Coronation Street in 1966 1966 was " Coronation Street " ' s seventh year . Production . The last two episodes from Howard Baker ' s run as producer were shown in January . Staff writer Peter Eckersley replaced him , and remained in the position until Episode 581 on 6th July . H . V . Kershaw produced the programme thereafter , in his fourth stint in the role . Under Eckersley , the Glad Tidings Mission Hall and Elliston ' s Raincoat Factory were revitalised . The factory - which had been ignored since 1963 - re - opened as a manufacturer of PVC hats and coats , with Lucille Hewitt and Irma Barlow securing jobs as welders . Julie Goodyear was cast as Bet Lynch , a colleague who had an affair with manager John Benjamin and gave Lucille a black eye . Goodyear appeared in nine episodes before returning to the role full - time in 1970 . The Mission ' s role was also expanded , with social worker Ruth Winter turning it into a community centre , setting her in opposition to Ena Sharples . By the time those storylines concluded , Eckersley had left as producer and both establishments reverted to their familiar roles . Eckersley also pushed to make storylines more dramatic . To that end , the first half of the year saw the attempted rape of Lucille Hewitt , Ken Barlow having an affair with Jackie Marsh , Ena Sharples being charged with shoplifting , and Sheila Birtles having an illegitimate son . Eileen Mayers reprised Sheila for six months after leaving the programme in 1963 . Also on the casting front , Kenneth Cope had an eight - month stint as Jed Stone , and Anne Cunningham and Ernst Walder both returned for two months as Linda and Ivan Cheveski . Neville Buswell joined the cast as womanising builder Ray Langton in February , appearing in 14 episodes . Edward Evans left after a year as Lionel Petty ; David and Irma Barlow took over the Corner Shop at the beginning of the year . Emily Nugent was notably absent for most of the year , as Eileen Derbyshire left the series in February to go on maternity leave . Also , the characters of Elsie Tanner , Annie and Jack Walker were absent from 23rd March to 25th April as Patricia Phoenix , Doris Speed and Arthur Leslie went on a promotional tour of Australia with executive producer H . V . Kershaw . 1966 also contained the first contributions by long - term scriptwriters Susan Pleat and Leslie Duxbury . All 24 episodes of the second and final season of spin - off " Pardon the Expression " , starring Arthur Lowe as Leonard Swindley , were also transmitted that year . Viewing figures . Ratings fell for the second consecutive year . The average figure was 16 . 73 million viewers , the biggest drop year - on - year experienced by " Coronation Street " in its first two decades . All months except October and November fell from 1965 ' s figures , although October and November were almost three million viewers up on the previous year ( those months in 1965 contained episodes scheduled against the popular BBC One sitcom " Steptoe and Son " ) . The biggest drop - of 4 . 4 million viewers - was in July , which contained two episodes transmitted opposite World Cup matches on BBC One . The highest - rated episode of the year was Episode 613 on 26th October , which featured the disappearance of young Paul Cheveski . The audience figure for that episode was 9 . 05 million homes , or 19 . 91 million viewers . This was one of two episodes viewed in over nine million homes in 1966 , compared with 28 in 1965 . The lowest rated installments were the aforementioned July episodes which faced World Cup coverage . Both episodes scored 4 . 45 million homes . 22 episodes reached number one in the weekly viewing charts , a drop of 34 from 1965 . Who lives where . Coronation Street Mawdsley Street Others