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Can Gail get to the wedding in time to save her Nick?
5 January 1998

Coronation Street tearaways Leanne Battersby and Nick Tilsley have become the Romeo and Juliet of the soaps by running away to Scotland where they plan to wed. Heart-throb Nick, alias Adam Ricket, and his mischievous girlfriend Leanne, played by Jane Danson, decide to tie the knot after Nick springs a surprise proposal. The pair have been causing trouble in the fictional town of Weatherfield since the Battersby family moved in last year and streetwise Lianne caught Nick's eye.

In the current drama the couple are seen accosting two strangers to act as their witnesses. And while their plans are, for the time being, kept secret from the residents of Weatherfield at least one gets wind of their hairbrained scheme. Filming of the drama took place on the steps of Salford Register Office yesterday, with Leanne braving freezing rain in a long white wedding gown and silver tiara. Nick looked more sheepish in a baggy shirt and suede jacket.

But fans of the soap will have to wait until January 30 to see if the young lovers actually get married - or whether there is a last minute-hitch. One thing is for sure - the thousands of star-stuck viewers who swamp heart-throb Adam with fanmail will be hoping his screen mum Gail gets there in time to bring the whole event to a shuddering halt.

A spokeswoman for Granada, which makes the show, said: "We want to keep secret whether they actually marry or if something happens to stop them."

A Finer Side of Spider
7 January 1998 from 'The Diary' by Carl Palmer

Coronation Street's dreadlocked veggie, Martin Hancock, is currently enthralling viewers as the eco-warrior Spider. And although he's confessed to being a meat-eater in real life, I was happy to see that he's also fond of some of life's other creature comforts.

The other night I spotted him quaffing at Manchester's trendy watering hole, Mash and Air, where he was better dressed than his scruffy Corrie character. Actor Martin, 25, who plays Emily Bishop's great-nephew, is modelled on real life eco-warrior and tunneller Swampy. For the show he had to undergo a complete change of appearance, which includes multi-coloured hair, courtesy of Coronation Street's makeup department.

His bizarre wheezes on behalf of the planet include chaining himself to the banisters belonging to long-suffering Emily - as a practice run for his campaign against developers aiming to exploit the Red Rec recreation ground.

In terms of Swampy's outlook, Martin makes no secret of his admiration for the genuine eco-warrior. He says: "I think good on him making a stand. It's not something I'd have been able to do."

Crossing the Street
Friday 16 January 1998 by John Highfield; from the Sheffield Star

Coronation Street is continuing its controversial battle to stay at the top of the ratings with the introduction of the first transsexual character in British television soaps.

Recent Weatherfield storylines have included the revelation of barmaid Sam's sexual torment, the arrival of the Battersby's - the neighbours from hell and the Street's first environmental campaing, while Deirdre Rachid's current torment over two-timing lover Jon made the show the nation's favourite over Christmas and New Year.

But there's likely to be a strom of outrage, particularly from older viewers, when newcomer Hayley Patterson (played by Julie Hesmondhalgh) starts working at Firmin's Freezers supermarket and strikes up a relationship with timid cafe owner Roy Cropper - before revealing she's actually a man !

Fans of the 37-year-old Granada show will see Hayley overcome her shyness as the relationship with Roy develops. But, as their feelings deepen, she will be forced to confess to him that she is still awaiting the operation that will see her transformed from a man into a woman.

Newest Resident On The Street Moves In On The Faithful With A Big Change
Saturday 17 January 1998 by Kamal Ahmed
There have been steamy love affairs, tragic deaths and a crime rate that makes downtown New York appear somewhat sleepy. But in the ever desperate search for storylines with fizz Corornation Street is to introduce the first transsexual character into a British soap.

Hayley Patterson will be introduced to the Weatherfield faithful in a fortnight. A lowly clerk with Firman's Freezers she will test the vales of the Street's rather conservative audience to breaking point. "It's never been tackled before in a soap and we felt it was challenge for the Street," said producer Brian Park, brought in just over a year ago to give the programme's story lines a bit of oomph. "We are approaching it sensitively. We'll get to know Hayley as a person, not a soap-box cause."

Hayley will be played by little-known actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, aged 27, whose previous experience includes bit-parts in The Bill and a mini- series. With a commitment bordering on the de Niro-esque, Hesmondhalgh immersed herslef in books about transsexuals before taking on the part. "The point about transsexuals is that they want to blend in. I keep my chin tucked in and my head down and my hands in front of me or under the table, because she would want to conceal her masculine hands. She is terrified of anything that might give her away."

The move markes a departure for Coronation Street which has traditionally steered clear of the more controversial subject matter of incest, child abuse and lesbian love affairs which have been Brookside's meat and drink. It is part of Park's strategy to make the programme more "realistic", with tougher story line and less humour. Out have gone Derek and Thelma [sic] Wilton and stories about missing gnomes and in have come Kevin and Sally Webster's love quadrangle (both are having affairs).

The developments have been successful, with the soap opening up a healthy lead over EastEnders, which has had some of it's lowest ratings for years.

Ex-miners in protest camp at fat cat's gates
Thursday 22 January 1998 by Seamus Milne
Redundant Derbyshire miners have launched a round-the-clock 'fat cat' protest at the Cambridgeshire mansion of a company chief executive after picking up the idea from an episode of Coronation Street last week.

The former pitmen have invited the tunnelling eco-campaigner Swampy and Greenham Common peace camp veterans, to join them outside the St. Neots home of Alan Bowkett, chief executive of Berisford, parent company of Magnet Kitchens, which 18 months ago fired 300 workers for going on strike. The sacked Magnet strikers, backed by the GMB general union and three other unions, yesterday picketed Berisford's annual general meeting in London, where three comedians - Mark Steel, Mark Thomas and Jeremy Hardy - staged their own 'anti-fat cat happening' outside.

