Coronation Street, a British institution so entrenched that it will probably outlast the monarchy and the regal occasion it was named after.
It celebrated its 21st anniversary in December 1981, a seemingly unbelievable run at the time, but here we are with it showing no signs of ending. TV Times was quick to give its front cover over to the programme, its flagship show in the days when only ITV’s programmes were listed in the magazine.
There were brief interviews with all the figures who were giants in those early days, like Jack Howarth (Albert Tatlock), Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner), Jean Alexander (Hilda Ogden) and, inevitably, William Roach (Ken Barlow). Pat Phoenix remembered a show when she found a gorilla in the sink – no, really – while Jean Alexander recalled a scene where Hilda and Stan were off to Paris but they spent so long drinking in the airport bar that they missed the plane, and slept in the airport overnight so they could pretend they’d been away.
You can recall more storylines from a distant age here.
