Coronation Street - Keeping The Home Fires Burning

By Daran Little

Every fan of the Street remembers Ena Sharples, but few will know the touching story that helped mould her into the legend she is.

It is 1914 and for fifteen year old Ena Schofield, life will never be the same again. As childhood pals, workmates and neighbours proudly march off to War, mothers, sisters and sweethearts promise to write and pray for the young soldiers and suddenly Ena feels she must also do her bit. She grabs a passing lad and asks for his name. 'Albert Tatlock', the nineteen year old stammers...and so begins a unique correspondence but will friendship turn to love?

Coronation Street may be tragically bereft of young men, but there's never a dull moment. At the Rovers Return landlady Nellie Corbishley is blissfully unaware of a plan to poison her. Meanwhile young Alice Buck from Number 9, pregnant with a baby conceived the night before Victor Piggott marched off to war, is only too aware of the shame and rejection she faces.

But the greatest fear for everyone is the rap of the telegram boy. As news reaches the Street of the terrible toll the Battle of the Somme has taken amongst the Weatherfield Pals, the resilient women of Coronation Street turn to the mysterious Dr Sharples and his son Albert for their special brand of help...

Brimful of romance, emotional hardship and resilient humour, Keeping the Home Fires Burning celebrates all that the show's twenty million fans love about Coronation Street.