A very Corrie Christmas!

One of the many things that I have loved about Corrie over the years, is the use of the Christmas episodes for either a bit of fun or something sentimental and heart-warming. Not for them the site of a main character dropping dead under a Christmas tree or the revelation of a squalid affair. Maybe I'm looking at things through rose (or eve Rosie) tinted glasses. Let's join the Ghost of Weatherfield Christmas Past to learn the truth . . .

1960 - a less than jolly holiday for Ena Sharples. She collapses after being caught boozing in the Rovers by Leonard Swindley.

More misery for Ena in 1961 when she chokes on sixpences hidden in Minnie Caldwell's Christmas pudding.



"And a pint of whisky for Miss Nugent . . ."

 It's 1962 and, in what one can only hope is a long-forgotten storyline, Emily is plied with tranquilisers and whisky. Well, it was the swinging sixties . . .

Residents gather in the Mission Hall for a special Christmas 1963 staging of "This is Your Life" with Annie Walker as the guest. There are rare appearances from Joan and Billy Walker.

1964 - and it's pantomime time! Oh no it isn't! Yes it is actually, and Len Fairclough gets a custard pie in the face. The whole cast sing the Beatles hit "She loves you" at the close of proceedings. What, even Ena?

The highlight of Christmas 1965 is David Barlow's torn knee ligament. I kid you not.

Ooh heck! With a storyline worthy of Walford, Ena Sharples looks on as her daughter dies. Merry Christmas 1966.

"Now who knows the chorus to 'Smack my Bitch Up'?"

1967 brings the warm glow of nostalgia and a Rovers singsong. That's more like it!

Free from her early tranquiliser hell, Emily throws herself at the vicar. Everyone else gets drunk in the Rovers and the usual singsong ensues, 1968 style.

"By crikey Emily Nugent you're a dark horse!"

It's the end of the decade and there is a concert in the Rovers Select. Ena and Emily sing "Cockles and Mussels", Minnie recites "The Owl and the Pussycat" and Val strips down to her bra. That last one wasn't true . . .

A decade then filled with Ena either being ill or leading drunken carousing at the piano. All hail Emily Nugent too, drug-taking, whisky-swilling, vicar-baiting floozy that she was.

Coming soon - The Seventies!