There was a preview of this Fab Photo last month, it was posted by mistake! Oops!

For a while, Alec Gilroy lived in the flat next to Rita Sullivan. Alec and Rita were old friends, he was her manager back in the days when she was singing the club circuit around the Northwest. They were often at odds, and Rita knew what kind of a toerag Alec could be but in their later years, they started to get close and had a romance. Alec thought it would be handy if they had a door between the flats to make it more convenient to visit back and forth. The problem was, Alec was not happy with the lack of speed the builder was using and sacked him. He decided to finish the job himself, and this was the end result. Oops!

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Terry Duckworth was a busy boy back in 1987. He shared Dulcie Froggatt with his father, Jack, (no, not at the same time!!!) and he encountered his old army mate Pete Jackson. Pete's wife, Linda, wasn't that fond of Terry so he tried to convince her he was a good guy. Only he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams and they fell for each other. Pete found out and pleaded for Linda to finish with Terry. It looked like she was going to do just that but when she found out that Terry decided to chuck it all in and leave town, she left with him! The neat thing about it all is that the man that played Peter Jackson, Ian Mercer, later returned to Coronation Street as Gary Mallett!

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We know what Kevin's garage looks like now, with it's Ryan Connor-graffiti-d door (vroom!) but when it was first built and owned by Mike Baldwin, it was clean and black and.... well, kind of dreary looking. Mike was all business and wouldn't have stood for artistic license :)

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Everyone remembers the Christmas that Les Battersby ran over Theresa the Turkey. He got the turkey from scallawag mate Charlie West, as pictured here. He thought he was getting the same kind of turkey you get from the butcher, all plucked and ready to stuff and most importantly, dead. Janice wasn't too sure about a living creature and Toyah, recently a vegetarian, was horrified that they would kill a live bird for their Christmas. Theresa escaped, Toyah made Les go looking for it but Theresa wandered out in the road and ended up a on the Christmas table anyway.

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These days, Sally seems to annoy a lot of viewers with her uppity attitude and bossy ways. Remember when she and Kevin first got together in 1986? She was a little spitfire, with loads of attitude and sassy as they come. Life for Sally has had its ups and downs but against all odds, the Websters are still together. How long with that last if Kevin and Molly have a fling as is rumoured? Stay tuned!

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Today's Fab Photo comes from1991 when Deirdre still had that brillo perm. She and Ken were on the road to divorce after his affair with Wendy Crozier and he was living in the flat over the corner shop. Deirdre was running for re-election to the council against Alf Roberts who happened to be Ken's landlord. Ken of course, supported Deirdre and that caused ructions between Ken and Alf. Ken insisted on displaying the poster and Alf insisted on it being removed even to the point of letting himself into the flat unauthorized and taking it down himself and even told Ken he'd be evicted if he persisted. Ken went to the Gazette and Alf's campaign manger, Alec Gilroy tried to counter with their own interview but Alf and Ken got into a fight in front of a reporter! You can read more about it here starting at April 29, 1991

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Alf Roberts, OBE was a fine gentleman. He was active in the community, having served as town councillor for many years at various times and was even Mayor of Weatherfield twice. He married three times, his last wife was Audrey Roberts, mother of Gail. He loved Gail and Gail's children as if they were his own children and grandchildren, not having had any of his own. Alf was a tall, robust man even though he'd had some illnesses over the years. The actor who played Alf, Bryan Mosley, had health issues as well and sadly, in the last year or so of his tenure as Alf, his health deteriorated. You can see in this photo from 1998 that he had lost a good deal of weight. Bryan was written off the show because the producers were worried it was too much for him and he died only six weeks later of a heart attack while out shopping with his wife.

We miss Alf Roberts and Bryan Mosely. A fab character who had been in Coronation Street on and off almost since the beginning. He first appeared in February, 1961 as a friend and coworker of Frank Barlow. He did not appear for a few years due to an actor's equity strike but returned in 1968 and played Alf until Alf died on screen, New Year's Day, 1999.

Thanks to Corrie.net for details of Bryan's tenure.

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Do you know who this little one is, trying to get through a locked door? Well, here's a hint. She's still behind locked doors and there are bars on the windows as well! This is a very young Tracy Barlow as played by Christabel Finch! Get used to it, sweetie! Locked doors are in your future!
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Bet Lynch gave birth to a son when she was 16 and had him adopted. She never knew what became of him but many years later, in 1975, two young soldiers came in to the Rovers Return. One was a young man called Martin Downs. He knew that the brassy blonde behind the bar was his birth mother, Bet but he never idenitified himself to her because he was embarassed at her behaviour. Some time later, one of the two men returned with the sad news that Martin had been killed in a car crash and he came to tell Bet. She realized that her son was ashamed of her and had not wanted to meet her and she was gutted. So much so that she contemplated suicide and only good friend Eddie Yeats was able to talk to her and give her the support she needed.

