We've reached August '98, and the start of Kieran Roberts' tenure as producer - which means that a fairly eventful month and a half lies ahead on ITV3...
Quite a lot happened in the last five months of '98 ... Eric Pollard's suicide attempt, the arrivals of Tricia Stokes and then Bernice Blackstock, the burning down of the Woolpack, Butch and Mandy Dingle's wedding, Vic Windsor's death on Christmas Day... all in addition, of course, to the theme tune and title sequence changes.
I still reckon that those last two changes mentioned were the biggest ones of '98 for a not inconsiderable number of people - on the basis that while the move from Esholt to Harewood *was* big *and* noticeable for many, it's not completely beyond possibility that some viewers didn't notice at all (my mother and stepfather don't seem to have noticed, anyway - and they watch classic 'Dale and classic Corrie almost religiously, *and* pass comment during the episodes more often than not).
On the other hand, I'd be pretty surprised if anyone failed to notice the new version of the theme tune and new title sequence. From fast-paced piano to slower-paced orchestra, and in a different key to boot - and from ground-level camera shots to helicopter ones with non-characters superimposed. These changes took place at a prominent time, too - at the start of the week on which Christmas Day fell (and, as I also mentioned up there, Christmas Day itself saw a dramatic development).
I could, of course, be talking sloblock.
