Corrie's forgotten characters - the Hopkins family

Today I thought that I would hit four Coronation Street characters with one stone and delve into the history of the Hopkinses. The family moved into Coronation Street in 1974 when they agreed to rent the corner shop from Gordon Clegg after his mother, Maggie, moved to Zaire. At the head of the family (in all but name) was Idriss Hopkins, but the real boss was his mother, Megan, who was often referred to as 'Granny'. Idriss was married to a local woman, Vera, played by Kathy Staff, and the couple had a daughter, Tricia. [Ben]

Click below to learn more about Coronation Street's Hopkins family.

There was one way for a new Coronation Street actress to quickly work her way up the pecking order and that was to become a 'Granada starlet'. If Granada thought you a capable actress and you had proved your worth in other productions, most often 'Family At War' (which brought Julie Goodyear and Diana Davies to Corrie), then you could expect all sorts of special treatment from the production team. This is very true of Kathy Jones who played Tricia. In fact, the entire Hopkins family was created simply as a vehicle for her and to develop Tricia into a stronger character.

Tricia and Vera had first appeared in 1973 when Trish was caught drinking underage in the Rovers. Annie Walker laid into Vera calling her a bad mother and accusing her of neglect. Granada didn't just create a family for Tricia, they realised that she needed the influence of someone nearer to her own age and, as the character description reads, they created a 'friend for her to be silly with.' This 'silly friend' was Gail Potter, played by Helen Worth.

Traditionally the owner of the corner shop was seen as an outsider by the other residents, and this was certainly the case for the Hopkinses. The character of Granny had been created as a direct replacement for Ena Sharples after Violet Carson left the programme due to ill health. Granny befriended Minnie Caldwell from No.5 and the pair would sit in the snug together, with the writers even trying to make Granny's dialogue similar to that of Ena's.

Vera quickly left the programme because actress Kathy Staff had already committed herself to a new BBC production called Last of the Summer Wine. Vera was written out in the traditional Corrie way - going to nurse her sick mother. This left Granny and Idriss to as they wished, since Vera had always softened the two.

When Tricia developed and interest in Ray Langton, Gail tried get the pair together. Ray went as far as to kiss Tricia just as Gail took a photograph on a Polaroid camera. Granny ended up finding the photo and locked Tricia in her room, before violently laying into her with a sermon full of morals, à la Mrs Sharples.

The Hopkins family, notably Granny, are best known for unearthing the truth about Gordon Clegg's parentage. Vera Hopkins returned to Weatherfield towards the end of 1974 after her mother had died. Granny knew that Vera had inherited a tidy sum of money and set about being as nice as she possibly could in the hope that Vera would buy the shop from the Cleggs. When the Hopkinses decided to move some of Maggie Clegg's furniture, they found Gordon Clegg's birth certificate. The mother's name read 'Elizabeth Preston' and Granny set about trying to find out who this woman was.

Gordon's mother turned out to be Betty Turpin and Granny promised to keep the gossip secret. Betty made the decision to tell Gordon the truth and Maggie returned from Africa to break the news. In his anger, Gordon evicted the Hopkinses from the shop and they did a midnight flit early in 1975. The family were never popular, mainly because Granny lacked the warmth and human touch of Ena Sharples.

Tricia stayed on the Street until 1976, but when she moved away from the area where did she go to work?

There's a teaser for you!