Mel Hutchwright

Mel Hutchwright is the author of the romance novel, Hard Grindings. The local Coronation Street bookclub read and reviewed the book and, aside from Ken Barlow, seemed to enjoy it. Blanche Hunt especially thought it was a great read and wrote to the author via the agent. Or ex-agent as it turns out. A few weeks later, Mel turned up at a book club meeting in the cafe, much to the excitement of Blanche and Norris in particular. Norris invited him to stay with him and Emily but it soon became clear to the viewer that Mel was a freeloading tosser with writer's block. He managed to cadge free drinks and lodging and although Ken was suspicious, it took a little longer for the rest to twig to his motives.

Mel schmoozed the book club members, winning them over and tried to scam them into giving him money "to help publish his book", telling them they'd get a share of the profits. Eventually, Ken discovered that Mel's real name was Lionel Hipkis and he'd pulled the same monetary scam at other book clubs all over the country. People invested and never did see a book published! He was revealed to be a con artist who had also spent time in the nick in the past. Mel/Lionel blasted them all, insulted them and left. Nobody called the police due to not wanting undue publicity as well as showing themselves up as fools. Mel/Lionel left the street, leaving shamefaced readers behind him.

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