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Logo 1975

1975 was Coronation Street's sixteenth year.

Main characters[]

Ranking Character Played by Duration Number of Episodes Running total Previous year's ranking
1 Len Fairclough Peter Adamson Full year 84 1198 2
1 Ray Langton Neville Buswell Full year 84 581 5
3 Bet Lynch Julie Goodyear Full year 83 418 3
4 Betty Turpin Betty Driver Full year 82 495 1
5 Rita Littlewood Barbara Mullaney Full year 77 272 4
6 Hilda Ogden Jean Alexander Full year 71 790 14
7 Deirdre Hunt/Langton Anne Kirkbride Full year 70 170 10
8 Ken Barlow William Roache Full year 68 1022 8
9 Annie Walker Doris Speed Full year 67 1200 5
10 Alf Roberts Bryan Mosley Full year 66 332 12
11 Ernest Bishop Stephen Hancock Full year 62 291 14
12 Blanche Hunt Maggie Jones Full year 61 73 27
13 Tricia Hopkins Kathy Jones Full year 60 93 23
14 Emily Bishop Eileen Derbyshire Full year 58 852 11
15 Jerry Booth Graham Haberfield Until October 57 651 7
16 Stan Ogden Bernard Youens Until November 56 757 13
17 Minnie Caldwell Margot Bryant Full year 54 983 16
17 Mavis Riley Thelma Barlow Full year 54 143 16
19 Albert Tatlock Jack Howarth Full year 51 914 18
20 Ena Sharples Violet Carson From March 40 986 26
20 Eddie Yeats Geoffrey Hughes January and March to September 40 42 32
22 Gail Potter Helen Worth Full year except for January, May, July and November 37 47 28
23 Billy Walker Kenneth Farrington Until May 28 325 8
24 Gordon Clegg Bill Kenwright January to February and October to November 9 91 29
25 Janet Barlow Judith Barker January to February and September 8 68 24
26 Ivy Tilsley Lynne Perrie April and September to October 7 35 29
27 Idris Hopkins Richard Davies Until February 6 44 20
27 Vera Hopkins Kathy Staff Until February 6 31 24
27 Granny Hopkins Jessie Evans Until February 6 42 21
30 Peter Barlow Linus Roache April only 4 29 35
30 Alec Gilroy Roy Barraclough April to May 4 6 -
32 Fred Gee Fred Feast September to October 3 3 -
33 Maggie Cooke Irene Sutcliffe January only 2 414 19
33 Concepta Regan Doreen Keogh December only 2 317 -

Production[]

Ray deirdre wedding 1975

Ray Langton and Deirdre Hunt tie the knot in Coronation Street's sixth on-screen wedding ceremony

1975 covered the middle part of Susi Hush's two-year stewardship of Coronation Street. Eric Prytherch and Leslie Duxbury produced episodes 1506 and 1507 and episodes 1528 to 1534 respectively, with Hush in charge for the rest of the year.

The programme's fifteenth anniversary passed without comment on-screen, but nonetheless it was an eventful year. In October, a major storyline was screened in which the Mark Brittain Warehouse was accidentally set alight by a gang of miscreant schoolboys, starting an inferno which claimed the life of Edna Gee and caused the Street to be evacuated. The warehouse fire was the most ambitious yet attempted, with Edna being engulfed in a wall of flames and a heavy use of pyrotechnics and smoke effects, outdoing previous studio efforts. Episode 1536, set in the aftermath of the fire, was the first script written by Tony Warren since 1969. Warren re-joined the writing staff at this time, penning three more scripts by March 1976. The storyline marked the end of the warehouse as a going concern, though the building's outer shell remained.

Edna and Ivy Tilsley's husbands Fred Gee and Jack Tilsley appeared for the first time ahead of the fire, played by Fred Feast and Bert Gaunt respectively. While Feast would return in the same role as a regular the following year, Jack Tilsley would never be mentioned again and his existence outright contradicted by Ivy's longstanding marriage to Bert, as established in 1979.

Three episodes went unrecorded in May and June due to a strike by the ACTT union. These episodes had already been assigned production codes, and therefore are included in Granada's episode numbering. An episode was also dropped later in the year on Monday 22nd December, when a Christmas-themed clip show later known by the title Annie and Betty's Coronation Street Memories was shown in Coronation Street's slot. Episode 1549 also went unmade for some unknown reason, with Episode 1548 being made in its own studio session.

A new title sequence debuted in Episode 1500 on 11th June, notable for being the first to incorporate the programme's outdoor set. Although it was swiftly replaced in 1976, the footage of Salford captured for the sequence was used in the programme until well into the 1990s.

