Coronation Street in 1980

1980 was Coronation Street's twenty-first year.

Main characters[]

Ranking	Character	Played by	Duration	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1	Len Fairclough	Peter Adamson	Full year	83	1572	1
2	Annie Walker	Doris Speed	Full year	76	1523	11
3	Elsie Tanner	Patricia Phoenix	Full year	73	1377	3
4	Ivy Tilsley	Lynne Perrie	Full year	71	203	2
4	Eddie Yeats	Geoffrey Hughes	Full year	71	312	16
6	Hilda Ogden	Jean Alexander	Full year	69	1125	5
7	Fred Gee	Fred Feast	Full year	67	284	16
8	Rita Fairclough	Barbara Knox	Full year	66	587	7
9	Alf Roberts	Bryan Mosley	Full year	65	620	14
10	Bet Lynch	Julie Goodyear	Full year	64	746	19
11	Betty Turpin	Betty Driver	Full year	63	813	8
11	Mavis Riley	Thelma Barlow	Full year	63	421	18
13	Emily Bishop	Eileen Derbyshire	Full year	61	1126	21
13	Gail Tilsley	Helen Worth	Full year	61	344	3
13	Stan Ogden	Bernard Youens	Full year	61	1038	11
16	Bert Tilsley	Peter Dudley	Full year	60	107	14
17	Ken Barlow	William Roache	Full year	59	1325	13
18	Deirdre Langton	Anne Kirkbride	Full year	58	460	8
19	Mike Baldwin	Johnny Briggs	Full year	54	228	19
20	Brian Tilsley	Christopher Quinten	Full year	51	102	8
21	Albert Tatlock	Jack Howarth	Full year	45	1151	24
22	Tracy Langton	Christabel Finch	Full year	40	138	26
23	Arnold Swain	George Waring	April to December	39	39	-
24	Vera Duckworth	Elizabeth Dawn	January to June and August to October	38	109	26
25	Renee Roberts	Madge Hindle	Until July	37	237	21
26	Martin Cheveski	Jonathan Caplan	June to December	34	34	-
27	Ida Clough	Helene Palmer	January to June and August to October	31	61	28
28	Audrey Potter	Sue Nicholls	May to June, September to October and December	14	22	29
29	Ena Sharples	Violet Carson	Until April	5	1136	25
30	Susan Barlow	Suzy Paterson	January and April	3	30	33

Production[]

2000th special — *TV Times* special cover

Bill Podmore, producer since 1976, continued in the role for another year. His most noteworthy casting decision of 1980 was the axing of Madge Hindle's character Renee Roberts, Corner Shop proprietress and wife of Alf Roberts. Podmore was dissatisfied with Renee and Alf's "humdrum" marriage and so, in order to keep Alf, Renee was given a memorable death in a dramatic car crash in a country lane. As the quintessential English grocer, Alf would remain at the shop until 1993, with Deirdre Langton as his new assistant.

Violet Carson made her final appearance as Ena Sharples in April. Carson had struggled with ill health for some time and throughout the late 1970s Ena was regularly written out, with Carson returning to the role when she was able. In Episode 1983, Ena made a low-key departure from Weatherfield - deciding she'd had quite enough of Albert Tatlock's hospitality while the builders worked on her flat, she swapped the smoky skies of Weatherfield for the sea air at her usual retreat, Lytham St Annes. She was expected to make a comeback but Carson's health worsened later in the year and she never returned to filming. The Community Centre flat, freshly rebuilt in brick on the Grape Street set, would lie empty for a year.

Two actors joined the programme as short-term regulars. Arnold Swain was the owner of a pet shop who romanced Emily Bishop, marrying her in September only for Emily to then find out that he was already married. Actor George Waring wasn't aware that his character was a bigamist when he was cast. The other was Martin Cheveski, Elsie Tanner's grandson who stayed with his gran for the latter six months of the year while working as Len Fairclough's new apprentice at the yard. The character of Martin was invented purely for the storyline, contradicting earlier episodes which clearly establish the Cheveskis as having only one son, Paul.

In addition to these, Suzy Paterson made three further appearances as Susan Barlow as did Sue Nicholls as Audrey Potter, who prepared to become a grandmother for the first time. Nicky Tilsley, son of Gail and Brian, was born on New Year's Eve but did not appear until 1981.

