Ena Sharples was one of the original characters of the long-running British soap opera, Coronation Street.

Ena, played by Violet Carson between 1960 and 1980, was the caretaker of the mission hall, and spent much of her time criticising the activities of the other inhabitants of the Street. She almost always wore a double-breasted coat and hairnet, and, with her two cronies, Martha Longhurst and Minnie Caldwell, would spend much of her free time in the Rover's Return drinking milk stout. For many years in the UK, the nickname "Ena Sharples" would be applied to a battleaxe.

Over the years, her friends left her one by one (Martha Longhurst died in the Snug of a heart attack, and Minnie Caldwell left to live in Whaley Bridge with Handel Gartside), until acquaintance Albert Tatlock was the only one left to keep her company. When Minnie left the Street in 1976, Albert and Ena got drunk in the Snug and reminisced about the good ol' days.

By the 1970s, the character mellowed considerably, so that by the time the actress left the programme the final time, Mrs Sharples was generally well-regarded and extremely popular with viewers. She was never actually "killed off", but was said to have gone to live with relations. When Ena left the programme in 1980, Violet Carson had already left many times for health reasons, so the producers and writers of Corrie expected her to come back eventually. When it became evident that she would not, her presence gradually left the Street. However, she is still occasionally mentioned in dialogue.

External link

Ena Sharples on lovemarks.com