Coronation Street

I know bethany's too young, i was only jesting, i put in the bit about twins because she is played by twins, like the babies who originally played sarah

1979 wasn't meant to be quiet but due to the itv strike from august to november the story line jumped about 3 months in a matter of weeks and brian and gails wedding was aired in november when the scenes were filmed in august .

not that i remember much about it as i was only nine.

Also remember blue peter coming live from an empty studio so there must have been lots of tv strikes on at that time.

I remember reading something about Brian and Gail's wedding being filmed ages before it was broadcast. I think my favourate period of Corrie is between 1976-1983 and again between 1986-1994 (which included the Jenny and Alan Bradley era) and I enjoyed the majority of episodes in those years. 1984 and 85 werent very good because so many characters left and it took a while to recover, and we had the awful Clayton family in 1985.

the itv strike of 1979 did mess up the street episodes leaving them about two months out when the strike was over.


the only date mentioned in the storyline is brian and gails wedding which was scripted to happen on 11th of august but the original transmission date for the wedding episode is stated as 12 september which without the strike still makes the wedding a month later than in the story


in the street history's the wedding is dated 26th november 1979, the actual transmission date.

here's a quick run down of how the strike effected the episode, all info taken from the corrienet website.

MON 6 AUG LAST EPISODE BEFORE STRIKE
WED 8 AUG EPISODE NOT SHOW IN THAMES OR HTV REGIONS

STRIKE EFFECTED ALL ITV REGIONS FROM 10TH AUGUST AND LASTED UNTIL 24 OCTOBER

(dates in italics are intended transmition dates)
WED 24 OCT MON 13 AUG (AFTER THE WEDDING?)
MON 29 OCT WED 15 AUG
WED 31 OCT MON 20 AUG
MON 5 NOV WED 22 AUG (BANK HOLIDAY EPISODE?)
WED 7 NOV MON 27 AUG
MON 12 NOV WED 29 AUG
WED 14 NOV MON 3 SEP
MON 19 NOV WED 5 SEP
WED 21 NOV MON 10 SEP
MON 26 NOV WED 12 SEP BRIAN AND GAIL'S WEDDING EPISODE
WED 28 NOV MON 17 SEP RECEPTION AND HONEYMOON EPISODE
MON 3 DEC WED 19 SEP LAST EPISODE EFFECTED BY THE STRIKE
WED 5 DEC WED 5 DEC EPISODES BACK ON TRACK


the guess is that between september and december 1979 no episodes were made so that the story could catch itself up.

hope that all makes sense

Those were my favourite periods of Corrie as well and, as you say, 1983-1984 were bad years for the Street - we seemed to have everything coming out at that time; the Peter Adamson scandal, Doris Speed's birth certificate being printed (which led to her departure), Pat Phoenix's decision to leave, Bernard Youens and Jack Howarth's death etc. In my opinion it all started when Violet Carson left in 1980 (with a surprising low key departure for as big a character as Ena).

From late 1983- late 1984 as you said we lost Annie, Eddie & Marion, Len, Elsie, Albert, Bert and Stan - a lot of which had been in it over 20 years. Peter Adamson only had himself to blame IMO - Granada stood by him during the scandal and he betrayed them by selling his story to the press - which resulted in him being sacked and never working for Granada again.

Well Ena hadnt been that regular in the show for a while before she left - I know she had to be written out for most of 1974 due to ill health and only appeared in something like 11 episodes all year. She was back in 1975 but between then and 1980 she often had to be written out. I think the plan was to bring her back but she wasnt well enough. Annie Walker also got a low key exit as she had to be written out suddenly and never returned.

It would be nice if current characters like Betty, Rita and Emily got a proper exit when they eventually have to leave. I think Betty could be the oldest Corrie actress ever by the time she leaves, if she isnt already!

Thanks for that info. I found this on Corrie.net in the episode guide for the Granada Plus repeats.

"By 10 August 1979, all the ITV regions except Channel TV were on strike. Channel kept on going with a heavily modified schedule (lots of local programmes, much shorter transmission hours).

Programmes resumed at 5.45pm on Wednesday 24 October 1979. Episode 1937 was introduced by Peter Adamson (Len Fairclough), describing what had been going on in Weatherfield to refresh everyone's memory, and for the benefit of viewers in Thames and HTV who missed episode 1936"

These episodes were repeated on Granada Plus in 1998

What about characters like Phylis, Percy and Maud Grimes, they all left very low key as well.

They all moved into a residential home, and were never heard of again. I think it was called Mayfield Court. But yes they were all forced to quit due to the actor/actresses ill health.

[quote="Jez"][quote="BBCNicky@Yorks"]

85 years old and still working in a pub...

Regarding Ena, I seem to remember reading that she had some sort of nervous breakdown in 1973 and had to leave for a year. The reason why she appeared sparsely between 74-80 is because her work load was scaled down, and for most of this time she was "staying with Mr. Foster in St. Anne's". In 1980, she again went to stay with him but that ended up as her last ever scene and Violet became ill with anaemia and left.

Speaking of low-key exits, what about Minnie Caldwell? I understand that Margot Bryant (who played Minnie) had to retire after suffering severe memory loss with overwork or something like that?

[quote="BBCNicky@Yorks"][quote="Jez"]

I remember Ena's final scene was with Albert and Ken at Number 1 telling them she might not return from St Anne's.

I remember that Minnie Caldwell's last appearance was in the 2nd episode Granada Plus showed in their repeat run (April 1976). She just disappeared and the script said she was staying with an old friend. Then this old friend turned up six months later to tell Ena she had moved away permantly. Apparently Minnie had sent her friend to tell Ena rather than Minnie herself as she was afraid Ena would talk her out of it, but obviously Margot was too ill to appear. Margot Brynant lived for over 10 years after she left the show though, and died on New Years Day 1989.

I seem to remember Maud still turned up in the Rovers for a while after moving to Mayfield Court. In fact, didn't we see Mayfield Court a few times as well?

EDIT: 2000th Post

That character that Roy met at the reunion tonight could easily be a member of this forum, with his obsession for fonts.

It's not very often you hear mention of Arial and Times New Roman in a soap.