Coronation Street in 1981

1981 was Coronation Street's twenty-second year. Bill Podmore produced all 104 episodes transmitted that year.

Storylines included the wedding of Ken Barlow and Deirdre Langton, Len and Rita Fairclough trying to adopt and becoming foster parents, the beginnings of Alf Roberts and Audrey Potter's relationship, Gail and Brian Tilsley coping with parenthood, the unhappy marriage of Fred and Eunice Gee, Bert Tilsley being investigated by the DSS for illicit earnings while claiming dole, Elsie Tanner's clothes being cut up a scornful wife, bossy relief manager Gordon Lewis upsetting the apple cart at the Rovers, and the return of Emily's bigamist husband Arnold Swain as he tried to convince Emily to join him in a suicide pact.

Production
Bill Podmore produced Coronation Street for the sixth year in a row. After his successful introduction in 1979, William Tarmey returned for a longer stint as Jack Duckworth, testing the waters for his eventual full-time role starting in 1983. Amanda Barrie was seen in four episodes as Alma Sedgewick, initially Elsie Tanner's overbearing boss at Jim's Cafe. She would be seen occasionally before joining full-time in 1989. Aside from that, there were no major cast changes.

Late in the year, the decision was taken to replace the outdoor Grape Street set with a new purpose-built set, which would be larger in scale, have proper roofs with fibreglass chimneys, and have space for a section of Rosamund Street to be built. The location chosen for the new set was a former railway marshalling yard opposite the bonded warehouse at Tickle Street, Camp Street and Garden Court, close to the studios. The houses were built from bricks reclaimed from demolition sites, and the roofs from reclaimed slates, although the cobbles were already in place. Construction began on 12th November 1981, after a ceremony conducted by Doris Speed, and continued into 1982.

Within storylines, the programme began preparing for the new set with Episode 2155 on 25th November, when Len Fairclough bought the ground rent of No.7, which had collapsed in 1965, and started building a new house in the space. The completion of the house was timed to coincide with the programme transferring to the new set, which was built with a finished No.7. Although frequently mentioned, due to the size of the Grape Street set none of the building work was seen.

Viewing figures
Coronation Street continued to gain traction, increasing its overall rating for the third year in a row. Its average viewing figure was 15.88 million viewers, the second highest average of the decade after 1985, and the top rated episode - 2075 on 18th February which gained 20.8 million viewers - was the highest peak since 1977 and the first episode of the programme to gain more than twenty million viewers since 1978.

Across the year, the first eight months saw increases from the same months in 1980, with May, July and August gaining by more than 10%. In the weekly viewing charts, 32 episodes reached number one - 18 higher than in 1980, and the most since 1968.

An ongoing myth is that more viewers watched Episode 2120 (Ken and Deirdre's wedding) than tuned into the real-life Royal Wedding two days later of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. This story came about because the official television figures were for the average number of viewers throughout the duration of the state occasion. The wedding figures for the three channels' multi-hour coverage was 13,700,000 for BBC1, putting them in 3rd place, and 8,000,000 for ITV but the actual ceremony itself attracted 19,000,000 for BBC1, 9,000,000 for ITV and 400,000 on BBC2, which carried subtitles for the hard of hearing. In second place for the week was coverage of the Royal Fireworks on BBC1 on 28th July which garnered 15,100,000 viewers.

Who lives where
Coronation Street Rosamund Street Others
 * Rovers Return Inn - Annie Walker. Fred Gee (from January to September and December). Eunice Gee (from May to September).
 * 1 Coronation Street - Albert Tatlock and Ken Barlow. Deirdre Barlow and Tracy Langton (from July).
 * 3 Coronation Street - Emily Bishop.
 * 5 Coronation Street - Bert and Ivy Tilsley. Vera Duckworth (May only).
 * 9 Coronation Street - Len and Rita Fairclough. John Spencer (from August to September).
 * 11 Coronation Street - Elsie Tanner. Wally Randle (April only). Audrey Potter (from September to November).
 * 13 Coronation Street - Stan and Hilda Ogden, Eddie Yeats.
 * Corner Shop (No.15) - Alf Roberts.
 * Corner Shop Flat (No.15a) - Deirdre and Tracy Langton (until July).
 * Community Centre Flat - Fred and Eunice Gee (from September to December).
 * The Kabin - Mavis Riley.
 * 37 Hillside Crescent - Betty Turpin.
 * Ludlow Avenue - Bet Lynch.
 * 5 Buxton Close - Brian and Gail Tilsley.
 * 20 Inkerman Street - Jack Duckworth. Vera Duckworth (except May).
 * 46b, St. Mary's Place - Mike Baldwin (from March onwards).