Coronation Street is entertainment the British people can't do without - Anthony Clavane

Elsie and Ena, Stan and Hilda, Vera and Jack, Deirdre and Ken, Rita and Norris, Hayley and Roy, Sunita and Dev, Tracy and Steve; all will be immortalised in a fitting tribute to Britain’s, possibly the world’s, longest-running TV serial.

Yes, the most famous street in the north of England will be 60 years old in December. This is how long Corrie has been part of the nation’s cultural landscape. It is embedded into our collective consciousness. Apart from going off air during a brief period of industrial action in 1979, the ITV soap has never been absent from our screens.

Until now, perhaps. Just as its diamond anniversary looms, the lockdown has forced the Rovers Return to reluctantly close its doors. Filming at Coronation Street has been suspended and they are running out of pre-recorded episodes.

The fictional folk of Weatherfield have made me laugh (and, at times, cry) ever since I first heard the mournful theme tune back in the kitchen-sink 60s. A world without Corrie would be unimaginable.

Which is why the prime minister – not, one would presume, a natural devotee of the show – hopes to give the producers the green light to resume filming. On the condition, of course, that

staff comply with social distancing.

Boris Johnson – a leader who, if nothing else, is plugged into the entertainment zeitgeist – understands all too well how a much-loved soap, just as much as a much-loved football team, can act as a boost to public morale during the pandemic.

The two faces I am most looking forward to seeing when an envelope pops through my letterbox next month are those belonging to Pat Phoenix and Violet Carson. Elsie Tanner and Ena Sharples remain the most iconic Corrie characters of all time.

Elsie, in particular, epitomised from the start the show’s commitment to the empowerment of women. In the first episode she looked into a mirror and scowled: “Ay, Elsie, you’re just about ready for the knacker’s yard.”

This is just one of the reasons why it would be a tragedy if the legendary show ended up, thanks to Covid-19, in the knacker’s yard.

I have been watching a lot of TV shows during the lockdown. Killing Eve, Fleabag, Normal People, Black Mirror, Money Heist, Damages. To name but six. And they have all been hailed for their innovatory showcasing of a wide range of strong female voices. This is all very true – apart from the innovatory bit.

For it was Elsie and Ena, back in the day, who were the innovators. Along with Annie Walker, Hilda Ogden, Bet Lynch, Deidre Rashid, Vera Duckworth, Audrey Roberts, Rita Tanner and the rest.

The quote from the brilliant Money Heist which has most stuck with me is: “Empieza el matriarcado”. Translated from the Spanish it means, more or less: “Let the matriarchy begin.”

I’m sorry, but the matriarchy began when the feisty, gritty, confrontational, beautiful, tempestuous Tanner first scowled on our screens on December 9, 1960.

Corrie creator Tony Warren had a clear agenda from the get-go: to highlight the rich lives of the not-so-rich female characters who dominated his own childhood in the back-to-back terraces and cobbled streets of the post-war North.

“I grew up in a matriarchal society,” he once recalled. “All the men were at war and I was surrounded by strong women. I expected that, when the men came back, they would take over and bugles would sound at the end of the street and tom-toms would be beaten. It wasn’t a bit like that. The women just raised their voices to be heard and went on just as they had done before.”

Only The Archers can beat Corrie for longevity. I’m not sure any other series can beat it for influence.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor