Coronation Street 50th anniversary: Your memories

"What are your memories of the soap?"

50 years of tedium!

Jack and Vera were my favourites because they were the only characters really capable of generating humour and levity out of any of the TV soaps.

Team Duckworth really stood out from the usual crowd.

1. At 10:37am on 25 Sep 2010, Count Otto Black wrote:
"What are your memories of the soap?"
50 years of tedium!
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Yet, you still watched it for 50 years - a true fan!

I can remember my grandmother watching it in the days of Ena Sharples.

I have never understood the attraction.

I remember that first episode. Story lines in those days were more about the archetypal "Northerner" than would be considered acceptable today. There was however an innocence, Corrie was a mythical time and place where neighbours tended to be good neighbours, and every street had its own identity. Stories such as Florrie Lyndley sneaking out to play bingo were the main thread of several episodes. Romances tended to be kissing and cuddling in public places like the Rovers. Contrast it with todays Corrie, which I gave up regular viewing of some years ago. Now we are treated to murder and domestic violence, insolence and disrespect from youngsters, and a speedy churn of characters, perhaps to alleviate the jaded viewer.
Yes, I know its more realistic, but if I want realism, I don't need to watch telly!

OMG, this is the wrong HYS! I would have thought that the amount of overlap between the audiences for Coronation Street and HYS is negligible? Most respondents, like myself, will be talking about how they have managed to avoid it for 50 years.

When it comes to soaps, I paraphrase Marvin the paranoid android: "What do you want soaps for? There's enough real life already without making more of it up".

Alan T

I lost interest when the innocent mundane realism was sacrificed with the need to write more headline grabbing story lines to chase ratings. That was a long, long, long, long time ago. Have not followed the program for years.

never managed to watch more than five minutes without turning the TV off - who on earth watches this stuff?

Lol this hys is on a topic of international importance. I call for a national holiday and Cameron must address the UN to get the world to listen!

As a child, I remember when 'Coro' started on TV. My Mother - along with millions of other Mothers - were 'hooked'. In all honesty, whenever I heard the 'opening' music of that programme, my stomach churned - and my father headed for our shed to find something USEFUL to do.

'Coro' was the START of the 'Soaps' and the end of sensible 'Family-life'...

8. At 11:53am on 25 Sep 2010, pruanne wrote:
never managed to watch more than five minutes without turning the TV off - who on earth watches this stuff?
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Can't your set receive any other channels?

6. At 11:33am on 25 Sep 2010, Alan T wrote:
OMG, this is the wrong HYS! I would have thought that the amount of overlap between the audiences for Coronation Street and HYS is negligible? Most respondents, like myself, will be talking about how they have managed to avoid it for 50 years.

When it comes to soaps, I paraphrase Marvin the paranoid android: "What do you want soaps for? There's enough real life already without making more of it up".

Alan T

Hear hear, well said,

I don't actually watch these 'soaps,' although I do remember watching a few episodes of Coronation Street, for some reason, in the late 70's. At the time there were some quite funny scriptwriting going on, and I still remember one episode where one character had a baby, and in the scene everyone was coo-ing over it, when, as the camera closed in on its face, someone said 'I wonder how he'll turn out when he grows up,' to which it faded from its face onto the end of a pint glass being downed by some pudding faced old man in the pub. A very funny scene!

I don't watch it but feel it is my God/Richard Dawkins given right to still comment about it on HYS.

Check out the number of actors then and now.

No wonder the soaps are going downhill. more actors and less time to reveal their character.
Obviously now within the disguise of more broadcasting hours, the producers will say they develop the characters more than ever.

But with so many coming and going these days,that isn't true.

What's more, it seems to revolve around events rather than character plots.

Maybe producers think the viewer would get bored easier, otherwise.

Variety, in this case is not the spice, or boredom antitdote, of life.

My earliest recollection of it is watching it with my mother when i was about 8 yrs old ( 1961 ).

Ena Sharples, Minnie Caldwell, Albert Tatlock and Annie & Jack Walker amongst others. I stopped watching it in the late 1980`s.

Dipped in and out over 50 years and have consistently found it about as interesting as watching paint dry...

