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Coronation Street is a British soap opera which chronicles the lives of the residents of a backstreet terrace in Weatherfield, a fictional town in the north of England. Created by Tony Warren and produced by Granada Television and then ITV plc for the country's main commercial network, it was first transmitted on 9th December 1960 and is the world's longest-running television drama series.

EPISODES

Read about every episode from 1960 to the present day

CHARACTERS

Full biographies of your favourite characters

CAST AND CREW

Learn more about the people who bring Coronation Street to our screens

PLACES

Explore the world of Coronation Street

~ 2005 ~

Ray dies party — *Coronation Street* ties up a 27-year loose end with the reappearance and death of Ray Langton

Three members of the Harris family were written out in a dark storyline in which diabetic Katy Harris bludgeoned her father Tommy to death with a wrench and then committed suicide by drinking water mixed with sugar. Angela Harris took the blame for her daughter's crime at first and went to prison for perverting the course of justice when the truth emerged. Only Craig remained, now in the care of his grandfather Keith Appleyard. Producer Tony Wood had decided to axe Craig's family when he joined Coronation Street in 2004. The plan was for Martin Platt to fall for another teenage girl only to find out after they got together that she was under sixteen. Sean Wilson refused to perform the storyline, and after discussions between Wilson and the producers the plot was scrapped and Wilson left the programme by mutual agreement. Martin last appeared in November when he went to live with his girlfriend Robyn in Liverpool.

Ray Langton returned from Holland to rekindle his relationship with Tracy before succumbing to terminal stomach cancer. Discounting a cameo appearance in the 1997 VHS-exclusive spin-off Viva Las Vegas! (the events of which were ignored), Ray hadn't appeared since 1978. Neville Buswell returned to the country and the profession to record his scenes, having given up acting when he left the series.

To celebrate 60 years of Coronation Street on television, we're going through the programme's entire history a year at a time. The full version of this article can be found here. Check back tomorrow for 2006!

1 | Hilda Ogden

Profile: The devoted wife of Stan, Hilda and her husband were the roughnecks of Coronation Street and had frequent clashes with their neighbours. Except for the rare social occasions, Hilda wore her hair in curlers and a headscarf. She was the street's principal gossip and revelled in spreading it around, particularly if it could cause trouble. As a result, she had no real friends in the street, and the neighbours treated her and Stan like a joke - a fact which greatly upset Hilda. As part of her continuing quest to gain the respect and envy of the neighbours, Hilda erected a mural on No.13's parlour wall. She also considered herself a skilled clairvoyant, and offered teacup readings for a fee. Hilda was widowed when Stan died from a heart attack in 1984. She lived at No.13 for three more years, taking in Kevin Webster and his girlfriend Sally Seddon as lodgers. In 1987, she moved to Derbyshire to keep house for Doctor Lowther.
Did you know? At the peak of Hilda's popularity, character and actress gained a number of accolades, including being named as the fourth most recognisable woman in the UK after the Queen, Queen Mother and Diana in a 1982 poll and, more oddly, prompting Michael Parkinson, Russell Harty and Sir John Betjeman to form the British League for Hilda Ogden, with Laurence Olivier as its president.

Played by: Jean Alexander

...that Anthony Schaeffer holds the current record of most roles in the programme with fifteen credited to date?
...that the first episode of the programme ever transmitted that did not feature any of the original cast members from 1960 was Episode 1428 (23rd September 1974)?
...that Stanley Wood, who wrote Episode 1237 (22nd November 1972), was the father of comedian Victoria Wood?
...that in Episode 1183 (17th May 1972), the character of Rita Bates gave her maiden name as "Foster" and not the later-established "Littlewood"?
...that although the character of Armistead Caldwell had died in 1935, his voice was heard in Episode 1256 (29th January 1973)?
...that the first ever repeat of an episode of Coronation Street was on Friday 10th February 1961 when strike action prevented the transmission of that night's edition and Episode 1 was shown in its place?

"You haven't heard about the time she used real toads in Toad In The Hole? And poor Jack's never been the same since she did coq au vin..."
Kevin Webster about Vera Duckworth's cooking

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Current week Mon 15th Apr (20.00) Wed 17th Apr (20.00) Fri 19th Apr (20.00)


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Mon 8th Apr	Mon • Wed • Fri
Wed 10th Apr	20.00 - 21.00
Fri 12th Apr

This week on : Episode 5841 (8th September 2004) to Episode 5850 (20th September 2004)

19 April — Les Battersby shows his pleasure at having contributed to Hayley Patterson's happiness

19th April 1999: On the eve of her wedding to Roy Cropper, Hayley Patterson was despondent that none of her friends seemed bothered about a hen night but she was delighted when the girls took her round to 5 Coronation Street and unveiled a party with plenty of food and drink to consume and - a special gift - a train specially made in Underworld to go with her wedding dress. Far less happy when he returned home after the party was Les Battersby who found that his house had been used as a venue for "that freak" but that was nothing compared to when Janice gleefully told him that she had sold his prized record collection to pay for the party. Les swore vengeance...