Stan Ogden
Encyclopedia
Stanley "Stan" Ogden is a long-standing fictional character
from the British ITV
soap opera Coronation Street
, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional town of Weatherfield
. He is played by actor Bernard Youens
. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 29 June 1964 and remained for twenty years until his departure on 7 March 1984. Stan was introduced by executive producer H. V. Kershaw
. He has been portrayed as a well loved layabout and many of his storylines centred around his marriage to Hilda Ogden
.
, and was away from home much of the time, leaving his wife Hilda
to look after their four children. When he was home, he was given to drinking bouts and terrible rages, which had caused their two younger children to be taken into council care.
Stan managed to convince Irma that he had changed his ways, giving up lorry driving and trying to control his temper. He promised Irma anything if she would return to the family. At the time, No.13 Coronation Street was for sale, Jerry
and Myra Booth having been forced out by financial troubles, and Irma made it a condition of her return that Stan buy the house to provide the family with a permanent home. Stan surprised her by finding a deposit and buying the house for £565. In June 1964 Stan moved his family; wife Hilda, son Dudley (who followed his sister's lead and changed his name to Trevor) and Irma, into No13 Coronation Street.
Hilda quickly found work as a cleaner in the Rovers
, and Irma also worked there for a while as a barmaid. Trevor proved more troublesome, however. He ran away with money stolen from the neighbours when he was fourteen and wrote to his parents telling them to disown him. Stan complied with the letter and Trevor was unmentioned for years. Irma quickly fell for football star David Barlow, and they were married in late 1965. After that, Stan and Hilda were left on their own.
Stan had mended his ways, although he was still quite fond of his beer and quickly became Newton and Ridley
's best customer. His reward: a free pint every day for life. However, this came under threat, when a mysterious illness led doctors to suspect he was allergic to alcohol. After a few days of desperation, test results proved otherwise, and Stan memorably burst into the Rover's Return, yelling "It's eggs!"
While Stan remained faithful to his local, for a few years he drifted from job to job. At various times, he was a milkman
(early mornings compensated by afternoons in the pub), a coalman, an ice-cream salesman, a chauffeur
, a street photographer, a professional wrestler (in his only match he was thrown from the ring into Hilda's lap) and an artist
(creating sculptures from scrap metal; this backfired when his masterpiece was taken to the tip by mistake). However, in 1969 Stan bought a window cleaning round, and this would remain his primary means of support for the rest of his life.
Stan and Hilda had married six days after Hilda tripped over him in a wartime blackout. Through many harsh years of drinking and rages, Hilda stuck by him, believing that he was her man, no matter what. They were uncommunicative to each other, and Stan left Hilda to take all responsibilities for their home, including trying to pay the bills with their limited resources. This proved too much for Hilda, and in 1967 she suffered a nervous breakdown
and disappeared. She was found wandering in Liverpool
a few days later, and recovered, but the lack of promise in their lives hung over them like a shadow. For Stan and Hilda, life was marginal at best. They were never more than a short step from absolute poverty.
To prove himself a dab hand at whatever he turned his hand to, Stan installed a serving hatch between the kitchen/living room and the front room, but goofed and made it big enough for a canteen. Hilda liked the hatch, but pointed out that she had little use for it, as they never used the front room anyway. He also ruined Hilda's precious Alpine "muriel
" that covered one entire living room wall when he fell asleep in the bath and overflowed water seeped through the floor.
The seventies brought the Ogdens a long streak of bad luck. Their son-in-law David Barlow and grandson Darren were killed in a car accident in Australia
in 1970, their house had to be fumigated, Stan was suspected of being a Peeping Tom, and a chimney accident caused coal soot to ruin their furniture. Hilda blamed their bad luck on No. 13 and ordered Stan to change the house number to No. 12A. Hilda prepared a roast lamb dinner to celebrate, but when she went outside to see the new numbers inadvertently locked them both out. By the time Stan broke in, their dinner was burned. It seemed that No. 13 wasn't unlucky, Hilda and Stan were. On top of this, the council ordered them to change the number back. On 12 December 1970, Stan hears about Minnie's been taken hostage at No. 5 by Joe Donnelli (Shane Rimmer
), and exchanges himself for her but unaware that Joe is armed with a gun and is forced by Joe to sing Christmas carols to him at gunpoint until the Police arrive and Joe ends it all when he shoots himself.