Good Lord, is this still on offer? Must be well past retirement age by now. Mind, I never saw it. The stomach churning opening music was quite enough to put me off.

At 1:34pm on 25 Sep 2010, Bacon_Banjo wrote:
Dipped in and out over 50 years and have consistently found it about as interesting as watching paint dry...

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Considering the quality of modern day paints, possibly not.

Commercial TV started the broadcasting race downhill from ‘educate and entertain’ to ‘sell’. The BBC then plummeted headlong after them to retain ratings.

Within that trend Coronation Street East Enders etc. bear a large responsibility for today’s down market society by advertising the worst traits across the TV watching public so that they become the next norm.

My mother watched it for a while in the days of Ena Sharples but after that it became depressing and we stopped watching. Nowadays it is unwatchable.

I was hoping I had the record of never having seen an episode of Coronation Street or Eastenders. But reading here I don't have a record and thank goodness for that.
Sometimes you watch something because you think everybody is watching and like a child's sucky blanket it gives a feeling of security, it's always there.
Time to move on Soapies, these programs are so ethnically dated, they no longer represent people in a country called Lann Don, nor up north int tut dales.

MMm not afan but they must be doing something right to maintain ratings for 50 Years in a show about people living on a street using a pub. Then when the BBC needed a soap format- Ive a great idea a group of people living around a square visiting a pub original the use of a square that is BBC. Plus 50 years of news stories in the papers about fictional characters a journalists dream

In those first years the standard of acting was far superior and it was my late mothers favourite programme.Im not a soap person but as a boy I remember that fearsome woman Ena Sharples(Violet Carson)holding court at the Rovers Return in the snug!Its makes me shudder thinking about it even now!

lets hope that the platt morons are under every thing,the canal dive did not do it, nows your chance itv,please,please

I'd rather watch paint dry.

There are far better things to do with the short life we all have than watch soaps. If everybody spent the 3 hours a week reading up on a real subject rather than watching this tripe we would all be ( insert something here, possibly rocket scientists ).

I thoroughly detest Coronation Street and its depressing theme tune, About time it was axed !!!!

Albert Tatlock.

Coronation Street and EastEnders are two of the most depressing programmes on television. Both are long well past their sell by dates. Personally, I'd sooner watch bacteria growing in a petri dish, grass grow or paint dry.

Crossroads was no better and thank goodness that's gone, too.

I have nothing but pleasant memories of Coronation street. Every time it was being broadcast, I was doing something far more pleasant than watching that drivel.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Always amazes me how many people comment on things they aren't interested in.

Never understood the appeal of any soap opera... I mean, what's the point? Are people cheered up by seeing others with bigger problems than them? Is there a morbid fascination with watching moronic chavs live out their squalid little lives? Thankfully, I have a life of my own, and don't need to watcg this depressing rubbish... the best thing ITV could do is make sure the train is carrying nuclear fuel, and the whole town gets nuked....

The usual HYS ranters thinking their opinion of something they have never watched is of interest to other mere mortals. Coronation St is relevant, well written, occasionally well acted, very funny and consistently worth watching. Drivel? Now you want to start a debate on what is real drivel on TV?

Not a programme I've ever followed so I haven't seen it in over thirty years. Back in the 70's mind when I was a real telly addict - being a child then there wasn't much else in the way of entertainment - I would watch it occasionally when major events happened, such as the death of a character who I think was called renee roberts. Why did I watch it? because I got caught up in the hype of it via stories in the papers. Such things were a national event in those days. Anything major on tv was.

But now in a world with so much else on offer in the way of entertainment the interest in these major events isn't quite the same. But I hope those who like the show enjoy it.

"
35. At 4:58pm on 25 Sep 2010, coolhandpaul wrote:

Always amazes me how many people comment on things they aren't interested in.
"

What's up chuck?

Who watches this tripe?

Coronation Street 50th anniversary: Your memories
Watched the first Episode as a Boy of Five..Fell asleep.
Whenever i have seen any soaps it all seems to be about people shouting and getting aggresive with each other.
That just about sums up my experience of Soaps.
"The opiate of the masses" as one person once said.
The rest of us get on with our lives and don't need our daily "fix"

It is known that a tram will crash onto the street, killing some characters and destroying buildings. But ITV is keen to stop further details leaking out.
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Enough already! But if Becky's amongst them I'll never tune in again!

