The first to leave was Lynne Carol, whose character Martha Longhurst died of heart attack in the Rovers snug in Aspinall's inaugural episode. One of the trio of pensioners who inhabited the snug along with Ena Sharples and Minnie Caldwell, Martha was extremely popular with viewers, and Carol's sacking went down particularly badly with the cast; Violet Carson threatened to resign, changing her mind only after Carol persuaded her to stay, and when the episode was being recorded Peter Adamson hesitated before delivering Len Fairclough's line, "she's dead", so that his words could easily be cut. Martha was the first character to have an on-screen burial, with the graveside scenes shot on location. The killing of Martha has since been heavily criticised, with H.V. Kershaw describing it as one o