Coronation Street legend Eileen Derbyshire touched after fans' "outpouring of love"
The son of Coronation Street legend Eileen Derbyshire recently posted that he found some of his mother's old scripts and was planning to send some of them to a few lucky fans. Now, in a new update, he revealed his mother's delighted reaction to the "outpouring of love" that his post received.
Derbyshire, who played Emily Bishop between 1961 and 2016 (with a small appearance in 2019), is currently living in a home for retired actors, and son Oliver Holt has been clearing out her old house.
Earlier this month, he posted his giveaway on X and has now written a lengthy piece in The Mail about his mother, the house, and the response to his post from the fans.
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"I didn't want to do anything on a large scale that might upset ITV, which had always treated Mum with great respect," he wrote. "I didn't want to make any money out of the scripts. I just wanted to help Mum get rid of the regret she felt about not answering more of those letters [she received over the years]."
"I was inundated. It was beautiful to be inundated. 10 years after she left Coronation Street, it was a joy to be reminded there is still an awful lot of love for my mum out there," Holt continued.
"I got more than five replies. I got hundreds; some inquiring warmly after my mum, some containing lovely recollections from former cast members, some asking to take me up on the offer of a couple of pages of script and telling the story of their devotion, either to my mum in particular or the programme in general."
He revealed that fans told him what they were planning to do with their scripts, including framing them to become Christmas presents or gifting them to a dying parent.
The next time he visited Derbyshire in the care home, Holt took along photos of the Corrie cast, and he and his mum spoke about the show.
"Then I told Mum about the scripts and the outpouring of love for her, and a smile creased her face," he added.
"I told her about the people who said they were going to get their scripts framed and how much it had meant to them and how keen they were to send their best wishes to her."
Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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