Having failed to meet expectations, the Hopkins family were written out at the end of the Gordon Clegg parentage storyline, with only Kathy Jones kept on. Tricia Hopkins maintained a large role, particularly in comedic storylines alongside Helen Worth's Gail Potter as the girls moved into the Corner Shop flat. With Gordon acting as their landlord, Bill Kenwright made further guest appearances in 1975 and 1976, while Maggie Cooke was seen for the last time in January after telling Gordon that Betty Turpin was his real mother. The Corner Shop itself was taken over by Blanche Hunt.

Other cast changes included Geoffrey Hughes reprising Eddie Yeats for a longer stint following his successful 1974 debut, guest appearances by Judith Barker as Janet Barlow, Linus Roache as Peter Barlow, and Roy Barraclough as Alec Gilroy, Doreen Keogh's swansong as Coronation Street original Concepta Regan, and another exit by Kenneth Farrington as Billy Walker, his third of the decade. Unlike with the two previous departures, Farrington had no immediate plans to return to the role. The actor had tentatively agreed to sign for a year so that Billy could marry Deirdre Hunt, but the agreed contract was never put to him and he later changed his mind, only signing for a few weeks so that writers could devise an exit for Billy. Due to the last-minute nature of his resignation, the plans for Billy and Deirdre's wedding were altered so that Deirdre would marry Ray Langton instead. Billy then left to work in a bar in Jersey.

On 17th October, Graham Haberfield passed away at the young age of 33, suffering a fatal heart attack as a result of a liver condition. Out of respect to Haberfield's family, his character Jerry Booth was killed off without fanfare in Episode 1546 and his funeral in the following episode was a low-key affair.

Stan Ogden was absent for two months after November when Bernard Youens suffered a minor stroke which left his speech slightly impaired.

Viewing figures[]

1975 ratings

Ratings chart for the year

The average rating fell slightly from 1974's figure to 15.46 million viewers, a drop of 100,000 viewers. Five months rose year-on-year, mostly in the first half of the year, although none of the climbs or falls exceeded a million viewers.

The highest rated episode of the year was Episode 1464 on 29th January, which was seen in 8.75 million homes (translating to 19.25 million viewers). This was the highest peak in a year since 1970. In the weekly viewing charts, five episodes reached the top spot, while five episodes failed to make the top twenty.

Episodes[]

