Bernard Youens - Illness and Death

Illness and Death

Youens suffered a series of heart attacks in the 1970s. In 1975 he suffered a stroke which left him with a speech difficulty though speech therapy eradicated some of this. The writers brought in Geoffrey Hughes as a lodger for Stan and Hilda (Jean Alexander) to reduce Youens's dialogue and therefore Youens was able to retain his role.

His final ever on-screen Street appearance was on 7 March 1984, although it was thought at this stage that he would appear again. Having suffered most of his later life with severe arthritis in the neck and knees, Youens was taken into hospital in early April 1984 with the condition. He then suffered another stroke in May 1984. Youens subsequently contracted gangrene in his left leg in July, resulting in amputation. Bernard Youens died in his sleep on the afternoon of 27 August 1984. He was 69 years old.

The decision to kill off his character was made by ITV bosses soon after Youens died, and on 21 November 1984 it was revealed in the programme that Stan had died in hospital as a result of the character's gangrene.

Bernard married Edna Swallow, known as "Teddy", in Halifax on 21 September 1937.

They had two daughters and three sons. His children are Ann Sharples, Diana Kenyon, Peter Popley, Brian Popley and Michael Popley. His youngest son, Michael, was a film cameraman on many episodes of Coronation Street. His grandson, John, has followed in his footsteps and is highly successful in the entertainment business - with his comedy show 'Bitter and Twisted', which has won awards in the Canary Islands.

Edna outlived him by 17 years, dying in July 2001 at the age of 88.