By December Norris had separated from and divorced Angela alongside his position at Hawthornes and was using his skills as a sales rep to sell ' Guarana ' chewing gum, a come down from his previous job. One of his potential clients was the familiar face of Rita Sullivan who ran The Kabin newsagent. When Rita was suddenly left shorthanded, Norris persuaded her to take him on as a temporary assistant. Norris quickly made his mark on the Kabin and encouraged Rita to open a sub-post office.
Rita put Norris up for the night but ruled out the idea of him moving in permanently. Emily Bishop did offer him a room at No. Emily and Norris quickly stuck up a friendship although Emily often found Norris too interfering and overprotective of her.
Norris became an unlikely midwife in December when he helped deliver Curly and Emma Watts' baby. Norris was first on hand as Emma began having contractions while he was complaining to her about bin collection in the ginnel. Curly and Emma gave the baby Norris's middle name Benjamin and later asked him to be one of the godparents.
One night Ben was continually crying and Norris managed to put him to sleep by singing songs to him. Norris kept having to go over to sing to baby Ben until Curly decided to record Norris's singing on a cassette tape.
In , wanting money to invest in a business venture of Spider's, Emily sold the house in an equity release scheme to Kellet Holdings , the company of neighbour and financial advisor Richard Hillman. Norris was suspicious of Richard's intentions and advised Emily against the scheme but she dismissed his warnings. Norris remained wary of Richard especially after he caught him trying to administer some pills to Emily and believed Richard wanted to kill Emily to get the money from her house.
Although most regarded Norris to be making wild accusations, he urged Rita not to invest with Richard and succeeded in making the Duckworths question their own investment which caused a headache for Richard. Angered by Norris's interference, Richard forced him into his car and drove him to his property development, The Ridings , where he intimidated Norris and warned him to keep his nose out of his affairs.
Although scared by this encounter, Norris remained concerned for Emily's safety and kept a watchful eye on Richard from afar. In January , Emily was attacked while babysitting for the Peacocks and left in a coma. Maxine Peacock was also attacked and bludgeoned to death and Norris stumbled on the scene and Maxine's distraught husband Ashley after being concerned that Emily was late returning from the Peacocks. Norris was overjoyed when Emily survived and began to recover from the attack but soon became convinced that Richard was behind the attack and not Aidan Critchley who had been arrested for it.
Most of the street believed Aidan to be guilty and the accusations against Richard to be preposterous and Norris's only allies were Audrey Roberts and Archie Shuttleworth. Emily was incensed at what she saw as Norris exploiting the tragedy to serve his vendetta against Richard and threw him out of the house, forcing him to lodge at No.
This was far from comfortable for Norris as he was left to shoulder all of the responsibility when it came to housework and had to put up with Les calling him "Doris". As soon as he believed Emily would take him back, he relished in telling Les what he really thought of his house but was forced to grovel to Les to allow him back when it turned out to be a misunderstanding. Nevertheless, Norris didn't have to stay with Les and Kirk for much longer as Emily secretly missed him and invited him back on the condition he cease the rumours about Richard completely.
Shortly afterwards however, it transpired Norris had been correct all along after Richard confessed his crimes to wife Gail in February and then drowned while trying to kill her and her family in March. In May , Norris and Emily found themselves disturbed by the noise of Chesney Brown 's new dog Schmeichel who had moved in next door and Norris was even more concerned when he discovered that young Chesney had been truanting from school.
Norris informed Les who was looking after Chesney since his mother had gone AWOL, but when Chesney continued to truant Norris warned Les that he would consider contacting social services, arguing that Chesney's education was important enough to warrant the intervention.
Les was less than grateful for this interference and when social services did become involved, he blamed Norris who pleaded his innocence. In June , Norris became convinced that the stockroom of the Kabin was haunted, sensing a strange presence in there when he came in to do the papers on a morning and after hearing about the death of Vera Lomax , on the site where the stockroom now stood, from Emily he became convinced this was the source of the 'haunting'.
Enlisting the help of Rita, Blanche and Betty , Norris decided to conduct a seance and everybody was unnerved when the lights flickered and a box fell off the top shelf in the stockroom.
