Fans’ chance to own items belonging to Coronation Street star Jean Alexander as collection goes under the hammer

It’s almost 30 years since Hilda Ogden left Coronation Street, yet she’s still one of the ITV soap’s best remembered and most popular characters. Her last appearance on Corrie on Christmas Day in 1987 was watched by an estimated 27 million people.

The actress who brought her to life, Jean Alexander, died in October, just three days after her 90th birthday. Now her worldly possessions – including some of Hilda’s – are going up for sale.

Carlisle auctioneers Thomson Roddick will be selling goods from Jean’s estate in an auction on Wednesday, May 17.

The sale is so big that it needs a large venue – the Royal Clifton Hotel in Jean’s home town of Southport. But buyers don’t have to travel there as bids can be made via the internet.

And they won’t have to go there to collect purchases either as they can be sent up to the Thomson Roddick offices in Dumfries.

There are no guide prices for any of the items in the sale and auctioneer Steven Parkinson expects “massive interest” in it. “We are anticipating bids from around the globe,” he says.

“We appear to be a popular choice when celebrities and important people have items to sell, with our last one being Clarissa Dickson Wright.

“This was a crazy sale with people ringing up giving us an amount of money and instructing us just to buy them something.

“I remember the kitchen dustbin selling for over £80. People connect with their on-screen heroes and would like a memento of them to own.”

The sale will include the famous curlers, headscarf and pinafore but Steven warns: “There are no flying ducks. They were Hilda’s, not Jean’s.”


Jean Alexander as Hilda Ogden Jean played Hilda Ogden for 23 years, from 1964 to 1987, but appeared in numerous other TV series and films. She played Christine Keeler’s mother in Scandal, the 1989 movie about the Profumo affair and is also remembered as the money-grabbing junk shop owner Auntie Wainwright in BBC TV’s Last of the Summer Wine.

“Jean was a wonderful actress, held dear in the hearts of millions, so we can expect a big turnout.”

Jean’s niece, Sonia Hearld, one of the main beneficiaries of her estate, explains: “We have chosen our personal favourites which hold special memories of Jean and we thought we would give her fans an opportunity of a treasured memento of Hilda.”

So there are all her TV awards, including a 1987 Bafta for Best Actress, but she says: “My favourite item will be a plastic bag I found in a drawer with a label written in Jean’s handwriting saying ‘Hilda’s curlers, headscarf and pinny’.

“And inside they are in excellent condition. She had kept them because they were her mother’s.”

Jewellery, ornaments and figurines, books and photos will all be included. Some of the highlights include Jean’s mink coat, a large teddy bear, Ambrose, bought for her fourth birthday and a reproduction walnut and mahogany bracket clock with silver and brass dial, made in Germany.

There are a metal pair of the Greek theatre masks, comedy and tragedy, a colour print entitled Four Women of the Rover’s Return, a montage glossy print of Hilda with the flying ducks and an assemblage of mantelpiece items.

There is also a rectangular poster of a cat’s face signed by the Coronation Street cast when Jean left the programme, a glass presentation award marking the 250th episode of Last of the Summer Wine , and a gold chain with the four individual letters spelling “Jean”.

A presentation brick from the original Rover’s Return and a collection of poetry signed by former poet laureate and huge fan John Betjeman are other items expected to attract attention.

Jean left bequests to a number of charities and a percentage of the proceeds will go to them.

The auction can be followed at www.thomsonroddick.com though anyone wishing to bid needs to register the day before.

The Thomson Roddick auction in Dumfries can be contacted on 01387 721635.