Blanche Hunt (also Linfield) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street.
[2] The character's "gallows humour" has been well received by critics, and saw Jones win The British Soap Award for "Best Comedy Performance" in 2005 and 2008.
After her affair with Dave Smith ends, Blanche returns to Weatherfield in January 1977 to help look after her newborn granddaughter Tracy (Christabel Finch), accompanied by Warwickshire vet, Steve Bassett (Dennis Chinnery).
In December 1993, Blanche has a stroke (off-screen) and Deirdre goes to stay with her to nurse her (a storyline devised to cover Anne Kirkbride's sick leave).
Blanche briefly returns to Weatherfield in 1996 when Tracy (now played by Dawn Acton) gets married and again in 1998 after Deirdre is sent to prison; following a wrongful conviction for fraud.
In 2002, Blanche has a new love interest, funeral director Archie Shuttleworth (Roy Hudd) but is unhappy when he makes friends with Audrey.
Blanche suspects they are having an affair but later discovers Audrey, a hairdresser, is working with Archie to dress dead bodies for viewings.
This falls flat when Tracy visits Wally's house and discovers that he's actually the gardener, posing as the owner and isn't rich at all.
Ken and Deirdre find out and disgusted with their daughter, decide to keep the news from Blanche (who is away visiting her sister) to avoid upsetting her.
When Tracy and Amy visit Peter (Chris Gascoyne) in Portsmouth, Blanche moves back in with Ken and Deirdre, renting out (and later selling) the house she purchased to Danny Baldwin (Bradley Walsh).
She resolves briefly to be nicer to everyone by performing acts of kindness around the neighbourhood, but quickly reverts to type; believing people should accept her for who she is.
Blanche is visibly upset when alcoholic Peter turns up drunk to Simon's nativity play and ruins the show.
Blanche often makes barbed references to the event, telling everyone at Peter's AA meeting that "Ken recently had an affair with an actress.
Blanche's tactlessness struck again later that year when Simon's maternal grandparents visited and after one too many drinks, she blurted out that Deirdre had been to prison, Ken had had numerous affairs, Peter was an alcoholic and his fiancée Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) was a former prostitute.
In the subsequent episodes, it was revealed that Blanche had unexpectedly been offered a free holiday in Portugal by her friend May Penn and would be spending Christmas abroad.
May (June Whitfield) later arrives and explains that the real reason Blanche had stayed in Portugal for so long is that she had fallen in love and become engaged to a man named Arnold.
Blanche leaves her dog Eccles to Ken, with a final barbed comment that he shouldn't take her for walks near canals and theatres ("where women of ill-repute may gather").
She also makes a dig at Ken's attempts to creative writing, leaving him her Maeve Binchy book collection and describing her as 'a proper writer'.
Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) is also invited to the reading but all Blanche has 'left' him is the chance to be the first to spread details of the will around the street, the only time he would get his hands on a piece of gossip before she did.
[4] Co-star William Roache stated: "I don't think Maggie ever realised how much she was loved not only by everyone on the show but by the millions of Blanche fans out there.
"[3] Tim Teeman of The Times appraised: "To many Coronation Street fans Blanche was a finer battleaxe than the legendary Ena Sharples (Violet Carson).
"[10] Low Culture columnist Ruth Deller praised the work of the late Maggie Jones by stating: "even from beyond the grave, she delivered one of Corrie’s best storylines, with the reading of her will providing some classic Blanche moments.