Details of Liz Dawn's funeral announced

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog October 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Details have been announced of the funeral of Coronation Street actress Liz Dawn.

The funeral will be held at Salford Cathedral on Friday 6 October.

The Requiem Mass will take place at 14:00 and will be followed by a private family committal.

Cast members who appeared with Dawn during her years in the ITV soap are expected to attend the service.

The funeral will be conducted by Father Brendan Curley, the former dean of Salford Cathedral and a friend of Dawn and her family, alongside the cathedral's current dean Father Michael Jones.

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Liz Dawn's best moments as Corrie's Vera Duckworth

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog September 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


She was loud, she was brash and she was Coronation Street through and through. Will we ever see the likes of Vera Duckworth again?  It's been a sad day indeed with the news that actress Liz Dawn, who played Vera for over 30 years, has passed away. Our condolences and thoughts go to her family.

As Vera, she was always entertaining. Here's one of my favourite clips of her from teh show.

And here's a lovely YouTube of the best of Vera's laughs!



And here's a short clip where Liz Dawn talks about why she left Coronation Street.


The BBC website have a beautiful tribute to Liz Dawn as Vera Duckworth here.

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

A Corrie fan writes: The day I met Liz Dawn

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog September 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Guest blog post from Tommy Cowell.  
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The only time I met Liz Dawn is a story that paints me in the worst possible way; so please don’t judge. 

It was 2009. I was living in Preston – where the only hint of celebrity culture was seeing Kenny Baker in the local Morrisons or meeting Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Gromit, when he came to visit my high school. 

So imagine my surprise and delight when I was walking along the Adelphi roundabout with my friend Maria, who stopped and shouted, “is that Vera Duckworth?!” I looked up at the coach she was pointing at, which was motionless at the traffic lights. Yes, it was indeed Vera Duckworth, wearing an impossibly glamorous and over-sized fluffy hat. Hollywood had come to Preston. 

Whatever I say about Jack and Vera will have been said a thousand times, by a thousand fans, but now isn’t the time for originality, just raw truth; they were like my Grandparents. (They even had a Grandson called Tommy!) They were the nation’s Grandparents. They were bloody funny too, and their legend lives on with every strong woman with fire in her heart and every hopeless bloke that just wants to sneak off to the pub. Beth and Kirk, Sally and Tim, Steve and Leanne, all very clear and loving descendants of Jack and Vera. But the Duckworth Duo were the originals; they were icons. I grew up with them on my TV and it broke my heart that Vera was so close but so far, soon to be driven away in her coach, out of sight. 

Except it didn’t. 

When the red light turned to green, the coach drove a few yards into the nearest carpark, over at the University. Maria and I had never run so fast in our lives, as we dashed to greet Vera Duckworth. 
The coach doors opened as we arrived and a few minutes later she was walking down the steps and into the sunlight. She smiled kindly at the two young fans with a slightly crazed look in their eyes as she took photos with us. She was just as lovely and as funny as I’d hoped she would be. 

After a few minutes, we turned around, realising there was an empty wheel chair behind us. It was for her. We’d made this lovely old lady stand up for far too long and all she needed to do was to sit down. It was then that I realised how badly ill she was. 

I’ll always feel guilty about that, but I’ll also always be thankful that Liz Dawn gave us those few special moments. She gave us her time and it’s only on days like this you realise how precious that is.
About a year later, despite how ill she seemed, she showed how resilient she was by returning to Coronation Street – as a ghost! In a special scene filmed with Bill Tarmey for his last episode, we saw Jack and Vera reunited in the afterlife. 

When I worked at The Coronation Street Tour, my favourite set to take people to was the Duckworth’s living room. They left their footprint on the cobbles by adding that gorgeously gaudy cladding to the front of Number 9 - the Street has literally been marked by Jack and Vera, Bill and Liz, and so have our hearts. 

R.I.P Liz. And thank you. “Goodnight, my swamp-duck.” 

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Tributes flood in for Liz Dawn

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog September 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Tributes have flooded in for the actress Liz Dawn who passed away this week.  A lot of the Coronation Street cast, writers and directors, via Twitter, have shared memories and photographs of their time working with the actress who played Vera Duckworth for over 30 years.  The BBC have compiled some of the tributes from the cast here.

Samia Longchambon (Maria Connor) and Alan Halsall (Tyrone Dobbs) spoke to BBC 5 live's Adrian Chiles about their experience of working alongside the actress.  You can listen to their interview here.

Yesterday on the BBC national news at 6pm, William Roache (Ken Barlow) and Alan Halsall (Tyrone Dobbs) spoke about their time working with Liz Dawn.  And also in that news segment our blogger Michael Adams was interviewed outside of the Coronation Street studios in Salford to give a fan view of what Vera meant to us.  

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Liz Dawn has passed away

It is with the greatest sadness that we have learned Liz Dawn passed away last night.

A statement from the family of Liz Dawn says: "We are devastated and heartbroken at the passing of our much-loved wife, mother, sister, grandmother and great grandmother, the incredible Liz Dawn
Liz died peacefully last night at home with her loving family around her. She has been the love, light and inspiration in our lives and we are bereft at her passing."

A statement from Coronation Street reads: "It is with the greatest sadness that we have learned our beloved Liz Dawn has passed away last night. Her family at Coronation Street are heartbroken. We extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathy at this very sad time to Liz’s devoted husband Don, her loving children Graham, Dawn, Ann and Julie, their families and her six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

We have been blessed to have Liz in our lives, as she was such a kind, considerate and caring friend and colleague. As Coronation Street’s Vera Duckworth for 34 years, Liz brought so much joy and happiness to so many. She was a wonderful actress who will forever be a true Coronation Street legend.

