Hilda Ogden Hilda Alice Ogden ( née Crabtree ) was a resident of 13 Coronation Street from 1964 to 1987 . The devoted wife of Stan , Hilda and her husband were the roughnecks of Coronation Street and had frequent clashes with their neighbours . Hilda and Stan were life ' s losers . Due to Stan ' s drunken rages , two of their children - Tony and Sylvia - were taken into council care , and their other two children - Irma and Trevor - ran away from home . They lived on the breadline , with Hilda holding up to five charing jobs at once just to keep the house going , compensating for Stan who ducked out of work whenever possible to drink and laze around . No one knew Stan ' s flaws better than Hilda , who often had to nag him out to work , but for the most part she doted on him and defended him vehemently against his detractors . Except for the rare social occasions , Hilda wore her hair in curlers and a headscarf . She was the Street ' s principal gossip and revelled in spreading it around , particularly if it could cause trouble . As a result , she had no real friends in the Street , and the neighbours treated her and Stan like a joke - a matter which greatly upset Hilda . As part of her continuing quest to gain the respect and envy of the neighbours , Hilda erected a mural on No . 13 ' s parlour wall . She also considered herself a skilled clairvoyant , and offered teacup readings for a fee . Hilda was widowed when Stan died from a heart attack in 1984 . She lived at No . 13 for three more years , taking in Kevin Webster as her lodger in May 1985 , and his girlfriend Sally Seddon in the following May . They married in October 1986 , and stayed on as lodgers at No . 13 until December 1987 , when Hilda decided to move to Derbyshire to keep house for Doctor Lowther , whose wife had died only a few weeks previously from injuries sustained in a robbery that went wrong . He offered her accommodation in a cottage attached to his home . Just before leaving Weatherfield for good , Hilda sold No . 13 to the Websters at a generously low price , so they had somewhere to live without having to leave the neighbourhood . Biography . 1924 - 1943 : Hilda Crabtree that was . Hilda Alice Crabtree was born to Arnold and Florence Crabtree of Silk Street , Weatherfield on 2nd February 1924 . She was the youngest of three , after Norman and Archie . The Crabtrees never got rich from Arnold ' s earnings from his work as an embalmer , and Hilda spent her youth moving from one slum to another . Worst of all was Back Butler Street , although even in those circumstances Florence kept a good house and the fumigation crew never descended on the Crabtree household . Hilda was educated at St . Joseph ' s Elementary School and left at fifteen , entering the working world just as war broke out in Europe . At seventeen , Hilda spent a week working in the office at Spencers , the funeral director . For most of the war she worked in a munitions factory , while living with her parents in Kitchener Street , but still found the time to have fun with her friends Daisy Shaw , Mollie Lancaster , and Maureen Hegerty , and even had a romance with American GI Ralph Curtis . On one night in 1943 , after helping her inebriated Army boyfriend Harry Battersby home following an evening ' s drinking at the Tripe Dressers Arms , the lights went out , stranding Hilda a mile from home . Racing to the nearest shelter in Crimea Street , Hilda passed the Co - op where she tripped over what she took to be a bundle of clothes - until it started moving , and Hilda found herself entangled with a beer - sodden tramp . Stanley Ogden had just left the Docker ' s Arms after winning the pint drinking contest for the fifth year running and was recuperating in a heap when Hilda fell over him . Though he ' d taken a kick in the stomach , Stan helped the mystery woman to her feet , and Hilda reciprocated , getting a darkened glimpse of a man who had a look of Clark Gable about him . After limping along to the shelter , Hilda was thrilled to see Stan trailing her - but as the light hit him , he looked more English lout than Hollywood superstar . Even so , Hilda ' s head had been turned , and she spent the night in the shelter talking away to him . Six short days later , the star - crossed lovers were married . After the ceremony , the couple headed for the Spinners ' Arms , where Stan resumed his pint , and their reception took place . The event was a great success - until Joan Fairhurst walked in and announced that the groom was her fiancé . Best man Bernie Sparks saved the day by proposing to Joan himself . Their first night of married bliss was barely behind them when the military police knocked on the door to arrest Stan for over - staying his four - day leave . The Ogden marriage had begun in earnest . 1943 - 1964 : A long - distance marriage . On marrying Stan , Hilda moved into his parents ' house in Mare Street . Mary Ogden approved of her , and , when Hilda announced her pregnancy , she pampered her daughter - in - law . Hilda then found that she wasn ' t pregnant after all , but didn ' t tell Mary , who threw Hilda out when she discovered the truth . Hilda rented 17 Charles Street and waited for her Stan to come home . While working with the Army , Stan gained an HGV licence and after being demobbed , he became a long - distance lorry driver , stopping by Weatherfield so rarely that it was as if he ' d never returned from the war . Hilda became a career cleaner , supporting single - handedly a family that seemed to gain an extra member whenever Stan visited ; eldest , Freda , born in 1946 , was followed by Dudley , Tony , and Sylvia . Hilda ' s faith in her husband never wavered , but he didn ' t send on enough money for the family to get by , and they often had no money for rent , resulting in many a moonlight flit . Hilda coped gamely on her own with Freda and Dudley , but Tony and Sylvia were mentally retarded , and with the extra problem of Stan being drunk and violent to her and the kids whenever he was around , Hilda was relieved when their younger children were taken off them and placed in a home . By the 1960s , Hilda was sick of having a long - distance husband and demanded that Stan give up his job or she ' d leave him . Meanwhile , Freda decided she ' d had enough of her parents and , at seventeen , she left their Chapel Street home to live in a flat over a pie shop with barmaid Marion Black , got a job at the Corner Shop in Coronation Street , and changed her name to Irma . Estrangement from Freda encouraged Hilda to make good on her threat to Stan , and after a brief separation he gave in and agreed to get a local job and unite the Ogdens under one roof . 1964 - 1968 : Arrival at number thirteen . In July 1964 , Stan sent word to Hilda that he ' d found Irma and a house - 13 Coronation Street . Putting his £200 savings down , Stan took out a £375 mortgage on the house , and the Ogdens moved to Coronation Street - their first real home . Hilda loved the house and quickly found a job as cleaner at the Rovers Return , but regular work eluded Stan , and Irma soon regretted giving up her independence to live with her parents again . However , it was Dudley ( now called Trevor ) who left the family home first ; while the Street residents were evacuated to the mission cellar during a bomb scare , the fifteen - year - old stole from the houses and ran off to London . Due to their shame , Stan and Hilda took no steps to trace him , although Hilda laid into Stan for being such a poor father figure and role model . A year later , Irma married David Barlow they bought the Corner Shop together . With a wall between them , Irma ' s relationship with her parents improved . The only problem now was Stan . By turn a milkman , ice cream vendor , chauffeur , wrestler , and waste paper businessman , Stan failed in every line of work he entered . Stan was willing to try his hand at anything that promised to make him rich with little effort , but his total resistance to hard graft meant that he never lasted long . Hilda often had to nag him out to work , even if he usually only made it as far as the Rovers , which had become his second home . With Stan ' s bone - idleness , and Hilda ' s assumed position as the Street gossip , the Ogdens were treated like a joke by the neighbours , and they struggled to make friends . After a while , Hilda began to fear she ' d spend the rest of her life skivvying and , looking to the recent engagement of Elsie Tanner - a woman she disparaged in public - began to envy her eventful , exciting life , and became depressed and vague . While on a visit to her cousins ' , Hilda went missing . As she had the club outing money with her , Stan thought it was a pre - planned flit and that a man was involved , but after a week ' s absence Hilda was found on the Pier head in Liverpool in a confused state , having suffered a nervous breakdown . Doctor McKenzie diagnosed paranoid psychosis , attributed to jealousy over Elsie . Although Hilda didn ' t remember anything when she woke , Stan came through for her in the ensuing weeks , being the attentive husband he ' d never been . In January 1968 , Hilda developed a platonic friendship with George Greenwood , keeper of Oakenshaw Park where she often went for a walk . George showed Hilda his workhut and introduced her to his budgie , Winston , and even gave her her own budgie , which she called Mabel and kept in the hut with Winston . Though there was nothing untoward about their meetings , Hilda felt that she was somehow betraying Stan , and told George she couldn ' t see him again . Unbeknown to Hilda , Stan had been notified that they were seeing each other by George ' s wife Agnes , and advised to make the most of Hilda ' s guilt by getting her to spoil him . A few months later , David and Irma decided to emigrate to Australia so that David could relaunch his football career there . Hilda was so distraught at losing Irma that she proposed that she and Stan move there too , but Stan ' s absolute refusal to leave England caused her to back down . A small consolation came seven months later , when the Barlows announced the birth of Darren , Hilda and Stan ' s first grandson . 