January
Ena is evicted from the Mission. Bulldozers move in to demolish
the home she has lived in for thirty years, along with the raincoat
factory. Irma Barlow arranges a date between lonely Emily and
macho Hungarian building worker Miklos Zadic.
Hilda feels lonely and strikes up a friendship with park gardener
George Greenwood. He buys Hilda a budgie which she keeps in his
hut. When Stan finds out, they part - but George keeps the budgie.
Lucille joins the hippies at Nº11, and Dennis finds a new
girlfriend, Cockney Jenny Sutton. They start as waiter and receptionist
at Weatherfield Social Club.
February
Ena decides to move to St Annes after all. Elsie returns alone
from America with the news that Steve has been posted to Panama.
Albert's house is ransacked and his prized coin collection stolen.
He accuses Miklos Zadic, but police catch the real thief. Annie
Walker is kidnapped by rag students and held for £5 ransom.
There are no takers, and she stonily has to pay for her own release.
March
Elsie Tanner announces that she has left Steve. Their marriage,
she says, was a twenty- year-old dream. Dennis returns from London
with girlfriend Jenny, and tells Elsie they are married and can
share the same bed. Under close interrogation he confesses that
he was kidding. Dennis becomes a rep for Crowning Glory Hair Requisites.
Irma Ogden is pregnant and plans to emigrate to Australia with
David. They put the shop up for sale, but encounter little interest
because of a slum clearance programme.
April
Maggie and Les Clegg buy the Corner Shop. Outgoing Maggie is interested
in herbalism and stocks natural remedies, Les has a drink problem.
Their son Gordon, a trainee accountant, joins them.
Miklos takes a job in Newcastle and Emily leaves with him. Three
weeks later she returns alone, tight-lipped, and moves into the
Rovers as a paying guest. Len advertizes for a plumber, and Jerry
hires Ray Langton in his absence. Irma and David leave for Australia.
May
Len is furious, and sparks fly when he meets Ray. Jerry has to
break up a fight between them. Finally Len grudgingly agrees to
take him on. An entire building site downs tools when Stan Ogden
walks onto the job, and he quits to work in Fairclough and Booth's
yard.
Elsie proudly refuses to touch any of Steve's weekly allowance
and works at a departrnent store, distributing samples of fish
paste on crackers. Dennis borrows £100 from a money lender
at 48 per cent interest to marry Jenny. On his wedding night his
boss at Crowning Glory orders him immediately to Bristol, leaving
Jenny alone in the double bed.
June
Ken Barlow is allocated a maisonette and sells his Mini to buy
furniture. Len buys Nº9 for £1,000, Ena returns and
moves into a maisonette, and a young couple - Audrey Bright and
Dickie Fleming - buy Nº3 for £400.
Les Clegg is admitted to a mental hospital suffering from alcoholism,
and Ena helps out in the Corner Shop. Stan Ogden gives Elsie a
driving lesson, but they run out of petrol and have to spend the
night on the moors. Suspicious Hilda accuses Elsie of having designs
on Stan.
July
Jack Walker meets Ena's new neighbour, his childhood sweetheart
Effie Spicer. Jealous Annie warns her off when she joins Jack's
bowling club and calls him by his pet name, 'Jonty'. Ray Langton
becomes Elsie's lodger and wastes no time making advances. Elsie,
indignant, throws him out and Len takes him in at Nº9.
Audrey Bright, who is still at school, elopes to Gretna Green
to marry Dickie Fleming. Ena, annoyed that Minnie has forsaken
her for Effie Spicer, joins forces with Annie to get rid of her.
August
Escaped convict Frank Riley holds Val Barlow prisoner in her maisonette
while Ken is attending drama class. She manages to tap a message
on the central heating pipes, and Ena raises the alarm. Ken cannot
believe that Val was not raped.
Ena is reported for excessive harmonium practice and reluctantly
agrees to restrict her playing hours. Audrey Fleming takes a job
as an £8 a week petrol pump attendant. Dave Smith buys the
old Gamma shop which closed when Papagopolous went bankrupt, and
opens a flower shop called the Posy Bowl. Elsie is appointed manageress.
September
Steve Tanner persuades two army buddies, Gary Strauss and Joe
Donelli, to talk Elsie into meeting him again. Elsie agrees and
returns distressed when he asks her to fly to America. Soon afterwards,
Steve is found dead at the foot of the stairs in his flat. Gregg
Flint, whom Steve was blackmailing over an affair with Dot Greenhalgh,
is unable to offer an alibi.
Miss Nugent agrees to mind Tommy Deakin's donkey, Dolores, while
he is away. Annie emphatically bans it from the Rovers, but Maggie
Clegg offers to keep it behind the shop. So many customers complain
of the smell that Annie is forced to relent and stable it in the
pub yard. Audrey Fleming wins £50 as 'Miss Petrol Pump'
at the Blue Bell garage.
October
As detectives investigate Steve Tanner's death, the finger of
suspicion falls on the Street. Len Fairclough, seen at Steve's
flat, is questioned by police ahout his injured hand. Donelli
and Strauss have alibis. Gregg Flint reveals he was with a woman
in Altrincham. Stan Ogden, after some hesitation, confesses he
was in the Flying Horse with Mrs Regan from 19 Inkerman Street.
Len disappears on an extended binge and a developer cancels his
building contract. Elsie, after asking Ken Barlow's advice, takes
up an invitation to go on holiday with bookie Dave Smith.
November
Gordon Clegg proposes to Lucille, but Maggie forbids him to marry.
Len returns to find his firm's funds exhausted, and Ray Langton
turns down his offer of a partnership.
Ken Barlow takes up the trumpet again and plays at the Ogden's
wedding anniversary. Minnie's cat Bobbie is stuck on the top of
the Viaduct. Stan climbs up with difficulty and despite getting
scratched, rescues him. It turns out to be a different cat.
December
Lucille and Gordon, determined to marry, run away to Gretna, but
have second thoughts in the buffet at Preston station and return
home sheepishly. Albert, who has been away attending to his duties
as curator of his regimental museum at Bury, takes up residence
at Nº1 again. Rovers regulars stage Aladdin, produced
by Emily Nugent and the vicar, the Rev Reginald James.
Eye-catching Marjorie Griffin turns up from Len's past on his
doorstep and promptly moves in with him. Bobbie is still missing,
so Minnie decides to keep the Viaduct stray and call him Sunny
Jim, after Jed Stone.