Coronation Street - the Polish connection

Janice Battersby is happy to rant on about Polish immigrants coming to work in Weatherfield, but did you know that Coronation Street’s original cast featured a Polish character? Ivan Cheveski had married Elsie Tanner’s flighty daughter, Linda, and the very first episodes of Corrie in 1960 explored the difficulties of the Cheveski’s marriage since Linda had walked out on her husband. Click below to read more about the Cheveskis. [Elsie Tanner]

Ivan Cheveski arrived at time when the idea of being "politcally correct" would have everyone confused. Watch the YouTube above and listen out for moral voice Ena Sharples refer to Ivan as "that gypsy-lookin' feller in t'public". Just like Wiki and the late Kasia, Ivan was extremely hard working and saw it as his duty to provide for his wife Linda. When we joined the story of Coronation Street in 1960, Linda had left Ivan because he would not allow her to get a job. The couple had lived in Warrington near Ivan's uncle Rizard but when Linda announced that she was pregnant, they reconciled and moved to Weatherfield and into No.9 Coronation Street.

Linda gave birth to a son in June 1961 and was named Paul, in spite of Ivan wanting to name him Rizard. Ivan worked harder than ever and took a job at a local ironworks during the day and worked as potman at the Rovers on an evening. Ivan was taken by the idea of emigrating to Canada when a friend of his sent him photographs showing how better the quality of life was on the other side of the Atlantic. The episode where a tearful Elsie waved off her daughter, son-in-law and grandson off at the docks was one of the first ratings hits for Coronation Street.

The Cheveski family made infrequent visits back to the UK, until 1966 when Linda had an affair and left Ivan. Ivan moved back to the UK and found a job in Birmingham and came dashing back to Weatherfield when he read in the newspaper that his son was seriously ill after falling into an icy canal. Lidna and Ivan were again reconciled and went to live in Birmingham, with Ivan making his final appearance in 1967 at Elsie Tanner's wedding to Steve Tanner.

In 1980 Elsie's 16-year-old grandson, Martin Cheveski, mysteriously turned up on her doorstep to stay with his gran. This was one of the first times that Coronation Street's history had been rewritten, since Ivan & Linda had only one son, Paul. For Martin to have been aged 16 in 1980, he must have been born in 1964, though he was never mentioned by the Cheveskis, who appeared intermittently until 1967.

The last we saw of Linda was in 1984 when she was a divorcee, desperately trying it on with Bill Webster.

Ernst Walder was the actor who played Ivan Chevski and was in fact Austrian, not Polish. He has had a number film appearances prior to Coronation Street, usually in World War II films but was also a very close friend of Patricia Phoenix up until her death in 1986.

A huge thanks to Diane for the excellent photograph!