1968 - 1971 : Irma returns . In June that year , Stan bought I - spy Dwyer ' s window cleaning round for £45 . Hilda was so approving that she agreed to help out , taking responsibility for Stan ' s lady customers who might take a fancy to him . One woman in particular was Clara Regan of 19 Inkerman Street , whose affair with Stan was the worst kept secret in Weatherfield . Hilda believed Stan was faithful , and soon left his business to him , but Stan servicing 19 Inkerman Street ' s windows was the butt of many jokes from the likes of Ray Langton and Billy Walker for years to come . The Ogdens continued to struggle financially . In 1969 , Stan traded in his round for a car park attendant ' s position , and early in 1970 Hilda took on an extra cleaning job at Alan Howard ' s Salon . A few months later , Ken Barlow broke the news that Irma , David and Darren had been involved in a car crash . Irma was treated for shock but was otherwise fine , however both her husband and son died from their injuries . Hilda rushed to her daughter ' s side , with Stan borrowing £600 from bookie Dave Smith to pay for her flights - her first journey abroad . A week later , Hilda and Irma returned to the UK , by which time the Ogdens had received enough money from well - wishers to pay Dave back . However , in a misguided gesture of love for his daughter , Stan used the money to buy Irma into the Corner Shop . In the wake of David and Darren ' s deaths , Irma acted out in odd ways , and at one point dated Dave Smith . When Hilda objected , Stan informed her that as security for the loan , he ' d signed their house over to Dave , and so she ' d better not upset him . That , plus the prospect of having a wealthy son - in - law caused Hilda to change her tune , but in any case Irma and Dave ' s relationship was casual and mostly for show . Hilda enjoyed having Irma back in the Street and she would often linger in the shop to complain about Stan or eavesdrop on conversations . Irma remained in the Street until December 1971 , when she moved to Llandudno and sold her share in the shop . Irma ' s departure coincided with the Ogdens finally settling their debt with Dave ; after Hilda won £500 on Premium Bonds , Stan insisted on on paying Dave the £370 still owed , making No . 13 unequivocally theirs again . Determined to treat herself with the remaining £95 , Hilda bought a coffee percolator , a tray , a table centre , a cocktail bar and an electric tooth brush on a shopping spree , and threw a cocktail party , only to discover that Stan had drunk all the miniatures and filled the bottles with cold tea ! 1971 - 1974 : Reconciliation with Trevor . In July that year , Hilda was reunited with her old friend George Greenwood , who was on the judging panel at the Community Centre flower show . Thinking they were bound to win , Stan stole an orchid from the park and passed it off as theirs - but George immediately recognised one from his collection , much to Hilda ' s shame . Much derided by the neighbours , Hilda yearned to be envied by them . In August , she took delivery of a colour television set , and spent the next week enthusing about it to all and sundry before it was repossessed by the rental company ( all the while failing to notice everyone ' s total disinterest ) . The following month , while Hilda was away , Stan made a serving hatch . It was too big and on the wrong wall , but finally No . 13 was set apart from its neighbours in a good way , and so Hilda couldn ' t have been happier . In April 1972 , after two years working for Fairclough and Langton , Stan returned to the lorries , but after a crash put him in hospital , Hilda decided his days of lorry driving were over and made him start up his window cleaning round again . Meanwhile , with the Ogdens feeling the pinch , Hilda took on additional work - alongside her job at the Rovers , she cleaned the Betting Shop as well as Benny Lewis ' s flat and The Capricorn nightclub , where she also did the washing up . With Hilda doing so much , Stan felt free to retire - but Hilda wasn ' t going to let him off that lightly , and made him do all of the housework . Stan actually showed promise early on but within days Alan Howard sacked Hilda from the Capricorn for gossiping about him and Rita Littlewood , and normal service was resumed . A year later , the Ogdens celebrated their pearl wedding anniversary with a party at No . 13 . As Hilda lorded it over the neighbours , gloating to Betty Turpin about Elsie Howard ' s recent family troubles , Betty snappily reminded her of her estrangement from Trevor . Betty ' s comments hit home ; letting Trevor slip away was one of Hilda ' s biggest regrets . Stan still held a grudge against his son , but Hilda was determined to track him down . Using a letter sent to them by Trevor two years earlier , the Ogdens found Trevor living in a detached house in Avondale Avenue , Chesterfield , having worked his way up from a wood yard to become an estate agent . Now the husband of Polly and father of Damian , Trevor was embarrassed by his parents and warned Polly that they would try to sponge off them . Hopeful of building a relationship with the family , Hilda put on a front , trying not to appear common , but Stan showed only contempt for Trevor , and when Polly let slip that Trevor had told her that his parents were dead , Hilda was so upset that she and Stan left . Afterwards , Trevor occasionally let the Ogdens see Damian , at his and Polly ' s convenience . Keen to prove her worth to Trevor , Hilda got an interview for the Kabin to replace Mavis Riley as Rita ' s assistant . Given a trial by Len Fairclough , Hilda ordered Stan to come in as a customer , carefully planning a scene which would show Rita how efficient she was , but Stan spent the money in the Rovers instead and rolled up to the Kabin blind drunk , where he giggled and said he ' d forgotten what Hilda told him to say . In the end , Lucille Hewitt got the job . 1974 - 1976 : Getting away from it all . In desperate need of a break , Hilda took a six - week cleaning job on a cruise ship , the " Monte Umber " . Not long after she returned , the Ogdens were offered a caretakership at the Community Centre , a post they ' d previously applied for but lost out to Gertie Robson . Thinking their luck was finally changing , Hilda quit the Rovers and sold No . 13 to Jimmy Graham for £2 , 500 , however at the last minute the Bishops told them they didn ' t have the jobs due to their poor record with the health inspector . The Ogdens called off the deal with Jimmy , and Hilda wept as her dreams were shattered once again - although she managed to get her Rovers job back with a pay rise . Now in her fifties , Hilda was worn out and increasingly dissatisfied with No . 13 . As the 1970s wore on , the Ogdens ' usual troubles were exacerbated by economic recession and Stan ' s failing health - which meant that Hilda had to work even more . In 1975 , Stan became so ill that he went off beer and , forced out to work by Hilda who thought he was trying to skive , he collapsed in the street . While he was on the sick , the Ogdens received only £7 . 65 benefit for his incapacity as Stan hadn ' t paid his National Insurance for six months , so to make ends meet Hilda took on an extra job doing the washing up at the Mark Brittain Warehouse and did Stan ' s round , with the help of Eddie Yeats . Newly released from Walton Jail , Eddie Yeats vowed never to return and kept his nose clean . Lazy and workshy , he found a kindred spirit in Stan , and frequently called at No . 13 to cadge a free dinner or coax Stan out for a drink ( not that he had to try very hard ) . In July 1976 , he offered to help Hilda decorate No . 13 ' s parlour by getting her half - price wallpaper from a mate , in exchange for lodgings in the Ogdens ' spare room . However , half of the wallpaper Eddie brought faded with only three walls covered . For the last wall , after a few suggestions which Hilda rejected , Eddie supplied a special wallpaper which created a mural of the Canadian Rockies . The " muriel " was everything Hilda wanted - looking at it , she could imagine herself in more picturesque surroundings , and as no one else had one , No . 13 gained prestige . She immediately fell in love with it . Towards the end of the year , Hilda fell into a slump again . In October , when swerving her car to avoid hitting a dog , Annie Walker slammed into Stan ' s cart , putting him out of work again until a sympathetic Len , Ray and Terry Bradshaw made him a new one . A few weeks later , Hilda ' s missing red mac turned up on a bonfire guy which two young boys were pushing around . When they came into the Rovers , the regulars noticed Hilda ' s mac and roared with laughter , humiliating her . To cheer his wife up , Stan bought the mac back from the boys for 10p , but Hilda refused to wear it and decided to treat herself to a new one . Dipping into her Christmas money , Hilda was furious to find that Stan had already taken half of it . At the end of her tether , she launched into a tirade at Stan , telling him she wished she ' d never met him , and threw him out . After a few hours , Hilda calmed down and awaited her husband ' s return . However , days went by with no sign of him . After a week , Hilda started to fear the worst and confided in Annie , who rang the police to report him missing . Her fears were put to rest when her brother Norman called round to complain about Stan imposing on him at his Oakhill chip shop . With Hilda refusing to beg Stan to return , and Stan being looked after by assistant Edie Blundell , Eddie decided to intervene but inadvertently made matters worse by telling Stan that Hilda wanted an apology from him ; Hilda ' s outburst had hurt Stan deeply and he felt that " he " was owed an apology . After hearing about Edie , Hilda went to fetch Stan herself , and got into a slanging match with Edie and Norman , with Stan stepping up to defend his wife . Thrown out of the shop by Norman , the Ogdens realised that , for better or worse , they belonged together , and life at No . 