Character Study: Emily Nugent Swain Bishop

Emily Bishop (née Nugent, previously Swain) first arrived in Coronation Street on 27 January 1961. Viewers might think Emily’s a bit of a mousey little woman with a boring past and no future, but anyone who thinks like this has got our Emily all wrong. Emily Bishop has had one of the most interesting and varied love lives on Corrie so click through below and read on for a full character profile of Emily Bishop. And of course, if we’ve got anything wrong or have missed something important out, do please let us know.

Emily first appeared on Corrie running her own shop selling baby linen on Rosamund Street. She spent her free time helping out in the Mission of Glad Tidings and still does charity work even now, helping out as a Friend of Weatherfield Hospital.

The secretary of the Mission Board was Leonard Swindley and by the end of 1961 Emily and Leonard had merged shops and been taken over by Gamma Garments. Emily kept hoping that Leonard would ask her to marry him, but as he never did, she took the plunge and popped the question to him instead. He said yes and the two of them prepared to wed but deep in both their hearts they knew they never really loved each other. Emily jilted Leonard on their wedding day, confiding to Jack Walker that she didn’t love him, and Leonard went off on their honeymoon by himself.

Emily ended up taking over Gamma Garments and reopened it as a trendy store (Emily the trend-setter!) selling top clothes for women. She even changed her own image and started wearing flowery frocks instead of woollen twinsets. She joined a dating agency, had a fling with Brian Thomas and Frank Starkey (not at the same time!) and her new look caught the eye of a tall, burly and handsome Hungarian demolition expert Miklos Zadic. Miklos taught Emily to dance barefoot (Emily the hippy!) and tempted her to wear her hair down instead of pinned up in a bun. Emily followed Miklos to Newcastle for a dirty weekend and on her return she confessed to Valerie Barlow that she had given herself to him. Oo-er.

Emily first met Ernest Bishop in 1969 at his mother’s funeral. Ernest was a gentle, caring man, a photographer and Emily recognised straight away that the two of them were kindred spirits. Emily and Ernie married on 3 April 1972 but sadly, Ernest was murdered on January 11, 1978.

Emily never expected to find love again after Ernest died. But when she and Deirdre Langton started up a home secretarial and bookkeeping business, Emily met Arnold Swain who took a shine to her and they were married in 1980. Three months after the wedding, Emily found out that Arnold was already married and his wife was very much alive and well.

Not surprisingly, with everything that Emily had been through up until then, she had a nervous breakdown.

In 1994 Emily got engaged again, this time to Bernard Morton. However, he called off their engagement when he found out about Emily’s breakdown as his own mother had suffered from mental illness. However, this led to Emily confessing to her lodger, Percy Sugden that she replaced his budgie, Randy, back in 1988 without telling him. (Emily, the cheeky minx!)

Things turned a bit lively in 1998 when Emily’s nephew, Spider Nugent turned up to stay with his Aunty Em. Spider had Emily out on the Red Rec up a tree in a protest to save the green space but this wasn’t Emily’s first protest. Back in 1971 Emily had organised a protest against building of maisonettes.

In 2000 Emily was burgled and this made her a little nervous living alone. Norris Cole needed somewhere to lodge and moved into No. 3 with Emily and he’s been there ever since although Rita moved in with Emily for a while when Norris moved into Rita’s flat. Emily’s had many lodgers staying with her over the years including Percy Sugden, Norris Cole and Curly Watts who she insisted on calling Norman and treating him like a surrogate son.

In 2003, Emily managed to escape the clutches of killer tricky Dicky Hillman. And in the same year, she prevented a murder when grief-crazed Brenda Fearns almost jumped off a forty-three foot church tower with Bethany Platt.

In 2005, Ray Langton returned to the Street. When Emily found out he was terminally ill with stomach cancer, Emily took him in to her home to care for him. Emily has always been a good friend to Deirdre and Ken Barlow and acted as a confidante to Tracy Barlow over the years too.

And after Ray died, Emily took in another guest: author Mel Hutchwright AKA con artist Lionel Hipkiss. She's always been one for taking in waifs and strays, has Emily. Back in 1968 she even took in Dolores the donkey who belonged to local rag-and-bone man Tommy Deakin. Emily thought Tommy was in hospital and she stabled Dolores in the Rovers' yard and looked after her, but Tommy was actually on holiday in Majorca.

The most recent big storyline we’ve seen Emily involved in was when Ed, the killer of her husband Ernie returned to the Street and romanced Eileen Grimshaw. Emily had to look deep inside her faith and finally decided to forgive Ed, even giving him one of Ernie’s old cameras to take with him when he moved away.

Emily is played wonderfully by Eileen Derbyshire and is responsible for delivering my most favourite quote ever on Coronation Street: "I've always wanted to be stormy, passionate and tempestuous. But you can't be. Not when you're born with a tidy mind".

So, what’s next for Emily Bishop? I wonder…

With help from Daran Little’s book The Women of Coronation Street
And thanks to www.corrie.net