lillian spencer, an old friend of fred elliott's (john savident) arrives at the rovers return inn as the relief manager. lillian thinks the rovers is a come-down after having worked in the xanadu cocktail bar of the majestic hotel in cleethorpes and then the golf club, where mike baldwin (johnny briggs) plays. she soon asserts her authority by barring norris cole (malcolm hebden) for being rude about the state of the bar top and subsequently rita sullivan (barbara knox) who complains about her treatment of barmaid shelley unwin (sally lindsay).