In the realm of locations, Dawson's Cafe was bought over by Jim Sedgewick, who turned it into a trucker's cafe and hired Elsie Tanner as manageress. Like Joe Dawson before him, Sedgewick only appeared a few times and served mostly as the unseen landlord of Jim's Cafe.

Coronation Street reached two milestones in 1980. In June, to celebrate the 2000th episode, a cast party was specially convened on the Grape Street set which was covered by the TV Times special Coronation Street 2000. Priced 60p, it featured on the cover Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Ken Barlow and Albert Tatlock watching Tracy Langton struggling to blow the candles out on the 2000th commemorative cake (pictured above). This was supposedly one of the last times that Violet Carson donned her costume in the character of Ena Sharples. The other milestone, the 20th anniversary on 9th December, went unmarked.

Viewing figures[]

On average, ratings were equal to or slightly above 1979 levels. Seven months saw average ratings climb from the previous year, with a particularly strong showing in the last quarter of the year, which saw an increase of two million viewers on the same period in 1979. March to May lost viewers, with April falling nearly two million viewers on the previous year. The average viewing figure for the year was 15.45 million viewers, with ratings peaking with 19 million viewers for Episode 2053 on 3rd December (in which Emily - and the viewers - learn of Arnold's bigamy).

Fourteen episodes reached the top of the weekly rankings - an increase from eleven in 1979, and the most since 1971; after varying levels of success in the charts throughout the 1970s, Coronation Street began the new decade in its most consistently strong position in nearly ten years.

Episodes[]

