Coronation Street in 1981

1981 was Coronation Street's twenty-second year.

Main characters[]

Ranking	Character	Played by	Duration	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1	Elsie Tanner	Patricia Phoenix	Full year	82	1459	3
2	Len Fairclough	Peter Adamson	Full year	80	1652	1
2	Fred Gee	Fred Feast	Full year	80	364	7
4	Rita Fairclough	Barbara Knox	Full year	74	661	8
5	Ken Barlow	William Roache	Full year	73	1398	17
6	Bet Lynch	Julie Goodyear	Full year	72	818	10
7	Deirdre Langton/Barlow	Anne Kirkbride	Full year	70	530	18
7	Hilda Ogden	Jean Alexander	Full year	70	1195	6
9	Alf Roberts	Bryan Mosley	Full year	69	689	9
10	Bert Tilsley	Peter Dudley	Full year	68	175	16
11	Annie Walker	Doris Speed	Full year	68	1591	2
12	Mavis Riley	Thelma Barlow	Full year	64	485	11
13	Mike Baldwin	Johnny Briggs	Full year	62	290	19
13	Ivy Tilsley	Lynne Perrie	Full year	62	265	4
15	Albert Tatlock	Jack Howarth	Full year	58	1209	21
15	Betty Turpin	Betty Driver	Full year	58	871	11
15	Eddie Yeats	Geoffrey Hughes	Full year	58	370	4
18	Stan Ogden	Bernard Youens	Full year	56	1094	13
19	Eunice Nuttall/Gee	Meg Johnson	March to December	54	54	-
20	Emily Bishop	Eileen Derbyshire	Full year	53	1179	13
21	Brian Tilsley	Christopher Quinten	Full year	50	152	20
22	Gail Tilsley	Helen Worth	Full year	49	393	13
23	Tracy Langton	Christabel Finch	Full year	42	180	22
23	Nick Tilsley	Warren Jackson	January to June and August to November	42	42	-
25	Vera Duckworth	Elizabeth Dawn	January, March, May and from July	33	142	24
26	Audrey Potter	Sue Nicholls	January and September to November	24	46	28
27	Ida Clough	Helene Palmer	January, March and from July	23	84	27
28	Jack Duckworth	William Tarmey	May and August to September	8	10	-
29	Susan Barlow	Suzy Paterson	July only	4	34	30
29	Alma Sedgewick	Amanda Barrie	June to July	4	4	-
29	Blanche Hunt	Maggie Jones	July only	4	98	-
32	Arnold Swain	George Waring	March only	3	42	23

Production[]

Farewell Grape Street[]

Speed 1981 — Doris Speed marks the start of construction on the new set

Bill Podmore produced Coronation Street for the sixth year in a row. This would be the last in which Podmore alone was in charge from start to finish.

A decision was made to build a new outdoor set to replace the Grape Street set. Although it was still in good shape, the current backlot had a number of problems which could not be solved without building an entirely new street. The main one was its small scale, which was particularly glaring in shots featuring large vehicles. The tops of the houses couldn't be shown nor anything past the Rovers Return, as the roofs didn't have chimneys and a set of gates lay where Rosamund Street should be. In addition, there was a lack of drainage facilities for rainwater, and a bonded warehouse immediately behind the set constantly cast it in shadow. Finally, it was notorious among the cast for being cold and damp, with Jean Alexander dubbing it "the coldest place on Earth".

Late in the year, Granada purchased a former railway marshalling yard on the opposite side of the bonded warehouse at Tickle Street, Camp Street and Garden Court, for Coronation Street's new set. The build included the houses, Baldwin's Casuals, the Community Centre and flat, a purpose-built viaduct, and a section of Rosamund Street. The houses were built from bricks reclaimed from demolition sites, and the roofs - containing fibreglass chimneys - from reclaimed slates, though the cobbles were already in place. Construction began on 12th November, after a ceremony conducted by Doris Speed, and carried on into 1982.

A major change was made to the street when it was decided to replace the gap at the centre of the row with a new house. Within storylines, 7 Coronation Street had collapsed in 1965 and the space had been filled by a bench since 1967. In the present day, Len Fairclough bought the ground rent and began building the new property in the space. The story was timed so that Len would finish the job just as the programme transferred to the new set, which was built with a fully completed house. Although frequently referenced, the building work was never seen due to size restrictions at Grape Street.

Passing through[]

Like the last few years, long-term additions to the cast were few and far between. The only regular cast member who lasted the year was Warren Jackson as Nick Tilsley, baby son of Gail and Brian who was born the previous December. Sue Nicholls made several guest appearances as her character Audrey Potter became a grandmother. Audrey was also paired romantically with future husband Alf Roberts for the first time.

Fred Gee gained a wife in Eunice Nuttall, played by Meg Johnson. The Gees briefly worked as caretakers at the Community Centre until Eunice left Fred at the end of the year. This was the first time that another character had held Ena Sharples's position since the departure of Violet Carson from the programme.