# Ep.
No.
Date Writer Director Viewing
Figures
(homes/
viewers)
Chart
Position
1 1456 Wednesday 1st January H.V. Kershaw June Wyndham Davies 7,450,000
16,390,000
6
2 1457 Monday 6th January Kay McManus June Wyndham Davies 7,550,000
16,610,000
9
3 1458 Wednesday 8th January Brian Finch Brian Mills 7,850,000
17,270,000
6
4 1459 Monday 13th January Julian Roach Brian Mills 7,600,000
16,720,000
9
5 1460 Wednesday 15th January Leslie Duxbury Oliver Horsbrugh 7,900,000
17,380,000
6
6 1461 Monday 20th January Adele Rose Oliver Horsbrugh 7,800,000
17,160,000
9
7 1462 Wednesday 22nd January Leslie Duxbury Ken Grieve 8,300,000
18,260,000
3
8 1463 Monday 27th January Barry Hill Ken Grieve 7,900,000
17,380,000
8
9 1464 Wednesday 29th January Julian Roach Brian Mills 8,750,000
19,250,000
3
10 1465 Monday 3rd February Brian Finch Brian Mills 8,000,000
17,600,000
8
11 1466 Wednesday 5th February Adele Rose Keith Hack 8,300,000
18,260,000
4
12 1467 Monday 10th February H.V. Kershaw Keith Hack 7,900,000
17,380,000
6
13 1468 Wednesday 12th February Leo Knowles Ken Grieve 8,250,000
18,150,000
3
14 1469 Monday 17th February Brian Finch Ken Grieve 7,900,000
17,380,000
5
15 1470 Wednesday 19th February Julian Roach Peter Plummer 7,750,000
17,050,000
7
16 1471 Monday 24th February Leslie Duxbury Peter Plummer 7,700,000
16,940,000
6
17 1472 Wednesday 26th February H.V. Kershaw Keith Hack 8,400,000
18,480,000
2
18 1473 Monday 3rd March Janey Preger Keith Hack 7,650,000
16,830,000
7
19 1474 Wednesday 5th March Leslie Duxbury Ken Grieve 7,500,000
16,500,000
9
20 1475 Monday 10th March Leo Knowles Ken Grieve 7,600,000
16,720,000
10
21 1476 Wednesday 12th March Brian Finch Quentin Lawrence 8,000,000
17,600,000
4
22 1477 Monday 17th March H.V. Kershaw Quentin Lawrence 7,550,000
16,610,000
7
23 1478 Wednesday 19th March Julian Roach Keith Hack 8,250,000
18,150,000
4
24 1479 Monday 24th March Adele Rose Keith Hack 7,600,000
16,720,000
4
25 1480 Wednesday 26th March H.V. Kershaw Ken Grieve 7,650,000
16,830,000
3
26 1481 Monday 31st March Adele Rose Ken Grieve 6,086,000
13,389,200
17
27 1482 Wednesday 2nd April Julian Roach June Wyndham Davies 7,921,000
17,426,200
4
28 1483 Monday 7th April H.V. Kershaw June Wyndham Davies 7,657,000
16,845,400
9
29 1484 Wednesday 9th April Leslie Duxbury Keith Hack 7,641,000
16,810,200
n/k
30 1485 Monday 14th April Barry Hill Keith Hack 7,192,000
15,822,400
11
31 1486 Wednesday 16th April Kay McManus Ken Grieve 7,628,000
16,781,600
4
32 1487 Monday 21st April Leo Knowles Ken Grieve 7,251,000
15,952,200
6
33 1488 Wednesday 23rd April H.V. Kershaw June Wyndham Davies 7,100,000
15,620,000
10
34 1489 Monday 28th April Adele Rose June Wyndham Davies 7,331,000
16,128,200
9
35 1490 Wednesday 30th April Leslie Duxbury Bill Podmore 7,665,000
16,863,000
4
36 1491 Monday 5th May Julian Roach Bill Podmore 6,946,000
15,281,200
13
37 1492 Wednesday 7th May Julian Roach Colin Cant 8,336,000
18,339,200
4
38 1493 Monday 12th May H.V. Kershaw Colin Cant 7,409,000
16,299,800
7
39 1494 Wednesday 14th May Leslie Duxbury June Wyndham Davies 7,188,000
15,813,600
11
40 1495 Monday 19th May Tim Aspinall June Wyndham Davies 6,174,000
13,582,800
n/k
41 1496 Wednesday 21st May Adele Rose Eric Prytherch 6,661,000
14,654,200
18
42 1497 Monday 2nd June Brian Finch Eric Prytherch 6,298,000
13,855,600
10
43 1498 Wednesday 4th June Brian Finch Derek Lister 6,533,000
14,372,600
4
44 1499 Monday 9th June Leo Knowles Derek Lister 5,926,000
13,037,200
9
45 1500 Wednesday 11th June H.V. Kershaw Ken Grieve 6,196,000
13,631,200
6
46 1501 Monday 16th June Leslie Duxbury Richard Everitt 6,493,000
14,284,600
9
47 1502 Wednesday 18th June Julian Roach Keith Hack 6,718,000
14,779,600
7
Episodes 1503, 1504 and 1505 were never recorded due to the 1975 ITV strike
48 1506 Monday 23rd June Julian Roach Oliver Horsbrugh 6,484,000
14,264,800
4
49 1507 Wednesday 25th June Kay McManus Oliver Horsbrugh 6,163,000
13,558,600
11
50 1508 Monday 30th June Leo Knowles Ronald Fouracre 6,200,000
13,640,000
6
51 1509 Wednesday 2nd July Leslie Duxbury Ronald Fouracre 6,150,000
13,530,000
8
52 1510 Monday 7th July Julian Roach Derek Lister 6,650,000
14,630,000
3
53 1511 Wednesday 9th July Leslie Duxbury Derek Lister 6,850,000
