Maggie Jones played Coronation Street's Blanche Hunt for more than 50 years, but it was 25 years after her debut that she became one of the show's iconic characters. The actress won several comedy awards for playing the mother of Deirdre Barlow, replacing Patricia Cutts, who was originally cast in the role before her death after two episodes in the ITV soap, now filmed in Salford.
Maggie insisted she did not find Blanche funny and could not play her properly if she did. She once said: "Blanche genuinely believes what she is saying is right and doesn’t say things for comedic effect. If I started trying to play the lines for laughs they wouldn’t come out right. Everyone knows someone like Blanche. We would all like to have the nerve to say the things she does."
A 52-year Corrie journey
Maggie made her debut as Blanche, a dressmaker who ran her own corsetry business from her Victoria Street home, 52 years ago, in August 1974, the same week Liz Dawn made her Corrie debut as Vera Duckworth. In 1976, Blanche sold up to concentrate on her new job as manageress of the Corner Shop. After a year in charge, she accepted an offer from her old flame, Dave Smith, to run his country club in Kenilworth and left Weatherfield, except for the occasional visit to Deirdre and family, including for the birth of her granddaughter, Tracy Barlow.
Following her Corrie exit, Maggie appeared in a number of TV shows, including The Barchester Chronicles, The Beiderbecke Tapes, Sharon and Elsie, We'll Think Of Something, The Nesbitts Are Coming and Lovely Couple. Other work across her five-decade career also included Z Cars, Heartbeat, Peak Practice and Dalziel and Pascoe.
A regular return and sharp-tongued fame
But after appearances in Corrie in 1977, 1978, 1981, 1996 and 1997, it was in 1999 that Maggie became a regular cast member, and it wasn't long before sharp-tongued Blanche became one of the Street's best-loved characters, famous for her biting one-liners. They included, to Deirdre: "You need to learn to enjoy other people’s misfortune; otherwise you’re going to have a very unhappy old age," and about Liz McDonald: "Skirt no bigger than a belt, too much eyeliner, and roots as dark as her soul!"
And who can also forget her visit to Weatherfield Alcoholics Anonymous to "give support" to her grandson, Peter Barlow, when one of the attendees spoke, before she asked: "Have you finished?" to which the man said: "Um, yes," before Blanche replied: "Well, I've never heard so much self-indulgent whinging in all me life."
Illness, death and tributes
But Maggie was forced to pull out of filming on the soap in October 2009 after being admitted to hospital for major surgery. The soap star, who trained at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and appeared in more than 830 episodes of Corrie, was written out of the show to allow her to recover from her illness.
But Maggie died in 2009 at Salford Royal Hospital, aged 75. A publicist for the show confirmed her death on December 2, 2009, and said in a statement at the time: "Maggie had been making a slow recovery, but her condition deteriorated early Wednesday morning, and she passed away peacefully in her sleep."
Long-standing Coronation Street star William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, led the tributes to his late colleague at the time. He said: "Maggie was a big part of the Barlow family and a brilliant actress. She was a tower of strength, physically frail but mentally strong as an ox and sharp as someone half her age. She had an amazing dry wit and was as funny, if not funnier, than Blanche." He added: "I don’t think Maggie ever realised how much she was loved not only by everyone on the show but by the millions of Blanche fans out there. She will be greatly missed."
Corrie producers then decided that Blanche would also die. In May 2010, Blanche's friend May Penn, played by June Whitfield, arrived from Portugal, where Blanche had been staying with her following her Weatherfield departure, to break the news of her death. At the same time as making a full-time Corrie return, Maggie was widowed after 28 years of marriage, when her husband, John Oliver Stansfield, died aged 72 in 1999.