The dispute has been inflamed by the disclosure that Mr Bowkett was last year awarded a £124,000 annual salary increase, more that the £114,000 needed to meet the 3 % pay rise demand that triggered the August 1996 walkout at the Magnet factory in Darlington, County Durham.

But it was the example of the Coronation Street eco-warriors camped on councillor Alf Roberts' lawn in protest against a local building development that fired the imaginations of Terry Buckeraitis and fellow ex-miners from the former Whitwell colliery. 'If they could do it, why not us? We decided we'd become eco-warriors,' Mr. Buckeraitis, a former member of the NUM's Derbyshire executive, said yesterday from his new headquarters in a layby outside Mr Bowkett's estate. 'We got a lot of support during the 1984/85 miners strike from trade unionists at Magnet and we know the hardship they and their families are now going through.'

'This guy Bowkett just drives back and forth up the M1 to Darlington and his lifestyle is immune from what he has done to these workers and their families. We want him to sit down with the strikers and sort out a settlement - he's got to realise this issue is not going to go away. We want to cause embarrassment.' Mr. Buckeraitis said Mr. Bowkett, accompanied by security guards, had been to talk to the protesters and the police had warned them they could potentially be prosecuted under anti-stalking legislation.

Last month after Magnet strikers distributed leaflets at his estate, Mr. Bowkett protested to the GMB, accusing them of harassing his family. The GMB said they knew nothing of the incident and called on him to reopen talks.

A spokesman for Berisford said last night that the AGM picket had very well behaved and, as for the protest outside his estate, Mr Bowkett would 'wait to see how long they are going to stay'.

Theresa the Street Turkey goes on the trot
3 February 1998 by ANDREW LOUDON
A CORONATION STREET star has gone missing somewhere on the desolate Lancashire moors.

Theresa the turkey weighs 221bs and stands 14ins tall, has an attractive sheen to her plumage and a numbered ring on one foot. She is just over a year old and is described as 'very friendly and outgoing'. It is not known whether Theresa's contact with the TV soap's family from hell, the Battersbys, has anything to do with her disappearance.

The American Bronze Breasted turkey went missing from her owner Kevin Horkin's farm in the moors above Blackburn. Mr Horkin, 34, trained Theresa for her screen role in which she met: an untimely end. He last saw her on Friday in the field she shares with a big black Norfolk turkey called Bernard.

"I went to bring them in for the night and Theresa had gone," he said. "I have checked all the local farmers and vets to no avail and I have found no feather evidence of a fox having got her. Bernard is distraught and is pining for her. I thought they were an item."

In Coronation Street the ghastly Les Battersby, played by Bruce Jones, was the only member of his family who could face killing Theresa for Christmas. In the event he did not have to wring her neck because he accidentally knocked her down with his car. Then he went ahead and ate her anyway.

In real life Theresa is a family pet at the farmhouse home of Mr Horkin who trains animals for television and commercials. He said: "The trouble is turkeys like to roost off the ground out of draughts. A draught could be the death of her. I just hope someone will pick her up and bring her home."

Swampy did not inspire Street's Spider
6 February 1998 by Sharon Hendry - Wycombe Reporter

Television bosses have denied that Coronation Street's eco-warrior Spider was based on High Wycombe's famous human mole Swampy. Spider - played by Martin Hancock - was cast as a young environmental campaigner with a penchant for protesting by the soap two months ago. His impassioned campaign to save the 'Red Rec' with plans to tunnel underground echo issues which our Swampy holds dear.

But Granada TV bosses insist Spider was not inspired by Swampy - real name Daniel Hooper - 24, of Hill Avenue, Hazlemere. A spokesman for Granada TV said: "When we set out to create the character we were creating our own character, someone who is keen on environmental issues. We don't know what the real Swampy is like. We have long-term planning meetings, so before you see the character on screen the idea has been conceived 18 months before."

She said Spider has won the hearts of viewers, adding: 'He is getting a very good reception. He did a radio interview and he was saying he has the utmost respect for people who campaign on environmental issues. "The media have christened him a Swampy-type character. We have not set out to create a clone."

Swampy's mum Jill Hooper has not seen her son's alter ego, saying: "I never watch Coronation Street, so I have never seen Spider. Daniel doesn't watch the programme either." She said Daniel was happy and well but declined to say exactly what he is doing for fear of giving away his location. Swampy shot to fame for being the last person in the tunnels at the Newbury by-pass protest in Berkshire.

Swampy hit the headlines again on Wednesday after he was charged with possessing the class A drug 'magic mushrooms' in Penzance, Cornwall. He was bailed to appear before Penwith Magistrates, in Penzance, on March 30.

TV's jewels fail to shine in list of all-time winners
7 February 1998 by Alison Boshoff, Media Correspondent

THE most popular programmes in the history of television were revealed yesterday to be a surprising blend of forgotten sitcoms, soap operas and even a beauty pageant.

None of the critically-acclaimed television series such as Jewel In The Crown, Brideshead Revisited or Our Friends In The North figure in the chart. In fact, few of the programmes featured in the top 100 have ever won any industry awards.

In their place on the roll of honour are the 1969 and 1970 Miss World coverage from BBC1, editions of Dallas and the Benny Hill Show.

A Christmas special from Mike Yarwood in 1977 outpaces any comedy offering from the intervening 20 years apart from the hugely popular 1996 Only Fools and Horses Christmas special.

Coronation Street dominates, holding half of the top 100 placings, although it has no entries in the chart from the period 1968-78.

EastEnders does not figure at all, while memorable sitcoms such as Minder, Last of The Summer Wine and Darling Buds of May have all also failed to find a way into the list.

The fourth run of Bread, however, is ranked at No 52 with 20.15 million viewers and another notable sitcom entrant is the critically-forgotten George and Mildred. An episode of that programme from 1977 drew 19.7 million viewers.

Steptoe and Son drew 19.7 million viewers in 1964. At the time, it was so popular that Harold Wilson wanted its transmission delayed lest it distract Labour voters on election day.

