0108 - 25th December 1961

[@ragnarragnarson5184]

Jack Walker was such a great character

[@williamf4544]

Yes - a gentleman playing the part of a gentleman - clearly a lovely man

[@johnking5174]

Pubs in England on Christmas Day in the 1960s only opened for a few hours around lunchtime and were closed by 3pm. Corrie knew it and put it into the script with the Rovers Return shutting up before the Queen's speech at 3pm

[@reginaseelaIam]

still is where i live

[@lyndaoneill6483]

Haha, not allowed to have a quiet doze.Those were the days when we all got together lovely home made Christmas dinners done from scratch then t.v. on for the Queen.Great stuff..

[@johnking5174]

Christmas Night 1961 on ITV was = 7pm All Our Yesterdays (Christmas of 1936). 7.30pm Coronation Street. 8pm Gunsmoke. 8.55pm ITN News. 9.05pm A Merry Max with Max Bygraves. 10.05pm Film: The Pickwick Papers.

[@happiness4812]

Oh nice! Gunsmoke. Love from 🇺🇲

[@johnking5174]

@@happiness4812 That is a programme which would never air in prime time ITV now. US imports now air in late slots or on Channel 4, Channel 5

[@reginaseelaIam]

great memory, i was only five and we had no tv then

[@julieanncarter6797]

@ 7:27 Jack Walker calls Martha Longhurst, "Mrs Caldwell". Great episode !

[@lizbryant8347]

Also, Elsie calls Len "Leonard Clairfough" instead of Fairclough @ 2:28 and Frank Barlow calls Albert Tatlock "Jack" @ 13:56, referring to the actor's name instead. Makes you wonder if the cast was making merry that day!

[@elizabethross-watson9792]

@@lizbryant8347 That's one of the greatest things about doing it live.

[@stevebbuk]

..and Frank Barlow doesn't bother to shut the front door.

[@stevebbuk]

@Coronation Street Storyline But the twins weren't born until 1965..

[@lindabiggs3905]

Yeah I keep saying, Barlow twins weren't born till,, 1965 d uh

[@SeanODonovan-hc1he]

Great to see all those supporters of women’s football back in 1961 !

[@wendywhysall7217]

Those was the days great ❤️

[@nicolelawless3199]

wendy whysall my Nanny remembers her dog eating all the Christmas dinner that year haha

[@andrewclaflin2061]

So wonderful to go back to the cobbled, great characters, I've always watched since 60's unfortunately the last few years have lost their magic for me. Glad for these episodes, many thanks.

[@jenniferlewis7710]

Thank you for sharing,,,,,love them

[@alexanderjones9572]

Len (according to Albert) sitting on the vestry doorstep singing ‘The little boy that Santa Claus forgot..’ . Wonder what Ena thought! Shame so many episodes are missing! 😂😂

[@whyayetv]

Kudos to the lassie who rollerskated on ‘cobbles’! The joys of a painted indoor set. Some houses have a front step but there’s no drop between the kerb and the road. 😂

[@breebooth1589]

It ended so lovely ❤

[@matthall3077]

Recorded On Friday 27th December 1996 On Granada Plus

[@Miniver765]

Dennis wanted a good throttling. Imagine not bothering to ask your mother what she had planned for Christmas dinner.

[@emobloom]

I hate the way they talk to poor Minnie :(

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

Mary next door from the Royle Family.

[@londonlady227]

She was also Ballykissangel

[@connielincoln8681]

Ty so much for uploading these episodes great fan from NZ here ❤

[@williamf4544]

Wow frozen chips in 1961 - i dont remember hearing about them till the mid 70s - but then again Scottish country housewives like my mum frowned on stuff like that and thought it unhealthy and expensive at that point in time - that was still the mince and tatties and real chips done in the chip pan era up here

[@londonlady227]

My mother wouldn't even have Smash in the house ..... you know the powdered potato.....