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Did you know that Ken Barlow had a brief fling with Rita Sullivan, Littlewood as was? Oh yes, he did and here's the evidence. Not backwards in coming forward is our Ken, as we all know. (And he's still chasing women!) This would have been after Val died but before he married Janet Reid. At the time, she was with a man called Harry Bates and pseudo stepmom to his son. Ken was the lad's teacher and Rita found herself attracted. It didn't get very far and Rita left Harry and the Street shortly after that but was discovered by Len while singing in a nightclub and the rest, as they say, is history!

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On this, Steve McDonald's umpteenth wedding day, I thought it was a nice time to look back into the McDonald family album. This photo, from 1991, shows Steve and his twin Andy endeavoring to rival BBC Radio 2 with a pirate broadcasting station, JCWFM. The lads put the radio together from parts they found in Jim's bike workshop and they managed a low level broadcast in the immediate area and had fun making fun of Mavis and Rita, Alphonse "Scarface" Roberts and their prime target, Captain Kenny Barlow who wore carpet slippers. Tracy Barlow and later Vicky Arden were both conspirators but they were caught out eventually and shut down. It wasn't the first time Steve got into a scrape and it won't be the last!

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Here is a truly fab photo of an ex-Coronation Street star. Contrary to her dowdy character on screen, here's a view of her on stage as Sally Bowles in the play I Am A Camera. This play, by John Van Druten, is a prequel to Cabaret, with the same character, Sally, in both. The actor? Thelma Barlow who we all know as Mavis Reilly Wilton! Mavis was one of my all time favourite characters but she was hardly a glamour girl in spite of the fact that she always seemed to have men after her!

Another photo from the Wayback machine, from 1967. Annie Walker though a trip to a football match was in order, so that she could figure out why her ward, Lucille, was so keen on them. She thought football was common, of course. She suited up and went off to the match but when she was bumped about by fans from the other team, she imperiously thought she was owed an apology and when one was not forthcoming, she chucked a football rattle at them which went astray and smashed a window. Poor Annie was nicked by the police as a football hooligan, to her horror!

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Most people remember Emily and Spider up a tree in the Red Rec, protesting, but it isn't the first time Emily has gripped a cause by the neck and caused a few ructions. Emily Nugent Bishop may be a mild mannered church-going widow but she always had time for a cause. In our first fab photo today, Emily and Vera sit up all night on guard. The year is 1971 and the community centre and a warehouse is about to be built. Nobody wants it because they fear the busy business will bring noise and uproar to the Street (never mind that there was a factory there for years before the maisonettes were built, which only stood a few years until Val Barlow electrocuted herself and they burned). Emily and Vera and other women formed a sit in to stop the construction vehicles but it all goes wrong. Emily gets arrested and spends the night in a cell! The factory was built. And in 1989, it was demolished when Mike Baldwin sold it to Maurice Jones who redeveloped that side of the street but not before Emily and the other workers who all lost their jobs held another picket causeing the construction to be held up. The result of that was redundancy pay!

Edited: As Mark pointed out, Vera didn't come to the Street until 1974. The incident in 1971 did happen but this photo looks more likely to be from 1989 sit-in for redundancy pay happened.

Here's a photo of Deirdre wearing a pair of specs I haven't seen before. We always see photos of her with those big dinner-plate sized ones with heavy plastic frames. Here she is in 1975 with then-fiance Billy Walker, wearing a sporty pair of wire rimmed aviators. When Anne Kirkbride first appeared on the show, she was spec-less but it was decided that glasses would be Deirdre's prop, much like other characters have their signature props. Hayley has her red anorak, Gail always had a full head of hair, Hilda had her curlers, Ken wore cardies and jumpers and Bet had her behive hair.

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The year was 1997 and Fred sold the corner shop out from under Maureen and, more importantly, her mother, Maud. Maud was so angry that she sabotaged the building work by putting a fish inside a cabinet. It didn't take long for it to smell to high heaven!

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I was watching Coronation Street's 35th anniversary documentary that I happened to convert from VHS to digital over the holidays. There are extensive interviews with Coronation Street's creator, Tony Warren and they showed this fab photo of a young Tony and Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) from the early 60s. Isn't it wonderful? Click through below to see a photo of Tony from 1995.