The theory was soon rubbished when it turned out the real cause was damp. The following September , Norris became acquainted with Rula Romanoff , an old friend of Rita's from her days on the club circuit who called into the Kabin to visit her and later invited both her and Norris to dinner.
Norris was immediately taken with Rula and reckoned she fancied him too, so was disappointed to be introduced to her husband Bernie. Nevertheless, the dinner party at the Romanoff's country house was a success but after retiring to bed, Norris got the shock of his life when Rula entered his room and climbed on top of him.
When Rita burst in having had a similar encounter with Bernie, the pair realised they were at a swinger's party and made a swift exit, swearing to never speak of the incident again. In January Norris formed a local Book Club along with Rita, Emily, Blanche, Audrey, Ken and Roy and was eager to suggest Hard Grinding by Mel Hutchwright as the first book, one he had already begun reading himself and was a great fan of, describing it as "masterly".
Although other members of the group, particularly Ken, were far more critical of the book, Norris and Blanche were in awe when the author himself turned up to a meeting of the book group in May after responding to a letter from Blanche. Mel claimed that being in Weatherfield had helped cure his writer's block and so Norris offered him a place to stay at No. In the nick of time however, Ken exposed Mel as Lionel Hipkis, a fraudster who had a track record of scamming book clubs like theirs to fund a book publication that never appeared.
Horrified at being duped, Norris and the rest of the group sent Mel packing. In February , Norris and Rita traded places with Norris moving into Rita's flat to allow Rita to stay with Emily following the traumatic reveal that Emily's friend Ed Jackson was the killer of her husband Ernest.
Initially pleased at the idea of having Rita's flat to himself, Norris soon found himself lonely and made excuses to visit No. Normality was resumed when Norris and Rita swapped back in May , Emily's problems with Ed having been resolved. Around the same time Norris joined an internet dating website , but didn't have much luck; one disastrous date was a lady with a squint.
Another with a woman named Helen was interrupted when they returned to the flat only to be disturbed by Rita who was hiding in a cupboard, having been slyly checking out the adjustments Norris had made to the flat while he was out. In September , after discovering that his ex-wife Angela had died, Norris made two proposals, firstly to Rita who respectfully turned him down and then to Doreen Fenwick , although he withdrew his proposal to Doreen before receiving a response.
In May , Norris and the Kabin were attacked by a gang of teenagers lead by Kenzie Judd , leaving him shaken and prompted him to install CCTV as an increased security measure at the newsagents. In October, he was joined by a new assistant in Tina McIntyre. Ever the competition addict, Norris came face to face with Mary Taylor who had beaten him on several occasions in November.
Mary invited Norris to a Cliff Richard concert she had won tickets to. Together, Mary and Norris won a motorhome in January and Mary wanted to travel with Norris in it around the world. Norris, feeling pushed out of the Kabin because Rita had become close to Colin Grimshaw , decided he might as well. But when Colin Grimshaw was disgraced and then died, Norris used this as an excuse not to leave town because he felt Rita needed him and Mary left on her own.
On the same day that Mary set off to travel the world, Norris was thrown back by the return of his half-brother. Turning up for the first time in nearly fifty years, Ramsay informed Norris that he wanted to catch up with him, but Norris rebuffed him, accusing him of having blood on his hands for what he had done to their mother. Much to Norris's annoyance, Ramsay became popular with the neighbours and especially formed a close bond with Emily.
The only other person that was annoyed by Ramsay's do-gooder nature was Emily's niece Freda Burgess , especially after he tried to impress her with badly done sign language. Two months following his return, Ramsay took Norris to look around a flat at the Victoria Court apartment block and made clear that he was going to stay in Weatherfield and not return to Australia.
This angered Norris to the core, and he wasn't best pleased that Emily was in on the plan also. Norris gave Ramsay an ultimatum - that either he left or Norris himself would move away. Not wanting Norris to leave his friends on his account, Ramsay finally gave in and decided to leave. He bid Norris and Emily farewell and departed by taxi for the airport.
A few days later, Norris was shocked when a police came to the door and informed him that Ramsay had died on route to Australia.
