Why this blog exists: I began watching Coronation Street as a child, with my mother, during a particularly fraught period in which Deirdre Barlow had a torrid affair with Mike Baldwin, the fast-talking London businessman, leaving cardigan-wearing wannabe intellectual husband Ken fretting beigely at home. I still remember this being Very Dramatic, and although I didn’t watch dedicatedly until 2002, the characters on Coronation Street were always there in the background, a low pop-cultural hum in my TV-watching life. My appreciation for the show – its amazing ability to combine camp, humour and genuinely moving drama – has only grown since then. YouTube now allows me to see episodes I would never have been able to rediscover otherwise, so I’m going to start from April 1976, when it’s simple to load up playlists of the complete series, year by year. We’ll see what happens.
About me: I live in Auckland, New Zealand, with my husband, two small kids and two dogs. I’ve been 40 for a while and still haven’t accepted it. Currently, my hair is blue. On Twitter I’m @dimsie and I swear a lot.
Coronation Street of Old 
Loving your blog, looking forward to following along. I really only started watching Corrie (semi) regularly a few years ago. I then spent some time — and money (books, CDs, and DVDs, in addition to online research) — catching up on the full history.
BTW, if you haven’t seen the BBC’s (yes, BBC not ITV) excellent docudrama The Road to Coronation Street, it is well worth seeking out. It tells the story of the inception, right up to recreating the first episode (which is itself included as an extra on the DVD).
Cheers, Cary
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Thanks! I did see promos for that docudrama but some how failed to record it. I will seek it out.
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STRANGE ENCOUNTER
Disclaimer: I do not watch Coronation Street. Nor do I particularly like the program. I would have to admit however that I do experience nostalgic “warm fuzzies” whenever I hear the theme tune.
Both my mother and younger sister who lived in Scotland were hard core Coro fans during the 70’s and 80’s.
In 1979 I was working as a barman in a Dublin pub. One afternoon a slightly inebriated lady along with a male companion entered the bar. The lady in question was none other than Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner). After they had consumed a few G and T’s I plucked up the courage to ask Pat for her autograph. I explained to her that my sister, who had recently become a paraplegic as a result of a botched operation was a huge fan and would love an autographed photo. Pat grabbed a napkin, rummaged around her handbag and produced a pen. She asked me to write my sisters name and address on the napkin which I duly did. She then scrunched the napkin up and stuffed it into her handbag. Nothing more was said.
Having completely forgotten about the encounter, a number of years later I was in Scotland visiting my family. We were all sitting in the lounge one evening, when guess what starts on telly – Coronation St. By shear chance my mother turned to my sister and said “we never did work out how you came to receive that package”? I asked what package she was talking about. Turns out shortly after I met the infamous Elsie Tanner my sister received a huge package containing a whole swag of Coronation St memorabilia including mugs, tea towels and photos galore. Apparently it was one of the happiest days of my sisters life.
So I say Cheers to you Pat Phoenix and cheers to Coronation Street
John Reynolds, Wellington
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I love this blog – well done!!!
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Thank you! I’m posting very slowly at the moment, though – sorry about that.
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