William Roache (Ken Barlow) led the tributes at Maggie Jones' memorial service today at Salford Cathedral describing her as "our on-screen, live-in, scene-stealing battle-axe," played by a "unique and truly wonderful" actress.
To laughter he recited some of Blanche Hunt's most caustic one-liners, describing the Rovers Return's brassy barmaid Liz McDonald with: "Skirt no bigger than a belt, too much eyeliner and roots as dark as her soul."
Blanche also branded Roy Cropper as "someone who should be crayoning summat".
"In lesser hands some of these lines could seem cruel, vicious even," Roache said, "I think only Maggie could have turned them into pure comedy gold."
Roache said her character, a straight-talking Northern mother-in-law, had a habit of putting people in their place which "rang a chord with the nation". He added: "We will miss Maggie deeply. We shall miss her as a friend and as a colleague."
"She grabbed the role of Blanche with both hands and turned it into something truly unique, which will become a legendary part of Coronation Street and British TV history."
A tearful Anne Kirkbride, who played Blanche's daughter, Deirdre, gave a reading from the Book of Wisdom, with Craig Gazey (Graeme Proctor) reading When I have Fears by Noel Coward and Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts) Joyce Grenfell's, If I Should Go Read.
In a final very personal tribute, Brooke Vincent, the Street's Sophie Webster, read a poem composed by herself. The seventeen year old actress said: "You always made me smile, we always had a joke. We always shared a laugh whilst having a smoke."
Jones pulled out of filming last October and died in December at Salford Royal Hospital aged 75. A private funeral was held in London.
She won several comedy awards for her portrayal of Deirdre Barlow's mother, with her withering put-downs and cutting one-liners littering her appearances in 830 episodes of the show.
Jones was last seen on screen shortly before Christmas and her absence in the soap is explained by Blanche house-sitting for a friend in Portugal. Viewers will hear of her death in May which will be followed by her character's funeral.
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My favourite Blance put-down was during the psychic Sophie storyline, when Vera was talking about Hilda Ogden and Ivy Tisley, commenting that one was dead, whilst the other was in Derbyshire, to which Blanche quipped 'I don't know which one's worse off.'