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| - Under Eckersley, the Glad Tidings Mission Hall and Elliston's Raincoat Factory were revitalised. The factory - which had been ignored since 1963 - re-opened as a manufacturer of PVC hats and coats, with Lucille Hewitt and Irma Barlow securing jobs as welders. Julie Goodyear was cast as Bet Lynch, a colleague who had an affair with manager John Benjamin and gave Lucille a black eye. Goodyear appeared in nine episodes before returning to the role full-time in 1970. The Mission's role was also expanded, with social worker Ruth Winter turning it into a community centre, setting her in opposition to Ena Sharples. By the time those storylines concluded, Eckersley had left as producer and both establishments reverted to their familiar roles.
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abstract
| - Under Eckersley, the Glad Tidings Mission Hall and Elliston's Raincoat Factory were revitalised. The factory - which had been ignored since 1963 - re-opened as a manufacturer of PVC hats and coats, with Lucille Hewitt and Irma Barlow securing jobs as welders. Julie Goodyear was cast as Bet Lynch, a colleague who had an affair with manager John Benjamin and gave Lucille a black eye. Goodyear appeared in nine episodes before returning to the role full-time in 1970. The Mission's role was also expanded, with social worker Ruth Winter turning it into a community centre, setting her in opposition to Ena Sharples. By the time those storylines concluded, Eckersley had left as producer and both establishments reverted to their familiar roles. Eckersley also pushed to make storylines more dramatic. To that end, the first half of the year saw the attempted rape of Lucille Hewitt, Ken Barlow having an affair with Jackie Marsh, Ena Sharples being charged with shoplifting, and Sheila Birtles having an illegitimate son. Eileen Mayers reprised Sheila for six months after leaving the programme in 1963. Also on the casting front, Kenneth Cope had an eight-month stint as Jed Stone, and Anne Cunningham and Ernst Walder both returned for two months as Linda and Ivan Cheveski. Neville Buswell joined the cast as womanising builder Ray Langton in February, appearing in 14 episodes. Edward Evans left after a year as Lionel Petty; David and Irma Barlow took over the Corner Shop at the beginning of the year. Emily Nugent was notably absent for most of the year, as Eileen Derbyshire left the series in February to go on maternity leave. Also, the characters of Elsie Tanner, Annie and Jack Walker were absent from 23rd March to 25th April as Patricia Phoenix, Doris Speed and Arthur Leslie went on a promotional tour of Australia with executive producer H.V. Kershaw. 1966 also contained the first contributions by long-term scriptwriters Susan Pleat and Leslie Duxbury. All 24 episodes of the second and final season of spin-off Pardon the Expression, starring Arthur Lowe as Leonard Swindley, were also transmitted that year.
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