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| - Much of the violence centred around the character of drug dealer and gangster Jez Quigley, played by Lee Boardman. After early plots including setting up a robbery of the Rovers Return in the New Year's Day episode, and getting Leanne Battersby addicted to cocaine, Jez was unveiled as Tony Horrocks's killer. Jez was charged with the murder but found not guilty, after which he had Steve McDonald beaten and left for dead as payback for grassing him up. The storyline reached a climax when Jez, hospitalised after being set upon by Jim, made his way to Steve's bed to finish the job only to rupture his spleen and die himself. The storyline heralded Charles Lawson's departure from the series after 11 years, with Jim confessing to beating Jez and receiving an eight-year custodial sentence for mans
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| - Much of the violence centred around the character of drug dealer and gangster Jez Quigley, played by Lee Boardman. After early plots including setting up a robbery of the Rovers Return in the New Year's Day episode, and getting Leanne Battersby addicted to cocaine, Jez was unveiled as Tony Horrocks's killer. Jez was charged with the murder but found not guilty, after which he had Steve McDonald beaten and left for dead as payback for grassing him up. The storyline reached a climax when Jez, hospitalised after being set upon by Jim, made his way to Steve's bed to finish the job only to rupture his spleen and die himself. The storyline heralded Charles Lawson's departure from the series after 11 years, with Jim confessing to beating Jez and receiving an eight-year custodial sentence for manslaughter. Writers decided to drop the character as they felt that he had reached the end of his shelf-life in light of Beverley Callard's departure. Callard and Nicholas Cochrane returned briefly later in the year for Lawson's final episodes, which saw Jim and Liz remarry. The grittier depiction of violence was also seen in October's Freshco siege storyline. In the story, various characters were trapped inside Freshco by armed robbers, resulting in the police storming the supermarket and shooting one of the robbers, who was revealed to be Linda Baldwin's brother Dean Sykes. Two episodes were shown on one day, with most of the action taking place in the latter hour-long instalment which aired post-watershed at 10.00pm. Melanie Kilburn made an appearance as Linda's mother Eve, a role she reprised the following year. After this, Freshco was retired as a recurring location, ending a tradition which had begun with Bettabuy in 1989. A notable example of Macnaught's predilection for issue-based storylines was Sarah Platt's teenage pregnancy. In February, 13-year-old Sarah was revealed to be five months pregnant, and in June gave birth to baby Bethany, played by twins Amy and Emily Walton. In doing the storyline, Coronation Street was criticised by the National Viewers and Listeners Association for turning teenage pregnancy into entertainment, but the storyline was otherwise well received and won Best Storyline at the British Soap Awards. Macnaught proved a controversial figure in the writers' room and early in the year John Stevenson, Jan McVerry and Ken Blakeson left the team, returning in 2002 after she had vacated her position.
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