Alec Dewhurst was a work colleague of Eddie Yeats who came to 13 Coronation Street along with fellow binmen Barney Holt and Johnny Webb for Hilda Ogden's Christmas party in December 1980. Alec was in a paralytic state before he arrived at the party and had to be supported into No. 13 by Barney. He was propped up against a wall where he stayed all of the evening, deathly white and staring vacantly into space.