#	Ep. No.	Date	Writer	Director	Viewing Figures	Chart Position
1	1957	Wednesday 2nd January	H.V. Kershaw	Richard Holthouse	18,500,000	2
2	1958	Monday 7th January	Adele Rose	Laurence Moody	16,350,000	7
3	1959	Wednesday 9th January	Barry Hill	Laurence Moody	18,050,000	2
4	1960	Monday 14th January	Tony Perrin	Malcolm Taylor	16,900,000	6
5	1961	Wednesday 16th January	H.V. Kershaw	Malcolm Taylor	17,800,000	5
6	1962	Monday 21st January	Peter Whalley	Alan Bromly	17,600,000	4
7	1963	Wednesday 23rd January	Barry Hill	Alan Bromly	16,400,000	7
8	1964	Monday 28th January	Adele Rose	Richard Holthouse	17,650,000	8
9	1965	Wednesday 30th January	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	18,250,000	5
10	1966	Monday 4th February	Leslie Duxbury	Malcolm Taylor	17,300,000	7
11	1967	Wednesday 6th February	Leslie Duxbury	Malcolm Taylor	18,400,000	5
12	1968	Monday 11th February	John Stevenson	Laurence Moody	16,650,000	5
13	1969	Wednesday 13th February	John Stevenson	Laurence Moody	17,300,000	3
14	1970	Monday 18th February	H.V. Kershaw	Alan Bromly	15,600,000	8
15	1971	Wednesday 20th February	Alec Baron	Alan Bromly	17,000,000	5
16	1972	Monday 25th February	Adele Rose	Richard Holthouse	15,643,000	8
17	1973	Wednesday 27th February	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	16,446,000	6
18	1974	Monday 3rd March	Leslie Duxbury	Paul Bernard	16,004,000	7
19	1975	Wednesday 5th March	Alan Downer	Paul Bernard	16,968,000	5
20	1976	Monday 10th March	Leslie Duxbury	Roger Jenkins	16,239,000	n/k
21	1977	Wednesday 12th March	Adele Rose	Roger Jenkins	15,996,000	n/k
22	1978	Monday 17th March	Barry Hill	Richard Holthouse	15,844,000	7
23	1979	Wednesday 19th March	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	16,309,000	6
24	1980	Monday 24th March	Peter Whalley	Paul Bernard	16,562,000	7
25	1981	Wednesday 26th March	Tony Perrin	Paul Bernard	18,077,000	2
26	1982	Monday 31st March	Tony Perrin	Roger Jenkins	15,887,000	4
27	1983	Wednesday 2nd April	Barry Hill	Roger Jenkins	17,861,000	2
28	1984	Monday 7th April	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	7,608,000	n/k
29	1985	Wednesday 9th April	Adele Rose	Richard Holthouse	16,337,000	3
30	1986	Monday 14th April	H.V. Kershaw	Ronald Fouracre	14,978,000	4
31	1987	Wednesday 16th April	Leslie Duxbury	Ronald Fouracre	17,120,000	3
32	1988	Monday 21st April	Adele Rose	Roger Jenkins	14,572,000	5
33	1989	Wednesday 23rd April	Julian Roach	Roger Jenkins	16,252,000	1
34	1990	Monday 28th April	Barry Hill	Richard Holthouse	14,591,000	3
35	1991	Wednesday 30th April	Leslie Duxbury	Richard Holthouse	15,380,000	2
36	1992	Monday 5th May	Alan Downer	John Michael Phillips	10,244,000	n/k
37	1993	Wednesday 7th May	H.V. Kershaw	John Michael Phillips	14,366,000	3
38	1994	Monday 12th May	H.V. Kershaw	Malcolm Taylor	13,054,000	2
39	1995	Wednesday 14th May	Adele Rose	Malcolm Taylor	11,368,000	11
40	1996	Monday 19th May	Tony Perrin	Richard Holthouse	12,769,000	5
41	1997	Wednesday 21st May	Leslie Duxbury	Richard Holthouse	15,150,000	1
42	1998	Monday 26th May	Leslie Duxbury	Alan Grint	11,850,000	8
43	1999	Wednesday 28th May	John Stevenson	Alan Grint	16,000,000	3
44	2000	Monday 2nd June	H.V. Kershaw	Malcolm Taylor	14,000,000	2
45	2001	Wednesday 4th June	Peter Whalley	Malcolm Taylor	13,950,000	3
46	2002	Monday 9th June	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	13,400,000	5
47	2003	Wednesday 11th June	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	13,650,000	4
48	2004	Monday 16th June	Tony Perrin	Matthew Robinson	13,700,000	2
49	2005	Wednesday 18th June	Leslie Duxbury	Matthew Robinson	13,950,000	1
50	2006	Monday 23rd June	Alan Downer	Malcolm Taylor	14,000,000	2
51	2007	Wednesday 25th June	John Stevenson	Malcolm Taylor	14,650,000	1
52	2008	Monday 30th June	Leslie Duxbury	Chris Lovett	14,700,000	1
53	2009	Wednesday 2nd July	Leslie Duxbury	Chris Lovett	13,650,000	2
54	2010	Monday 7th July	H.V. Kershaw	Brian Lennane	12,400,000	4
55	2011	Wednesday 9th July	Julian Roach	Brian Lennane	13,800,000	1
56	2012	Monday 14th July	Barry Hill	Stephen Butcher	12,850,000	3
57	2013	Wednesday 16th July	John Stevenson	Stephen Butcher	13,350,000	1
58	2014	Monday 21st July	Peter Whalley	Chris Lovett	10,000,000	7
59	2015	Wednesday 23rd July	Tony Perrin	Chris Lovett	9,750,000	10
60	2016	Monday 28th July	H.V. Kershaw	Ken Grieve	10,900,000	10
61	2017	Wednesday 30th July	Leslie Duxbury	Ken Grieve	12,550,000	1
62	2018	Monday 4th August	H.V. Kershaw	Stephen Butcher	11,900,000	3
63	2019	Wednesday 6th August	H.V. Kershaw	Stephen Butcher	12,850,000	1
64	2020	Monday 11th August	Leslie Duxbury	Oliver Horsbrugh	12,350,000	3
65	2021	Wednesday 13th August	Tony Perrin	Oliver Horsbrugh	12,500,000	2
66	2022	Monday 18th August	Julian Roach	Ken Grieve	12,500,000	1
67	2023	Wednesday 20th August	John Stevenson	Ken Grieve	12,300,000	3
68	2024	Monday 25th August	Leslie Duxbury	Stephen Butcher	10,350,000	17
69	2025	Wednesday 27th August	Peter Whalley	Stephen Butcher	12,100,000	3
70	2026	Monday 1st September	Tony Perrin	Richard Holthouse	13,550,000	8
71	2027	Wednesday 3rd September	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	15,600,000	2
72	2028	Monday 8th September	Barry Hill	Ken Grieve	14,350,000	6
73	2029	Wednesday 10th September	H.V. Kershaw	Ken Grieve	15,700,000	3
74	2030	Monday 15th September	Leslie Duxbury	Stephen Butcher	15,250,000	6
75	2031	Wednesday 17th September	Barry Hill	Stephen Butcher	16,450,000	2
76	2032	Monday 22nd September	Peter Whalley	Richard Holthouse	15,500,000	7
77	2033	Wednesday 24th September	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	16,800,000	4
78	2034	Monday 29th September	John Stevenson	Oliver Horsbrugh	15,600,000	7
79	2035	Wednesday 1st October	John Stevenson	Oliver Horsbrugh	17,600,000	2
80	2036	Monday 6th October	H.V. Kershaw	Stephen Butcher	17,050,000	4
81	2037	Wednesday 8th October	Leslie Duxbury	Stephen Butcher	18,200,000	3
82	2038	Monday 13th October	Peter Whalley	John Michael Phillips	16,750,000	4
83	2039	Wednesday 15th October	Dave Simpson	John Michael Phillips	17,650,000	2
84	2040	Monday 20th October	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	15,900,000	6
85	2041	Wednesday 22nd October	Tony Perrin	Richard Holthouse	18,300,000	2
86	2042	Monday 27th October	Leslie Duxbury	Oliver Horsbrugh	16,650,000	6
87	2043	Wednesday 29th October	H.V. Kershaw	Oliver Horsbrugh	17,900,000	2
88	2044	Monday 3rd November	H.V. Kershaw	Stephen Butcher	17,150,000	7
89	2045	Wednesday 5th November	Peter Whalley	Stephen Butcher	17,500,000	4
90	2046	Monday 10th November	Tony Perrin	Richard Holthouse	16,600,000	7
91	2047	Wednesday 12th November	Leslie Duxbury	Richard Holthouse	17,400,000	3
92	2048	Monday 17th November	John Stevenson	Oliver Horsbrugh	17,450,000	7
93	2049	Wednesday 19th November	Leslie Duxbury	Oliver Horsbrugh	18,750,000	3
94	2050	Monday 24th November	Leslie Duxbury	Stephen Butcher	17,250,000	8
95	2051	Wednesday 26th November	Barry Hill	Stephen Butcher	18,550,000	3
96	2052	Monday 1st December	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	17,050,000	7
97	2053	Wednesday 3rd December	Peter Whalley	Richard Holthouse	19,000,000	1
98	2054	Monday 8th December	H.V. Kershaw	Brian Mills	18,900,000	1
99	2055	Wednesday 10th December	Julian Roach	Brian Mills	18,100,000	2
100	2056	Monday 15th December	H.V. Kershaw	Stephen Butcher	17,700,000	1
101	2057	Wednesday 17th December	Adele Rose	Stephen Butcher	17,400,000	3
102	2058	Monday 22nd December	Tony Perrin	Richard Holthouse	16,750,000	6
103	2059	Wednesday 24th December	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	15,700,000	8
104	2060	Monday 29th December	John Stevenson	Brian Mills	18,150,000	1
105	2061	Wednesday 31st December	Leslie Duxbury	Brian Mills	16,500,000	5

