Hilda Crabtree
| Hilda Ogden | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Coronation Street character | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Jean Alexander | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1964–1987 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 371 8 July 1964 |
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| Last appearance | Episode 2790 25 December 1987 |
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| Introduced by | Tim Aspinall | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Book appearances |
Coronation Street: The Complete Saga Coronation Street: The War Years |
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| Spin-off appearances |
ITV Telethon (1990) The Women of Coronation Street (1998) |
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| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Cleaner (1964–1987) Housekeeper (1987–1998) Retired (1998–) |
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| Home | The Nook, Blackberry Lane, Hartington, Derbyshire | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Father | Arnold Crabtree |
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| Mother | Florence Crabtree |
| Brothers |
Archie Crabtree Norman Crabtree |
| Husband | Stan Ogden (until 1984) |
| Sons |
Trevor Ogden Tony Ogden |
| Daughters |
Irma Barlow Sylvia Ogden |
| Grandsons | Darren Barlow Damien Ogden |
| Granddaughters | Jayne Ogden |
| Aunts | Gertie |
| First cousins | Isabel Agnes Swales |
Hilda Alice Ogden (also Crabtree) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the serial, whose name became synonymous with a certain type of working-class woman. She was played by Jean Alexander from 1964 to 1987.
For much of her period as a character in the Street, Hilda worked as cleaner of The Rovers Return Inn. A gossip and busybody, many of her storylines were used for comedic purposes, though equally the character was used for dramatic effect; a scene in which she wept over the sight of her recently deceased husband's spectacles has been hailed as one of the most moving images in television history.
Alexander quit the role of Hilda in 1987 after 23 years but was persuaded to reprise the part in 1990 for a one-off appearance as part of an ITV Telethon. She has also been seen in a spin-off video in 1998, in which another long-running character, Betty Williams (Betty Driver), visited her at her new home.
Arguably the serial's most popular character of all time, Hilda was voted the greatest TV character in a Radio Times poll of over 5,000 people. The typical appearance of Hilda, wearing hair curlers and a head scarf, has inspired art and catwalk themes. Despite various producers expressing their desire to see the character return, Jean Alexander was openly critical about the direction Coronation Street has taken, vowing never to reprise the role of Hilda again.
Alexander had previously appeared in 1962 as Mrs. Webb, the landlady of Joan Akers, who abducted Christopher Hewitt.
Hilda Ogden, with her trademark hair curlers and pinny, has been described as "the classic hard-working class Northern woman. With a voice like breaking glass and a temper to match". Actress Jean Alexander explained her interpretation of Hilda's head scarf and curler look: "Like Hilda, my roots were in Liverpool and that’s where I first noticed the curlers and headscarf look. The curlers were put under the headscarf by the factory girls [...] They had their hair tied up and scarves like that to stop their fashionable long hair getting caught up in the machinery at work. They had the curlers in place in case they got asked out on a date, so they’d be ready for a night out after the shift. They could just take off the headscarf, remove the curlers and shake down their hair. Hilda’s background was just like mine and her recollection would have been the same so the headscarf look was born on-screen." Alexander stated in 2010 that she based Hilda on bits of differing, eccentric people she had seen in her youth in Liverpool.
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