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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/01/vera-duckworth-common-as-muck-coronation-street
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| Vera Duckworth was as common as muck – and what fun she had | Vera Duckworth was as common as muck – and what fun she had |
| (25 days later) | |
| It was sad to see that Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street, has died. I had the pleasure of meeting Dawn with her on-screen husband, Jack (the late Bill Tarmey) at the Corrie set and they were both good humoured and warm, exactly as you’d imagine. | It was sad to see that Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street, has died. I had the pleasure of meeting Dawn with her on-screen husband, Jack (the late Bill Tarmey) at the Corrie set and they were both good humoured and warm, exactly as you’d imagine. |
| Our soaps can be much underrated, yet when done right, they celebrate a slice of British life and people that would otherwise be lost. But the magic can’t happen without the right casting. | Our soaps can be much underrated, yet when done right, they celebrate a slice of British life and people that would otherwise be lost. But the magic can’t happen without the right casting. |
| As Vera, Dawn brilliantly encapsulated a type that was both quintessentially northern and working class – salt of the earth and common as muck with it. And I mean “common as muck” entirely positively, in a way that reclaims the phrase. | As Vera, Dawn brilliantly encapsulated a type that was both quintessentially northern and working class – salt of the earth and common as muck with it. And I mean “common as muck” entirely positively, in a way that reclaims the phrase. |
| It was Dawn’s gift for encapsulating this “fag in the gob, tights drying on the radiator” prole warrior spirit that made her such a popular Corrie character, and, since her retirement, a much-missed one. Part of the reason that Vera and Jack endured was because they told the truth, the big dirty secret, about being common as muck – it’s loads of fun. | It was Dawn’s gift for encapsulating this “fag in the gob, tights drying on the radiator” prole warrior spirit that made her such a popular Corrie character, and, since her retirement, a much-missed one. Part of the reason that Vera and Jack endured was because they told the truth, the big dirty secret, about being common as muck – it’s loads of fun. |
| Indeed, it’s beautifully drawn, deceptively nuanced characters such as Vera Duckworth who give the working classes their cultural rocket fuel. RIP, Liz Dawn. | Indeed, it’s beautifully drawn, deceptively nuanced characters such as Vera Duckworth who give the working classes their cultural rocket fuel. RIP, Liz Dawn. |