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In the past few years, reunited by ITV3 repeats of Coronation Street now on YouTube, had there been anyone as iconic back in the 1980s and 1990s as Percy Sugden, played by the late Bill Waddington?
Firstly, I have to admit that I wish that more incumbent characters were like him (and even Ken Barlow is not). He made his first appearance in Weatherfield in the summer of 1983, around the same as a lot of youngsters (i.e. adults who were born after the series began in 1960) arrived such as Terry "bad boy" Duckworth (sponsored by various pawnbrokers); Curly "straight hair" Watts (sponsored by the Grauniad); and Kevin "Shaky with a moustache" Webster (sponsored by Kwik-Fit). One primary function for the character was to replace the long-departed Ena Sharples as caretaker, and possibly used as an attempt to provide a male "pensioner-in-residence" successor to Albert Tatlock who, as we know, was close to "official retirement" if you know what I mean.
An autumn 1983 Rovers' scene where Sugden and Tatlock propped up the pre-fire pub bar looked like a great almost-father and son double-act - World War I veteran meets his World War II counterpart. I also think that Alf Garnett was an inspiration for the character, if not Victor Meldrew, or even the "you don't want to do that, you want to do this instead" character portrayed by Harry Enfield. But now in hindsight, we know that Sugden was the Captain Sir Tom Moore of Coronation Street, but we didn't back then.
One interesting thing about Percy Sugden was that he was a freelance character, i.e. not married and not in direct on-screen links with regular family. Just like Emily Bishop's husband, his wife Mary also died off-screen in 1978. I think that in addition to retirement, it allowed him to come and go as he pleased, and so, he could be in a certain place where other characters couldn't be due to work and family commitments - a bit of sort of social commentator on life at the time.
Sergeant Sugden was in charge of the community centre and arranged formation dancing for pensioners in there - and he even did the sub-George Formby act with a ukulele. When the local council evicted him in 1988 due to him being 65 (which I also think was the embryonic phase of what was to be the Maurice Jones "demolish Baldwin's factory to make way for new houses in order to accommodate the new third weekly episode on Fridays" storyline), he found sanctuary at Mrs Bishop's house at number three, but we know that he went there to escape the lilac-rinse woman Phyllis Pearce. And it was around that time that he officially became a school crossing patrol man, which made me think of Deryck Guyler in Please Sir! as a possible understudy. And then he retired from that even; his reading glasses became full-time spectacles and went bowling. He even almost looked after Alf Roberts after his heart attack in 1987 due to his election defeat on the local council, making the former councillor look like an invalid.
Just like a lot of veteran entertainers, they all had catchphrases and Sugden had at least two of them: "a cup of tea and a toasted teacake" was one of them, said to either Gail, Alma or Martin in Jim's Cafe, or "I'll bid you good day", or sometimes "morning" or "night" as his closing line, while leaving the Rovers, Corner Shop, Kabin or Cafe.
One thing about Bill Waddington is that he always looked old even in his 50s when he had played previous characters in the series in the late 1970s, when even some people in their 70s looked younger. I suppose that he was stereotyped like that. I didn't blame Waddington for leaving (or even retiring) from the Street due to the raunchy Battersby storylines and move to Mayfield Court along with Maud Grimes. And sadly, he died three years later in September 2000 aged 84, around seven years older than his character.
He left a huge hole (or should I say "gap"?) in the Street when he took his leave in 1997, but then so did Don Brennan and Mavis. A Sugden-alike character nowadays would be something to watch the series again.
Firstly, I have to admit that I wish that more incumbent characters were like him (and even Ken Barlow is not). He made his first appearance in Weatherfield in the summer of 1983, around the same as a lot of youngsters (i.e. adults who were born after the series began in 1960) arrived such as Terry "bad boy" Duckworth (sponsored by various pawnbrokers); Curly "straight hair" Watts (sponsored by the Grauniad); and Kevin "Shaky with a moustache" Webster (sponsored by Kwik-Fit). One primary function for the character was to replace the long-departed Ena Sharples as caretaker, and possibly used as an attempt to provide a male "pensioner-in-residence" successor to Albert Tatlock who, as we know, was close to "official retirement" if you know what I mean.
An autumn 1983 Rovers' scene where Sugden and Tatlock propped up the pre-fire pub bar looked like a great almost-father and son double-act - World War I veteran meets his World War II counterpart. I also think that Alf Garnett was an inspiration for the character, if not Victor Meldrew, or even the "you don't want to do that, you want to do this instead" character portrayed by Harry Enfield. But now in hindsight, we know that Sugden was the Captain Sir Tom Moore of Coronation Street, but we didn't back then.
One interesting thing about Percy Sugden was that he was a freelance character, i.e. not married and not in direct on-screen links with regular family. Just like Emily Bishop's husband, his wife Mary also died off-screen in 1978. I think that in addition to retirement, it allowed him to come and go as he pleased, and so, he could be in a certain place where other characters couldn't be due to work and family commitments - a bit of sort of social commentator on life at the time.
Sergeant Sugden was in charge of the community centre and arranged formation dancing for pensioners in there - and he even did the sub-George Formby act with a ukulele. When the local council evicted him in 1988 due to him being 65 (which I also think was the embryonic phase of what was to be the Maurice Jones "demolish Baldwin's factory to make way for new houses in order to accommodate the new third weekly episode on Fridays" storyline), he found sanctuary at Mrs Bishop's house at number three, but we know that he went there to escape the lilac-rinse woman Phyllis Pearce. And it was around that time that he officially became a school crossing patrol man, which made me think of Deryck Guyler in Please Sir! as a possible understudy. And then he retired from that even; his reading glasses became full-time spectacles and went bowling. He even almost looked after Alf Roberts after his heart attack in 1987 due to his election defeat on the local council, making the former councillor look like an invalid.
Just like a lot of veteran entertainers, they all had catchphrases and Sugden had at least two of them: "a cup of tea and a toasted teacake" was one of them, said to either Gail, Alma or Martin in Jim's Cafe, or "I'll bid you good day", or sometimes "morning" or "night" as his closing line, while leaving the Rovers, Corner Shop, Kabin or Cafe.
One thing about Bill Waddington is that he always looked old even in his 50s when he had played previous characters in the series in the late 1970s, when even some people in their 70s looked younger. I suppose that he was stereotyped like that. I didn't blame Waddington for leaving (or even retiring) from the Street due to the raunchy Battersby storylines and move to Mayfield Court along with Maud Grimes. And sadly, he died three years later in September 2000 aged 84, around seven years older than his character.
He left a huge hole (or should I say "gap"?) in the Street when he took his leave in 1997, but then so did Don Brennan and Mavis. A Sugden-alike character nowadays would be something to watch the series again.
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