Coronation Street: 50 Years, 50 Moments

Coronation Street: 50 Years, 50 Moments was a two-part tribute programme shown at 9.00pm on both Tuesday 7th and Thursday 9th December, 2010. The fifty moments were chosen by a panel which included Tony Warren, William Roache and The Sun and The Guardian television critic Nancy Banks-Smith. From 9th October to 8th November 2010, viewers were invited to choose their top five from the final list using an on-line form on the Coronation Street ITV website with only one submission per e-mail address. The total ranked votes thus decided the overall running order of the programmes. The clips illustrating the chosen moments were accompanied for the most parts by short segments of interviews with people involved with the making of the programme over the five decades, some of them such as Anne Reid, giving their first interviews about their time on the show for many years. It should be noted that the term "moments" was loosely applied and while some of the chosen candidates were short scenes in an episode, a large number were particular storylines spread over several episodes (or even months) and in the case of number 28 in the final chart, an entire episode in itself.

The final countdown, with credited interviewees, was as follows:

Programme One

50: Ken and Wendy's affair (1989): William Roache, Mervyn Watson
49: The coach crash (Episode 923 (29th October 1969)): Daran Little, Betty Driver, Anne Reid
48 (joint): The death of Martha Longhurst (Episode 357 (13th May 1964)): Philip Lowrie, Tony Warren
48 (joint): Alec and Bet's wedding (Episode 2759 (9th September 1987)) :Roy Barraclough, Julie Goodyear
46: The Rovers Lorry Crash (Episode 1892 (7th March 1979) and 1893 (12th March 1979)): Daran Little
45: Valerie is electrocuted (Episode 1047 (27th January 1971)): William Roache, Anne Reid
44: Queen Annie (Episode 1710 (6th June 1977) and 1711 (8th June 1977)): Julie Goodyear, Betty Driver, William Roache
43: Mavis and Derek's double jilting (Episode 2451 (26th September 1984)): Barbara Knox
42: Brian Tilsley's death (Episode 2910 (15th February 1989)): Christopher Quinten, Ian Aspinall
41: The Murder of Ernie Bishop (Episode 1772 (9th January 1978) and 1773 (11th January 1978)) : Johnny Briggs, Stephen Hancock
40: Bet leaves Weatherfield (Episode 3922 (16th October 1995)): Julie Goodyear, Betty Driver, Trina Fraser (Floor Manager from 1983 to 1995 whose hand doubled for Bet's in a shot of the keys being placed on the Rovers' bar.
39: Train crashes off the viaduct (Episode 667 (8th May 1967) and 668 (10th May 1967)): Daran Little, Tony Warren.
38: Baldwins at War (Episode 4889 (10th September 2000) and 4890 (11th September 2000)): Paul Fox, Johnny Briggs
37: Mel Hutchwright cons the Book Club (2005): Sue Nicholls, Barbara Knox, William Roache
36: Don and Alma's taxi plunge (Episode 4179 (18th April 1997) and 4180 (20th April 1997)): Geoff Hinsliff, Amanda Barrie
35: The Psycho Nanny (1993): Carolyn Reynolds, Helen Worth, Sean Wilson, Catherine Cusack
34: Kevin's secret affair (1997): Michael Le Vell, Sally Dynevor, Denise Welch
33: Fire at the Rovers (Episode 2631 (18th June 1986)): William Tarmey, Sally Dynevor, Julie Goodyear, John Friend Newman (Floor Manager)
32: Terry sells his son (Episode 3637 (24th December 1993)): Nigel Pivaro, Elizabeth Dawn, William Tarmey
31: Tracy and Roy (Episode 5546 (20th July 2003) and 5547 (21st July 2003): Julie Hesmondhalgh, Kate Ford, David Neilson, William Roache
30: Hilda's 'Muriel' (Episode 1615 (7th July 1976), 1616 (12th July 1976 and 1617 (14th July 1976)) :Jean Alexander, Daran Little
29: Raquel, Des and Tanya (Episode 3717 (27th June 1994) and 3718 (29th June 1994)): Philip Middlemiss, John Stevenson
28: The First Episode (Episode 1 (9th December 1960)): Lyn Paul, Tony Warren, William Roache, Anne Cunningham, Philip Lowrie
27: The Weatherfield One (1998) : Owen Aaronovitch, Anne Kirkbride, Daran Little
26: Peter's bigamy (2003): Chris Gascoyne, Kieran Roberts

