Bill Podmore

Edgar William Podmore (15th August, 1931 - 22nd January, 1994) was a director on Coronation Street in the 1960s who went on to have three spells as the programmes producer between 1976 and 1977, then from 1977 to 1982, and again between 1987-1988. He also served as the Street's Executive Producer from 1982 to 1987, and is largely considered to be the man responsible for the show's "Golden Age" in the 1970s and 1980s.

Bill maintained a consistent element of comedy during his stints as producer, which enabled characters such as Stan Ogden, Hilda Ogden and Eddie Yeats to become popular and well-loved by longtime fans to this day. However, some of the cast nicknamed him "The Godfather" because of his occasional ruthlessness when it came to killing off characters such as Ernest Bishop and Renee Roberts. He also became somewhat unpopular with his co-workers for terminating the contract of Peter Adamson (Len Fairclough) after Peter had sold his story of his 1982 arrest for intereference to a tabloid newspaper.

Bill retired in 1988, and published his memoirs in 1990.