Coronation Street at 60 – How it all began

It will celebrate its 60th anniversary in December, but at the beginning not even Granada TV, where its story began, was sure that Coronation Street would have legs.
By David Behrens
Published 26th Sep 2020, 06:00 BST
Some of the cast of the British television soap opera, 'Coronation Street' in the bar of the show's pub. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)Some of the cast of the British television soap opera, 'Coronation Street' in the bar of the show's pub. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)
Some of the cast of the British television soap opera, 'Coronation Street' in the bar of the show's pub. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

It was Tony Warren, a young writer disillusioned by having to turn out scripts about Biggles and other characters for whom he cared little, who had taken Granada the idea about a “real” Northern street. He was convinced it would fly more easily than Biggles ever had on TV, but no-one predicted it would become the world’s longest-running TV serial.

It became very big, very quickly, and within three months was being screened in every part of the country ITV’s signal could reach – a status it has never lost. And unlike many programmes of the period, almost all the 10,100 episodes remain in the archive.

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10th September 1970: English actress Violet Carson playing the part of Ena Sharples in Coronation Street. (Photo by John Madden/Keystone/Getty Images)10th September 1970: English actress Violet Carson playing the part of Ena Sharples in Coronation Street. (Photo by John Madden/Keystone/Getty Images)
10th September 1970: English actress Violet Carson playing the part of Ena Sharples in Coronation Street. (Photo by John Madden/Keystone/Getty Images)
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James Mitchinson

Related topics:BigglesYorkshireITVYorkshire Post

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