Programme Two

25: Todd comes out (2003): Kieran Roberts, Bruno Langley
24: Bet and Betty stuck in a lake (Episode 2304 (2nd May 1983) and 2305 (4th May 1983)): Betty Driver, Julie Goodyear
23: Voulez-vous choucher avec moi, Ken? (Episode 3578 (9th August 1993)): William Roache, Carolyn Reynolds
22: Ena and Elsie come to blows (Episode 431 (27th January 1965)): Tony Warren, Philip Lowrie
21: Sarah Lou's baby (2000): Tina O'Brien, Helen Worth
20: Jack and the Dating Agency (Episode 2308 (16th May 1983) to 2311 (25th May 1983)): Julie Goodyear, William Tarmey, Mervyn Watson
19: Shelley dumps Charlie (Episode 6120 (19th September 2005) to 6121 (21st September 2005)): Bill Ward, John Fay
18: Mad Maya Monday (Episode 5895 (22nd November 2004) to 5899 (24th November 2004)): Sasha Behar, Kieran Roberts
17: Sally tells Kevin she has cancer (Episode 7237 (25th December 2009)): Sally Dynevor, Michael Le Vell
16 (joint): The Ogden's second honeymoon (Episode 1756 (14th November 1977) and 1757 (16th November 1977)): Jean Alexander, Phil Collinson
16 (joint): Steve and Becky's second wedding (Episode 7141 (14th August 2009)): Simon Gregson, Katherine Kelly
14: Alma's death (Episode 5058 (17th June 2001)): Amanda Barrie
13:Roy and Hayley's unusual love affair (1998): Julie Hesmondhalgh, David Neilson
12: Hilda Ogden's exit (Episode 2790 (25th December 1987)): Jean Alexander, Antony Cotton, Phil Collinson
11: Mike, Deirdre and Ken's love triangle (1983): Anne Kirkbride, William Roache
10: Reg's waterbed nightmare (Episode 3535 (30th April 1993)): Ken Morley, John Stevenson, Sherrie Hewson
9: Farewell, Stan (Episode 2469 (28th November 1984)): Jean Alexander, Trina Fraser
8: Alan Bradley and the tram (Episode 3002 (8th December 1989)): Barbara Knox, John Stevenson, Mark Eden
7: Tracy interrupts Steve and Karen's wedding (Episode 5693 (16th February 2004) and 5694 (16th February 2004)): Simon Gregson, Suranne Jones
6: Les and Cilla's love tub (Episode 5892 (17th November 2004)): Wendi Peters
5: The death of Mike Baldwin (Episode 6265 (7th April 2006)): William Roache, Johnny Briggs, Barbara Knox
4: Tracy kills Charlie Stubbs (Episode 6467 (12th January 2007) and 6468 (12th January 2007)): Kate Ford
3: Tony Gordon burns down Underworld (Episode 7356 (9th June 2010)): Gray O'Brien, Alison King, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Dayle Evans-Kar (First Assistant Director)
2: The reign of Richard Hillman (2001): Brian Capron, Helen Worth, John Friend Newman
1: Blanche visits the alcoholics' support group (Episode 7124 (20th July 2009)): Jonathan Harvey, Chris Gascoyne, Anne Kirkbride, Antony Cotton, William Roache, Kieran Roberts

The programmes were narrated by Victoria Wood, Mark Robinson was the executive producer and Kerry Allison and Vicky Thomas jointly produced and directed. The first instalment gained 5,750,000 viewers and was 30th in the viewing charts for the week, while the second instalment had 6,750,000 viewers and was 25th placed.

The first instalment was repeated on ITV2 on Wednesday 8th December at 1.00am and the second on the same channel at 11.45pm on 9th December. The two instalments were given further repeats on the same channel on Saturday 11th December 2010 at 7.00pm and 8.00pm respectively.