In the seventies, as Stan aged, he grew weaker and more tired. He often didn't work, claiming his back wasn't up to the job. Hilda had to assume responsibility not only for all the household chores and looking after Stan, but also scraped to make ends meet on her wages as a charwoman. One day she had had enough, and ordered Stan out. He went, and disappeared for three weeks, much to everyone's shock. Hilda enlisted the aid of Stan's drinking buddy Eddie Yeats
to find Stan. Eddie finally tracked him to Hilda's brother's chip shop, where he was helping himself to the chips and his brother-in-law's girlfriend, Edie Blundell. Hilda dragged Stan home, and things went right back to the way they were.
Thirteen years after his disappearance, Stan and Hilda tracked Trevor down. He was married and living in a semi-detached house in Chesterfield
. Stan and Hilda made a special visit, only to have his wife Polly tell them that Trevor had led her to believe that his parents were dead.
One high point of the Ogdens' marriage was in the late seventies, when they won a second honeymoon at the Savoy hotel. A limousine whisked them from Coronation Street to the hotel, where they received free champagne. Hilda decked out in a silk nightdress, only to find that, typically, Stan had fallen fast asleep. Although the night was a quiet one, it was a fond memory for Stan and Hilda as they entered old age.
In the early eighties, Eddie Yeats secured a job as a binman, and became Stan and Hilda's lodger. He saw Stan and Hilda as surrogate parents, and they saw him as a son. Stan was in his sixties and slowing down (mirroring the deteriorating health of actor Bernard Youens). Eddie helped him on his window-cleaning round, later buying it and making Stan his employee. However, Stan's deterioration was rapid and Hilda took extra cleaning jobs to make some money, including cleaning Mike Baldwin's factory and Dr. Lowther's house.
In December 1983, Stan and Hilda celebrated their greatest milestone, their Ruby wedding anniversary. Eddie left the same night to move to Bury, and thanked Stan and Hilda for being there for him and acting as surrogate parents.
As actor Bernard Youens became too ill to continue working, Stan's disappearance was explained as him being in bed, ill, and later admitted to hospital offscreen. He made his last on-screen appearance on 7 March 1984.
Youens died in August 1984, and the decision was swiftly made to kill off the character.
In November 1984, Hilda received a phone call telling her that Stan had died in hospital of gangrene
. This led to a memorable scene as Hilda returned from the hospital after his funeral with a small package of Stan's belongings. As she silently opened the package, she found a case containing his spectacles. Opening the case, she begins to cry, and the episode ends in silence, without the usual theme tune.
In the January 1985 issue of British current affairs magazine Third Way Magazine
, Coronation Street was slated for its attitude to unemployment, stating it seemed not to be a problem because Stan was a "well loved layabout".
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the British ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional town of Weatherfield
Weatherfield
Weatherfield is a fictional town, based on Salford in North West England, which serves as the setting for the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street...
. He is played by actor Bernard Youens
Bernard Youens
Bernard Arthur Youens was a British character actor, best remembered for his portrayal of the workshy, beer-swilling Stan Ogden in Coronation Street from 1964 until his death in 1984....
. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 29 June 1964 and remained for twenty years until his departure on 7 March 1984. Stan was introduced by executive producer H. V. Kershaw
H. V. Kershaw
H. V. Kershaw, also known as Harry Kershaw, from Manchester was a British television scriptwriter and dramatist best known for his long association with the top rating soap opera, Coronation Street, a programme he continued to pen scripts for until the mid-1980s...
. He has been portrayed as a well loved layabout and many of his storylines centred around his marriage to Hilda Ogden
Hilda Ogden
Hilda Alice Ogden is a fictional character from the television series Coronation Street, one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the soap opera, whose name became synonymous with a certain type of working-class woman...
.
Storylines
Stan Ogden first appeared in the Street in 1964, looking for his eighteen-year-old daughter Freda, who had run away from the family. Freda had changed her name to Irma and was working as Florrie Lindley's assistant in the corner shop. Stan worked as a long-distance lorry-driverTruck driver
A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...