13 returned to normal . 1977 - 1980 : Battles at the factory . In May 1977 , Hilda was taken on as cleaner at the recently - opened Baldwin ' s Casuals , working evenings . Out of curiosity , Hilda had a go on one of the sewing machines and , discovering a knack for it , made herself denim cleaning mittens from offcuts after finishing her cleaning duties . Thinking she was onto a winner , Eddie persuaded Hilda to go into partnership with him making curtains , with Eddie supplying the material , but Mike Baldwin soon caught her making curtains on his time and put a stop to it . The extra wage made life a little easier for the Ogdens , and Hilda was excited at the thought that they might be able to afford to move . When the Langtons moved , Hilda wanted to buy No . 5 , the most modern house in the street , but they were beaten to the punch by the Tilsleys . In May 1978 , Hilda received a letter from her American flame , Ralph Curtis , who was in the country and wanted to meet up with her . Hilda was unsure about seeing him again as it had been so long , but Renee Roberts pushed her into calling his hotel from the Corner Shop , and he arranged to visit the house . Once Ralph arrived , time fell away and Hilda enjoyed his visit immensely . With the same boundless energy and enthusiasm she remembered , Ralph was quite a contrast to Stan and Hilda couldn ' t help wondering what might have been . Hilda was used to working without support or solidarity . When she asked for a new broom for her factory work , Mike accused Hilda of cutting up her broom and sacked her . Hilda was stunned when Ivy Tilsley led the girls out on strike in sympathy , a strike not backed by the union due to Hilda not being a member . Surprisingly , Hilda herself wasn ' t bothered by the sacking and walked into a new job cleaning the offices at the abbatoir , leaving the picket line to work . However , when Mike backed down and agreed to reinstate her , Hilda quit her new job for fear of what the girls would do if they knew . Two years later , Hilda was the source of another factory row . Thrown out of the pools syndicate by Vera Duckworth for missing a week , Hilda got revenge by copying the winning pools numbers onto the factory girls ' copy , to make Vera think she ' d won a little money . However , she messed up and the factory girls celebrated a win of thousands . Hilda was too afraid to tell the girls the truth , but confessed to Mike when the girls found out they hadn ' t won and blamed the error on Martin Cheveski . Eager for a peaceful solution , Mike broke the news to the girls and threatened to fire anyone who touched Hilda . The girls responded by sending Hilda to Coventry , leaving Mike with no choice but to sack her . The situation upset Hilda so much that she went to stay with Trevor for a while . In her absence , Vera exacted revenge by tipping off Johnny Webb ' s wife Maureen Webb that Hilda was her husband ' s mistress ( in reality , Stan was letting him lodge at No . 13 while Hilda was away ) . Maureen had a public slanging match with Hilda , but backed down when she saw the size of Stan . 1980 - 1984 : Stan ' s final years . In July , Hilda offered a homeless Eddie the Ogdens ' front bedroom for £20 a week , satisfied that he could pay his way as he ' d finally got a full - time job on the bins after four years on the dole . Hilda bounced back from the factory fiasco by getting a job cleaning No . 9 for Len and Rita . As a Christmas treat for herself , she hired Mrs Palin as a regular cleaner for No . 13 at £1 . 75 an hour , but had to reluctantly let her go after a few weeks as they could no longer afford her . She carried on working for the Faircloughs until September 1981 , when she got an interview for a cleaning job at a businessman ' s flat , which turned out to be Mike ' s . Mike took Hilda on , feeling that she was honest and trustworthy . On her first day , Hilda accidentally set off the burglar alarm , attracting the attention of a police officer , who questioned Hilda and sent for Mike . Hilda was relieved when Mike laughed it off . After visiting her brother Archie ' s plush new home , Hilda ' s thirst for a change of scenery was reawakened , and she began looking at show homes . The Ogdens decided to buy a house in River Park Estate for £17 , 000 and put the house up for sale , but they were denied a mortgage as Stan didn ' t earn enough . They were tempted to accept an offer from the Bells of £7 , 500 cash for No . 13 and try for a council house , but after a warning from Elsie that the road was in a rough area , Hilda returned the Bells ' cheque and took the house off the market . Stan too fancied a change ; with another harsh winter coming up , Stan put his round up for sale and decided to take early retirement , only for Hilda to answer the ad ( planning to buy the round for Stan ) and read him the riot act ! In October 1982 , Hilda realised a long - held ambition to clean a big house when she was taken on by Doctor and Mrs Lowther at Goldenhurst , Oakfield Drive . Finding the house and the owners a delight , Hilda didn ' t mind the extra work . 1983 was a big year for the Ogdens . In February , money lender Syd Kippax got onto Hilda about £185 Stan owed him , giving him 24 hours to pay up . Hilda was confused as Stan had been giving her money for housekeeping , but under questioning he admitted that he ' d been borrowing money to hand in instead of working as was no longer able to climb ladders in bad weather . Fortunately Eddie came to the rescue by buying the round for £185 and getting Stan to work for him . Hilda supported Stan throughout , admiring his determination to go on working . A few months later , Hilda was saddened when her brother Archie passed away from a heart attack . As his only surviving family , she stood to inherit Archie ' s chip shop , however after his death his assistant Avril Carter also put in a claim for the shop , telling Hilda that she was Archie ' s fiancée and that with his dying breath he had expressed his desire for her to have the shop . Hilda battled Avril for the shop and , after finding out Avril was having an affair with a married man which would be exposed in court , forced her to drop her claim . Hilda ' s victory came with a sting in the tale ; due to Archie ' s debts her inheritance came to £1 , 583 , and she had to sell the shop after the landlord , Mr Holt , put the rent up . Hilda opened a bank account for the first time and celebrated by booking an expensive French restaurant for a meal , threatening to strangle Stan if he ruined the evening for her . Not understanding the French menu , the Ogdens ordered melon and sea bass and had an enjoyable time . The year had a happy but bittersweet ending as Eddie left No . 13 to marry Marion Willis , with Hilda standing in for his mother . The Yeats moved to Bury just after the Ogdens celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary with a party in the Rovers select . In 1984 , Stan turned sixty - five and started drawing his pension . For health reasons , he had given up work a few months earlier , and by the latter half of the year he was permanently bed - ridden . Hilda was run ragged looking after him , collapsing at home , and later broke down at No . 13 when Billy Walker called to have a go at her for failing to turn in . In November , Doctor Meakin arranged for an ambulance to take Stan into hospital for tests . He ' d been there for a few days when the hospital phoned Hilda , via the Corner Shop , to tell her that Stan had died . The neighbours rallied round Hilda in the wake of Stan ' s death , with Trevor arriving to support her at the funeral . Although Trevor suggested a cheap cremation , Hilda insisted on a burial as she wanted a plot with room for her when she died . After being strong for Stan at the funeral , Hilda mourned for her husband privately , the grief and loss hitting her as she looked through Stan ' s effects from the hospital . 1985 - 1998 : Life after Stan . Hilda returned to work immediately after the funeral , sick of moping around in the empty house . Since moving in , she ' d been against having lodgers , but the quietness plus fond memories of Eddie saw her reverse her position . Terry Duckworth stayed at No . 13 for a few months in 1984 , followed by railway ticket collector Henry Wakefield in January 1985 . Shortly after he moved in , Hilda found out from Curly Watts that Henry was actually unemployed ; Henry admitted that he couldn ' t get a work as he was known by the unions as a strike breaker . He offered to leave , but Hilda felt sorry for him and got Mike to give him a job as a van driver at the factory . However , the girls soon found out he was a strike breaker and threatened to walk out . Mike ignored the threat but Henry took their comments to heart and resigned , leaving his lodgings at the same time . Hilda was upset to see Henry go as she ' d enjoyed his company . In July , Hilda was targetted by corrupt builder Les Pringle . When Alf Roberts decided to modernise the Corner Shop , he planned the expansion with Les , and asked Hilda if she ' d be willing to sell him No . 13 . Hilda didn ' t want to go , but agreed to sell for £14 , 000 when Les told her the house ' s roof was sagging and could bring the house down . However , the guilt preyed on her mind and before the sale went through she told Alf about the roof . Inspecting it , Alf discovered the roof was fine and pulled out for Hilda ' s sake . That summer , Kevin Webster left his lodgings at No . 3 , finding landlady Emily Bishop too strict , and moved into No . 