Summary:
Welcome to the Coronation Street guide at TV.com. Coronation Street is credited as being one of the longest running soaps in the world and the longest running television soap in Britain (with the longest running overall being The Archers on BBC radio). The show has been on British TV screens since 1960 and has aired over 6,000 episodes.
Coronation Street was created by Tony Warren, who drew on his own experiences living in Salford when developing the show for Granada Television in Manchester. The show's working title was Florizel Street. In a memo from Tony Warren to Granada, he explains the basis of the show: "A fascinating freemasonary, a volume of unwritten rules. These are the driving forces behind life in a working class street in the north of England. The purpose of Florizel Street is to examine a community of this nature, and to entertain."
The first episode of Coronation Street, written by Tony Warren and containing the first airing of the iconic theme music (composed by Eric Spear), was transmitted live at 7.00pm on Friday 9th December 1960 and was an instant success due to its eliment of "realism". The series began as a twice weekly serial (airing originally on Wednesdays and Fridays) and was initially only commissioned for twelve episodes but due to the series' success with the viewers it became a perminant fixture, soon changing its transmission days to Monday and Wednesdays. Almost 30 years later the number of episodes increased to three per week in 1989 (additional episode on Fridays) and then to four in 1996 (additional episode on Sundays). Recently that has increased again with a second episode being added on a Monday night at 8.30, leaving a half hour gap between the end of the first episode of the evening and the start of the second. Coronation Street, Corrie or The Street (however you know it) has been at the top of the ratings for most of it's long run and despite tough competition from new soaps and even new TV channels it remains the highest rated programme on British television. William Roache is now the only original cast member remaining - he's played Ken Barlow since episode one.
The Set: In early 1960, after Granada Television commissioned twelve episodes of Coronation Street, the set designer Denis Parkin was taken on a tour of Salford by series creator Tony Warren for inspiration on the set. The street's set was based on Archie Street in the Ordsall district, a film shot of which was used in the opening credits of...
Details
| Network: | ITV1 , ITV , ITV3 , INGTV |
|---|---|
| Genre(s): | Drama, Soap |
| Seasons: | 64, 63, 62, 55, 54, 53, 52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 |
| Cast | Credit |
|---|---|
| Matthew Crompton | Dan Mason |
| Samuel Aston | Chesney Battersby Brown (2003 - ) |
| Jane Danson | Leanne Battersby Tilsley (1997-2000; 2004-) |
| Andrew Whyment | Kirk Sutherland (2000- ) |
| Jimmi Harkishin | Dev Alahan (1999- ) |
| Maggie Jones | Blanche Hunt #2 (1974-1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1996, 1997, 1998- ) |
| Antony Cotton | Sean Tully (2004- ) |
| Samia Smith | Maria Sutherland Connor (2000- ) |
| Anne Kirkbride | Deirdre Hunt Langton Barlow Rachid Barlow (1972- ) |
| Sue Cleaver | Nurse Greene (1998); Eileen Grimshaw (2000- ) |
| Sue Nicholls | Audrey Potter Roberts (1979- ) |
| Sally Whittaker | Sally Seddon Webster (1986- ) |
| Beverley Callard | June Dewhurst (1984); Liz McDonald (1989 - 1998; 2000 - 2001; 2003; 2004 - ) |
| Vicky Entwistle | Janice Lee Battersby (1997- ) |
| Alan Halsall | Tyrone Dobbs (1998- ) |
| Michael Le Vell | Kevin Webster (1983- ) |
| Helen Flanagan | Rosie Webster #2 (2000- ) |
| Malcolm Hebden | Norris Cole (1994- 1997; 1999 - ) |
| Ryan Thomas | Jason Grimshaw (2000-) |
| William Roache | Ken Barlow (1960 - ) |
| Barbara Knox | Rita Littlewood Fairclough Sullivan (1972- ) |
| Simon Gregson | Steve McDonald (1989- ) |
| Eileen Derbyshire | Emily Nugent Bishop (1961- ) |
| Vicky Binns | Molly Compton (2005 - ) |
| Jennie McAlpine | Fiona 'Fiz' Brown (2000-) |
| Brooke Vincent | Sophie Webster #3 (2004-) |
| Tupele Dorgu | Kelly Crabtree (2004-) |
| Peter Armitage | Bill Webster (1984 - 1985, 1995 - 1997) |
| Nikki Patel | Amber Kalirai (2005 - ) |
| Kym Ryder | Michelle Connor (2006 - ) |
| Ben Thompson | Ryan Connor (2006 - ) |
| Gray O'Brien | Tony Gordon (2007 - ) |
| Graeme Hawley | John Stape |
| Katherine Kelly | Becky Granger |
| Jonathan Dixon | Darryl Morton |
| Kate Anthony | Pam Hobsworth |
| Philip McGinley | Tom Kerrigan |
| Michelle Keegan | Tina McIntyre |
| Karen Henthorn | Teresa Bryant |
| June Broughton | Barbara |
| Tony Broughton | Neville |
| Alison King | Carla Connor |
