Coronation Street in 2000

2000 was Coronation Street's forty-first year.

Jane Macnaught
For the first time since 1996, a single producer oversaw Coronation Street for an entire year. Like Brian Park, Jane Macnaught worked with no executive producer over her, and in November she assumed that title herself. Macnaught had no drama show-running experience when she took charge but had a clear vision for the programme. Under her, the programme began featuring more issue-driven plots, and the amount of violent storylines increased. To maintain a high profile all year round, event episodes such as weddings, crimes, revelations and deaths were shown regularly at a rate of one per month.

Much of the violence centred around the character of drug dealer and gangster Jez Quigley, played by Lee Boardman. After early plots including setting up a robbery of the Rovers Return in the New Year's Day episode, and getting Leanne Battersby addicted to cocaine, Jez was unveiled as Tony Horrocks's killer. Jez was charged with the murder but found not guilty, after which he had Steve McDonald beaten and left for dead as payback for grassing him up. The storyline reached a climax when Jez, hospitalised after being set upon by Jim, made his way to Steve's bed to finish the job only to rupture his spleen and die himself. The storyline heralded Charles Lawson's departure from the series after 11 years, with Jim confessing to beating Jez and receiving an eight-year custodial sentence for manslaughter. Writers decided to drop the character as they felt that he had reached the end of his shelf-life in light of Beverley Callard's departure. Callard and Nicholas Cochrane returned briefly later in the year for Lawson's final episodes, which saw Jim and Liz remarry.

The grittier depiction of violence was also seen in October's Freshco siege storyline. In the story, various characters were trapped inside Freshco by armed robbers, resulting in the police storming the supermarket and shooting one of the robbers, who was revealed to be Linda Baldwin's brother Dean Sykes. Two episodes were shown on one day, with most of the action taking place in the latter hour-long instalment which aired post-watershed at 10.00pm. Melanie Kilburn made an appearance as Linda's mother Eve, a role she reprised the following year. After this, Freshco was retired as a recurring location, ending a tradition which had begun with Bettabuy in 1989.

A notable example of Macnaught's predilection for issue-based storylines was Sarah Platt's teenage pregnancy. In February, 13-year-old Sarah was revealed to be five months pregnant, and in June gave birth to baby Bethany, played by twins Amy and Emily Walton. In doing the storyline, Coronation Street was criticised by the National Viewers and Listeners Association for turning teenage pregnancy into entertainment, but the storyline was otherwise well received and won Best Storyline at the British Soap Awards.

Macnaught proved a controversial figure in the writers' room and early in the year John Stevenson, Jan McVerry and Ken Blakeson left the team, returning in 2002 after she had vacated her position.

Cast departures
Seven actors resigned over the course of the year. Having only introduced Natalie Barnes's sister Debs Brownlow in February, writers dropped the character after Denise Welch and James Gaddas, who played Rovers landlady Natalie and her boyfriend Vinny Sorrell, both quit. Natalie left Weatherfield in the last episode of the year, a month after Vinny and Debs had a fling and ran off together. With no obvious replacement for Natalie at the Rovers, Beverley Callard was offered a new contract, with Liz becoming landlady. Callard was back for Jim's storyline but with the actress uninterested in returning full-time, Duggie Ferguson took over the establishment in a business partnership with Mike Baldwin and Fred Elliott.

Naomi Radcliffe quit after 18 months as Alison Wakefield. Alison ran into the path of a lorry following the death of her newborn son Jake Webster from a Group B Strep infection, ending a new chapter of Kevin's life in a double tragedy.

Unhappy with his reduced role since the death of his screen wife, Ian Mercer decided to leave after five years as Gary Mallett. Gary moved in with his girlfriend Paula Shipley in Blackpool, taking twins Billy and Becky with him. Gary's departure was used as an opportunity to return Jack and Vera Duckworth to their old home of 9 Coronation Street, which had been the Malletts' abode since 1995 when the Duckworths took over the Rovers.

The other departees were Martin Hancock, Jane Danson and Paul Fox. In their cases, the door was left open, although only Danson subsequently came back full-time; Spider Nugent went travelling in India after quitting his job at the DSS, Leanne fled to Amsterdam to get away from Jez Quigley, and Mark Redman was thrown out by father Mike after his affair with Linda was exposed on Mike and Linda's wedding day.

These resignations were coupled with the now-standard round of axings. Most of these were characters introduced the year before by David Hanson: Tom Wisdom as Tom Ferguson departed in January, Rebecca Sarker as Nita Desai in May, and Annie Hulley as Gwen Davies in June, while Rosie Webster and David Platt changed heads, now played by Helen Flanagan and Jack P. Shepherd respectively.

Arrivals and set changes
The set extension into Victoria Street was completed in April, bringing three new businesses to the show: Sally Webster and Danny Hargreaves's hardware shop D & S Hardware, Elliott & Son butcher shop, and taxi firm Street Cars. Street Cars was owned by Steve McDonald and Vikram Desai, with Sue Cleaver making her debut appearance as switch operator Eileen Grimshaw in May. Eileen proved a popular addition to the cast, and her son Jason was introduced on Christmas Day.

Rosamund Street was also built up, with a doctor's surgery opening in the old Graffiti Club building in November. The programme's first professional couple was introduced in the form of Dr. Matt Ramsden GP and his teacher wife Charlie, who moved into No.6, while Molly Hardcastle was introduced as a practice nurse and Gail Platt became the centre's receptionist.

Other new characters included Samia Ghadie as Maria Sutherland, a kennel maid who stole Tyrone Dobbs's heart, Andrew Whyment as her dimwitted brother Kirk, Jennifer James as new Rovers barmaid Geena Gregory, Suranne Jones and Naomi Ryan as Underworld machinists Karen Phillips and Bobbi Lewis, Angela Lonsdale as Emma Taylor, a police officer girlfriend (and, by the end of the year, wife) of Curly Watts, Charles Dale as biker Dennis Stringer, Scott Wright as stripper Sam Kingston, and John Quayle as bookshop owner Anthony Stephens. Meanwhile, Joan Kempson returned full-time as pessimistic cleaner Edna Miller, and Chris Gascoyne became the seventh actor to play Peter Barlow, who made his first appearance since 1986 when he became a regular for the first time since 1971.

40th anniversary
Coronation Street's 40th anniversary year began with the surprise return of Sarah Lancashire as Raquel Watts. Raquel was first glimpsed at the end of the New Year's Day episode, which saw the residents celebrate the Millennium with a street fancy dress party. The following instalment was a 45-minute two-hander - the programme's first - which saw Raquel return to Weatherfield to tell Curly that they had a daughter, Alice, and to ask for a divorce to marry her French partner Armand de Beaux. The episode was written by Raquel's creator John Stevenson who felt that her 1996 departure had left the couple with unfinished business.

Lancashire made no further appearances as Raquel but Alice was seen later in the year when Curly, Emma, Fred, Audrey, Ashley and Maxine went to stay at Raquel's chateau in the wake of the Freshco siege. Filming took place in Paris for three episodes which, in a first for Coronation Street, featured no scenes set in the UK.

For its actual anniversary in December, producers decided to broadcast an hour-long live episode of Coronation Street, the first episode not pre-recorded since 3rd February 1961. The main storyline saw the residents campaign to stop the council replacing the cobbles with tarmac, with their efforts resulting in Northern Heritage granting a preservation order for them. The episode featured guest appearances by Noddy Holder, Sir Trevor McDonald (as himself) and, in a pre-recorded segment, Prince Charles. The episode also saw Vera Duckworth have a brush with death after donating a kidney to her sick grandson Paul Clayton. Nigel Pivaro made another of his semi-annual returns to the role of Terry for the storyline, while the characters of Andrea and Connie Clayton appeared for the first time since 1985 (although only Andrea was played by the original actress).

