 Coronation Street
1 9 6 0 - current (UK)
Millions x 30 minute episodes
The most successful soap opera in the history of
British television is set in a gloomy street in Weatherfield (a
fictitious town in the north of England).
The twice weekly (three times a week from 1989)
series of continuing stories in the lives of the working class
residents of Coronation Street, began in 1960 as a
thirteen episode series originally called Florizel Street by
the show's creator, Tony Warren.
The first episode was transmitted live at 7PM on
Friday 9 December, but was not nationally networked until the
following spring when the transmission days were changed from
Wednesdays and Fridays to Mondays and Wednesdays.
 With
the rise of interest in northern-based drama during the early 1960's
(due to the success of films like Saturday Night and Sunday
Morning) the earthy characters and gritty setting of Coronation
Street became an instant hit.
The original cast line-up included Violet Carson
as the acerbic Ena Sharples, Doris Speed as the matriarch of the Rovers
Return public house, Annie Walker; Arthur Leslie as her husband
Jack Walker, Pat Phoenix as Elsie Tanner, Margot Bryant as
Minnie Caldwell , Peter Adamson as Len Fairclough, William
Roache as Ken Barlow and Jack Howarth as the dour Albert Tatlock.
Violet Carson was 61 when she went for the part
of Ena. She thought it was just a one-off play and didn't bother much.
When the producer hinted that Ena might be difficult to play, she
retorted "Don't be ridiculous. I have lived with this woman all
my life. There is one in every street in the north of England".
 Later
came characters such as Bet Lynch, Betty Turpin, Eddie Yeats and Jean
Alexander's whining and cadging cleaning lady Hilda Ogden and her
hen-pecked, skiving husband, Stan.
Viewers followed Coronation Street in such
enormous numbers that when Elsie Tanner married US Army sergeant Steve
Tanner in 1967, over 20 million viewers were glued to the box - the
sort of audience only a royal wedding would normally command.
Harold Wilson gave the cast a sherry party at 10
Downing Street, and Jim Callaghan dubbed Pat Phoenix 'the sexiest
woman on TV'. Other famous fans ranged from Lord Olivier to Sir John
Betjeman, the Poet Laureate, who likened the series to Dickens's Pickwick
Papers and declared "At 7.30 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, I
am in heaven". And Russell Harty wrote "There was life
before Coronation Street - but it didn't add up to much".
Betjeman, Harty, Michael Parkinson and playwright Willis Hall later
formed the British League of Hilda Ogden.
In the 70s, the original line-up began to
disintegrate. Jack Walker disappeared when Arthur Leslie died suddenly
in 1970. Violet Carson, then in her 70s, took a whole year out to
rest. Anne Reid asked to leave the series in 1971, and her
character Valerie Barlow was duly electrocuted by a faulty hairdryer.
Neville Buswell (Ray Langton) asked to be released from his contract.
 In
1973, Pat Phoenix and Alan Browning left to join a 43 week theatre
tour. Graham Haberfield (Jerry Booth) died suddenly in 1975. Peter
Adamson (Len Fairclough) was suspended from the show for 3
months to sort out his problems with alcoholism. Ernie Bishop was
killed off with a shotgun blast in a wages robbery after actor Stephen
Hancock staged a one-man pay dispute.
The 1980s were littered with anniversaries, from
the 2000th episode and the 21st birthday, to a Silver Jubilee
champagne celebration and a visit from the Queen. But more famous
faces were disappearing. The death of Violet Carson, Jack Howarth,
Bernard Youens and Patricia Phoenix left William Roache (Ken Barlow)
as the sole survivor from episode 1.
 The
success of the 'Street' was in stark contrast to the fate of its
creator. Tony Warren fell out with Granada and turned to drink and
drugs. He snubbed the soap's 500th episode party and told reporters
that he had burned all his scripts and disowned the series, and said
it bore no relation to his original idea. Finally, after nearly dying
three times from alcohol, he stopped drinking completely. He made his
peace with Granada and became the show's consultant.
The program was finally toppled from its lofty
perch by BBCs EastEnders in 1985. The nosy, noisy cockneys beat
the cozy Northerners. But its audiences remain loyal. The series
has now crossed four decades and shows no sign of slowing down.
Although still immensely popular, the series was
undoubtedly at its peak in its first decade. Tony Warren agrees;
"Yes, the stories were harder and grittier then because life was
harder. Coronation Street didn't go soft - life did".
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