30. At 3:42pm on 25 Sep 2010, Kuradi Vitukari wrote:

Albert Tatlock.
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I bet you are too young to remember Mr T! Now, Arthur Lowe as Mr Papadopoulous (Fans please correct my spelling) was the guv'ner. Essentially Corrie has far more likeable characters than the violent and obnoxious Eastenders. Phil Mitchell aside.

Great, when i was about ten , with Ena Sharples and Elsie Tanner etc. but what's the point of watching people in a pub on TV when i can be in a real pub myself , listening to funnier real life banter!! 'The play mirrors life'... yeah, well , and....??

The morals on the street went downhill once Ena died.

My best memory is the cat.

43. At 6:50pm on 25 Sep 2010, Winkernet wrote:

30. At 3:42pm on 25 Sep 2010, Kuradi Vitukari wrote:

Albert Tatlock.
-------------------------------------------------------
I bet you are too young to remember Mr T! Now, Arthur Lowe as Mr Papadopoulous (Fans please correct my spelling) was the guv'ner. Essentially Corrie has far more likeable characters than the violent and obnoxious Eastenders. Phil Mitchell aside.

If memory serves, Arthur Lowe played the manager of the drapers (can't remember his stage name). His assistant was Emily Nugent (She proposed to him one Valentines Day!!). The shops owner, Mr Papadopoulos was (possibly) never seen?
As for Albert Tatlock, I do remember hating him!!
Nicer times!!

If memory serves, Arthur Lowe played the manager of the drapers (can't remember his stage name). His assistant was Emily Nugent (She proposed to him one Valentines Day!!). The shops owner, Mr Papadopoulos was (possibly) never seen?
As for Albert Tatlock, I do remember hating him!!
Nicer times!!
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Thank you UKcerberus, I walk in your shadow.

I remember staying in Manchester with my Aunt and Uncle and my Aunt getting all excited about a show that was going to be screened about the area. Well she made us all sit and watch this program about 'old' folk gossiping and talking absolute nonsence.........And that was that for me!
NEVER wasted my time watching a soap since.
It's a bit like a cement mixer running 24/7 churning out utter garbidge!
I have a LIFE!

.. we had the train crash on the viaduct forty years ago didn't we? Harry Hewitt died fixing his Dormobile... death , tragedy, yeah ... yawn.. at least four pages in the tabloids..mmmm...Jeez ...Just watch HBO's 'Eastbound and Down' instead ,and have a real laugh , cheer yourself up. A bit better lighting too !!

This kind of aggressive, nondescript, irrelevant rubbish can continue for another 50 years, and yet will still fail to produce one nanosecond of a moment which mattered to our lives.

51. At 9:25pm on 25 Sep 2010, Withnail Xtreme wrote:

This kind of aggressive, nondescript, irrelevant rubbish can continue for another 50 years, and yet will still fail to produce one nanosecond of a moment which mattered to our lives.
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Take it you are not currently enrolled on a media studies course?

I can remember my mother glued to the box watching Ena Sharples facial expressions when commentating on Elsie Tanners morals. My mother came from Newcastle under Lyme area so could understand the "up north" language being spoken. One of my sisters never misses an episode, even when on holiday in her Spanish apartment.

Coronation street, eastenders, emerdale all spread sensationalist story lines to excite and shock in the same way the redtop news papers do, playing to the lowest common denominator and base instincts to try and hook people in. This leads to varying degrees of social brainwashing and conditioning where families and viewers think the natural way of communicating is to shout, fight, and generally live in continual strife.
How much do these soaps reflect society and how much do they direct society.
If you ever complain about these soaps they defend them as attempting to reflect a full spectrum of society, in reality they are dangerously directing and encouraging social dysfunction, multiple continually changing partners, snide sarcasm, cattiness, rowing, as the norm, and regardless of how many claim it is just fiction, what you intake does have some influence over you even if its on a subconscious level to start with.
50 years and it still has that same miserable theme tune, I suppose most of britain have that ingrained into part of their psyche, to me it is a notification to leave the room or turn the TV off.

As chairman of the British Paint Drying Observers association I find the comparison to this televisual dross and what we do highly insulting.

You'll be hearing from my lawyer.

The best actor in the entire 50 years was probably Minnie Caldwells Cat.

Len Day wrote:

"I don't actually watch these 'soaps,' although I do remember watching a few episodes of Coronation Street, for some reason, in the late 70's. At the time there were some quite funny scriptwriting going on, and I still remember one episode where one character had a baby, and in the scene everyone was coo-ing over it, when, as the camera closed in on its face, someone said 'I wonder how he'll turn out when he grows up,' to which it faded from its face onto the end of a pint glass being downed by some pudding faced old man in the pub. A very funny scene!"

I was so "into" the Street that I can tell you the episode you refer to was in January 1981 - just after the birth of Nicky Tilsley. The death of Renee Roberts, also described as "70s" in this thread, was also in the 1980s.

I adored the show in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, but over the last twenty years I have found it far too violent. It used to be a show where the mundane ruled and humour was often present, but those days are long gone.

Coronation Street is not fifty years old in my opinion. The show I loved died years ago.

I never watched Coronation Street in England. Now that I live in Canada, I never miss it. My only complaint is the lack of realism - nobody ever swears!

The only bit of it I can remember is the theme music as I reached for the remote...

...'join the dots' tv, could do better! Get down to your local and have your own real live cat fight! Keep( real) pubs (and real people) alive.
More 'proper' drama on tv.... please.

Desiderius Erasmus wrote: Who watches this tripe?

It really doesn't say much about how fulfilled your life is when you have a burning desire to comment on a topic about "tripe".

Maybe an evening class would help?

The scripts dotted throughout the 1970s and 1980s by John Stevenson and Julian Roach were comedy writing that far surpassed most sitcoms. Most of Hilda Ogden's best lines came from these two men. Brilliant.
In comparison, and as with all soaps, now it's just mush to please empty-headed under-30s.

Bring back Ena Sharples!

I remember (As a youth) looking at Hilda Ogden's curlers and wondering: "Can you get Radio Luxembourg on that?

For years I preferred Eastenders - it was of a higher quality but around the time Ross Kemp left the scripts were awful and it was too bland. I stopped watching and turned back to Coronation Street. As a child I hated Coronation Street - it was BAD acting and boring scripts but in the last 15 years it's done a full circle and is now the best UK soap. I must just say I detest Hollyoaks - the most superficial soap ever.

I would love to get rid of the horrible Coronation Street theme tune though - listening to it feels worse than someone pushing needles under my fingernails !

It's amazing how much snobbery still exists about soap operas. Not many people admit to watching them yet they are always are amongst the most viewed shows ! Why do people have to lie ? If you like them, then enjoy them, it's no big deal !

I must say I do enjoy Coronation Street but I think there are way too many episodes and soaps (and reality TV) in general have taken over TV. They should go back to having two episodes of each soap per week. I can appreciate some people don't like them so there should be more variety on TV so we all get something we like. I hate football but it annoys me when my fellow soap fans complain about soaps being moved for football when we have soaps ALL year round. We have to let other people see what they want to see also.

What's wrong with commenting on something we don't watch? We're commenting on WHY we don't watch!

Why would I want to watch people's fictional lives, when I have a real life of my own? For that matter, why would I also want to other people's real lives, as in reality TV, either, when their lives aren't that different from my own?

I used to watch TV to either learn something, be informed about current events, or be entertained with escapism, three things that, as my own life isn't (sadly) as action-packed or as glamourous, as a James Bond film, are now catered for far better by the internet and books. I no longer even own a TV, due to the increase of TV programmes that only show how much worse my life could be, rather than how much better. TV had the potential to raise us as a society, to educate us, to show us how much better, both individually and as a society, we could be. And for about 20-25 years it did. But by pandering to the lowest common denominator it just dragged all of us down to their level. And we wonder why society has gone to hell in a handbasket!

I absolutely love watching Corrie, it is one of the best things on the TV and never disappoints with its storylines and cliff hangers.

I am very sad that there will be a lot of the current cast written out in the forthcoming tram crash this Christmas. I only hope that Liz McDonald is not one of them as she is my favourite. I love her like a sister and think she is one of the best soap actresses that we have on the telly. I also love Becky Grainger - always the underdog but look what she has achieved in such a short space of time. Reminding us all that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything you want to.

Congratulations Coronomation Street, you are by miles the best soap on the box today and have been ever since you started back in 1960.

I am only 47 but have always watched the Street since I can remember. I only hope that it will still be worth watching after the tram crash?

With love and best wishes,

From Elaine Roberts

The last time I watched a complete episode, it starred Violet Carson and Pat Pheonix.
I agree with a previous correspondent, Alan T, who questioned just how much interaction there might be between Corrie watchers and HYS participants.
On the whole, Radio Four listeners don't watch too many TV soaps, just as they don't buy The Sun.

Come friendly tram and fall on Coronation Street.

Couldn't care less. Never seen it, never will. Would rather go to the Dentist than watch such misery inducing drivel.

It came as a great shock to me that Ena Sharples was dead!

As that was the last time I watched this programme

ITV cancel an excellent long term drama like the Bill while continuing with this mind sapping soap combined with various D List celebrities cooking on Ice in the Jungle
No wonder they have problem with revenue.

BBC don't get smug you're no better and at least I am not paying for their drivel or inflated salaries!

I can remember my mother being addicted to it when I was still a school boy. As soon as it came on it was a signal to me to get my homework done. I didnt like it then and never, ever, watch it now.

I find that all soaps consist of characters who shout and scream at each other for illogical reasons, spend half their lives in a pub and are frequently violent. Hardly representative of the real world that it is supposed to mirror. Perhaps thats why I avoid them when ever I can.

If you lie it that's fine, but personally I cannot bring myself to watch any soap. It is such a waste of time - there are far many things that I do with my time that are more stimulating, but I do respect other people enjoying it.

However, where I do get completely fed up is when the media - the newspapers etc. - fill pages with the speculation about story lines and othe drivel about the soaps.

I saw the first episode in 1960 (I did not put it on myself, I was in a friend's house).

I could not bear the programme - I do not know how anyone could struggle through the first episode, let alone maintain an interest for 50 years.

Much worse than Vogon poetry. I can't even bear the miserable signature tune - it strangles my intestines.

Maybe I was born on a different planet (thank God).

I used to watch Coronation Steet when the characters were just that - characters!

There real humour and chemistry between the Ogdens, Annie Walker and Fred Gee, Albert Tatlock and Ena Sharples. The story lines weren't about "social issues" with stupid Christmas storylines. I blame the arrival of Eastenders for bringing the standard of series like Coronation Street down - it's such a shame that Granada felt the need to slavishly follow the BBC offering.

These days I avoid the soaps like the plague as they are all offer the same diet of miserable, issues driven drivel.

How can anyone watch this mindless drivel?

A soap opera for dreary lives, what soap operas are for.

A celebration of 50 years' of televising complete rubbish when they should be holding an wake to celebrate its demise!

Absolute and complete garbage from first to last, with 2nd rate television actors 'performing' 3rd rate scripts.

Thankfully, i can say with some pride that i do not have one memory of 50 years of "Corrie". never having watched an episode in all that time. So goes for other "soaps" too. There are so many other ways of living life and gaining pleasure, without wasting so much time on such programs!

I have never watched a single episode of this program. To be honest, I can't think of anything more pointless than watching soap operas.

Some people must have very empty lives. I really feel sorry for them.

I recall when I lived in Portsmounth, our GP changed his evening surgery after they changed the starting time of a soap. Idiot.

56. At 11:01pm on 25 Sep 2010, angry_of_garston wrote:
The best actor in the entire 50 years was probably Minnie Caldwells Cat.

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I can well believe it. Any cat would vastly improve the quality of the programme.

Minnie Caldwell's cat !? Not just any old cat...no , his name was Bobby ! Yeah , back to two episodes a week at most, 'free up' the airtime for more variety of programming! Bring back midnight 'closedowns' too; we can't afford to waste the electricity now. The gratuitous filling of airtime needs to stop and the money spent more wisely on less programmes but of better quality!