Bet Lynch and Fred Gee were often at odds. It didn't help that Fred fancied the leopard spots off Bet but she barely gave him the time of day unless she wanted something, like a ride or a day out (which landed her and Betty Turpin in the middle of a lake!) This is from a scene where Bet put Fred's moaning to rest with a curt (and I'm paraphrasing from memory here) "I had a cat once. It were almost a tom. Only short of a couple of things. Like you!" and with that, she spun on her stiletto and strutted away, leaving Fred Gee, once again, confounded.

This past week marked the anniversary of the death of the daughter of Ena Sharples, Vera Lomax. Several years ago, in the back of the Kabin, Norris held a seance, including Rita, Blanche and Betty and though the women were highly skeptical, there was a bit of a draft and something jolted the nerves of the participants. Emily mentioned that Vera Lomax had died in the vestry of the Good Tidings Mission which used to be on that very spot. Hmmmm..... You don't suppose....?

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While catching up on back episodes of the marvellous Shameless a while back, I noticed that a somewhat less than upstanding couple looked awfully familiar. Yep, it's Graeme Hawley and Katy Cavanagh, aka our John Stape and Julie Carp! They played Shirley and Troy Lawson and his character had just got into a knock down drag out with one of the Maguire family and the pair of them were trying to cheat the Social by pretending one of the Gallagher kids was theirs in order to get a higher benefit payment. Quite different from the characters they now play on Corrie although there's an argument that may realize there isn't much difference in the morals of benefit-scamming Troy Lawson and kidnapper love-rat John Stape!

What will 2009 bring? Will you win the lottery? Will you lose/gain weight? Will you quit the ciggies once and for all? Will you find love? I don't make resolutions, I just set one challenge for myself, to do or try something new. I don't always go looking for something new, but if the opportunity arises, I take it. Two years ago, I got the chance to write about a show I love (Thanks, Flaming Nora). Sometimes I travel to a place I've never been, so that counts as well (Amsterdam this spring, if all goes according to plan).

What will 2009 bring to Coronation Street residents? Maybe Hilda can see it all in the tea leaves in the bottom of the cup but whatever it is, we here at Corrieblog Towers will always let you know when we know!

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Today's Fab Photos celebrates Christmas in Coronation Street with screen captures from Christmases past. As you can tell, Christmas is often an adventure on Corrie and somethings never change! There have been Christmas season weddings, deaths and births, parties, arguments galore, accidents and culinary disasters. Few people have a happy and uneventful season! As the "Gallery" feature isn't working, the rest are behind the link below. First up is the Christmas eve wedding of Curly and Emma Watts in 2000.

Oh my, Miss Nugent! Here's an old photo from back in the 1960s showing Emily Nugent, spinster of the parish, imbibing with Minnie "Ma" Caldwell. Never fear, though, it looks as if all those bottles on the table are unopened. The ladies appear to be sharing just the one. Minnie often had a milk stout in the snug but it wasn't something you saw Emily do all that often. Cheers!

The walls came tumbling down in 1965 when a weak beam snapped and Number 7 Coronation Street collapsed in a heap. Harry and Concepta Hewitt had moved out just the year before, leaving daughter Lucille with the Walkers in the pub. The landlord who owned the house decided not to rebuild and a bench was placed in the empty space. In 1981, the landlord died and the property came up for sale. Len Fairclough bought it, rebuilt the house and had intended to rent it out but his new wife, Rita, fancied living there so in they moved. Curly Watts bought the house from Rita in 1991 and built a room in the loft and a skylight so he could gaze at the stars with his telescope. The structure hasn't changed since then.

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Yes, it's supposed to be Fab Photo on Friday but this week, we're bringing you an extra edition in honour of Coronation Street's 48th anniversary. December 9, 1960 was a Friday night and Corrie was only broadcast in some parts of the UK, not being aired across the whole of the country until March, 1961. Critics weren't keen on the show but the viewers loved it and still do! At its peak, it was being watched by nearly 19 million viewers. That number is lower these days because there are more choices on the airwaves but Corrie is still consistently one of the top shows on telly. This photo purports to show a scene from the very first episode (but I'm not sure, though it's certainly from very early on) but from a "behind the scenes" point of view, featuring David, Ida and Ken Barlow. Wikipedia has a pretty good overview of the show. You can read an episode summary of the first show here.

Photo: ITV/Rex Features