, and was away from home much of the time, leaving his wife Hilda
Hilda Ogden
Hilda Alice Ogden is a fictional character from the television series Coronation Street, one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the soap opera, whose name became synonymous with a certain type of working-class woman...
to look after their four children. When he was home, he was given to drinking bouts and terrible rages, which had caused their two younger children to be taken into council care.
Stan managed to convince Irma that he had changed his ways, giving up lorry driving and trying to control his temper. He promised Irma anything if she would return to the family. At the time, No.13 Coronation Street was for sale, Jerry
Jerry Booth
Jerry Booth was an English footballer who played as a winger. He played one match in the Football League for Burnley in 1903.-References:...
and Myra Booth having been forced out by financial troubles, and Irma made it a condition of her return that Stan buy the house to provide the family with a permanent home. Stan surprised her by finding a deposit and buying the house for £565. In June 1964 Stan moved his family; wife Hilda, son Dudley (who followed his sister's lead and changed his name to Trevor) and Irma, into No13 Coronation Street.
Hilda quickly found work as a cleaner in the Rovers
Rovers Return Inn
The Rovers Return Inn is a fictional public house on the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street. The Rovers Return occupies the corner of Coronation Street and Rosamund Street. Since the first episode it has been the principal setting in the show and many of its most memorable moments...
, and Irma also worked there for a while as a barmaid. Trevor proved more troublesome, however. He ran away with money stolen from the neighbours when he was fourteen and wrote to his parents telling them to disown him. Stan complied with the letter and Trevor was unmentioned for years. Irma quickly fell for football star David Barlow, and they were married in late 1965. After that, Stan and Hilda were left on their own.
Stan had mended his ways, although he was still quite fond of his beer and quickly became Newton and Ridley
Newton and Ridley
Newton and Ridley is a fictional brewery portrayed in the British soap opera Coronation Street, famously serving its ales in the Rovers Return. The idea came from Groves & Whitnall's in Salford, one of the largest brewing companies in Lancashire in the 1950s....
's best customer. His reward: a free pint every day for life. However, this came under threat, when a mysterious illness led doctors to suspect he was allergic to alcohol. After a few days of desperation, test results proved otherwise, and Stan memorably burst into the Rover's Return, yelling "It's eggs!"
While Stan remained faithful to his local, for a few years he drifted from job to job. At various times, he was a milkman
Milkman
A milkman is a person, traditionally male, who delivers milk in milk bottles or cartons. Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen to deliver products other than milk such as eggs, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt or soft drinks...
(early mornings compensated by afternoons in the pub), a coalman, an ice-cream salesman, a chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
, a street photographer, a professional wrestler (in his only match he was thrown from the ring into Hilda's lap) and an artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
(creating sculptures from scrap metal; this backfired when his masterpiece was taken to the tip by mistake). However, in 1969 Stan bought a window cleaning round, and this would remain his primary means of support for the rest of his life.
Stan and Hilda had married six days after Hilda tripped over him in a wartime blackout. Through many harsh years of drinking and rages, Hilda stuck by him, believing that he was her man, no matter what. They were uncommunicative to each other, and Stan left Hilda to take all responsibilities for their home, including trying to pay the bills with their limited resources. This proved too much for Hilda, and in 1967 she suffered a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
and disappeared. She was found wandering in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
a few days later, and recovered, but the lack of promise in their lives hung over them like a shadow. For Stan and Hilda, life was marginal at best. They were never more than a short step from absolute poverty.
To prove himself a dab hand at whatever he turned his hand to, Stan installed a serving hatch between the kitchen/living room and the front room, but goofed and made it big enough for a canteen. Hilda liked the hatch, but pointed out that she had little use for it, as they never used the front room anyway. He also ruined Hilda's precious Alpine "muriel
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
" that covered one entire living room wall when he fell asleep in the bath and overflowed water seeped through the floor.
