1) Coronation Street is Britain's longest-running television
soap opera, and the
UK's consistently highest-rated show. It was created by Tony Warren and first broadcast on the
ITV network on Friday December 9, 1960. The working title of the show was 'Florizel Street', but Agnes, a
tea lady at
Granada Television, Manchester, (where Coronation Street is produced) remarked that 'Florizel' sounded too much like a disinfectant.
Coronation Street (commonly nicknamed "
Corrie", "
Coro St" or "The Street") is set in a fictional street in the fictional industrial town of 'Weatherfield' which is based on
Salford, now part of Greater Manchester. (A Coronation Street does exist in Salford). Its principal rival soap opera is BBC1's
EastEnders.
The show's iconic
theme music, a brass-band throwback to the sounds of the 1940s, was written by Eric Spear and has been only slightly modified since the show's beginning.
Coronation Street can be seen on ITV1 on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:30p.m. There is also an extra episode on Monday night at 8:30 p.m. Repeat episodes (and specials) can be seen on
ITV2, with the
omnibus usually shown on Sundays.
Granada and ITV executives, as well as the people in charge of distributing the show overseas, have called (and still call, as of