List of Coronation Street characters (1979)

Bert Tilsley

Herbert Harrison "Bert" Tilsley was played by Peter Dudley. He was the first husband of Ivy Brennan and the father of Brian Tilsley. Prior to his debut in 1979, Ivy had referred to her husband as 'Jack' and mentioned that they were childless. During his final months on Coronation Street in 1983, Bert had been left partially disabled after being in an accident in Brian's garage involving a tyre compressor unit. This was because actor Peter Dudley had suffered a stroke in real life but wanted to continue to appear in the series and so the garage accident was devised to explain his condition. Bert's last appearance was in July 1983, and he died (offscreen) in January 1984 of a heart attack while in a psychiatric hospital, following a nervous breakdown. Actor Peter Dudley died in October 1983 (three months before the character's offscreen death) after suffering a further stroke and multiple heart attacks.

Bert's catchphrase, uttered 3 or 4 times an episode was 'You know what I mean?', this disappeared from his vocabulary after his stroke.