13 at Terry ' s recommendation . Kevin found Hilda more fun and easygoing , while Hilda found Kevin polite and respectable , so they got on well . However , they had a minor falling out when Kevin started dating Sally Seddon ; Hilda knew the Seddons were a rough family and asked Terry and Curly to get Kevin away from Sally , but after a few months she accepted that Sally wasn ' t like her parents and even took her in when she discovered her father Eddie Seddon was abusive and took all of her earnings . Later that year , Kevin and Sally got married and moved into the Corner Shop flat . Hilda met and started a friendship with Sally ' s uncle Tom Hopwood . In 1987 , Tom decided to retire and asked Hilda to marry him and move to a bungalow in Formby with him . Hilda was stunned by the proposal , as she ' d only ever seen Tom as a friend , and as such she told him she couldn ' t marry him ; she was still Stan ' s wife , even in death . In November , Mike sacked Hilda when she tried to advise him about his and Susan ' s marriage breakup . At the same time , the Lowthers decided to retire to Hartington , much to Hilda ' s disappointment , although Joan Lowther offered to recommend Hilda as a cleaner to the house ' s new owners . While they were packing , Hilda and Joan were attacked by burglars and Joan received a bump on the head . Although Hilda made a full recovery physically , Joan died from her injuries , and a stunned Hilda became withdrawn and afraid to be in her own home . The grieving Dr . Lowther decided not to change his plans to retire , and asked Hilda to keep house for him and live in a flat attached to the cottage . Hilda immediately accepted , and started planning her move away from Coronation Street after 23 years , selling No . 13 to Kevin and Sally at a generously low price . Her last full day in Weatherfield was Christmas Day , which she spent with the Websters at No . 13 , reflecting on days gone by . Calling to say goodbye at the Rovers , she was thrilled to find a surprise party waiting for her , showing Hilda how loved she was in Coronation Street when she thought they ' d be glad to see the back of her . For the first time ever , Hilda had a captive audience as she led the residents in a chorus of " Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye " . Hilda ' s only subsequent visit to Coronation Street was in 1990 , when she called in at the Rovers on her way to Stan ' s grave . She was disappointed when no one was around to see her arrive in style in a taxi , but milked every moment when her former neighbours listened keenly as she revealed the latest developments in her life , including a proposal of marriage by Dr . Lowther - although , of course , she left them guessing what her answer would be . Later , at Stan ' s grave , Hilda told her late husband that she wouldn ' t be marrying Dr . Lowther and she would always remain an Ogden . Between 1996 and 1998 , Dr Lowther died , leaving his house to Hilda . As of 1998 , Hilda still lived in Derbyshire , where she occasionally received a visit from Betty Williams . On one such visit , Hilda and Betty reminisced about their old friends and neighbours in Coronation Street . As Betty reported the latest goings - on , Hilda listened eagerly ; over ten years and many miles removed from her old life , she was still the same old Hilda Ogden of number thirteen . Personality . Hilda was a tough working - class Northern woman . A loyal wife , she spent four decades working herself to the bone to make up for Stan ' s shortcomings . Hilda ' s life was about somehow making ends meet in a world which seemed to have it in for the Ogdens . She was a naturally boisterous woman ; fun and outgoing , she spent all her spare pennies on brightening up her life . She was also wistful , talking constantly about her hopes and dreams with genuine enthusiasm - until she looked at Stan and was brought back to grim reality . Though immensely unlucky , the Ogdens ' misfortunes couldn ' t be wholly blamed on that ; more often , it was Stan ' s idiocy or Hilda ' s gossiping that was to blame . The local busybody , Hilda knew everything about everyone , and spread the latest news with relish , particularly to those who would not enjoy hearing it . Hilda used gossip to pour scorn on people such as Elsie Tanner , reminding people of the more scandalous moments from their past at the least opportune moments in order to judge and hurt . She also delivered news like a brick ; for example , when the police were about to inform Emily Bishop that her husband Ernie had been seriously injured by a shotgun blast , Hilda insensitively blurted out " she ' s the wife ! " Hilda ' s attempts to stir things up were always seen for what they were , earning her little to no friends in the Street and making her the object of ridicule . However , Hilda herself denied being a gossip and claimed to be the soul of discretion . She knew her limits , and chose her battles . When she had a beef with someone , Hilda was similarly unsubtle , hurling accusations with a voice like breaking glass , but always easily put in her place with a quip from her more restrained opponent . Even so , she managed to avoid being completely alienated from her neighbours , as her pettiness was seen as unthreatening and many felt sorry for her and Stan . Hilda ' s judgementalism hid a deep envy of her neighbours , and she was desperate to be seen as just as good as the rest . She took any opportunity to show off , and would often fake an understanding of art or culture in a transparent attempt to earn their admiration , and in a similar vein , she often made malapropisms resulting in much hilarity . She also had an old - fashioned moral code , believing strongly that only married couples should have sex . Traits . Hilda was a short woman with a thin , sparrow - like frame . For most of the day , she totted about Coronation Street in her old red ( later blue ) mackintosh , clad in the same pinny and green headscarf she worked in , with her hair in rollers . For evenings , she took her rollers out , with just a dab of lipstick . Relationships . Crabtree family . Hilda had great affection for her family and upbringing , and would sometimes refer to herself as a Crabtree . However , references and visits to individual family members were rarer . In March 1966 , Stan sold a framed photograph of Hilda ' s mother Florence to Jed Stone for his " Viaduct Bargain Boutique " , resulting in a furious Hilda snatching it back . As adults , Hilda and her brothers Norman and Archie lived a stone ' s throw from each other in Weatherfield but all led separate and very different lives . With his own chip shop in Oakhill , Norman was the most successful . His only interaction with Hilda during her time in Coronation Street was in 1976 , when Stan took root in the shop after a row with Hilda . Annoyed at being involved , Norman tried to get Stan and Hilda back together - but more for his own sake than theirs . Hilda seemed closer to Archie . His only visit to 13 Coronation Street was in May 1972 , while Stan was in hospital . With his beer belly and laziness , Archie could more easily pass as Stan ' s brother than Hilda ' s , and for three weeks , Archie filled Stan ' s void in Hilda ' s life . Archie built a porch for Hilda but it was only when they were admiring the completed porch that Jerry Booth reminded them that they would need planning permission . The debacle ended with the mysterious disappearance of the porch , after Hilda was told by Councillor Warburton to take it down . When news came through that Stan was due to come home , Hilda told Archie to leave , none too impressed with his suggestion that she take on another job and look after both of them . Hilda occasionally went to visit Archie , particularly when his circumstances improved in the early 1980s , with Archie marrying Doris and becoming the owner of Crabtree ' s Chip Shop . After his death in 1983 , Hilda inherited the shop , his money , and also , sadly , his considerable debts . Stan Ogden . Hilda ' s entire life with Stan was encapsulated in their first week together in 1943 . In a story she would often repeat , she fell over an inebriated Stan in a blackout , and six days later he married her - but not , as she hoped , out of romantic gallantry , but because he was on the run from the military police for being AWOL . Hilda was raised with traditional beliefs about marriage and a wife ' s duty to her husband . While her total responsibility for the house and children wasn ' t unusual , Hilda also tried to be a loyal and obedient wife to Stan , particularly in the early years of their marriage where Stan dominated Hilda with his abusiveness and drunken rages , which Hilda once told a shocked Concepta Hewitt she didn ' t mind . In January 1966 , Hilda filled out the winning pool numbers for Stan to check against his and , thinking they were his numbers , he celebrated an estimated £75 , 000 win by buying drinks all round at the Rovers . When a terrified Hilda told him the truth , Stan went berserk and chased her round the house . Stan was a man of simple pleasures , sending little money to Hilda and drinking the rest away . For the family to survive , Hilda had to become everything he wasn ' t : tough , resourceful , and driven . When they moved to Coronation Street , it was up to Hilda to motivate her oaf of a husband out to work , and her nagging , piercing voice was enough to drive anyone out the door . Hilda constantly criticised Stan , attributing most of their financial woes to his uselessness . However , when he showed ambition , even for something bizarre such as scrap art ( September 1969 ) or songwriting ( February 1970 ) , Hilda beamed with pride , believing in her husband ' s hidden talents . Another drawback to being married to Stan was his inattentiveness . He was incapable of making a romantic gesture off his own back ; the first time he sent Hilda a Valentine ' s card was in 1982 , when they ' d been married for 38 years , and he only did so out of guilt over forgetting Hilda ' s