Coronation Street Blog: Gone and Forgotten: An investigation into Weatherfield’s neglected gravestones

Sunday, 17 April 2022

Gone and Forgotten: An investigation into Weatherfield’s neglected gravestones

It was a relief on Friday night to finally be able to mourn the tragic passing of Rick Neelan, beloved father of Kelly and cherished husband of Laura. But it got me thinking – what has become of our other dearly departed friends? Presumably Weatherfield Council and the relatives of those who are no longer with us take good care of their graves, right?

Wrong. My investigation uncovered that, while ample interment facilities appear to exist in Weatherfield (take a look at this beautiful spot, for example), it would appear that a number of headstones have been left to rot – many, in fact, simply dumped with apparently little respect for the dead.

Take Judy Mallett, who sadly died unexpectedly in 1999. As far as we know, her remaining family are in Blackpool – just an hours’ drive from Weatherfield. Yet when Coronation Street moved to its new home at MediaCityUK at the end of 2013 (yes, I’m switching between real life and fiction here), Judy’s headstone was simply left behind. Its whereabouts are unknown.

Judy's headstone, pictured in 2017 at Old Granada Studios.

Some headstones did make it over to MediaCityUK though, but they too appear to have been treated with the same disdain. As part of my investigation, I discovered poor Joe McIntyre’s headstone discarded by some bins – much in the same way as we found baby Paul Connor's back in 2015.

Joe’s headstone, possibly neglected due to Gail's busy cemetery-visiting schedule.

In contrast, Stan Ogden was able to rest with a bit more dignity – at some point placed in a nice little planter on Victoria Street for 1990s Granada Studios visitors to pay their respects to him, and, I suppose, the late Bernard Youens who played him.

Photo credit: @simongodley

But what became of Stan’s grave? Leaked CCTV footage shows a man tampering with a number of headstones believed to belong to Weatherfield residents. My investigation was unable to identify the individual, but anybody with information should contact Weatherfield Police on 0161 496 7741.

Local undertaker, Shuttleworth's Independent Funeral Services, was approached for information but declined to comment.

Fictional investigations aside, I would actually love to know what happened to Judy's headstone. If you have any ideas, please tweet me @gaddasisbadass!