harry, setting up next week's story.
See: Hidden Gem No. 1
Hidden Gem 3 will be blogged tomorrow. And don't forget to check out Corriepedia and follow them on Twitter too.
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3 comments:
Absolutely loving these. When did Weatherfield get its first on screen mention?
Thanks Keggie! As regards Weatherfield, we're not 100% sure but we think it was first mentioned in July 1962 on the back of of Jerry Booth's Weatherfield Harriers shirt (where it was spelled Wetherfield). Before that, the writers would go out of their way not to mention the town's name - for example in 1961 David Barlow played for Weatherfield County but the team was consistently referred to simply as "County".
Very interesting, thank you David.
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