The only current affairs programme to make an appearance is Martin Bashir's 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, which comes seventh with an audience of 22.75 million.

The only sport to figure is the Torvill and Dean comeback at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Programmes that now appear anomalous are revealed to have been among the greatest crowd-pleasers of all time. Three Royal Variety Performances from the 1960s are in the top 20 and the Miss World contests from the competition's pre-feminist heyday figure twice in the top 50.

To The Manor Born, which for many years was the highest rated programme, attracted 24 million viewers in 1979 for its final episode. Many of the top-rated programmes come from this era, when there were only three channels from which to choose and video recorders were a toy for the rich.

The chart was compiled by William Phillips, a ratings expert, from homes data before official monitoring and from BARB, which holds the copyright on the figures. It was first published in Television, the journal of the Royal Television Society.

Street Nicky's Got Soul
8 February 1998

Coronation Street heart-throb Adam Rickitt has got a new ambition... to be a pop star.

Adam who plays Nicky Tilsley and who was recently named as one of Britain's most eligible bachelors, said: 'I'd like to be a soul or a rhythm and blues singer. I really think a lot of soap stars choose really boring songs when they do a single. I'd like to try something quite funky - a sort of upbeat Marvin Gaye.'

Ex-public schooboy Adam, whose secret screen marriage to wild child Leanne Battersby is currently the top storyline, also revealed that he has grown to like the Battersby family. The 19-year old said: 'They're actually very nice. Les is very loud but he's OK and Janice is a real sweetheart.' He added: 'I think Nick is very happy to be mixed up with them because they are such a contrast to his mum Gail who is always nagging him and treating him like a kid.'

Street fans will tonight see Gail throw him and Leanne out when she learns about their clandestine marriage.

Watch out - there's yuppies about !
8 February 1998 by Brendan Pittaway and Lesley Gardiner

Coronation Street is set for a yuppie invasion in a bid to boost ratings. The young, sexy characters will move into smart flats now being built in neighbouring Rosamund Street. Controversial producer Brian Parks has ordered scriptwriters to shake things up by bringing in up to SEVENTEEN new faces in readiness for the summer ratings battle with Eastenders.

But an expert on TV soaps yesterday warned that the introduction of rich kids in Barbour coats among the flat caps of Weatherfield will be a big turn-off for traditional viewers who love the show's down-to-earth roots. Dr Sonia Livingstone, a social psychologist, said: 'Coronation Street is taking a risk. It is watched by a lot of elderly people and those who have a lower economic status. They might not be so welcoming of change.

'People in America and Europe are amazed by our soaps because the characters in theirs tend to be young, glamorous and upmarket. 'We have such a different tradition where soap operas are agout nostalgia and old ways. The Street is popular because of that.'

Sonia, whose book Making Sense of Television is published next month, says producersshould also be careful not to introduce too many characters too quickly. 'People enjoy the familiarity of the characters they know, they're like old friends,' she said.

The yuppie flats are being built alongside the main Coronation Street set at Granada TV's Manchester studios. Builder Steve McDonald (actor Simon Gregson) mentioned them in last Monday's episode - a clear sign how keen Parks is to ring the changes.

As well as the yuppies, there will be a policeman, a vicar and - in a throwback to the days of Stan Ogden and Eddie Yates - a window cleaner. Until now, viewers have only been able to glimpse part of Rosamund Street, although it has been referred to many times over the show's 37 years.

It is home to a bookie's shop and Sunliners, the travel agency run by Alec Gilroy (played by Roy Barraclough) (sic). One source said: 'The new sets will probably be unveiled by the summer. The main set has been extended and additional work has created even more space. 'Brian Park has indicated he wants more members of the cast, as many as 17 according to some people. With more residents, the show will need more homes. Coronation Street is getting a bit crowded these days so it makes sense to introduce Rosamund Street.'

Park is keen to create new stars, especially with some of the Street's familiar stars moving on and others needing a rest from the strain of coping with the four-nights-a-week schedule. Matthew Marsden who played hunky mechanic Chris Collins, spiced up story lines by having an affair with Sally Webster (Sally Whitaker). But he is leaving to pursue other ventures, including a pop career.

Old favourites Jack and Vera Duckworth (Bill Tarmey and Liz Dawn) are currently on a six-week break, while Anne Kirkbride, who plays Deirdre Rachid, has taken a month off. The source added: 'An extended cast will certainly relieve some of the pressure on some of the existing actors and actresses who are finding the schedule gruelling. One thing's for certain - whoever the new actors are, they will be young and sexy.'

A Self-Confessed Slapper
Taken from BOYZ (a gay-orientated weekly free newspaper) 14 February 1998

CORRIE SPUNK ADAM RICKITT TALKS TO SIMON GAGE ABOUT BULIMIA, BOARDING SCHOOL AND RECEIVING NAAAASTY STUFF THROUGH THE POST.

Boyz: What you been up to?
Adam: Today? Just chilling out. I've got some time off and I've just been waking up at 7 o'clock in the morning, just lying there having nervous break-downs.

How is it to be so instantly mega-famous?
Scary. It's watched by one out of three people in the country and suddenly everyone knows you.

And two out of three people fancy you...
Er... er... I don't know. You don't think about it. You think of yourself as a product really. You could be a sack of potatoes on TV and you'd still get a sex following. You just see yourself as selling something and the product just happens to be you.

It seems like at every opportunity you get your tits out...
Cheers. I've sort of stopped.

I'm not complaining!
I did this photo shoot for Granada and it was all going to be clothed and I was just getting changed in between and suddenly the press officer said, 'Right... don't bother putting anything else on.' And then Corrie got hold of it and suddenly I found that every scene I was topless. I had to say, 'Do you mind if I keep my clothes on a bit'. I felt a bit stupid. I don't like taking my kit off that much.