birthday . Hilda was so flabbergasted that she refused to believe it was from Stan , preferring the notion that she had a secret admirer . Stan was poor at predicting his wife ' s needs , particularly her need to be treated like a woman , and he often showed her up in public . His understanding of his wife was so lacking that in 1981 , they came last place in a " Mr and Mrs " competition in the Rovers , with Stan giving three embarrassing ( and , to the audience , hilarious ) answers . To avoid bother , Stan would often risk making matters even worse , such as in May 1967 when he burned Hilda ' s London cup final ticket so he wouldn ' t have to admit he ' d sold his and couldn ' t get it back . To keep up the pretext , he spent the day on a park bench , but of course Hilda found out anyway and made him paint the house as a penance . Their lowest moments came whenever Hilda caught him dipping into her hard - earned money ; in December 1978 , he put all the money in the house into a ( previously empty ) fruit machine , and then unthinkingly let Eddie Yeats take it the machine away with their TV plug attached . Just as the realisation set in , the house was plunged into darkness as the electricity meter ran out - all in all , a typical day at the Ogdens ' . However , Stan genuinely wanted to make Hilda happy , and his gestures which " did " work were all the more touching for their rarity . He scored a definite hit with the serving hatch in 1971 , and in October 1969 he secretly joined Fatties Anonymous with Betty Turpin , telling the people at the meeting that he was doing it for his wife . In spite of her problems with Stan , Hilda couldn ' t imagine life without him and was lost whenever he wasn ' t around ; when he vanished one night in March 1976 , she scoured the streets for him before she found out he and Albert Tatlock had accidentally been locked in the Rovers cellar . After spending the night getting merry and singing war songs down in the cellar , they were found by Hilda and Annie Walker , and Hilda was furious when Stan grinned and asked if she ' d missed him . Stan had his faults but Hilda knew his limits . In August 1972 , he was caught in the backing where a peeping tom had been seen spying on the women of the Street . A lynch mob led by Billy Walker and Ray Langton carted him over to No . 13 , their minds made up that he was the peeping tom , but Hilda believed in her husband ' s innocence , even though he was supposed to be at The Flying Horse . The mere accusation was enough to defeat Stan , but Hilda wanted to fight back and told the residents what she thought of them in the Rovers , referencing Billy ' s dirty magazines , and spat on the floor . The residents had to swallow their pride and apologise when the true culprit was caught . Hilda and Stan ' s affection for each other was strengthened by the fact that they were both life ' s victims . Despite being the neighbourhood joke , for most of their time at No . 13 theirs was the most successful marriage in the Street . In public , Hilda would defend Stan from the very accusations she threw at him at home . Her image of Stan was so idealised that she was paranoid about other women plotting to get their hands on him , from Freda Woods at the British Legion to Mary Bonnetti , Stan ' s ice - cream vendor partner . The latter got Hilda so worried that she reported Stan to the Town Hall for trading without a licence , ending the partnership . A continuing thorn in Hilda ' s side was Clara Regan of 19 Inkerman Street , or rather the rumours of her affair with Stan which were all over Weatherfield . Hilda didn ' t believe them - finding out in January 1973 that Clara was co - habiting with Tommy McAllistair was enough to satisfy her - but she hated everyone sending them up about it and refused to dignify Clara with a name , referring to her only as " 19 Inkerman Street " . Hilda ' s happiest moment came when the Ogdens won third prize in a " Loving Cup Shandies " competition - a second honeymoon night in a five - star hotel with her winning slogan " Be a mistress as well as a wife and your husband ' ll still be a boyfriend " . Hilda was determined to enjoy herself in luxury for once , forcing Stan to give her the romantic evening she craved , when he just wanted to watch TV and raid the drinks cabinet . After Stan ' s death , all past rows were forgotten and Hilda would always remember Stan as the perfect husband . Irma Ogden . What Irma got from her parents could be written on the back of a playing card . Irma was fun - loving , didn ' t take life too seriously , and even a little reckless . Where her parents were concerned , Irma couldn ' t wait to get away , even though she loved them . She frequently put Stan and Hilda down , often without them realising it . Hilda liked having Irma close by as the Ogdens had so few friends in the Street . She approved of her wedding to David Barlow , and also of their decision to buy the Corner Shop - Irma allowed the Ogdens a generous amount on tick . Irma helped her parents out whenever she could , and in May 1966 , when she got a job at the PVC Factory , she sent in Hilda to fill her shoes at the shop , much to David ' s horror . That August , the couples went on a caravan holiday , where Hilda and Irma bonded and threw water over their husbands when they stayed out all night . When Irma and David decided to move to Australia , Hilda was so distraught that she sent drayman Vince Boyle to share his terrible experiences of the country with Irma , a move which nearly caused them to part on a sour note . Out of loyalty to Irma , Hilda took in Irma and David ' s foster daughter Jill Morris when she turned up at the shop looking for them as her mum was in hospital . In September 1970 , with Irma on holiday in Torquay and Maggie Clegg in Birmingham , Hilda looked after the shop . As Irma hadn ' t left her precise instructions for replenishing the stock , Hilda decided to try something different and ordered large quantities of specialised stock from Walter Gilfeather , surprising even him . The scheme ended in disaster , with Hilda ending up having a bargain sale to shift the new stock , and she ended up £7 , 2 / 9 down . When she got back , Irma got Hilda to clean the shop to make it up to her . When Irma suddenly fled to Llandudno that December , Hilda looked after her interests at the shop , although Betty Turpin opined that she had really left to get away from Stan and Hilda . Irma then gradually faded out of the Ogdens ' lives , and eventually moved to Canada , where she was living when Stan passed away in 1984 . Hilda excused her daughter ' s non - appearance at the funeral , telling Trevor that she was starting a new life abroad . Elsie Tanner . Elsie Tanner of No . 11 was Hilda and Stan ' s next - door neighbour . Hilda looked down on Elsie for having so many men in her life , in some ways taking up the mantle from Ena Sharples , but unlike her previous nemesis who could get Elsie really riled up with her vicious tongue , Hilda wasn ' t taken seriously and was treated mainly as an irritant . In June 1968 , Hilda and Elsie had a row in the Street where Hilda accused Elsie of having an affair with Stan , as they ' d been AWOL for hours after Stan gave Elsie a driving lesson ( the explanation being that they ' d run out of petrol on the moors ) . Elsie laughed at Hilda ' s allegations , saying she ' d never go for Stan as she had eyes . On two occasions , Hilda nearly caused Elsie to lose her job by informing her employers about Elsie being in court for stealing from Miami Modes , and in 1973 Elsie ' s disappearance led to all kinds of rumours , most of them started by Hilda , leading to a confrontation in the Rovers in which Alan Howard punched Stan , who had stood up to defend his wife . If not their biggest , then certainly their pettiest battle occurred in 1978 , when Suzie Birchall accidentally put her foot through No . 13 ' s bedroom ceiling while moving a nest of pigeons in the loft . Elsie refused to pay the repairs as the pigeons had got in through a missing slate in Hilda ' s roof , and so Hilda poked holes in Elsie ' s ceiling with her broom to get even . The households then went to war , doing everything from blaring music through the wall and dirtying their neighbours ' washing . It was resolved in court , where Hilda and Elsie were ordered to pay for their own repairs - a resolution which satisfied Elsie , but not Hilda . In July 1980 , Hilda called round to No . 11 to borrow a cup of sugar and found the sofa ablaze and Elsie unconscious . With Stan ' s help , she dragged Elsie away to safety . Proclaimed a heroine , Hilda made the most of it by getting Elsie to buy her drinks and over - dramatising her heroics . Eventually Elsie got so sick of Hilda going on about it that she told Hilda to walk past the next time her house was on fire ! In possibly her only act of kindness towards her neighbour , Hilda donated some clothes to Elsie when hers were cut up by Muriel Fielding in May 1981 . Annie Walker . Annie Walker was Hilda ' s pretentious employer at the Rovers . Annie was generally kind to Hilda , although she often had to remind her that she was there to clean and not to chit - chat . Hilda first discovered Annie ' s iron fist a month after arriving in the Street ; when Annie caught Hilda and Irma shifting onions Trevor had secretly stored in the Rovers ' cellar , Annie sacked them both on the spot , although Hilda managed to get her job back . Hilda admired Annie but envied her standing in the community and greatly wanted to out - do her . In 1974 , before Hilda left Weatherfield to board cruise ship the " Monte Umber " for a six - week cleaning job , Annie coached Hilda on etiquette , advising her to step aside to let a first class passenger past . When she got back , Hilda showed off by ordering a " Planeter ' s Punch " cocktail to try and catch Annie out . Annie easily made the drink but charged 98p for that and a pint for Stan , reminding Hilda