Ena Sharples
| Ena Sharples | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Coronation Street character | |||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Violet Carson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1960–1980 | ||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 9 December 1960 Episode 1 |
||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 2 April 1980 Episode 1983 |
||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Tony Warren | ||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by |
Stuart Latham (1960) Susi Hush (1975) Bill Podmore (1978) |
||||||||||||||||||
| Book appearances |
Coronation Street: The Complete Saga Coronation Street: Keeping The Home Fires Burning Coronation Street: The War Years |
||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Mission caretaker (retired) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Home | St Annes | ||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| Father | Thomas Schofield |
|---|---|
| Mother | Mary Schofield |
| Brothers | Tom Schofield |
| Sisters | Alice Raynould |
| Husband | Alfred Sharples |
| Sons | Ian Sharples |
| Daughters |
Vera Lomax Madge Sharples |
| Grandsons |
Colin Lomax Jason Lomax (great) |
| Nephews | Tom Schofield |
Ena Sharples (née Schofield) was one of the original characters from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by Violet Carson.
Ena appeared in the series for 20 years between 1960 and 1980, was the caretaker of the mission hall and spent much of her time criticizing the activities of the street's other residents. She was one of the main characters during the 1960s, she was featured less regularly in the 1970s, due to the declining health of actress Violet Carson, and was written out in 1980. Almost always wearing a double-breasted overcoat and hairnet, she spent much of her free time in the series' early years with her two cronies, Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol) and Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant), in the snug bar of The Rovers Return Inn, drinking milk stout. Ena particularly criticized Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix), whom she believed had loose morals. In turn, Elsie strongly disliked Ena for her seemingly incessant gossip and desire to know about the private lives of others, and the two confronted each other frequently.
The final episode featuring Ena was broadcast on 2 April 1980, it attracted little media or public attention as the producers intended her to continue in the series - the character was merely going to stay with a friend, Henry Foster, in St Annes while her flat in Coronation Street was being renovated. Unfortunately, all subsequent storylines involving Ena had to be scrapped owing to Carson being too ill to appear due to the symptoms of pernicious anemia.
Violet Carson died on Boxing Day 1983 at the age of 85, thus putting to rest any rumours of Ena's return. Following her departure in 1980, no further mention of Ena was made and it was assumed she had moved to St Annes permanently. The first reference to her was made in the 1985 spin-off video "The Jubilee Years" when Ken Barlow revealed that Ena died "a couple of years ago", which would have meant that her death occurred around the same time as the real life death of Violet Carson. Also, in 2010, a short online video titled "Ken: A Life On The Street" confirmed that she was no longer alive when Ken Barlow (William Roache) told his grandson Simon (Alex Bain) that she was "long dead now"; perhaps inevitable as she would have been 111 years old by this stage.
...
Wikipedia