Coronation Street in 1993

1993 was Coronation Street's thirty-fourth year.

Production
Carolyn Reynolds was producer for a second year, after which she took up the position of executive producer which she held for most of the next twelve years.

The Corner Shop received a facelift courtesy of new owner Brendan Scott, former Bettabuy manager, who beat Reg Holdsworth to the punch. Scott's transformation of the shop into an old-fashioned grocery included restoring the counter to its former position, facing the door, and introducing a darker colour scheme. Other changes - such as serving customers in a boater and dressing assistant Deirdre Barlow in a mop cap and frilly apron - were temporary. After Scott died of a heart attack in the shop, it spent a brief period again under Alf Roberts's ownership before it was sold to Reg.

The programme's first mixed race marriage was planned between the characters of Andy McDonald and Amy Nelson, a newcomer played by Louise Duprey. Andy and Amy's relationship was developed over six months, with Andy giving up university so that he, Amy and her son Dominic could be a family, causing a rift between Andy, Jim and Liz. Shortly after the recording of Episode 3601, Duprey had a nervous breakdown, having struggled with the pressures of fame. The wedding plans were shelved and the character was only seen once more, in Episode 3609 in which she was played by Melanie Brown. The programme's first mixed race marriage took place the following year, between Deirdre and Samir Rachid.

Caroline Milmoe left the cast when her character Lisa Duckworth was killed off in a road accident. As there was no Christmas Day episode this year (for the only time since 1987), the storyline climaxed the evening before, in which Jack Duckworth disowned Terry after discovering that he had sold his son Tommy to Lisa's parents. Brian Hibbard left after eight months as Doug Murray, while Deborah McAndrew also departed, with her character Angie Freeman leaving for a job in Mexico.

Newcomers included Sherrie Hewson as scatter-brained Maureen Naylor, Elizabeth Bradley as "Medusa on wheels" Maud Grimes, Coronation Street's first wheelchair-bound character, and John St. Ryan as lorry driver Charlie Whelan, brought in as a love interest for Bet Gilroy. Spiteful barmaid Tanya Pooley, played by Eva Pope, was also introduced, first seen at Liz McDonald's pub The Queens which appeared from May onwards. Jenny Bradley also made a temporary comeback, with Sally Ann Matthews reprising her role for ten episodes.

December marked the last appearances of Deirdre Barlow and Phyllis Pearce for five and twelve months respectively, as Anne Kirkbride took time off to be treated for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and Jill Summers for abdominal abscess.

Viewing figures
Omnibus figures were down by 1.5 million viewers on 1992. The average for the year was 16.81 million viewers. Note that the number of ITV stations which showed the omnibus varied from month to month; in September, all stations agreed to country-wide repeats of individual episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 12.55pm, a situation which remained until December when Granada and Ulster reverted to weekend repeats.

Figures for the initial showings of each episode are not available for this year.

The highest-rated episode of the year was Episode 3518 on 22nd March. 51 episodes reached number one - the third time in history (after 1962 and 1965) that fifty or more Coronation Street episodes topped the charts in a single year and last to date. Again, no episodes dropped out of the top twenty.

Who lives where
Coronation Street Rosamund Street Others
 * Rovers Return Inn - Bet Gilroy, Victoria Arden and Raquel Wolstenhulme.
 * 1 Coronation Street - Deirdre. Tracy Barlow (until December). Craig Lee (from November to December).
 * 2a Coronation Street - Denise Osbourne.
 * 3 Coronation Street - Emily Bishop and Percy Sugden.
 * 4 Coronation Street - Derek and Mavis Wilton
 * 5 Coronation Street - Don and Ivy Brennan.
 * 6 Coronation Street - Des Barnes. Lisa and Tommy Duckworth (from January to February). Doug Murray (May only). Colin Barnes (from July to August).
 * 7 Coronation Street - Curly Watts. Angie Freeman (until March). Andy McDonald (from November onwards).
 * 8 Coronation Street - Martin, Gail, Nicky, Sarah Louise and David Platt. Carmel Finnan (until January).
 * 9 Coronation Street - Jack and Vera Duckworth. Tommy Duckworth (from February to December). Doug Murray (from April to May).
 * 10a Coronation Street - Rita Sullivan. Jenny Bradley (from September to October).
 * 11 Coronation Street - Jim McDonald (until May and from June onwards). Liz McDonald (until May). Andy McDonald (until November). Steve McDonald (until June, from July to August and from August to November).
 * 12 Coronation Street - Reg Holdsworth.
 * 13 Coronation Street - Kevin, Sally and Rosie Webster.
 * Corner Shop flat - Ken Barlow.
 * Jim's Cafe flat - Angie Freeman (from March to September). Andy McDonald (November only).
 * 37 Hillside Crescent - Betty Turpin.
 * No. 4 Montreal House, Weatherfield Quays - Mike and Alma Baldwin.
 * 4 Gorton Close - Phyllis Pearce.
 * 5 Grasmere Drive - Alf and Audrey Roberts.
 * 7 Nightingale Street - Maud Grimes and Maureen Naylor.
 * The Queens - Jim McDonald (from May to June). Liz McDonald (from May onwards). Steve McDonald (from June to July, August only and November onwards).