that the ship was duty free and the Rovers wasn ' t . In 1976 , when Hilda put up her beloved mural , part of its appeal was that Annie didn ' t have one , but when Hilda invited her over to the house to show it off , Annie barely gave it a second glance , although she couldn ' t help noticing that Hilda had copied her bedroom wallpaper . " Isn ' t it amazing how different things seem in a different room ? " commented Annie sardonically . Annie occasionally suffered the consequences of Hilda ' s gossip , such as in 1975 when Hilda informed Newton & Ridley about a break - in at the Rovers which Annie wanted to keep quiet as she didn ' t want to lose the brewery ' s confidence . In direct confrontations , however , Annie ' s way with words easily outmatched Hilda ' s all - guns - blazing approach . Eddie Yeats . Edward Yeats entered the Ogdens ' lives in December 1974 . On parole from Walton , he bought their Christmas tree from Stan for £2 . In March 1975 , when his fellow 5 Coronation Street houseguest Ena Sharples proved to be less of a soft touch than his landlady Minnie Caldwell , he partnered up with Hilda on Stan ' s window round . He and Hilda were a good team , bringing in more money than Stan had . Released from Walton for the last time in July 1976 , Eddie soon fell in with the Ogdens . Hilda didn ' t trust him because of his shady past and dodgy mates , and his laziness and flannel did nothing to endear him to her . She treated him like a bad penny whenever he darkened No . 13 ' s doors , greeting him with a resigned " oh , it ' s you " . Over time , Eddie demonstrated that he had a good heart and an affinity for the Ogdens , who were all the ' family ' he had , and Hilda became fond of him . Both moronic and bone - idle , Eddie and Stan were kindred spirits . They would often get up to things behind Hilda ' s back , knowing she would not approve . In October 1978 , Eddie ' s friend Tiny Hargreaves paid Stan for the use of his cart to shift stolen lead , but Hilda saw Tiny using the cart and took it when he wasn ' t looking , thinking he ' d stolen it . Hilda was then stopped by the police and the cart impounded because of the stolen lead . Fearing repercussions , Eddie refused to shop Tiny , but Hilda refused to have Stan arrested and made him tell the police the truth . The following April , with Hilda away , Eddie took possession of six hens and talked Stan into letting him store them in No . 13 ' s back yard after Albert Tatlock told him he couldn ' t have them on his allotment . After returning home to find a chicken on her table , Hilda told Eddie to get rid of the hens , but was talked round when Eddie said they faced the slaughter . To keep Hilda on side , Eddie bought eggs from the Corner Shop and planted them in the chicken coop . Getting wind of the scheme , Suzie mischievously put some hard - boiled eggs in the coop , which Hilda gave to Ena , resulting in much embarrassment in the Rovers when Ena cut an egg open in front of Hilda . Hilda ordered Eddie to kill the hens , planning to eat one for Stan ' s birthday , but in the end Albert had to perform the deed as they ' d all grown so attached to them , and , unable to bring himself to carve them , Eddie sold them to a butcher for £3 . From 1980 to 1983 Eddie was the Ogdens ' lodger , taken in due to his full - time job on the bins . In March 1981 , Eddie caused the Ogdens to lose all their washing when he accidentally took a black bag containing their laundry to the tip instead of a bag of rubbish . Determined to recover it , Hilda made Stan and Eddie help her scour the tip for the bag , but surrounded by so many identical black bags , they didn ' t find their washing . A guilty Eddie organised a whip - round for the Ogdens and managed to earn their forgiveness , the whole debacle treated like just another Ogden misadventure . Hilda took a somewhat motherly role in Eddie ' s love life . In 1980 , she approved of advised Lorna Ferguson to go steady with Eddie . Two years later , she made the effort to get to know Marion Willis , but nearly had a falling out with Eddie when he copied her key to Mike Baldwin ' s flat to court Marion there , pretending he was a businessman . Eddie left the Ogdens ' lives in December 1983 when he and Marion , now a married couple , moved to Bury , but the following year Eddie phoned the Rovers to pass onto Hilda the news that Marion had had a baby girl , Dawn , and in 1987 he paid a visit to Weatherfield to see Hilda when she was hospitalised after she and Joan Lowther were attacked by burglars . Kevin and Sally Webster . In May 1985 , Kevin Webster decided he ' d had enough of his landlady Emily Bishop ' s stuffiness and fellow lodger Curly Watts ' s 5am wake - up calls , and with Hilda ' s approval moved into No . 13 . Kevin found Hilda a friendly , easygoing landlady , and would refer to her affectionately as " Mrs . O " . He gave Hilda no trouble in his two years at No . 13 , showing himself to be a respectable young man . Hilda ' s relationship with Sally Seddon wasn ' t so smooth - sailing . Introduced to Kevin ' s new girlfriend early in 1986 , Hilda was cold to her due to her being from the roughneck Seddon family , and decided she wasn ' t good enough for Kevin . In March , she warned Kevin she ' d seen Sally with another man , but he didn ' t believe her and stayed with Sally . Two months later , after accepting that Sally wasn ' t like her parents , Hilda agreed to let Sally live at No . 13 to get away from Eddie Seddon , Convinced that Kevin and Sally would try to sleep together against her permission , Hilda laid a trap for Sally on the stairs , only to forget about it and fall herself . While Hilda was out of work with a sprained ankle , Sally stood in for her at the Lowthers ' house and the Baldwins ' flat , where she did such a bad job that Susan Baldwin nearly sacked her . Hilda ' s derogatory comments about her work upset Sally so much that she returned to live with her parents . Kevin and Sally were married by the end of the year . On their wedding day , Hilda gave Sally marriage advice , telling her not to blame Kevin in times of trouble . The following year , Hilda helped them get the Corner Shop flat by pretending to Alf Roberts that Sally would be leaving her job at the shop immediately and the Websters moving to Partington . As he was in the middle of a council election campaign , Alf needed Sally behind the counter and offered the Websters the flat without hesitation . When she left Weatherifeld a few months later , Hilda sold No . 13 to the Websters for a generously low price as a mark of affection for the young newlyweds . Hobbies , interests and skills . Hilda frequently showed an interest in art and culture to have something to show off about . She would always exaggerate how well she knew the subject , but then give the game away with her malapropisms or basic misunderstandings , with comic results . Her forays into art and culture were numerous and short - lived . She once wrote a play about a gas leak which led to nothing , and in February 1976 , she joined an art class at the Community Centre . In January 1979 , while painting the skirting boards at No . 13 , she found by accident that she could copy abstract art . When a painting of hers fetched £20 from Annie Walker ( who had no idea the identity of the artist ) , Hilda made the most of it by getting Annie to compliment it at every opportunity , however Annie found out and got revenge by telling Hilda she sold it to an art dealer at a huge profit . That August , she taught herself to play the piano and actually showed promise , beaming with pride when Ena - a seasoned harmonium player - applauded her after a performance . Others , however , were not complimentary ; walking in on Hilda practicing " Beautiful Dreamer " on the Rovers piano , Annie accused her of turning it into an ugly nightmare . In June 1973 , Hilda joined a ballroom dancing class at the centre , agreeing to be Ted Loftus ' s partner ( with Stan ' s permission ) . She also partook in the 1969 football grudge match between the Rovers and The Flying Horse , where she scored an equaliser ( much to her worn out team - mates ' s fury as they then had to play on to extra time ) , and at the 1984 Pub Olympics between the two pubs she won the egg - and - spoon race when she came in second behind Vera Duckworth who was disqualified due to cheating . Hilda also took to the stage during the Street ' s Christmas panto productions , filling out the cast in bit parts including Wishee Washee in " Aladdin " in 1968 and one of the Ugly Sisters in " Cinderella " in 1975 . In 1977 , tricked by Bet Lynch into thinking it was fancy dress , Hilda turned up at the factory Christmas party dressed as Charlie Chaplin . She ended up having a good time , blacking up and singing an Al Jolson song to the OAPs next door at the centre when the booked act never turned up . Hilda loved to sing , especially her old 1940s favourites . With a trilling singing voice compared to Mick Jagger stuck up the plumbing , and a piano going down a flight of stairs , Hilda could most often be heard as she went about her cleaning , hanging out the washing , or admiring her mural . Clairvoyancy . Hilda had " the gift " since before she moved to Coronation Street . In December 1964 , she read the cards of several residents , including Valerie Barlow , where she correctly predicted that Val would have twins . In early 1969 , Hilda took it up again and considered reading tea leaves professionally . While he didn ' t believe in her gift , Stan was keen on the idea as , charging half a guinea a time , they ' d be quids in if Hilda could pull it off . To encourage her , he went around trying to make her predictions come true without her knowledge , but confessed to Hilda out of fear that a reporter would find out and accuse her of fraud . To avert suspicion , Hilda publicly announced her gift had gone . Hilda continued to believe that she had the sight , and often gave impromptu readings . In August 1977 , after two predictions came true , her clairvoyancy attracted some attention . Along with Bet , Suzie , Elsie and Gail Potter , she held a seance in No . 