On behalf of ITV and the programme Coronation Street’s Executive Producer, Kieran Roberts said: "Liz Dawn was a true Coronation Street legend, a brilliant actor and a wonderful person. Everyone lucky enough to have worked with Liz during her thirty-four years playing Corrie icon Vera Duckworth will remember her with huge affection."

From all of us here on the Bluenose Corrie Blog, our thoughts and condolences go to Liz Dawn's family.

The BBC have Liz Dawn's obituary and if you'd like to read it, it's here.

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Where are they now? Corrie Icons of the 80s - Liz Dawn

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog June 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Here we go with a look back at some of the Coronation Street icons from the 1980s. Let's find out what they've been up to since they left the show.

Liz Dawn who played Vera Duckworth

Liz Dawn played Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street from 1974. Since leaving the show, her health has deteriorated as she suffers from emphysema.

She left Corrie in 2008 but made one last appearance in the show in 2010 when her ghost visited Jack before he passed away in his chair.

In 2015 her health seemed to improve and she briefly starred in ITV soap Emmerdale . At the time she said she would even like to make a permanent return to our screens. But sadly her health has worsened, forcing her to have long periods at home in Manchester.

Recently, she was so poorly that she couldn't attend her own grandson's wedding to the niece of Debbie Rush (who plays Corrie's Anna Windass).

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Liz Dawn joins Emmerdale for Christmas cameo

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog November 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth on Coronation Street, is returning to the world of soap.  She'll be playing a cameo role in the Christmas episode of Emmerdale.

Liz told ITV: “There’s only one show I’d come out of retirement for and it’s Emmerdale, particularly as I’ve celebrated my 76th birthday this week (8 November) so I wanted to mark the occasion. I love my character. What a feisty lady she is! Giving them all a run for their money in the B&B on Christmas Day. She’s so rude to them which isn’t like me at all.

"The cast and production team at Emmerdale have been so lovely and really looked after me and I was particularly pleased to be directed by Tony Prescott.

I’ve worked with him over many years at Corrie and he’s a lovely man, really good at what he does and very creative. I’ll be looking forward to seeing my scene on Christmas Day and introducing you all to Mrs Winterbottom.”

Filming has taken place this week and is due to air in Emmerdale’s hour long Christmas day episode.



Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.


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Jack and Vera Duckworth join Madame Tussauds Blackpool

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog March 2013, reposted to this blog with permission.)


One of the best-known couples in television history, Coronation Street’s Jack and Vera Duckworth are the latest to have been immortalised in wax by Madame Tussauds.

The famously fiery couple have been chosen by guests visiting the world famous attraction as their favourites to join other legendary characters on the custom-built Rovers Return set.

Captured in their colourful ‘90’s heyday, the long-standing residents of No.9 Coronation Street appear as they are best remembered.  Vera is dressed in her characteristic bright clothing and Jack in a pink shirt with a burgundy paisley patterned tie, braces and his classic cream jacket over his arm.

Each of the famous soap star figures has taken four months to create and Madame Tussauds sculptors have used archive footage supplied by ITV to expertly craft their wax figures.  Additionally, the costumes have been hand made to ensure every detail from this snapshot in time is perfect.

Both Liz Dawn (Vera) and the family of the late Bill Tarmey (Jack) were closely consulted during the figure-making process, culminating in a private final viewing where they were able to see the figures and pour over every detail.  Liz Dawn said: “I can’t believe how well they’ve captured the tiniest details – it really is like looking into a Vera-shaped mirror. It’s lovely to know that a character I’ve played for so long has had such an effect on the nation that she’s been immortalised like this – if only they could have done it when I was 20!”

Bill Tarmey’s widow, Alma, added: “I am sure Bill would have been very proud and honoured to see himself, as Jack, immortalised in such a lifelike figure. For myself it brought back many happy memories of the character Bill had portrayed for so many years, truly amazing! My congratulations and appreciation to the sculptor and all those involved in the production of the figure.”

Among the most-loved of all Britain’s TV characters, Jack and Vera were no strangers to Blackpool. In fact, when they weren’t in the middle of an argument, they often talked on the Corrie cobbles about retiring to the seaside resort.

So it feels justifiably fitting that they should join other characters in the fully licensed Rovers Return set, which already includes fellow legends Ken and Deirdre Barlow, Hilda Ogden and Bet Lynch.



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Coronation Street bad taste picture of the week

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog April 2013, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Liz Dawn (Vera Duckworth) and Jill Summers (Phyllis Pearce) having a bit of a laugh in between takes filming on Coronation Street. If you would like to caption this for us, feel free!

And speaking of Coronation Street and bad taste pictures...

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Liz Dawn interview on ITV's This Morning

(This post was originally posted by Llifon on the Coronation Street Blog in February 2013.)

Liz Dawn, who played Corrie's Vera Duckworth, was interviewed on ITV's This Morning on Monday, 11th February. She talked about her time on Coronation Street, her relationship with Bill Tarmey (Jack Duckworth) and how much she misses him, her battle against emphysemia and the TV shows she enjoys watching. One thing that had an effect on me was her saying that she regretted smoking.

It's a wonderful interview and she tells presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, who are married, that they are a posher version of Jack and Vera.

And another thing that makes it wonderful is Liz's failure to notice when the programme's gone live or not.

And we get to meet her husband Don.

It's worth a watch!



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