I don't believe you! Anyone who works out that much can't wait to whack it out.
I don't! I do it to keep healthy. And I keep thinking, 'Oh, my mum's watching me.' One time I had to lay on this bed while I was talking to Jayne, er Leanne...
..I remember that scene...
And they made me move my arm to get it lit properly and the way I was sat just made me feel like such a prat, like some Mr. Universe contestant.

So in this photo we've got, were you wearing anything at all?
Yes I was, I was wearing some jeans. They were like, 'Take your kit off.' and I was, 'No'.

Would you never consider taking your kit off?
If it was done tastefully...

Everyone says that tastefully thing. What's tastefully?
You know, if it was like black and white photos...

They've got to be black and white, right?
And it's much sexier if it's more suggestive than just full-frontal stuff.

So, you wouldn't do full-frontal?
I don't know, I might if the money was right.

You're terrible!
I'm just a Slapper.

I heard a rumour that you used to be bulimic.
Yeah, that was about two years ago.

It's quite unusual for a boy to have bulimia, isn't it?
Yeah, it was like a depression. I had a wasting disease, which made loads of weight fall off which damaged my tendons and I kept dislocating my shoulders. They still dislocate a bit now. That meant I couldn't play rugby and I got really depressed. If there had been drugs or drink I would have got into them. I was at this boarding school and there was just one pub for about 50 miles so you couldn't get a drink.

You went to a public school! Does that mean you come from quite a well-off background?
No, not really, my dad worked himself half to death to give us a half-decent education.

Did you feel rejected when they sent you away?
No, it was fun. It's just like 24 hours with your mates. You could just be a complete and utter oik for five years.

Boarding schools are famous for action between boys. Did anything go on?
No. Boarding schools have to be one of the most homophobic places you can go to. You get some people who aren't very confident in their own sexuality and they are usually the completely homophobic ones, the dick-heads.

You're going to G.A.Y, what are you expecting?
Moustaches and go-go pants? I don't know.

Have you been to a gay club before?
I've been to Paradise Factory a few times, but it's not really gay. I've done a PA at a gay bar before and they were all very nice and friendly.

Would you freak out if someone threw their pants at you?
No, I've had that done. I thought it was quite funny actually.

You're with Nigel Martin-Smith. He did Take That and they were quite famous for not being allowed girlfriends. Is that the same for you?
No, it's just that at the moment I haven't got one. I had one before I started the show.
[Nigel Martin-Smith in the background: ....His name was John.]

I heard that...
He's only joking.

What do your parents think of your success?
They're really pleased for me. They get a bit freaked out about the girls outside the house. And the fan mail...

Why? Have you ever had anything, you know, naaasty come through the post?
Honestly, it was vile. I got [laughs] this is so disgusting, I'm sorry, but a rubber that had been used between a couple of guys. And my mum always insists on reading my fan mail and I was opening it next to her and there was this funny smell and then I opened it and it was 'Oh, my God!'

That's disgusting.
It wasn't particularly lovely. I didn't write back to them, I thought that might be encouragement.

Do your mum and dad treat you like a star?
Oh, God, no.

You should demand that treatment.
The thing is, you don't change, it's just people's perceptions of you that change, if you act the star then you're going to be a bit of a wanker.

Do they think you've gone all luvvie? I mean. you've got quite a girly look...
I know. My dad calls me the blond effeminate slapper.

A wedding surprise in the Street
15 February 1998

Coronation Street's sexy hairdresser Fiona Middleton is to marry her ex-boyfriend Steve McDonald in an amazing new storyline. The pair renew their torrid romance in tomorrow night's episode, in which Steve rushes to Fiona's aid as she gives birth to a baby boy. They are due to marry in July, but their happiness won't last long ... Street scriptwriters have decided that Steve's dad Jim will once again wreck Fiona's happiness.

Fiona, played by Angela Griffin, was due to marry detective Alan McKenna last year until Jim barged into the church and announced he had had a fling with the bride. Now the legacy of that one-night stand will return to haunt her, when it emerges that Jim is the father of baby Morgan, not Alan (Glen Hugill).

A Street insider said: 'Even though Steve once dumped Fiona to marry somebody else they have always carried a torch for each other. There has been a lot of sexual tension between them lately and the scriptwriters thought it was about time they got together again.'

Meanwhile the Street's resident man-eater, blond barmaid Natalie Horrocks, is to create a few more shockwaves...by bedding Des Barnes.

The real Deirdre and Jon... ?
Wednesday 18 February 1998

The protaganists are Sandra Collins, a divorcee from Chorley, Lancashire, who was conned by a fake pilot called Thomas Ramsey, and the gist of the story is:

January 1992, Ramsey put an ad in a lonely hearts column 'Calling all cabin girls - lonely pilot seeks comfort on the ground'. Sandra's 'mates' wrote a reply as if from her.

Ramsey replied and soon found his way into her life, and her £275,000 marital home - a farmhouse with stables and horses. He told her he'd recently been transferred by BA from Charles de Gaulle airport to Manchester, and as it was only short term that explained his lack of car and a home 'beneath his station'.

It was spend, spend, spend for a few months, lavishing money on Sandra, though his cheques were bouncing. He would be away for days at a time, until one day he came home to say he'd been signed of sick after a back injury in 'a bad landing'. Soon his house was being repossessed, but he told her he had money in the Cayman Islands, and that would sort out all his difficulties 'when it came through'

Like Dreary, she was so taken in she never questioned anything.

In Summer 1992 Sandra remortgaged her home, they went to the US and used £50,000 to fund his refresher flying lessons to get his flying hours back up to standard. In the US Virgin Islands he proposed, although Sandra paid £1,500 for the engagement ring. They set up home in Oregon, with five bedrooms and thirteen acres.