13 , where she seemed to go into a trance and be possessed , although she later claimed to have no memory of the event . Travel . Hilda ' s long - held desire to get away from everything was apparent to every visitor to No . 13 ' s back room . In 1978 , her beloved mural of the Canadian Rockies was ruined when Stan left the taps running in the bathroom and flooded the house . Hilda bought a replacement herself , this time depicting a seascape . Hilda and Stan ' s getaways were few and far between , and when they did plan a holiday , catastrophe would always strike . In September 1969 , when Stan got a week off work , Hilda insisted on going to Llandudno , but Stan " accidentally " tripped over a roller - skate left on the street and they spent the day sat outside the Rovers under Annie ' s umbrellas instead . Hilda particularly longed to visit France . In January 1972 , the Ogdens got as far as booking a day trip to Paris and getting to the airport , but Stan panicked in the terminal and went to get fresh air , causing them to miss the plane . To keep up appearances , they spent the day in the airport bar and staggered into the Rovers later , pretending they ' d been on the trip . Hilda finally got to go to France in 1980 , when she won an exchange visit to Charleville , Weatherfield ' s twin town , where she went to a rave - up with Vera and Ivy Tilsley . In August 1974 , Stan bought a tandem from Billy Walker for £8 . 50 . Hilda excitedly planned a trip to Morecambe , but when the time came , the Ogdens found the tandem too difficult to ride and left the bike with railway porter Syd Greaves , who gave it to Ray Langton . When they came back ( of course , pretending to everyone that they ' d used the tandem ) , Ray tried to set them up by painting the tandem white and claiming it was his , but , on Hilda ' s instructions , Stan painted it black again , making Ray look like an idiot when he said it was his ; for once , the Ogdens came out on top . Hilda would occasionally take the tandem out again but , met with Stan ' s disinterest , eventually sold it to Gail and Suzie for £7 - only to find out from Len Fairclough that it was worth £100 . Eddie managed to buy the bike back for £15 without letting on the girls its true worth , and went off to sell the bike with Stan , but when they abandoned it to go into a pub , the wall it was resting against was demolished , burying it - a tale Hilda point blank refused to believe . Television . In the 1970s , as the nation switched to colour television , Hilda was determined that No . 13 would be the first house in Coronation Street to upgrade . Hilda saved her pennies and for nine glorious days in 1971 ( after which it was repossessed ) , the Ogdens ' back room was graced with a colour set . Hilda battled on , trying to get one on approval , but the Ogdens were turned down as they were on a credit blacklist . Over the next few years , one - by - one the neighbours bought colour sets . In January 1978 , Hilda camped outside Perkins overnight to be first in the morning queue , guaranteeing her a colour TV for £5 in the sale . After spending the night in the company of a meths - drinking tramp called Ozzie , Hilda lost her place in the queue as she was in the middle of being interviewed by a local radio reporter , Ted Thomas , when the shop opened its doors , and someone else bought the TV . Three years later , Eddie managed to borrow a colour TV for the day so that Hilda could watch the Royal Wedding . Hilda took out her curlers for the occasion . On one occasion , the Ogdens didn ' t have a TV at all . In February 1976 , when a TV detector van roamed the area , Hilda bought a TV licence to be on the safe side . As she walked into the house to tell Stan , she surprised him when he was moving the TV to hide it away , causing him to drop and break it . After a tip from Betty Turpin , Stan set fire to the TV and told the rental company it had burst into flames , but rental man Sid Wilson didn ' t believe him and demanded £75 for the set . Meanwhile , Hilda was getting caught up in entering competitions and won a trolley dash at a delicatessen . Together with Deirdre Langton , she grabbed £107 . 32 worth of goods , but , missing her programmes , traded it in for the cash amount and paid the TV bill . Background information . Creation and casting . In the spring of 1964 , producer Tim Aspinall initiated " Coronation Street " ' s first major cast shake - up , axing six characters in total . To fill the void , a new family was planned around the character of Irma Ogden , a recent addition to the programme played by Sandra Gough . The family would be more vulgar than viewers were used to seeing , headed up by layabout lorry driver Stan and his nagging wife Hilda , and supported by their four children - Irma , Trevor , Tony and Sylvia . Jean Alexander was born in Liverpool in 1926 . She began her career as a library assistant before transferring her talents to repertory theatre , firstly as a wardrobe mistress and then as a stage mistress , in various places in the North West including Oldham , York , and the Adelphi Guild Theatre in Macclesfield . She then realised her ambition of becoming an actress , spending seven years with Southport rep . She had an early TV role as Mrs . Webb , landlady of baby kidnapper Joan Akers , in two episodes of " Coronation Street " in 1962 , which paved the way for her subsequent casting as Hilda two years later . Betty Driver also auditioned for the part , but was rejected as casting directors wanted a more slender actress for Hilda . Stan made his debut in Episode 370 but viewers had to wait to be introduced to his wife as transmission of the following episode was delayed by a week by strike action by the ACTT ( Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians ) . An additional result of the strike was that the following week ' s episodes , which were at the rehearsal stage when the strike occurred , went unrecorded , with production picking up with Episode 374 the week after . The unmade episodes would have seen the Ogdens move into No . 13 and Tony and Sylvia make their debut appearances . During this period , plans for the Ogdens were revised , cutting the number of children from four to two . The rise of Stan and Hilda . Amid the controversy over Aspinall ' s cast cull , the Ogdens stood out as a bright spot to writer H . V . Kershaw , who returned to his role as producer when Aspinall stepped down in September . Praising the chemistry between the actors , he remarked in his 1981 book " The Street Where I Live " ( 1981 ) : " After a few weeks of Bernard Youens and Jean Alexander as the ill - starred Stan and Hilda , it is patently obvious that they are here to stay for ever . " Initially , Hilda was characterised as a tough working class woman who stood at her uncouth husband ' s side , blind to his flaws . This was subtly changed as writers realised the comic potential of Hilda being more of a fishwife - all the while defending him vehemently when anyone else dared take a potshot , as remarked upon by Kershaw : " The Ogdens , Hilda and Stan , arguably one of the funniest cross - talk teams on television , are to my mind at their best when they are poignant . Hilda , thin and defiant , defending the fat , lazy Stan against an unkind world , " and Jean Alexander : " They would bicker between themselves but one one else dared raise a finger or say a word against either of them or they ' d both be up in arms . " " ( Fifty Years of " Coronation Street " , Headline Publishing Group , 2010 ) " On her role : " As a character she ' s interesting to play , and I like her because she ' s the opposite of me . She lets fly at people in a way I ' d like to myself and never do . When I ' m being Hilda , I can get it all out of my system . " " ( The " Coronation Street " Story ) " Their relationship was tinkered with again when Bill Podmore took over as producer in 1976 , with Stan becoming more hen - pecked and Geoffrey Hughes entering the fray as Eddie Yeats , the Ogdens ' prodigal son ( with Irma and Trevor long having left the programme ) . Podmore : " Stan and Hilda were one of the great comedy couples . In my book they rivalled Morecambe and Wise . " " ( Coronation Street : The Inside Story , 1990 ) " At the peak of Hilda ' s popularity , character and actress gained a number of accolades , including being named as the fourth most recognisable woman in the UK after the , and in a 1982 poll and , more oddly , prompting , and to form the British League for Hilda Ogden , with as it ' s president . Olivier was such a fan of the character that he requested a part in the programme . A part was written for him - a meths - drinking tramp called Ozzie who camped outside a shop next to Hilda while she queued overnight for a discounted colour TV - however a scheduling conflict resulted in Olivier being unable to take the role . Podmore : " Hilda Ogden was a legend . Universities wanted to make her their rector ; a Welsh rugby team hailed her as their mascot ; even the Falklands Fleet urgently called for a picture of their pin - up complete with curlers , to inspire the troops for battle . " Glad rags and " that " voice . Hilda ' s famous look - with her curlers , headscarf and pinny - was developed over time by Jean Alexander and the wardrobe department . Alexander felt that the curlers said something about the character : " I remembered seeing the women working on munitions during the war . All the girls in the factories had to have their heads covered because of the machinery . They used to wear these scarves , like pudding clothes , tied up and the curlers would be in . . I thought Hilda would have worked on munitions and would have had her hair tied up . . . She was always ready to go out - only she never went out . The curlers were always in , just in case she happened to be going out in the evening . " " ( The " Coronation Street " Story , Boxtree Limited , 1995 ) " About the pinny : " It was donkeys ' years old , but it seemed to fascinate viewers who used to write in in droves to see where they could buy one similar . " " ( Life in the Street , Boxtree Limited , 1991 ) " One bonus of Hilda sporting such a different look from Alexander ' s day clothes was that she wasn ' t recognised all that often - a fact appreciated by an actress who guarded her privacy . Podmore : " She could transform herself within seconds . A touch of lipstick , a headscarf , an old mackintosh and a curler or two , and there stood Hilda Ogden in all her pinched - mouth glory . At the end of the day the cloak of Hilda was discarded as quickly as it was created and left behind in the studio . Jean Alexander could stand on Salford station and catch her train home safe in the knowledge that none of her fellow passengers would give the elegant lady a second glance . " Another trait of Hilda ' s worked out early on was her famously shrill singing voice . Viewers were introduced to Hilda ' s " talent " soon after she arrived in the street , as Jean Alexander recalls : " I ' d been in it a couple of months and the script said : ' Hilda is out of shot in the backyard pegging out washing and singing . ' So I just started singing the sort of songs that Hilda would know , that were from my own era actually , and the crew fell about laughing . They all thought it was hysterical , so after that whenever they wrote in " Hilda sings " . they ' d never state the song and they ' d just leave that to me . " " ( Fifty Years ) " The " muriel " . When Bill Podmore became " Coronation Street " ' s producer in 1976 , one of his goals was to increase the amount of comedy in the scripts . One of the first stories devised for the Ogdens was the re - decoration of No . 13 ' s parlour and the establishment of Hilda ' s beloved mural , or " muriel " as she called it ( an example of her malapropisms which were frequently worked into scripts ) , and its flying ducks - one of which could never stay up . According to Alexander , the scenes inside No . 13 were recorded at the end of of Episode 1616 ' s studio day , leaving no margin for error : " We had about six scenes , with the room in various stages of stripping and repapering , we had fifty minutes of studio time left to do these six scenes . It was so fast ! We ' d do one scene and then the prop men would come on and strip a bit more wallpaper off . You couldn ' t enjoy it because nobody dared dry . " " ( The " Coronation Street " Story ) " On the mural itself : " ( Hilda ' s ) was a life of disappointment , so it was my idea that the middle flying duck on her famous ' muriel ' should always be taking a nose - dive . Each time Hilda went past she would try to push it up straight , but it always fell down again . Which summed up her life really . They did live at Number 13 after all . " " ( , JR Books , 2010 ) " Stan ' s death . In 1975 , Bernard Youens suffered a minor stroke , the first in a series of health problems which plagued the actor for the rest of his life . By the early 1980s , his speech and mobility were affected , and as a result Hilda and Eddie took on most of the dialogue in their scenes to ease the burden on the actor , who wished to continue on in the programme . He died aged sixty - nine on 27th August 1984 , much to the sadness of the cast and crew , particularly his screen wife of twenty years . Alexander : " I miss him more than I can say . We never had to discuss a scene or go over a piece of dialogue together . He always turned up word - perfect , just as I did , and we knew exactly how we were going to play it . Working without " Bunny " was like acting without my arm . " " ( Life in the Street ) " Stan passed away peacefully in hospital in November 1984 after a lengthy absence from screens . In a famous scene , after holding back the tears for the duration of the episode , Hilda broke down alone in No . 13 while unwrapping Stan ' s effects from the hospital . Podmore : " " Coronation Street " ' s scriptwriting team , with Jean ' s total approval , had decided that Hilda would never allow herself to shed a tear in public no matter how great her sadness . We all thought long and hard about how she might deal with her husband ' s death . The breakdown had to come some time , and we chose the moment when Hilda unwrapped the sad little parcel she brought home from the hospital , which contained Stan ' s few personal effects . Jean ' s playing of that scene was devastating ; as she closed Stan ' s spectacle case the nation wept with her . " Alexander ' s performance during the scene won her the Royal Television Society ' s Best Performance Award the following year . Alexander : " It was the first award I had ever received , and the proudest moment of my life . " " ( Life in the Street ) " Departure . In the mid - 1980s ; Bill Podmore took a step back into a role as executive producer , with John G . Temple taking over as producer . For the next three years , Alexander remained with the programme , exploring Hilda ' s life as a widow . According to Podmore , this wasn ' t the original plan : " My long - term plan was for Eddie Yeats to take over as comic - relief lodger . It just might have worked , and Jean Alexander ' s wonderful character might still have been bottoming out the Rovers and mopping up every morsel of Coronation Street ' s gossip . " However , Hughes quit the programme in 1983 , and Hilda was instead supported by newcomers Kevin and Sally Webster . In 1987 , Alexander decided that it was time to move on , and broke the news to the producer : " It was nice and it was a secure job and all that , but suddenly I thought , I don ' t want to be here for the rest of my life . I ' d like to do some of the things I was doing before I ever came into this show . I would like to play other parts before I fall off my perch . . . I went in to see Bill Podmore and said , ' I ' ve decided I want to leave at the end of my contract - Christmas . ' ' Oh , ' he said , ' I ' ve been dreading the day when you ' d come in and say that . " ( The " Coronation Street " Story ) " Podmore : " I really did think Hilda ' s retirement would be one of the great watersheds , and I was dreading the inevitable moment . " Hilda ' s final appearance , broadcast on Christmas Day 1987 , saw Hilda sing " " " " , in her trademark trilling voice , before leaving Weatherfield to keep house for her employer , Doctor Lowther - a happy ending for a character who had spent her life going from pillar to post . The episode was watched by 17 . 97 million viewers on Christmas Day , with 8 . 65 million viewers catching up via a one - off omnibus repeat , resulting in a total audience of 26 . 62 million viewers - " Coronation Street " ' s second - highest ever audience figure . Reprising the role . Jean Alexander has declined numerous invitations to reprise her character , with four exceptions . The first was the 1990 ITV Telethon , which featured a mini - episode showing a more prosperous Hilda visit the Street on her way to Stan ' s grave . Alexander was reluctant to return to the part , but on this occasion the circumstances were right : " When Granada asked me to return , I had to stop and think . I didn ' t really want to be Hilda again . I was worried I ' d start up the old associations . But , as it was a one - off for such worthwhile charities , I couldn ' t really say no . " On what viewers could expect : " Hilda has changed . Having sold her house , she ' s got a few pennies tucked away , along with her wages from the doctor , plus her own flat in his house . Now that she ' s better off , she ' s less envious . But , knowing Hilda , she might show off a bit . " Jean Alexander reprised her role again in 1996 to record the audio book ' Street Talk - Hilda Ogden : In Her Own Words ' , and appear in a one off advert for Granada Plus . Alexander last played Hilda in a 1998 video special " The Women of Coronation Street " . The special showed Betty Williams visit Hilda in Derbyshire and reminisce ( and gossip ) about the women of Coronation Street past and present , segueing into archive clips . Despite the passage of time , Hilda remained immensely popular . In 2005 , she was voted the UK ' s favourite soap character of all time in a " TV Times " poll . However , she has never returned to the show proper , despite numerous invitations . Writer John Stevenson : " They ' ve asked her to come back many times but she won ' t , and it ' s too late now . " " ( 50 Years ) " On her reasons for staying away , Alexander : " It ' d be a complete mistake to go back . And Hilda would be a different person now because she has achieved the status she ' d wanted all her life - to be the doctor ' s housekeeper and have her own apartment in his house . She ' d have smartened herself up no end . " " ( Fifty Years ) " On her character ' s enduring appeal : " Hilda would have loved that and I am honoured people still remember her so fondly . I suppose the viewers recognised the type , and on location on the backstreets of Manchester , I ' ve happened upon a few Hildas myself who could ' ve come straight off the Coronation Street set . " " ( Fifty Years ) " Quotes . " Hey Stan look , we ' ve got two taps " ( First line ) " Drop dead Stan . And then get up and do it again ! " " I ' ve come in here more times than I care to remember . Cold . Wet . Tired out . Not a penny in me purse . And seeing them ducks and that muriel . . . well they ' ve kept me hand away from gas tap . And that ' s a fact . " " Woman , Stanley . Woman ! " ( To husband Stan Ogden when he enquires what her lipstick tastes of ) " He ' d skin a flea and then sell it in a vest , would Alf Roberts ! " " Oh , they are . She lived with him at No . 3 , you know , for quite some time . " ( Final line , to Alec Gilroy about Bet and Mike Baldwin )