Helene Palmer

The actor Helene Palmer, donned a black wig and frumpy overalls in the television soap opera Coronation Street to play Ida Clough, one of a triumvirate of stroppy machinists who tested Mike Baldwin's patience at his denim garment factory in Weatherfield in the 1970s. With Ivy Tilsley and Vera Duckworth, Ida featured from 1978 until 1988 as a militant unionist at Baldwin's Casuals - in a decade when strikes and lockouts were the order of the day in the real world. The loudmouthed Ida challenged Ivy for the role of shop steward in 1980 but lost the election. She lost her job when, eight years later, she shopped Mike for drink-driving and he received a ban. At various times, Ida's children - the even louder Muriel (Angela Catherall) and the dopey van driver Bernard (Jeffrey Longmore) - worked at the factory. Palmer was written out after asking to leave, having reached the age of 60, with plans to retire. However, she returned in 1995 for Ivy's screen funeral and was persuaded to do anot