50 Years Of Corrie In 50 Days – 1974

(This post was originally posted by Sunny Jim on the Coronation Street Blog in 2010, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Day 14 of our 50 day countdown of Coronation Street - written by blogger Sunny Jim.

Coronation Street had done location shooting before but in October 1974 a new first was established when 2 episodes were filmed in Majorca. In the Rovers, Len Fairclough insinuated that women new nothing about football. In an attempt to prove him wrong, Bet Lynch got a few of the women together and they entered a spot the ball competition in the local paper. They were amazed when they won first prize, a holiday for two in the Bahamas. Bet negotiated with the paper and managed to get the prize changed to a holiday for eight in Majorca and so Bet, Deirdre, Emily, Annie, Rita, Mavis, Betty and Hilda headed off for a week of sun, sea and sangria.

Behind the scenes, the cast weren’t too impressed by the ‘holiday’. While the crew were put up in a 5-star hotel, the actors stayed in the 2-star hotel where the action was filmed. They were called at 6am each morning for make-up which was done in a room next to an open sewer that smelt disgusting. And when scenes were being filmed in the swimming pool, genuine holidaymakers were ordered out of the pool and away from the poolside and were not best pleased.

However, on screen they all had a fabulous time. Bet fell for a holiday tycoon and stayed on, only to find that he had moved on to another conquest; Deirdre, who was engaged to Billy Walker, won Annie’s approval by rejecting the advances of another holidaymaker; and Mavis surprised everyone by having a fling with a Spanish electrician (played by Malcolm Hebden).

Also in 1974: Blanche Hunt makes her first appearance (initially played by Pat Cutts); Maggie Clegg marries Ron Cooke and they emigrate; Cyril Turpin dies; Gail Potter, Eddie Yeats and Vera Duckworth make their first appearances; Lucille Hewitt leaves; Deirdre Hunt dumps Ray Langton and gets engaged to Billy Walker; Minnie Caldwell and Albert get engaged; Rovers Amateur Dramatic Association produce The Importance of Being Earnest; The Hopkins family buy the corner shop; Susi Hush becomes first female producer.