Storylines[]

Who lives where[]

Coronation Street

Rovers Return Inn - Annie Walker and Fred Gee.
1 Coronation Street - Albert Tatlock and Ken Barlow.
3 Coronation Street - Emily Bishop. Deirdre and Tracy Langton (until September). Arnold Swain (from September to December).
5 Coronation Street - Bert and Ivy Tilsley. Brian and Gail Tilsley (until August).
9 Coronation Street - Len. Rita Fairclough (until February, then from March onwards).
11 Coronation Street - Elsie Tanner. Dan Johnson (from March to April). Martin Cheveski (from June to December).
13 Coronation Street - Hilda and Stan Ogden. Eddie Yeats (from July).
Corner Shop (No.15) - Renee Roberts (until July). Alf Roberts.
Corner Shop bedsit - Bet Lynch (until April). Deirdre and Tracy Langton (from September).
Community Centre flat - Ena Sharples (until February).

Rosamund Street

The Kabin flat - Mavis Riley.

Others

Brookhouse Hotel - Mike Baldwin (Long-term room).
5 Buxton Close - Brian and Gail Tilsley (from August).
37 Hillside Crescent - Betty Turpin. Bet Lynch (April only).
20 Inkerman Street - Jack and Vera Duckworth.
Ludlow Avenue - Bet Lynch (from April).

Awards and nominations[]

TV Times Awards

Announced in the issue of 31st May to 6th June 1980

Hall of Fame: Violet Carson

Variety Club of Great Britain

Silver Heart Award for the programme

Coronation Street in the 1980s
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