In Summer 1994 Sandra was becoming suspicious, and on confrontation he admitted that there had been no back injury, but he had instead been suspended for three years for exaggerating his flying hours log. By the end of 1994 Sandra had little left, having sold everything to support their lifestyle, so she decided to come home to Lancashire. Thomas came with her, but the debts were mounting. To overcome her debts, Sandra went to Miami as a nanny, and sent back £1,500 every month.

Five months later she lost her job, and came home to Lancashire unannounced to find services disconnected and a stack of unopened bills. Ramsey claimed her monthly £1,500 had been used for his 'business investments'. Although he found engineering work, the creditors were closing in. At this time Sandra's research in the Cayman Islands found that he had never had more than £15 there.

When she opened a hidden, locked briefcase, she found papers relating to several loans, several flying manuals, and a receipt for a pilot's uniform bought just before placing the lonely heart's ad. He eventually admitted that he'd never been a pilot, but had mixed with them because a former girlfriend was a BA stewardess.

So. Dreary and Jon. Fact or Fiction? The truth is out there....

Julie tells all...
This article appeared in the Accrington Observer (Friday 20 February), the local newspaper of Julie Hesmondhalgh's (Hayley Patterson) home town.

Who is the most important person in your life?
My hairdresser. I don't know what I'd do without him!

What is your happiest memory?
Too many to list! But being on a bus with all my mates in Cornwall in 1993 with It Must Be Love on the tape deck must be up there.

What is your deepest regret?
Being too old to be a Spice Girl.

What do you regard as your best/worst qualities?
Best - my Sporty Spice imitation.
Worst - congenital grumpiness (although my mum doesn't think I'm grumpy).

What one thing should never have been invented?
New Labour. It's gone too far to the right and I feel very frustrated about it. I feel a bit cheated since all the celebrations in May but I am prepared to give it a chance.

What was the first skill you mastered?
Cutting the crusts off cucumber sandwiches neatly, thanks to my mate, Accrington actor Joe Alessi.

What was the best advice received and from whom?
When a Sun journalist knocks on your mum and dad's door, pretend you're not in - from Oswaldtwistle actress Vicky Entwistle who plays Janet Battersby in Corrie.

What was your worst experience?
I'd have to list my dad's quadruple heart by-pass and various lost loves. My dad suffered from terrible angina but following the op in 1996 he is absolutely fine.

If you won the lottery how would you spend the money?
I'd start my own political party based on fairness and equality.

What is your favourite food?
My mum's chocolate cake.

What is your pet hate?
Bigotry and bad hair.

Name your heroes or heroines.
Tony Benn, Ken Loach, the Liverpool Dockers, Billy Bragg, Sporty Spice and my big brother Dave.

Name your favourite TV programme, film or music
TV: Seinfeld, Larry Sanders, Alan Partridge, Coronation Street
Film: Raining Stones, An Angel at my Table, Thelma and Louise
Music: Pulp, Hole, Spice Girls.

How do you relax?
Watching telly with mum and dad up north; taking Prozac in London (that's a joke dad ...)

Are you happy with your appearance?
Completely dependent on hair dye and lipstick.

What was the worst/best present you have ever received?
I like all presents! (That was the hardest question of the lot).

If you could change your career what would you be?
A Spice Girl, of course - or Prime Minister.

Who would you least like to be stranded with on a desert island?
Harriet Harman (no, actually, it'd give me the chance to educate her. I just don't like what she is doing).

What was the last book you read?
Local lad Graham Caveney's superb new biography of William Burroughs.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Dancing about with all my mates. (I'm very deep!)

Where do you think you will be in five years?
If not in Corry, then probably advertising carpet warehouses (unless I'm PM).

Identify one change you would make in Hyndburn.
Take the eerie men out of the Arndale clock and build a cinema (which looks likely to happen).

Name an item in your wardrobe you could not do without
My support knickers!

What is your ideal evening out?
One that involves mates, wine, food and possibly a film.

Write your own epitaph
She was in Corry for a million years and still managed to change the face of British politics.

Questionnaire Compiled by Margaret Cheesbrough

John Lindsay - the real one!
22 February 1998

CS's love rat Jon Lindsay became a hate figure when he played a love cheat who posed as a top airline pilot. That is making life hell for the real John Lindsay, head pilot for British Airways at Gatwick. Whenever John switches on his Boeing intercom to announce "This is your captain John Lindsay speaking" he is greeted by a chorus of boos, a few cheers and a lot of sniggers. He also gets ribbed by cabin crews and anyone else who sees his name on his lapel. Even Detroit airport workers who get the soap by satellite rounded on him as "the man who cheated on Deirdre".

Happily married John, 50, who lives near Epsom, Surrey, said "Poor Deirdre. She really has had a hard time. I'd be delighted if she'd join me on a flight to prove not all pilots are the sort of cads her Romeo turned out to be". A British Airways spokesman admitted: "This really is a co-incidence. But we would like to be point out that our John Lindsay is the real thing - and an excellent pilot. So passengers have nothing to worry about".

Hayley And Roy? We're A Match Made In Heaven
Saturday 7 March 1998

A television actress from East Lancashire has defended her role in Britain's top soap opera amid a storm of protest over her controversial character. Coronation Street bosses have been blasted for the show's storyline about a transsexual played by Julie Hesmondhalgh from Church.

Transsexuals are angered by the portrayal of Hayley Patterson who has left viewers reeling after breaking the news about her double-life to unsuspecting boy-friend Roy Cropper. And more controversy looks set to follow after the actress hinted a possible reunion with Roy could be on the cards when her character returns after a sex change operation. But Julie defended her role and claims the controversial featuring her character have been handled "sensitively".

She said: "Since the scene was broadcast when Hayley told Roy I have personally found that people have been very positive. Most just want Roy and Hayley to get together. "There are some particular transsexual groups [who are] not happy because the storyline has used humour. I knew the role would create some discussion and can understand why groups may think they have point. But I feel the scene where Hayley told Roy was sensitively handled"

Her bosses at Granada only received three letters of complaint, which were about a woman playing the part rather than a transsexual. Julie carefully researched her controversial role through reading and spoke to transsexuals when news of the new character got out. She has seen Hayley as a challenge and believes the. support from actor David Neilson, who plays cafe owner Roy, has helped enormously.