[@happiness4812]

Frozen chips are still unhealthy and expensive today❤❤❤❤

[@lynd7081]

I’m like that, Cottage pie, home cooked chips. Living a long life and not a bit overweight😀.

[@lynd7081]

@@londonlady227don’t blame her, I wouldn’t have it either.

[@williamf4544]

And i remember when i bought my mum a microwave - it was a bit like that episode of Father Ted when they Bought Mrs Doyle a tea making machine so she didnt have to make tea

[@lorrainebrown7263]

Philip Lowrie was a hell of a good actor.

[@alexanderjones9572]

Concepts saying she wants to hear her queen. Harry “She’s not ‘your’ queen.” Careful, Harry! I know Concepta’s Irish, but...

[@alexanderjones9572]

20.44 Poor Dennis. Mind, he should’ve considered Elsie too.

[@happiness4812]

14:56 Albert Tactlock please dont pinch Ena Sharples bum😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@igolfjtweetler4097]

When we still had a country

[@alexanderjones9572]

Where is Minnie’s mother? Seems a bit odd that she’s not eating with Minnie, Martha and Ena!

[@Sarah-z1f6c]

Why do we never see Len’s wife?

[@francofan100]

This was during the 1961-62 ITV strike of short term contract actors - so no one except the main cast appeared for all that time, so she was never introduced.

[@alexanderjones9572]

@@francofan100 Which explains a question I asked. I guess that’s why we didn’t see Minnie’s mother-even when Minnie, Martha and Ena were having dinner at Minnie’s and she was in the house!

[@johnking5174]

Thankfully for the cast, come Christmas 1961 Coronation Street was not broadcast live as it initially was in it's first three months on air. So the cast could have a break over Christmas 1961 as this would have been recorded one or two weeks before Christmas.

[@johnlarkin3821]

Elsie's Christmas Dinner sounds a complete horror...

[@cmillward1119]

Can anyonw upload the Sheila Birtles episodes 19 August 1963 and 11 September 1963

[@lindsaycaress450]

It was nice that Albert and Frank remembered their wives.

[@artrandy]

Ena and co, Elsie and Dennis, share the accolades as per usual. The sixpenny bit scene was genius.........

[@suswik3682]

Does anyone know What white sauce was that Annie Walker mentioned? It was instead of custard on the xmas pudding.

[@adrinathegreat3095]

Jack sounded like Elmer Fudd, double wumm for Albert

[@andicampbell8621]

haha the door bounces back open and the 3 all walk away not noticing 🤣🤣

[@williamf4544]

Minnie Cauldwells mother in bed up stairs hahaha the mind boggles - we never ever saw her as far as i remember

[@alexanderjones9572]

Bit dangerous (as Ena discovered) to have sixpences IN the pudding, isn't it? I wonder how many people over the years have choked to death over Christmas Dinner because of that...!

[@carolineg1872]

Never heard of anyone in my family doing that. I think people tended to be a lot more careful then tbh.

[@elizabethross-watson9792]

@@carolineg1872 No on the contrary, Before it was sixpence it was a threepenny bit. We all used to dig in deep to see who was going to get a bit richer. Great days

[@carolineg1872]

Before my time.

[@christhomas8859]

Before government intervention. Family and friends only. We need those times back in our lives.

[@starquant5217]

I totally remember getting those disgusting coins in the Xmas pudding. So glad that not all traditions are carried forward...Those who knew what they were doing boiled the coins before adding them to the pudding. My Mother wasn't that smart. The coins tainted the food and it was like licking your tongue around a public toilet.

[@EveEve5]

Same was told it was lucky if you found a two pence piece in your mouth.

[@reginaseelaIam]

i enjoyed finding coins in my pudding

[@danrobinson572]

Was it a special thing to watch the queen on Christmas Day on tv? I’m from America. Just wondering?

[@rabbit64sj91]

Yes it was! It was first televised Christmas 1957. Prior to that it was on the radio, from 1932 onwards. It's still quite popular, especially among the older generation. And our Queen is in the 69th year of her reign now, quite incredibly. Hope this answers your question?