15,070,000
1
54 1512 Monday 14th July Adele Rose Keith Hack 6,900,000
15,180,000
1
55 1513 Wednesday 16th July Barry Hill Keith Hack 6,150,000
13,530,000
5
56 1514 Monday 21st July H.V. Kershaw Ken Grieve 6,300,000
13,860,000
7
57 1515 Wednesday 23rd July Brian Finch Ken Grieve 6,600,000
14,520,000
3
58 1516 Monday 28th July Brian Finch Derek Lister 5,593,000
12,304,600
8
59 1517 Wednesday 30th July Adele Rose Derek Lister 5,572,000
12,258,400
9
60 1518 Monday 4th August Leslie Duxbury June Howson 5,656,000
12,443,200
9
61 1519 Wednesday 6th August H.V. Kershaw June Howson 6,088,000
13,393,600
5
62 1520 Monday 11th August Julian Roach Ken Grieve 5,802,000
12,764,400
11
63 1521 Wednesday 13th August Kay McManus Ken Grieve 5,704,000
12,548,800
n/k
64 1522 Monday 18th August Janey Preger Derek Lister
Keith Hack
6,498,000
14,295,600
6
65 1523 Wednesday 20th August Brian Finch Derek Lister 6,581,000
14,478,200
3
66 1524 Monday 25th August H.V. Kershaw Richard Stroud 5,290,000
11,638,000
12
67 1525 Wednesday 27th August H.V. Kershaw Richard Stroud 5,435,000
11,957,000
10
68 1526 Monday 1st September Adele Rose Ken Grieve 5,750,000
12,650,000
20
69 1527 Wednesday 3rd September Leslie Duxbury Ken Grieve 5,900,000
12,980,000
17
70 1528 Monday 8th September Brian Finch Derek Lister 6,200,000
13,640,000
17
71 1529 Wednesday 10th September Leslie Duxbury Derek Lister 6,000,000
13,200,000
20
72 1530 Monday 15th September H.V. Kershaw Richard Stroud 6,350,000
13,970,000
15
73 1531 Wednesday 17th September Julian Roach Richard Stroud 6,000,000
13,200,000
19
74 1532 Monday 22nd September Leo Knowles Brian Mills 6,450,000
14,190,000
15
75 1533 Wednesday 24th September Adele Rose Brian Mills 6,200,000
13,640,000
20
76 1534 Monday 29th September Tim Aspinall Ken Grieve 6,545,000
14,399,000
17
77 1535 Wednesday 1st October Leslie Duxbury Ken Grieve 6,279,000
13,813,800
n/k
78 1536 Monday 6th October Tony Warren Richard Stroud 6,985,000
15,367,000
12
79 1537 Wednesday 8th October Julian Roach Richard Stroud 6,348,000
13,965,600
19
80 1538 Monday 13th October Kay McManus June Wyndham Davies 7,286,000
16,029,200
12
81 1539 Wednesday 15th October H.V. Kershaw June Wyndham Davies 6,333,000
13,932,600
20
82 1540 Monday 20th October Julian Roach Stephen Butcher 7,267,000
15,987,400
10
83 1541 Wednesday 22nd October Julian Roach Stephen Butcher 6,287,000
13,831,400
n/k
84 1542 Monday 27th October H.V. Kershaw Richard Stroud 7,500,000
16,500,000
11
85 1543 Wednesday 29th October Tim Aspinall Richard Stroud 7,350,000
16,170,000
14
86 1544 Monday 3rd November Kay McManus Brian Mills 7,550,000
16,610,000
7
87 1545 Wednesday 5th November Leslie Duxbury Brian Mills 6,800,000
14,960,000
13
88 1546 Monday 10th November Barry Hill Derek Lister 7,450,000
16,390,000
13
89 1547 Wednesday 12th November Brian Finch Derek Lister 7,700,000
16,940,000
10
90 1548 Monday 17th November H.V. Kershaw Richard Stroud 7,650,000
16,830,000
11
For reasons unknown, Episode 1549 was never recorded
91 1550 Wednesday 19th November Adele Rose Laurence Moody 7,650,000
16,830,000
11
92 1551 Monday 24th November Leslie Duxbury Laurence Moody 7,600,000
16,720,000
10
93 1552 Wednesday 26th November Adele Rose Derek Lister 7,550,000
16,610,000
11
94 1553 Monday 1st December Julian Roach Derek Lister 7,550,000
16,610,000
11
95 1554 Wednesday 3rd December H.V. Kershaw Richard Stroud 7,650,000
16,830,000
8
96 1555 Monday 8th December Tony Warren Richard Stroud 7,300,000
16,060,000
13
97 1556 Wednesday 10th December Leslie Duxbury Laurence Moody 7,800,000
17,160,000
6
98 1557 Monday 15th December Brian Finch Laurence Moody 7,400,000
16,280,000
14
99 1558 Wednesday 17th December Brian Finch Derek Lister 7,850,000
17,270,000
7
100 1559 Wednesday 24th December Julian Roach Derek Lister 6,150,000
13,530,000
11
101 1560 Monday 29th December Tony Warren Richard Stroud 7,700,000
16,940,000
2
102 1561 Wednesday 31st December H.V. Kershaw Richard Stroud 6,300,000
13,860,000
15

Storylines[]

Who lives where[]

Coronation Street

Rosamund Street

Victoria Street

Others

Coronation Street in the 1970s
1970197119721973197419751976197719781979
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