He was further shaken when it was revealed that Ramsay had a brain tumour all this time, and specifically returned to make amends with Norris before passing on. An angry Emily lashed out at Norris for his treatment of Ramsay, which caused a distressed Norris to leave the house and visit his mother's grave, where he broke down in tears. Using the inheritance that Ramsay left him, Norris bought the Kabin from Rita. In November , Freda made another return visit and began joining Norris in on his competition hobby, which resulted in the pair of them winning a cash prize.
The prize was split, which Freda put towards a flat in Edinburgh. Around this time, Mary made a surprise return having been away for over six months, although she was convinced that Freda was Norris' new fancy woman.
Much to her relief, Norris informed Mary that he and Freda were just friends and that she was helping him to win a competition. In May , Norris joined Mary on a holiday to the countryside. Much to his horror, Mary appeared to show some sort of mental instability and delusions. Spooked, Norris attempted to flee the scene to a nearby phone box with Mary in pursuit in her camper van, only to fall down a ditch and sprain his ankle.
Mary took Norris back to the cottage in which she planned to nurse him back to full health. Norris continued to be paranoid under Mary's care, especially after he believed she was plotting to poison him.
And despite Mary claiming that she had no phone to contact help, Norris overheard her speaking on the phone, which was apparently to her deceased mother. Having had enough, Norris called out Mary on her behaviour and managed to gain access to the phone to contact the authorities. The police arrived and Norris fled the scene, and Mary was subsequently taken into custody for questioning. She was later released without charge due to lack of evidence, as it turned out that her mother was still alive, and not murdered like Norris had suspected.
Despite the incident, Norris reconciled his friendship with Mary and put the incident behind him. When Emily pointed out how insensitive the new name was given Rita had established the business with first husband Len and almost lost everything in the crash, Norris apologised and changed the name back. In June , Emily fell from a ladder whilst washing her windows and sprained her ankle and Norris rallied to nurse her to recovery. Emily began to worry about her own mortality and Norris had his own concerns about what would happen to his room at No.
To solve his worries, Emily offered to transfer ownership of the house to Norris. When Emily returned to the United Kingdom in January to help take care of Freda in Edinburgh, Norris went to visit them and took an extended break. Three months later in May , Freda returned from Edinburgh with news that Norris was staying at a silent retreat in Shepton Mallet. She also broke bigger news to Mary that he intended to sell the house and start a new life.
Later in the day, Freda placed a large urn beside a picture of Norris but later revealed that it contained the ashes of her service dog. Hysterical, thinking that Norris was dead, Mary ran out into the street branding Freda a murderer, only for Norris to arrive in the back of a black cab leaving her speechless. Upon his return, Norris hurt Mary's feelings by asking for a divorce so he could marry Freda, and later when several unopened letters were uncovered that had been hidden by Norris, addressed to Mary from Brendan Finch who was asking for her hand in marriage.
In June , No. After agreeing to a divorce and making amends, Mary organised a party in the Rovers , with Norris and Freda leaving for Edinburgh later that day. As the taxi drove away, Norris reminisced about his time on the street and said he would miss it and the people on it. Norris made a brief return in October for Ken's 80th birthday, showing up to join in the celebrations and leaving Ken thrilled. Two months later, Norris returned to Weatherfield to view properties in town with Freda, visiting Rita briefly on the way.
In February Norris and Freda moved into Stillwaters retirement home, and in March crossed paths with Ken as he moved there with his partner Claudia Colby. In September Norris suspected that Claudia was having an affair with another Stillwaters resident Charles Moore and spied on them through a window. He suffered a stroke shortly afterwards, and by the time his friends had arrived at the hospital Freda informed them that Norris had passed away.
Despite the devastation they felt over his death, they still managed to find amusement that he spent his last moments doing what he loved: being nosy. An eccentric man, Norris had a reputation for being a gossip and a busybody. The news leaves Ken and Rita crestfallen as their delay meant that they were unable to see Norris one last time before his death after 27 years on the soap.
No, Norris actor Malcolm Hebden has not passed away but his health was actually linked to his departure from Coronation Street last year. Since the near-fatal incident, Malcolm returned to the Coronation Street cobbles on several occasions but he eventually called time on his acting career in January His final on-screen appearance as fan-favourite Norris came on June 24th, after appearing in almost 1, episodes. Gonna miss your scathing one liners. ITV amazon. Watch Now.
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