The 27-year-old explained: 'We were both a bit worried that we might have to work with someone who was bigoted or prejudiced. That would have made it difficult. "But as soon as we met we knew there wasn't going to be a problem." "It was important that I played an accurate and plausible character who was suited to Roy. In fact people say they are a match made in heaven!'

Julie, whose parents John and Maureen live in Church, came back home to speak to pupils at her old school, Moorhead High in Accrington. She talked to youngsters about her career during assembly and met her former teachers. Julie is about to shoot her final scenes in Coronation Street before taking a two-month break from the soap. But, intriguingly, she will be back. Her character is disappearing from the Street to undergo a sexchange operation.

It will give Julie a chance to fulfil an ambition and spend some of the money she has made from her star role. She explained: "I am going to go around the world. It is something I have always wanted to do and I plan to visit America, Venezuela Cuba, New Zealand and Australia." I haven't got any commitments at the moment and it will probably be the last opportunity I will have to do it."

I'm Proud Of My Street Sex-Swap Role...
8 March 1998 by Carole Malone

WHEN actress Julie Hesmondhalgh was told she had been chosen to play a transsexual in the most sensational storyline in soap history she could have been forgiven for feeling a bit miffed. What woman likes to be told she'll be playing a woman who is actually a man but who dresses up as a woman?

But for the struggling actress, who just a few weeks before was working as a cleaner and behind the bar in a London pub, the role of Hayley Patterson was a dream come true. "I wasn't the least bit insulted they cast me as a man," says Julie - who looks 10 years younger and 20 times prettier than her screen character. "I don't have delusions of grandeur about the way I look. But I DO know I look like a woman so it really wasn't a problem for me."

For the past week 28-year-old Julie has had the nation gripped with her sensitive and moving performance as transsexual Hayley, whose boyfriend Roy Cropper threw a wobbly when she told him she used to be Henry.

But her portrayal of the sex change character has angered Britain's transsexual lobby. They have slated it as demeaning and inaccurate, and claimed that the transsexual character is being made a figure of fun. "That's just not true," says Hayley. "There's no way either me or Granada see this as a funny subject. I know the transsexual community have experienced terrible prejudice because of fear and ignorance, but this storyline has actually got people talking about a subject they might otherwise not have known about. I think the whole thing has been incredibly positive."

"It's always been my dream to play a character in a popular soap that carries this kind of responsibility, the kind of role that makes people think and maybe changes their attitudes. Someone even said to me the other day that their 10-year-old son and all his friends couldn't talk about anything else, and that's fantastic. Surely that has to be one of the responsibilities of soaps - to make a difference to the way people think."

"I know a lot of the transsexual community were upset that it was a woman playing the part of Hayley, and not a transsexual. They thought it was a cop-out. But we wanted the character to live and breathe a bit so that people could get to know her without prejudice. We didn't want people to be fearful of her and dislike her for the wrong reasons."

"Even before I got this part I had total empathy with transsexuals, as I would have with any group who've suffered at the hands of bigots and stupid people. Having talked to them I know they've had a tough time, but I hope that, within the bounds of what I can do, I can help people to understand.

"All the transsexuals I've talked to are strong, gentle, calm people, and they wanted this issue to be tackled on television because they thought a sensitive portrayal of their predicament might help. If they want to know what I think about them personally, I have always believed that as long as people aren't harming anyone else they should have the freedom to live their own lives."

Julie, who admits she's not very good at keeping secrets, was only allowed to tell her mum and dad and her closest friends about the spectacular storyline. She was even banned from telling the rest of the cast. "That was really hard," she says, laughing.

"I remember at the end of one scene in the Rovers, Bill Roache sidled up to me and said 'Just exactly what is your storyline?' He knew something was up but didn't quite know what. "But there were a few clues. I worked with the costume department to create a look. There was the wig, of course, I had to have my shoulders built up in my cardigans and there was the ubiquitous polo neck that was supposed to hide my Adam's apple. And of course we had to plaster on tons of make-up."

Julie, who was born in Accrington, Lancashire, went to drama school in London when she was 18. After graduating she set up her own theatre company, taking time out for TV roles in The Bill, a Catherine Cookson drama and Victoria Wood's comedy Pat and Margaret.

"But Coronation Street has always been the big dream," she says. "I can remember episodes from when I was three years old. That's why it did my head in when I first walked on set and saw all my heroes."

Hayley leaves the Street in a couple of weeks, returning in two months after the operation that completes her transformation from man to woman. And despite the controversy surrounding the sex change storyline, Coronation Street bosses are looking at ways to give the Roy and Hayley romance a happy ending.

"It would be the best thing possible," says Julie. "At the moment they're doing medical research to see how short a time I can plausibly be away having the op. Hopefully when Hayley comes back she and Roy can pick up where they left off. I truly hope they can because there isn't anyone else for him and there's certainly no one else for her."

So can we look forward to seeing Hayley and Roy indulging in an on-screen snog? "I don't think the nation needs to see that," she says, laughing. "Not because Hayley's a transsexual - just because of who they are!"

Fury At The Street Over Zoe's Dead Baby
Monday 9 March 1998

CORONATION Street is to be rocked by the death of Zoe Tattersall's baby in some of the most harrowing scenes ever shown. And last night the storyline - brainchild of controversial producer Brian Park - sparked a storm. TV star Anne Diamond, who lost a baby son, described it as "hurtful".