The seventies brought the Ogdens a long streak of bad luck. Their son-in-law David Barlow and grandson Darren were killed in a car accident in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1970, their house had to be fumigated, Stan was suspected of being a Peeping Tom, and a chimney accident caused coal soot to ruin their furniture. Hilda blamed their bad luck on No. 13 and ordered Stan to change the house number to No. 12A. Hilda prepared a roast lamb dinner to celebrate, but when she went outside to see the new numbers inadvertently locked them both out. By the time Stan broke in, their dinner was burned. It seemed that No. 13 wasn't unlucky, Hilda and Stan were. On top of this, the council ordered them to change the number back. On 12 December 1970, Stan hears about Minnie's been taken hostage at No. 5 by Joe Donnelli (Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer is a Canadian actor and voice actor, probably best known as the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds.He has mostly performed in supporting roles, frequently in films and television series filmed in the United Kingdom, having relocated to England in the late 1950s, initially performing...
), and exchanges himself for her but unaware that Joe is armed with a gun and is forced by Joe to sing Christmas carols to him at gunpoint until the Police arrive and Joe ends it all when he shoots himself.
In the seventies, as Stan aged, he grew weaker and more tired. He often didn't work, claiming his back wasn't up to the job. Hilda had to assume responsibility not only for all the household chores and looking after Stan, but also scraped to make ends meet on her wages as a charwoman. One day she had had enough, and ordered Stan out. He went, and disappeared for three weeks, much to everyone's shock. Hilda enlisted the aid of Stan's drinking buddy Eddie Yeats
Eddie Yeats
Edward Jeremy Timothy "Eddie" Yeats was a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street.-1974–1987:Eddie Yeats was born in Liverpool on 22 August 1941. In adulthood, Eddie held low-paid jobs and made extra cash by helping out his disreputable friends with carrying out...
to find Stan. Eddie finally tracked him to Hilda's brother's chip shop, where he was helping himself to the chips and his brother-in-law's girlfriend, Edie Blundell. Hilda dragged Stan home, and things went right back to the way they were.
Thirteen years after his disappearance, Stan and Hilda tracked Trevor down. He was married and living in a semi-detached house in Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
. Stan and Hilda made a special visit, only to have his wife Polly tell them that Trevor had led her to believe that his parents were dead.
One high point of the Ogdens' marriage was in the late seventies, when they won a second honeymoon at the Savoy hotel. A limousine whisked them from Coronation Street to the hotel, where they received free champagne. Hilda decked out in a silk nightdress, only to find that, typically, Stan had fallen fast asleep. Although the night was a quiet one, it was a fond memory for Stan and Hilda as they entered old age.
In the early eighties, Eddie Yeats secured a job as a binman, and became Stan and Hilda's lodger. He saw Stan and Hilda as surrogate parents, and they saw him as a son. Stan was in his sixties and slowing down (mirroring the deteriorating health of actor Bernard Youens). Eddie helped him on his window-cleaning round, later buying it and making Stan his employee. However, Stan's deterioration was rapid and Hilda took extra cleaning jobs to make some money, including cleaning Mike Baldwin's factory and Dr. Lowther's house.
In December 1983, Stan and Hilda celebrated their greatest milestone, their Ruby wedding anniversary. Eddie left the same night to move to Bury, and thanked Stan and Hilda for being there for him and acting as surrogate parents.
As actor Bernard Youens became too ill to continue working, Stan's disappearance was explained as him being in bed, ill, and later admitted to hospital offscreen. He made his last on-screen appearance on 7 March 1984.
Youens died in August 1984, and the decision was swiftly made to kill off the character.
In November 1984, Hilda received a phone call telling her that Stan had died in hospital of gangrene
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
. This led to a memorable scene as Hilda returned from the hospital after his funeral with a small package of Stan's belongings. As she silently opened the package, she found a case containing his spectacles. Opening the case, she begins to cry, and the episode ends in silence, without the usual theme tune.
Reception
In Dorothy Catherine Anger's book "Other worlds: society seen through soap opera," she brands Stan as one of the "middle aged men" who "over the years have, stymied their wives' efforts to be accepted as respectable".In the January 1985 issue of British current affairs magazine Third Way Magazine
Third Way Magazine
Third Way Magazine is a UK current-affairs magazine written from a Christian perspective. It is distinctively biblical, fairly highbrow and culturally aware...
, Coronation Street was slated for its attitude to unemployment, stating it seemed not to be a problem because Stan was a "well loved layabout".