Coronation Street

THE GREAT NORTHERN SEASON
The Road To Coronation Street

Thursday 16 September
9.00-10.15pm BBC FOUR

Jane Horrocks, Jessie Wallace, Celia Imrie, Lynda Baron and James Roache star in BBC Four's drama telling the story of how Coronation Street was born.

Granada Studios Manchester, 6.55 pm, on 9 December 1960. With minutes to go until the live transmission of episode one of Coronation Street, creator Tony Warren is being sick in the toilets, actress Pat Phoenix is missing ... and so is the cat from the opening shot.

The Road To Coronation Street tells the epic story of one man's struggle to make a programme that no one wanted. Granada's formidable bosses, Sidney Bernstein and his brother Cecil, are not enthusiastic. But together with producer Harry Elton and director Derek Bennett, Tony takes up the battle. He wants cobbles, a pub, seven houses and a shop but above all he wants northern actors.

Led by casting director Margaret Morris and her young assistant Josie Scott, the hunt begins for the legendary cast – Doris Speed, Pat Phoenix, Violet Carson and William Roache. Coronation Street is born.

Tony Warren is played by David Dawson, Sidney Bernstein by Stephen Berkoff, Cecil by Henry Goodman, Harry Elton by Christian McKay, Derek Bennett by Shaun Dooley, Margaret Morris by Jane Horrocks, Josie Scott by Sophia Di Martino, Doris Speed by Celia Imrie, Pat Phoenix by Jessie Wallace, Violet Carson by Lynda Baron and William Roache by his son, James Roache.

The Road To Coronation Street is part of BBC Four's The Great Northern Season. It is directed by Charles Sturridge, written by Daran Little, produced by Rebecca Hodgson and executive produced by Kieran Roberts.

Is this a one off drama or a series?

11.05: Welcome to live coverage of The Wonderful Wizards of Weatherfield, a Masterclass celebrating 50 years of Coronation Street.

11.08: David Liddiment hosts this session with panellists: Tony Warren, series creator; Gareth McLean, journalist at the Radio Times; Katherine Kelly (Becky McDonald); producer Phil Collinson.

11.15: Asked where Coronation Street came from, Warren explains: You would have to be a 19 year old immigrant without leave to remain to have a drama series commissioned. And that's how it should be, because I was once that immigrant. I was rather a sissified young boy.

The basic model of the houses in Coronation Street come from TW's maternal grandmother's road. His grandmother was a matriarchal figure. He discusses his pondering social status and gender identity sitting under the table at his grandmother's house; and feeling the outsider in a family environment looking in, seeing more and hearing more. "And that's what qualified me to write Coronation Street."

11.15: Warren explains that after an unhappy experience at school, he transferred to a more suitable establishment. He was told he was blessed and talented; the principal of the school "gave me a licence to be myself". After trying out as an actor, a casting director's comments about his height redirected him towards writing.

11.18: He wrote half an episode, "crashed into Granada", and said if they wanted to know the end, he should call. His success - and description in the press as Britain's youngest scriptwriter - resulted in him transferring to promotions, writing continuity links etc.

11.19: He was subsequently offered a £30/week contract for a year, with Granada owning everything he wrote. An incident with a filing cabinet (TW on top, naturally, vowing to not come down unless allowed to write about what he knew) - and previous failed attempts to sell other versions of the scripts - he combined a comic and dramatic version of his concept of a Street-based show.

11.21: "We must use real northern actors otherwise it would appear patronising," Warren told Granada.

11.24: We see a clip of BBC Four's upcoming look at Coronation Street's debut. Warren says the portrayal of the casting process of Violet Carson as Ena Sharples is accurate.

11.26: DL observes the speech on-screen was much faster 50 years ago. 48 pages per script in the early days of the series.

11.27: "We had to mine this very rich seam of talent we had that wasn't being used because they had the unfashionable accent," explains Warren.

11.29: On Corrie then and now: "It's the same mixture of goodies and baddies, it's the same mixture of comedy and tragedy. The pace of life has changed, the pace of the show has changed."

11.32: Tony Warren still has lunch with Phil Collinson, and points out that characters have kettles and coats that are unrealistically expensive for their lives.

11.33: Tony applauds Katherine Kelly's acting during the adoption storyline.

11.37: KK: "One of the most unique things about being part of a soap" is the dialogue with the writers. "The writers and the actors never officially meet." The writers have a meeting every three weeks; the actors are on the shop floor filming. The dynamic is one of receiving scripts, acting and adding in parts of the character - such as Becky McDonald's penchant for cider, with additions feeding back into the writing process.

TW: "Every performance is an audition for the writers."

11.39: Collinson explains that he and the writers spot things in performances that can give clues to a character's development. "We all sit in a big room and talk about the characters and where we want to take them next." A mix of long-term storyline discussions, ideas, pitches, but the most brilliant moment is where someone will pitch a story for a relatively new character because they got the idea from the screen.

11.40: Gareth McLean suggests Corrie is different because where other soaps work characters into predefined issues or plots, Corrie is character-led. "You believe in them as people. People identify with Becky's desire to be a mother… there's people going through that in the audience. There's a real authenticity to it and an honesty that people take to."

11.42: PC was a life-long fan of Corrie. When he was asked to produce the show, he watched old VHS tapes of the older episodes; "the most amazing thing about watching them is that it's absolutely the same show now and you wouldn't want to change a single thing about it."

11.44: "The great thing about Lancs is that there's never been anything wrong with getting on," explains Warren. "So we can follow the bosses home, with sympathy if necessary."

11.46: "More of the same," says PC about the 50th. "We're going to have a terrible night where a tram comes off the viaduct, causing devastation for just about every character."

11.50: Warren - on why women were strong and men less so: "In the very early episodes, because I'd had all that sexual confusion about what I was, I didn't recognise that straight men were any good at all. It took drink and drug recovery to realise they were made of the same stuff as I, just arranged in a different order."

11.51: Warren: "I love reality TV" because "it came along and said something new". "I'm watching reality programmes these days."

11.54: "Sometimes the tendency is to tell a story too quickly," cautions Warren. He adds that Collinson is "on the side of stretching, which I am". "I hope we'll tell more stories but over more time," adds PC.

11.55: "Nobody would have it," says Warren on why it took so long to have a gay character on screen. Warren explains that he had trouble with Granada at the outset: "We were illegal and faceless."

11.58: Warren on EastEnders: "Also from an original idea from Tony Warren." "It was a row of houses, around a square... anybody can bend a straight line. I had to keep my mouth shut but I can say it now... it's very easy when you've been shown how."

Keith Duffy, who is a guest on ITV1's Magic Numbers, has just confirmed that there will be a live episode in December.

Seems strange after they completely denounced it on This Morning at the beginning of the year. Oh well I shall look forward to it! Obviously this will feature the climax of the viaduct collapse.

I'm guessing the buildup to the viaduct collapse/tram crash will be on Monday, with it hitting the fan at the end of it, then the chaos playing out over the week with the live episode being on Thursday

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what's BGT please