Emily Bishop | |||||||||||||||
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Coronation Street character | |||||||||||||||
Portrayed by | Eileen Derbyshire | ||||||||||||||
Duration | 1961–2016 | ||||||||||||||
First appearance | Episode 15 27 January 1961 |
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Last appearance | Episode 8808 1 January 2016 |
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Created by | Tony Warren | ||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Stuart Latham (1961) | ||||||||||||||
Spin-off appearances |
The Life and Loves of Elsie Tanner (1987) | ||||||||||||||
Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||
Profile | |||||||||||||||
Occupation | Shop assistant Café waitress Charity shop manager Hospital chaplain |
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Father | James Nugent |
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Mother | Agnes Nugent |
Brothers | Edgar Nugent |
Sisters |
Norah Seddon Brenda Nugent Joan Corrie Marjorie Nugent |
Husband |
Ernest Bishop (1972–1978) Arnold Swain (1980–1981) |
Nephews | Spider Nugent |
Nieces | Freda Burgess |
Emily Bishop (also Nugent, Swain and known and credited in the early days of the show as Miss Nugent) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by Eileen Derbyshire, the character is the longest-standing female character in the serial, having first appeared on-screen during an episode which aired on 27 January 1961. Derbyshire announced in November 2015 that she would be taking a break from the show, with her last scenes airing on 1 January 2016.
Emily Bishop first moved to Weatherfield in the late 1940s from Harrogate to work for Leonard Swindley at the Glad Tidings Mission Hall. A very quiet and Christian woman, she hardly knew anyone up on the street except Ena Sharples the caretaker of the Mission Hall and the owners of the Corner Shop (Elsie Lappin and then Florrie Lindley). She eventually meets the residents of the street following a gas leak in January 1961 which forced them to stay the night at the Mission Hall. After that she soon becomes friends with many of the residents and became a pillar of the community.
Swindley soon ventures out becoming manager of the Rosamand Street branch of Gamma Garments, a clothing chain with Emily as his head assistant, their relationship becomes stronger and they decide to get married, however Leonard's pompousness and arrogance forces her to jilt him at the altar. A very moral woman, Emily prides herself on saving herself for marriage, but her resolve is eventually weakened and she begins a relationship with a Hungarian man called Miklos Zadic (Paul Stassino). She later confides in her friend Valerie Barlow (Anne Reid) that she has no regrets about the encounter; Emily is, by that time, 39 years old and assumes it will be now or never. With Miklos out of the picture, Emily falls in love with mild-mannered Ernest Bishop (Stephen Hancock) after meeting him at his mother's funeral. Their courtship is tested many times over and lasts for three years. They get engaged. The next year, Ernest is jailed in Majorca and subsequently freed, and it is at this time that they get married, broadcast across the UK on Easter Monday.