Attributed to Nugent Hunt (by the "TV Times" of 21st December 1962) or Edgar Nugent (in Daran Little's "40 Years of Coronation Street" book) AKA struggling Preston playwright Norman Farrar, the Edwardian play presented by the Mission Hall Players, "Lady Lawson Loses", was actually written by series creator (and episode scripter) Tony Warren. The original plan had been to use a real play, but copyright reasons intervened.
"TV Times" ran a competition for ten lucky readers (plus partners) to visit the Granada set on Friday 4th January 1963, meet the cast, watch a studio recording and attend a party celebrating the show's second birthday. Entrants had to cast, from the précis of "Lady Lawson Loses" in the 30th November issue, which rôles would be filled by which Weatherfield regular: "A society drama of the pre-1914 era, set in the Belgrave Square home of Lydia, Doweger Duchess of Bannock. Lydia's son, Gerald, the seventh Duke of Bannock and the heir to the family fortune, is enamoured of Mrs. Gilda Montefiore, a mysterious house guest, masquerading under the name of Lady Lawson. Gerald's childhood sweetheart, the Lady Priscilla Dauntsey, is staying at the house in company with the other guests, Captain the Hon. Albert (Bertie) Fitzgerald, Mrs. Savage, the elderly Lady Rhona Philbeach and the Duke of Selina. In the background move the enigmatic figures of Manders, the elderly butler, and Nelly, the maid. The burning question is: will Lydia save her son from the clutches of Gilda Montefiore?"