[@danrobinson572]

@@rabbit64sj91 ok thanks 🙏

[@pollyanne234]

It still is

[@danrobinson572]

@@pollyanne234 okay 👍

[@londonlady227]

Oh hell yes, 3pm. With a drink in your hand to toast her at the end. Well the late Queen anyway....I don't bother with Charles.

[@mapachehombre1581]

Even in the death throes of choking to death on a sixpence pudding, Ena Sharples tongue is still sharp as..

[@glamladwales7056]

So they lost the full bays between 60 and 61

[@swaggerjagg22]

Who Lennard Clairfour Elsie? 🤣 @ 2:31

[@stevebbuk]

..and at 4:39 they did rather overdo the padding.

[@uszatku9417]

Martha Longhurt has a hair net on as well - was that really a thing? It looks so strange.

[@londonlady227]

Oh yes, there were invisible ones that you matched your hair color, that was usually how its done. Kept your hair neat and tidy.

[@reginaseelaIam]

yes in the 60s they were, i remember

[@fran23324]

Did Nellie, (Lens wife) ever show up on the street??

[@Kidraver555]

Wow, the row's are brilliantly scripted.

[@elizabethross-watson9792]

Christmas day in the outpatients, hahahahaha

[@jenlewis4284]

Great episode they are all pissed lol

[@seltaeb9691]

Every bite (it was meant to be 'bit' but that fits better by error!) as good as Burton & Taylor except in Corrie they're by the score.. (it doesn't get better than Ena Sharples v Elsie Tanner).

[@lindsaycaress450]

Thy were happy with very few presents

[@ahmeddhagahofficial9034]

1st January 1962

[@alberttatlock5237]

Dennis acts like a simpleton

[@roderickscott7429]

15.00,perish the thought Albert !

[@happiness4812]

15:36 sixpences??????

[@earthalydelights]

