January
Blanche Hunt leaves with Dave Smith to manage his new country
club, and hands the Corner Shop keys to Betty. Hilda returns to
tell Stan about his new granddaughter Jayne, and notices that
he is looking well-fed. She suspects the reason lies at 19 Inkerman
Street, but Minnie Caldwell has been cooking for him.
Tricia Hopkins starts a rumour that Mission Fund treasurer Ernest
Bishop has embezzled £5. Ernest, who has merely mislaid
a postal order, rebukes everyone for their lack of charity. The
fire-raising hooligans get three months detention.
February
A month of misunderstanding. An anonymous letter to the Town Hall
alleges that Alf Robert's expensive new watch is a planning bribe
from Dave Smith. Len and Rita trick Donna Parker into parting
with £500 by pretending to sell the Kabin as a hairdressing
salon, to repay the money she conned from Alf. An angry Alf reveals
that Donna not only repaid the cash, but gave him the watch.
Annie is caught by the TV detector van. Hilda panics and buys
a licence, unknown to Stan who tries to hide the set and drops
it. Believing that the rental company replace sets damaged by
fire, he sets it alight. The firm sends them a £75 bill
for damages. Albert sits as a model at the Centre's new art classes.
March
Stan and Hilda win a chance to fill a supermarket trolley with
as much as they can in one minute. Stan's back gives way, and
Deirdre has to deputize. Ken becomes attracted to married graduate
Wendy Nightingale, who conducts a survey on reading habits at
the Centre. They spend the night together when her husband is
away.
Mavis returns from a weekend in Kendal with Derek Wilton. She
refuses to elaborate, but a mood-stone ring he has given her turns
green, signifying contentment. Stan is missing: Hilda draws a
blank at 19 Inkerman Street, and finds he has been accidentally
locked in the Rovers cellar with Albert Tatlock. Annie, whose
stocks are depleted after the incident, takes on a resident bar-cellarman,
Fred Gee.
April
Wendy's suspicious husband bursts into Nº11 and assaults
Ken. The brewery runs a Super-Brain Contest, and Stan wins the
heat to represent the Rovers. Confidence is low, so he is plied
with beer and sent to the wrong venue. Bet, as substitute, goes
through to the finals.
Elsie returns to the Street and becomes manageress at Sylvia's
Separates. Ernest Bishop lets his standards slip and goes on a
strippers-and-booze night out with Alf and Ray, forgetting it
is his wedding anniversary. The club is raided, and the story
splashed across the Weatlerfield Gazette. Emily locks Ernest out.
May
Bet loses the Super-Brain final, but goes out with the question
master. Wendy Nightingale moves in briefly with Ken, but decides
to go back to her husband when the Committee threatens his livelihood.
Fred Gee falls for Rita, and gives her a single red rose. Ken
organizes a Spring Bank Holiday party with roundabouts, Punch
and Judy and refreshments. Stan does an escapology act, but is
too fat to free himself.Renee Bradshaw makes Gordon an offer for
the Corner Shop, and takes over for three weeks
June
Ken moves in with Albert, and Elsie goes back to her old house
Nº11. Gail Potter, sacked from the shop by Renee Bradshaw,
joins her. Eddie Yeats returns, looking for digs, and joker Ray
directs him to Nº11. Elsie finds Eddie and his pal, Monkey
Gibbon, sleeping in her bed, and attacks Ray with her handbag
in the Rovers.
Renee is reported for Sunday trading. She accuses Emily, but discovers
it was Tricia Hopkins. Ray plans a wedding anniversary party at
the Rovers and gives Annie £25 deposit. Deirdre, who wants
to buy a house, insists that he cancels it.
July
The Ogdens invite Eddie to lodge with them. He offers to decorate,
but runs out of paper. To fill in the gaps he buys a scenic vista
of the Alps, delighting Hilda who wants to outdo Annie Walker
with her 'muriel'. Ray announces that Deirdre is pregnant. Ernest
is broke and Emily sells her engagement ring to pay the bllls.
Albert wins £100 at bingo. Fred Gee obtains Annie's permission
to entertain a lady friend at the Rovers. She is horrifled when
he arrives with Vera Duckworth.
August
Ernest has to turn down a hospital porter's job - the sight of
blood makes him squeamish. Annie decides to learn to drive when
she hears that Nellie Harvey has passed her test after eighty-six
lessons. Ernest gets a pianist's job on stag nights at the Gatsby.
Emily is upset when a stripper calls round to practise.
Len's tools are stolen from a building site by rough labourer
Jack Barker. He doctors some scaffolding so that Len will fall.
It collapses under Ray and Len brawls with Barker. Mavis Riley
has tea with Derek's disapproving mum, who says they must stop
seeing each other.
September
Gail Potter, cited in a divorce, is sacked from Sylvia's Separates.
Elsie wins back her job for her. Fred Gee buys a greyhound and
keeps it secretly in Annie's cellar. There are accusations all
round when Annie, out for a driving lesson, swerves to avoid the
dog and crashes into Stan Ogden's handcart.
Ken discovers that Eddie Yeats has a natural ability with children,
and offers him a job as playleader. He is forced to quit when
parents do not take kindly to an ex-jailbird supervising their
offspring.
October
Annie loses a coutt battle against Renee Bradshaw's application
for an off-licence. Minnie's house, Nº5, goes up for sale.
Mike Baldwin opens a new warehouse and goes into the shirt and
jeans business, taking Ernest Bishop on as pay clerk.
Hilda, already furious that the old mac she left in the Rovers
has been used on a guy, discovers that Stan has taken £6
from her Christmas savings. She throws him out. Rita knocks Len
from a barstool in the Gatsby in a row over a singing engagement,
and he cracks his head. The doctor says he is fine, but he feigns
illness, forcing Rita and Elsie to dance attendance. Rita finds
out the truth and pours a pint of beer over him.
November
Stan, reported missing by a worried Hilda, turns up at his brother-in-law
Norman's chip shop, where Norman's 'fancy woman' takes a liking
to him. A livid Hilda drags him home.
Mike Baldwin buys Nº5, and Bet Lynch moves in as his 'housekeeper'.
Mavis has literary leanings and writes a novel based on the Street.
Song of a Scarlet Summer - a semi bodice-ripper - uses
characters with the same initials as locals: Stan Ogden, for instance,
becomes Santos Olivia.
December
Sylvia's Separates goes up for sale. Mike Baldwin buys it as a
retail outlet, but tells Elsie she is too old to sell trendy clothes.
She moves to the factory as supervisor. Wage clerk Ernest Bishop
refuses to change pay day to Thursdays. The girls de-bag him at
the Christmas party, and hand his trousers to a frosty Emily.
Annie passes her driving test, and buys a second hand Rover 2000
from Eddie Yeats' crooked pal Lanky Potts. Annie is breathalysed
after a Licensed Victuallers' luncheon. The reading is positive,
but a blood sample clears her. Mike Baldwin, suffused with Christmas
spirit, gives Bet the keys to Nº5. Hilda gets a new mac from
Stan.