In gripping episodes to be seen in April eight-month-old Shannon Jade dies of meningitis as wayward single mum Zoe is out on the town. Fans will see guilt-racked Zoe, played by Joanne Froggatt, commited to a mental ward and setting fire to Shannon's pram in the street. An insider said: "Zoe gets the reputation of a girl who likes to go out boozing rather than have the responsibility of being a mum. But while she's out the baby passes away. Zoe can't control herself and gets engulfed in self blame. The scenes will be quite harrowing. Some of the strongest are when Zoe stuffs Shannon's pram full of baby clothes, pushes it into the street and sets fire to it." After a week in a mental ward she seems fine at first but further dramatic scenes follow.

Producer Park, whose controversial plots have put the Street at No 1, and Granada chiefs were bracing themselves for a backlash over the scenes. And last night TV presenter Anne Diamond criticised the storyline. Anne, 44, who lost a baby son to cot death, said: "I am concerned that the scriptwriters may just be introducing a dramatic storyline to boost ratings. By choosing one of the most irresponsible characters to suffer this tragedy it may be putting out the wrong signals and cause a great deal of hurt. It suggests that women who lose their babies have done something wrong."

Old Ken's likely lass
11 March 1998 by John Mahoney
CORONATION Street's wrinkly romeo Ken Barlow is all set to be a new Likely Lad. The veteran Weatherfield womaniser played by 65-year-old Bill Roache pairs up with actress Brigit Forsyth, who was Rodney Bewes's nagging wife Thelma in the cult Sixties comedy series. But Ken's cosy candlelit dinner with Brigit, making her Street debut as lonely Babs Fanshawe, goes horribly wrong when she does a runner in mid scoff.

It's Ken's latest venture in the love game after signing up with Alec Gilroy's dating agency Golden Years. Brigit's part in the Street is keeping Britain's top soap in the family  her husband is the show's director Brian Mills.She said:"I wanted the role just for the character name alone . "There are some great scenes and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in."

Street star rushed to hospital
14 March 1998

CORONATION Street actress Vicky Entwistle from Oswaldtwistle has had her appendix out after being taken into hospital for emergency surgery.

The former Rhyddings High School pupil, who plays loudmouth neighbour-from-hell Janice Battersby in the top soap, underwent surgery after being admitted to Blackburn Royal Infirmary yesterday. The 28-year-old was transferred to the hospital from Accrington Victoria Community Hospital. Vicky was admitted to the surgical assessment unit at Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

She is recovering in hospital today. Her condition has been described as where she is "comfortable." The surgery could interrupt Vicky's filming on the hit soap for up to two weeks.

Vicky's parents run M & M News, Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors. Granada Television publicists were unavailable for comment. Her agent Narrow Road Company, refused to comment.

Raquel in return to The Street - I'm Back !!
26 March 1998

BARMAID Raquel is set for a dramatic return to Coronation Street to boost ratings, it was revealed last night. Producer Brian Park has contacted actress Sarah Lancashire's agent to get her back before the end of the year.

Yesterday Sarah, 33, admitted: "I have had a phone call. The expression I would use is 'never say never'. But they have left the door open and the show has gone from strength to strength."

Sarah spoke as she launched her new TV role as a nurse in the ITV drama Where The Heart Is. She quit her £100,00-a-year Street role a year ago after 600 episodes fearing she would become typecast.

The mum-of-two moves home today and wants a new start after splitting from husband Gary, 42, last year.

Adam Rickitt - gratuitous beefcake shots...

The latest studio photos of Adam Rickitt, taken for Granada by Nicky Johnston. Click on the thumbnails for a large photo. Best viewed at 800 x 600 resolution with 16.8 million colours. Each large file is at least 60K.

All photos are © Granada Television

The Things You Do for Love - Elsie Tanner lives !!

The long-rumoured Granada drama of the lives of Patricia Phoenix and Tony Booth isn't just going ahead - it's already in the can ! Called The Things You Do for Love, production finished last autumn and will be screened on Saturday 11 April 1998.

The big news it that TWO actresses play Pat Phoenix - in addition to Denise Black, who plays the yong Pat, Sue Johnston plays the older Pat. Keith Newby and Tony Scannell play Tony Booth.

The first publicity shots are below - Graham

Des follows Sam and leaves
28 March 1998

Just one month after exclusively revealing that CS beauty Tina Hobley was quitting the show, I have more bad news. I'm assured her on-screen lover Des Barnes will follow her and disappear from Weatherfield in October. Actor Phil Middlemass has decided to end his eight year career with the ITV soap. Phil, 34, has of course threatened to pack it all in before and has taken a number of breaks from the show. But this time he plans to make the departure permanent and his agent barry Brown is already in discussions with other TV companies. Phil has secretly fixed up his first job, a Christmas panto in Newcastle, which could earn him at least £35,000 a week. "He's realised he can pocket as much cash doing five weeks of panto as he does working for a year on the Street," says an insider. "Phils's a shrewd bloke. Doing panto will give him a financial safety net that should see him comfortably through 1999. And as Des won't appear from the screen until December, all the fuss when that happens will give Phil's panto plenty of publicity."

Having some time to himself might also persuaed the star to finally wed his gorgeous girlfriend Alison King. He's been dropping hints for more a than a year - 'hearing wedding bells' as he puts it. Phil has even hinted that he might walk down the aisle with Alison this year. My spy says :"Phil's keeping his cards closely to his chest, but it wouldn't suprise us if getting hitched turned out to be his first job after leaving Corrie. Phil's changed a lot since he met Alison in 1995. He once claimed to have slept with 100 women , but Alison is the only girl for him now. They are crazy about each other. It's not a case of if they get married ....but when." That would give Phil's sense of security a bigger boost as Alison has just landed a part in Channel 4's Brookside. "I love her to death," the actor said recently. "I couldn't be more serious about her. I have never felt this way before about anyone in my life."

It was the shirts what dunnit
Monday 30 March 1998 by Nancy Banks-Smith

At least we're out of our misery. Coronation Street's Deirdre, the weepiest woman in the history of soaps, has finally been found guilty of fraud. But call that justice? Nancy Banks-Smith launches the campaign for her release...

