He found work increasingly hard to come by in the following years and suffered a fatal stroke in 1971, just a few weeks after his final appearance on the show.

[2] Postman Frank has been described as the archetypal "hard-working northern man",[3] he dedicated his life to providing for his family.

His influences in life from that early age were men, and he depended on his superiors when his father Sidney died and Frank's mother Edna was taken ill soon after and spent time in a psychiatric unit, which prompted Frank to leave the Navy once his training was finished.

A few years later Frank was introduced to Ida Leathers, a friend of his sister Marjorie, and the pair quickly fell for each other.

Second son David (Alan Rothwell) had left the Street in the summer to begin a new career as a footballer, and in September, Frank's wife Ida (Noel Dyson) had died under the wheels of a bus.

Frank recovered from his disastrous relationship with Christine by quitting his job at the post office to open a DIY shop on Victoria Street.

He sold the shop and celebrated his farewell in the Rovers Return Inn, on the same night Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol) died.