Vera Duckworth, for all her faults, for all the tragedy and comedy and shattered dreams, was the heart of Coronation Street.
Coronation Street is more than the faintly-praised damnation of a “soap opera”, Vera Duckworth was more than a mere “character”, and Liz Dawn, who portrayed Vera on screen for 34 years and who has died, aged 77, was never just an actor.
Ten years ago, it was announced that Liz Dawn had asked to be written out of Coronation Street after being diagnosed, four years earlier, with emphysema.
Liz Dawn was Vera Duckworth, and that’s all there was to it.