Frankly, I feel it was madness to choose a barrister who wears purple shirts. If your brief looks like a crook, it only confuses the jury. No wonder Deirdre, who is absolutely innocent, was found guilty on all counts in Coronation Street last night.

She is now sharing a prison cell with the vivacious Margi Clarke, formerly of The Good Sex Guide. Margi is now presenting The Bad Girl's Guide To Doing Bird. "Don't," she warned Deirdre, "borrow nothing. Don't lend nothing. Don't give nothing. If somebody tries to give you a hug, push them away. They'll only be trying to get into your pocket or planting stuff:' Poor Deirdre's neck, always her most eloquent feature, is working overtime. It's too bad. That woman deserves the gratitude of spectacle-wearers everywhere.

You knew it was all over for Deirdre when the purple-breasted bounder began his speech for the defence: "Her life has been nondescript, ordinary - not the stuff of dreams..." Not only was this blister an offence to the eyeball, he had obviously never watched Coronation Street.

Deirdre married Ken Barlow the same week Lady Diana married Prince Charles. Deirdre got the bigger audience. Twenty-nine million people stayed at home to see if she was going to leave Ken for Mike Baldwin. Manchester United flashed her decision on their notice hoard at half time: DEIRDRE STAYS WITH KEN. Such is her obscure allure that Ken and Mike were still trying to throttle each other yesterday in the court precincts.

Mike, now a knicker king, is paying for her defence. Ken, who is working as a male escort, is on the front page of the Weatherfield Gazette because his client, a Mrs Featherstonehaugh, expired on the job. So to speak. DATE DIED IN LADIES. ESCORT'S AGONY, as the Gazette put it, because they couldn't get Featherstonehaugh into the headline.

Deirdre's last husband was Moroccan and murdered in murky circumstances. His kidney lives on in tiresome Tracy, the daughter of Deirdre and her first husband, Ray - who is gay, by the way.

Nondescript, my fine-feathered friend? Ha!

A lively life, but not exceptional for Coronation Street. It's not possible to live there long without acquiring a colourful CV. Deirdre's solicitor had some difficulty finding any of her friends nondescnpt enough to serve as a character witness. They all gave her a greetings card before the court case, (which leads one to wonder what sort of card is suitable for a friend about to be banged up.) Grand girls but, on a driven-snow rating of one to ten, most of them score in the low twos.

Liz has been romantically entangled with a gangster... Fiona's wedding to a policeman was sensationally broken off at the altar... Rita's husband chased her down Blackpool prom, waving a carving knife, until he was providentially run over by a tram... Alma was driven into the docks by a mad cab driver... Hayley is, not to mince matters, a man.

Scraping the bottom of the Rovers' barrel, the defence finally called Emily, who is ladylike, devout and knocking on a bit. "Along the cool, sequestered vale of life/She kept the even tenor of her way" might have been written about Emily. Well, most of the time it might. Perhaps it was unfortunate that she recently spent several days up a tree with an eco-warrior, defying the massed ranks of the Weatherfield constabulary with word and gesture. Prosecuting counsel did not fail to mention this. Thank God he didn't know Emily's first husband was murdered and her second was a bigamist.

So it all ended in tears for Deirdre. Never was a woman so aptly named.

Her demon lover, who had posed as an airline pilot and showered her with other people's money, lied and lied and lied. A swine but a shrewd swine, he got off by advancing the oldest excuse in the Good Book. The woman tempted me. That went down well with the judge. Deirdre went down too.

It is nearly 40 years since Tony Warren (the only name that always appears on Coronation Street credits) was worrying away at an idea for a northern, working-class serial. He went up on the roof of Granada TV for a breath of air and saw, spread out below him, the streets of Salford, radiating like the spokes of a wheel. You could say they spoke to him.

All great northern cities used to have streets like that, resonant with the din of forgotten battles: Inkerman Street, Omdurman Street, Balaclava Street, Sebastopol Terrace. Each sooty street was studded with its own bright pub, and each pub celebrated the absolute cerainty of royalty. The Queen Victoria, The Princess Louise, The Duke of Clarence. Warren caught a unique moment because the great wheel was already on the move, bounding downhill, vanishing forever.

The original Coronation Street is a ruin, and the Coronation Street we see now is a studio set. But the sheer idea of such a street - friendly, forthright and funny - is as attractive as those bright pubs on those sooty streets, spilling out warmth and laughter into the night. Sending Deirdre to prison for months ('Welcome to your new home, Deirdre") is a new departure for Coronation Street. Obviously they nurse the simple yet heartfelt hope of giving EastEnders a thick ear. A cheerful enough consideration. But they may also be in some danger of imitating EastEnders, and that is a less cheerful thought

I say, Free The Weatherfield One.

Fury as Street's Deirdre is jailed
30 March 1998 by Steve Atkinson

TEARFUL Coronation Street fans bombarded a TV switchboard last night after Deirdre Rachid was jailed. Granada's lines "burned red hot" for 90 minutes almost as soon as Deirdre was found guilty of fraud. Many stunned viewers said they had prayed scriptwriters would spring a surprise ending.

Spokeswoman Alison Sinclair said: "They seriously thought that it was all a red herring and she would be let off with a suspended sentence. People just watched every second open mouthed and it really touched a nerve." Deirdre, played by Anne Kirkbride, was found guilty on all eight counts of fraud with conman and ex-boyfriend Jon Lindsay. Granada hope the plot will boost ratings in the battle with the BBC's EastEnders.

Devastated soap followers saw Deirdre whisked off to a prison cell to share with another woman called Jackie Dobbs, played by Margi Clarke. A Granada source said: "One man told me his eight-year-old son had written on a piece of paper that Deirdre was innocent. People are so wrapped up in the show. We have had young lads and old ladies phoning. Some have even said they would get a petition together for Deirdre."

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