50 years of dreary old tat, who shall we kill for Christmas rubbish.

I would sooner amputate my right arm with a very blunt knife and without anesthetic than watch it.

My favourite person, is Kym Marsh.

As a child in the 60s and 70s being made to go up the Wooden hill as soon as the theme tune came on at 8pm.It was a real bummer during those once beautiful summers having to go to bed early for school in the morning.

I can remember getting a glimpse of Elsie Tanners ( Pat Phoenix ) suspender belt as she put on her stockings It made my day then and it still brings a smile to my face when I think of it

I'm not so pretentious, I'll admit that I watch Coronation Street often. When it's at its best, it's a very well-written drama, well-acted, with plenty of light comedy to balance out some of the more depressing or hard-hitting stuff. I do feel that the programme has lost its way in the 2000s, probably because there are so many episodes a week and because it feels it needs to emulate the likes of Eastenders when it comes to spectacular explosions and blockbusting storylines. To its credit, Coronation Street does very well with light humour, which Eastenders has never really been able to do all that convincingly. The 50th anniversary tram crash storyline sounds interesting, but unfortunately, is not all that original; Corrie did a train crash over the viaduct back in 1967 (before my time, I know...).

76. At 11:06am on 26 Sep 2010, Claire Herbert wrote:

How can anyone watch this mindless drivel?

...........................................................................

Well your participating in HYS, which is even more mindless drivel.

80. At 1:02pm on 26 Sep 2010, inchindown2 wrote:
I have never watched a single episode of this program. To be honest, I can't think of anything more pointless than watching soap operas.

Some people must have very empty lives. I really feel sorry for them.

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Some other people who also have empty lives spend there Sunday afternoons sat in front of computer screens stating that they think that some people have empty lives and some other people spend there Sunday afternoons sat in front of computer screens pointing out the irony of this failing to realise that this might indicate that they also have empty lives. I feel sorry for all of them.

83. At 3:15pm on 26 Sep 2010, Phil Davies wrote:

"I would sooner amputate my right arm with a very blunt knife and without anesthetic than watch it."

A bit over the top, n'est pas? You only have to ask, I have plenty of VERY sharp knives that you are most welcome to borrow!!!!

Knownought

50Yrs eh its about time for the last episode surely.

I rememebr the leadup to the first episode, they made it seem interesting. It wasn't. I never have got round to watching a second episode, maybe in another 20 years or so??

Shouldn't we have rid of this drivel years ago, or at least sent it to satellite TV out of harm's way?

I had gone into the kitchen and when I came back Ena Sharples was on, I can proudly say I changed the channel and have never watched it since! Or at least I was told it was Ena Sharples when I was at school the next day.

Ena Sharples, Minnie Caldwell and Albert Tatlock depicted the Coronation Street of its time with basically normal-but-boring dialogue reflecting daily life close to reality.

Present-day storylines are farcical and complete drivel, the scriptwriters desperately trying to outdo soaps on competing channels. At the present rate, it won't be long before a mass murderer wreaks havoc in the street to boost ratings, and with any luck he just might kill off the entire cast.

Yes my memories are as soon as the theme tune " Up the smokey north" came on to hit the off switch.

CORONATION STREET CROSSROADS EASTENDERS THE NEWCOMERS MARKET IN HONEY SQUARE.. ALL SAD DRIVEL

Ena Sharples and Arthur Gabriel should have married.....is my memory thought

Most people on this HYS seem to despise people who watch Coronation Street....Lets have a question for people who ridicule/despise Coronation Street . Whoops, let it be asked in the future as the web is not big enough yet.

Whats wrong in people watching it or listening to the Archers. We are a democracy.....its really not worth reading the HYS comments...KEEP IT GOING AS ITS AN INSTITUTION FOR THE OLD INFIRM AND ILL PLUS THOSE THAT WANT TO WATCH IT....

The Duckworths, Reg Holdsworth & Fred Elliott were comedy gold. Thank you Granada.

The wonderful Maggie Jones as Blanche, and the rest of the Barlow clan at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Comedy gold.