It is Christmas Day in the workhouse, And the cold, bare walls are bright With garlands of green and holly, And the place is a pleasant sight; For with clean-washed hands and faces, In a long and hungry line The paupers sit at the table, For this is the hour they dine. And the guardians and their ladies, Although the wind is east, Have come in their furs and wrappers, To watch their charges feast; To smile and be condescending, Put pudding on pauper plates. To be hosts at the workhouse banquet They've paid for - with the rates. Oh, the paupers are meek and lowly With their "Thank'ee kindly, mum's!'" So long as they fill their stomachs, What matter it whence it comes! But one of the old men mutters, And pushes his plate aside: "Great God!" he cries, "but it chokes me! For this is the day she died!" The guardians gazed in horror, The master's face went white; "Did a pauper refuse the pudding?" "Could their ears believe aright?" Then the ladies clutched their husbands, Thinking the man would die, Struck by a bolt, or something, By the outraged One on high. But the pauper sat for a moment, Then rose 'mid silence grim, For the others had ceased to chatter And trembled in every limb. He looked at the guardians' ladies, Then, eyeing their lords, he said, "I eat not the food of villains Whose hands are foul and red: "Whose victims cry for vengeance From their dark, unhallowed graves." "He's drunk!" said the workhouse master, "Or else he's mad and raves." "Not drunk or mad," cried the pauper, "But only a haunted beast, Who, torn by the hounds and mangled, Declines the vulture's feast. "I care not a curse for the guardians, And I won't be dragged away; Just let me have the fit out, It's only on Christmas Day That the black past comes to goad me, And prey on my burning brain; I'll tell you the rest in a whisper - I swear I won't shout again. "Keep your hands off me, curse you! Hear me right out to the end. You come here to see how paupers The season of Christmas spend;. You come here to watch us feeding, As they watched the captured beast. Here's why a penniless pauper Spits on your paltry feast. "Do you think I will take your bounty, And let you smile and think You're doing a noble action With the parish's meat and drink? Where is my wife, you traitors - The poor old wife you slew? Yes, by the God above me, My Nance was killed by you! 'Last winter my wife lay dying, Starved in a filthy den; I had never been to the parish - I came to the parish then. I swallowed my pride in coming, For ere the ruin came, I held up my head as a trader, And I bore a spotless name. "I came to the parish, craving Bread for a starving wife, Bread for the woman who'd loved me Through fifty years of life; And what do you think they told me, Mocking my awful grief, That 'the House' was open to us, But they wouldn't give 'out relief'. "I slunk to the filthy alley - 'Twas a cold, raw Christmas Eve - And the bakers' shops were open, Tempting a man to thieve; But I clenched my fists together, Holding my head awry, So I came to her empty-handed And mournfully told her why. "Then I told her the house was open; She had heard of the ways of that, For her bloodless cheeks went crimson, and up in her rags she sat, Crying, 'Bide the Christmas here, John, We've never had one apart; I think I can bear the hunger - The other would break my heart.' "All through that eve I watched her, Holding her hand in mine, Praying the Lord and weeping, Till my lips were salt as brine; I asked her once if she hungered, And as she answered 'No' , T'he moon shone in at the window, Set in a wreath of snow. "Then the room was bathed in glory, And I saw in my darling's eyes The faraway look of wonder That comes when the spirit flies; And her lips were parched and parted, And her reason came and went. For she raved of our home in Devon, Where our happiest years were spent. "And the accents, long forgotten, Came back to the tongue once more. For she talked like the country lassie I woo'd by the Devon shore; Then she rose to her feet and trembled, And fell on the rags and moaned, And, 'Give me a crust - I'm famished - For the love of God!' she groaned. "I rushed from the room like a madman And flew to the workhouse gate, Crying, 'Food for a dying woman!' And the answer came, 'Too late.' They drove me away with curses; Then I fought with a dog in the street And tore from the mongrel's clutches A crust he was trying to eat. "Back through the filthy byways! Back through the trampled slush! Up to the crazy garret, Wrapped in an awful hush; My heart sank down at the threshold, And I paused with a sudden thrill. For there, in the silv'ry moonlight, My Nance lay, cold and still. "Up to the blackened ceiling, The sunken eyes were cast - I knew on those lips, all bloodless, My name had been the last; She called for her absent husband - O God! had I but known! - Had called in vain, and, in anguish, Had died in that den - alone. "Yes, there, in a land of plenty, Lay a loving woman dead, Cruelly starved and murdered for a loaf of the parish bread; At yonder gate, last Christmas, I craved for a human life, You, who would feed us paupers, What of my murdered wife!" 'There, get ye gone to your dinners, Don't mind me in the least, Think of the happy paupers Eating your Christmas feast; And when you recount their blessings In your smug parochial way, Say what you did for me, too, Only last Christmas Day."

[@happiness4812]

Oh Mr.Tatlock would have never remembered all those verses😂😂😂. Thank you❤❤

[@happiness4812]

Very sad story.

[@reginaseelaIam]

thank you

[@janwong9437]

Denis- daft as a brush but not half as useful

[@gareththomas6714]

why would the dark haired woman want to watch the queen?she was irish

[@happiness4812]

Her Queen by marriage.

[@williamf4544]

Can you believe a lot of people dont stand for the national anthem on Christmas day - its true they dont stand up - what has this world come to

[@danrobinson572]

I agree disgusted. My 3 boys always stood because over here in America it’s a choice. But my boys did. Two of them are graduated already. My youngest got two years left.

[@williamf4544]

@@danrobinson572 Americans have way more respect for things like that than us Brits have these days

[@jstewart3517]

Ms sharples is such a pushy one

[@gregbouchard9220]

Keep up the good work on here mate how are u OK mate keep up there good work on here mate how are you OK keep up there good work on here mate form Greg bouchard keep up there good work on here mate how are u OK mate Hove a good day mate form Greg bouchard

[@carolmarsden5391]

Mavis is a dip stick

[@reginaseelaIam]

emily too