Extra! Extra Corrie

My grandmother’s house always had homemade jam, a parrot that could make the sound of a telephone ringing, and Hilda Ogden peering out over the cobbles of Coronation Street come evening time. Coronation Street was as much a part of my growing up as that vicious parrot, at times cajoling for attention and at other moments likely to try and bite my fingers. And mine was not the first generation to have Corrie as a part of my life from childhood on.

Admittedly, I did have gaps in my attendance, huge gaping ones, but Corrie never seemed to mind. And to be honest I didn’t really need to watch it to know the big stories that were hitting the northern soap as many of them could be found not only around the water cooler but also in the newspapers. And here’s the crux of this new three-part series about Coronation Street. As much as we are now used to having a certain amount of newspaper space taken up with fictional storylines as if they were breaking news themselves, our friends in the north were really the first people to be featured in this way.

Only three years it took before Coronation Street hit the headlines, from its first live broadcast to its tabloid outrage. Yup, you may think this is a recent phenomenon, but back in 1963 the producers were seriously taken by surprise when factory-worker Sheila’s downward spiral into suicide caused such outrage in the media that the storyline was actually rewritten and the fatal footage pulled. By the way, it’s here. Previously unseen trauma premiering on this very programme. But imagine the surprise and panic of those early producers at provoking such a reaction!

Sheila’s state is only one of five major newspaper-hitting storylines this first episode examines, contextualising each one with an introduction briefly outlining the other big occurrences in the news that year – be they Mrs Thatcher’s second term in office or the release of Viagra to the market. It’s easy to start guessing for your favourites (I wanted Brian Capron’s mass-murdering resident but sadly he’s not in this first show) and those selected are spread across the decades with only the ’70s and the Noughties missing out in this inauguration.

It does make you think though. With Deirdre’s incarceration initially based on a sad tale from a friend of a producer, and Sarah Louise’s pregnancy reflecting British statistics of the time, Coronation Street really does appear to go the extra mile to deliver a slice of British life. It’s interesting how quickly it dates because of this, with haircuts and fashions sometimes at the point-and-laugh level, but it also shows how hard the programme-makers work to try and catch the zeitgeist of the times.

It’s only half an hour, but the storylines felt as strong as ever. Not a wuss, I swear, but there were even a few hard swallows to stop the well of emotion. I defy anyone not to do the same when hearing about Sally Whittaker, aka Sally Webster, and her own parallel experience with cancer as the Websters went through their battle.

Think I’ll settle in with the omnibus this weekend. The parrot of my childhood has bitten again.

The Corrie Years: The Headline Makers, ITV1, Wednesday 20 July