Maggie Jones played Blanche HuntI’m not sure when I became a fan of Coronation Street. I think I watched it my entire life because surely my mom watched it while I was an infant. It was a constant in our home. When Coronation Street was on there was to be no talking and no answering the phone. And somewhere along the line, I started to like it. Maybe it’s how the show doesn’t drag things out for months and months like American soaps, maybe it’s because the people on it don’t all look perfect and they drink and they smoke and they even go to the bathroom. They eat toast in the morning, sitting at their tables, hair sticking off , faces reflecting how tired they are. They don’t look perfectly coiffed and wear their high heels and designer gowns around the house.

And they have memorable characters. Maggie Jones played one such memorable character–Blanche Hunt, a woman who never held anything back and could cut you down with a look or a put-down sharp enough cut through the toughest skin. Maggie Jones passed away this week at age 75. She played her last scenes in October but we in Canada will have to wait a good while to see those as we are several months behind in our episodes of Coronation Street. RIP Maggie Jones and thanks for all the laughs. If you’ve never seen her in action or want to again, here’s a video of her at an AA meeting, there to support her step-grandson. For Canadian viewers, the first part won’t be much of a spoiler as we all know Peter has a problem by now but if you go past 1:55 on the video, other spoilers will be revealed. It’s the first 1:55 that is classic Blanche anyway. No one could deliver those cutting lines like Maggie Jones. Also, check out a BBC video which lets you see Maggie Jones on Corrie in the 70s.