Viewing figures
The (aggregated) ratings average suffered its biggest drop in a single year since 1993, to a figure of 14.54 million viewers, representing a drop of over a million viewers from 1999. For the third time in its history, every month fell year-on-year from the year before, with the biggest drops occurring in March and May which were down by almost two million viewers.

The programme's chart performance was also down on 1999, with 21 episodes reaching number one (four fewer than the year before).

The highest-rated episode was Episode 4746 on 3rd January, which gained an audience of 19.06 million viewers (including omnibus repeat). The episode took place immediately after the Curly and Raquel two-hander.

Storylines
To be added.

Who lives where
Coronation Street
 * Rovers Return Inn - Natalie Barnes. Leanne Battersby (until August). Vinny Sorrell (until November). Toyah Battersby (from September onwards).
 * 1 Coronation Street - Ken Barlow. Deirdre Rachid. Blanche Hunt (from January onwards). Peter Barlow (December only).
 * 2a Coronation Street - Tom Ferguson (January only). Geena Gregory. Bobbi Lewis (both from May onwards).
 * 3 Coronation Street - Emily Bishop. Norris Cole (from July onwards).
 * 4 Coronation Street - Ashley Peacock. Maxine Peacock.
 * 5 Coronation Street - Les Battersby. Janice Battersby. Dennis Stringer (from July onwards).
 * 6 Coronation Street - Debs Brownlow (February to November). Duggie Ferguson (October only). Matt Ramsden. Charlie Ramsden (both from December onwards).
 * 7 Coronation Street - Curly Watts. Emma Taylor (from August onwards).
 * 8 Coronation Street - Martin Platt (until October). Gail Platt. Sarah Platt. David Platt. Bethany Platt (from June onwards).
 * 9 Coronation Street - Gary Mallett. Billy Mallett. Becky Mallett (all until October). Jack Duckworth. Vera Duckworth. Tyrone Dobbs (all from October onwards).
 * 10a Coronation Street - Rita Sullivan.
 * 11 Coronation Street - Jim McDonald (until September). Steve McDonald (until March). Gwen Davies (March to June). Liz McDonald (from October onwards).
 * 12 Coronation Street - Mark Redman (January to June). Empty thereafter.
 * 13 Coronation Street - Sally Webster. Rosie Webster. Sophie Webster. Danny Hargreaves (from March onwards).
 * 15a Coronation Street - Nita Desai (until February). Linda Sykes (January only). Dev Alahan (February to December). Peter Barlow (from December onwards).

Victoria Street
 * 14a Victoria Street - Vacant
 * 15a Victoria Street - Steve McDonald. Vikram Desai (both from May onwards).
 * 16a Victoria Street - Roy Cropper. Hayley Cropper.
 * 17a Victoria Street - Kevin Webster. Alison Wakefield/Webster (until June).
 * 18a Victoria Street - Martin Platt (from October onwards).
 * 19a Victoria Street - Vacant

Others
 * Flat 3, 6 Arnica Street - Spider Nugent (until July). Toyah Battersby (until September).
 * 23a Balaclava Terrace - Sam Kingston.
 * 5 Grasmere Drive - Audrey Roberts. Alma Baldwin/Halliwell.
 * 37 Hillside Crescent - Betty Williams.
 * No. 4 Montreal House, Weatherfield Quays - Mike Baldwin. Linda Sykes/Baldwin (from February onwards). 
 * No. 6 Montreal House, Weatherfield Quays - Dev Alahan (from December onwards).
 * Park Road B&B - Jack Duckworth. Vera Duckworth. Tyrone Dobbs (all until October). Norris Cole (until July). Maria Sutherland (August to October).
 * 23 Seymour Drive, Oakhill - Fred Elliott.
 * 4 The Brambles, Oakhill - Duggie Ferguson (until September).

Awards and nominations
National Television Awards
 * Most Popular Serial Drama: Coronation Street (Winner)
 * Most Popular Newcomer: Tina O'Brien (Winner)