Amanda Barrie was seen in four episodes as Alma Sedgewick, initially appearing as Elsie Tanner's overbearing boss at Jim's Cafe as she stood in for her ever-absent husband Jim Sedgewick. She would be seen occasionally before joining full-time in 1989.

Meanwhile, Emily Bishop's bigamy storyline was revisited in March when Arnold Swain re-surfaced and attempted to convince her to join him in a suicide pact. Arnold was later admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he received an off-screen death in December. Also, the Faircloughs became foster parents when Len and Rita took in 13-year-old John Spencer. This storyline would be taken further in 1982.

The wedding of Ken Barlow and Deirdre Langton in July featured appearances by Maggie Jones as Blanche Hunt and Suzy Paterson as Susan Barlow, with the latter playing her character for the last time before the previous actress, Wendy Jane Walker, stepped back into the role. Lastly, William Tarmey returned for a longer stint as Jack Duckworth following his 1979 introduction, testing the waters for his full-time role which would begin in 1983.

Viewing figures[]

Coronation Street continued to gain traction, increasing its overall rating for the third year in a row. Its average viewing figure was 15.88 million viewers, the second highest average of the decade after 1985, and the top rated episode - 2075 on 18th February which gained 20.8 million viewers - was the highest peak since 1977 and the first episode of the programme to gain more than twenty million viewers since 1978.

Across the year, the first eight months saw increases from the same months in 1980, with May, July and August gaining by more than 10%. In the weekly viewing charts, 32 episodes reached number one - 18 higher than in 1980, and the most since 1968.

An ongoing myth is that more viewers watched Episode 2120 (Ken and Deirdre's wedding) than tuned into the real-life Royal Wedding two days later of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. This story came about because the official television figures were for the average number of viewers throughout the duration of the state occasion. The wedding figures for the three channels' multi-hour coverage was 13,700,000 for BBC1, putting them in 3rd place, and 8,000,000 for ITV but the actual ceremony itself attracted 19,000,000 for BBC1, 9,000,000 for ITV and 400,000 on BBC2, which carried subtitles for the hard of hearing. In second place for the week was coverage of the Royal Fireworks on BBC1 on 28th July which garnered 15,100,000 viewers.

Episodes[]

#	Ep. No.	Date	Writer	Director	Viewing Figures	Chart Position
1	2062	Monday 5th January	Leslie Duxbury	Mary McMurray	18,300,000	4
2	2063	Wednesday 7th January	Barry Hill	Mary McMurray	19,750,000	2
3	2064	Monday 12th January	H.V. Kershaw	Stephen Butcher	17,600,000	2
4	2065	Wednesday 14th January	Dave Simpson	Stephen Butcher	18,100,000	1
5	2066	Monday 19th January	Adele Rose	Philip Draycott	17,050,000	3
6	2067	Wednesday 21st January	Julian Roach	Philip Draycott	17,400,000	2
7	2068	Monday 26th January	John Stevenson	John Michael Phillips	17,750,000	3
8	2069	Wednesday 28th January	Geoffrey Lancashire	John Michael Phillips	18,050,000	2
9	2070	Monday 2nd February	Peter Whalley	Stephen Butcher	17,100,000	3
10	2071	Wednesday 4th February	John Stevenson	Stephen Butcher	17,350,000	2
11	2072	Monday 9th February	H.V. Kershaw	Philip Draycott	17,250,000	3
12	2073	Wednesday 11th February	Tony Perrin	Philip Draycott	17,500,000	2
13	2074	Monday 16th February	Adele Rose	Nicholas Ferguson	17,600,000	4
14	2075	Wednesday 18th February	Leslie Duxbury	Nicholas Ferguson	20,800,000	1
15	2076	Monday 23rd February	Leslie Duxbury	John Michael Phillips	17,750,000	1
16	2077	Wednesday 25th February	H.V. Kershaw	John Michael Phillips	17,200,000	4
17	2078	Monday 2nd March	Barry Hill	Kenny McBain	18,050,000	3
18	2079	Wednesday 4th March	John Stevenson	Kenny McBain	18,400,000	2
19	2080	Monday 9th March	Julian Roach	Nicholas Ferguson	17,350,000	3
20	2081	Wednesday 11th March	Adele Rose	Nicholas Ferguson	17,500,000	2
21	2082	Monday 16th March	H.V. Kershaw	John Michael Phillips	17,750,000	3
22	2083	Wednesday 18th March	Peter Whalley	John Michael Phillips	19,000,000	1
23	2084	Monday 23rd March	H.V. Kershaw	Bill Gilmour	16,850,000	4
24	2085	Wednesday 25th March	Leslie Duxbury	Charles Kitchen	18,800,000	1
25	2086	Monday 30th March	Tony Perrin	David Carson	16,198,000	3
26	2087	Wednesday 1st April	John Stevenson	Nicholas Ferguson	16,860,000	2
27	2088	Monday 6th April	H.V. Kershaw	Jonathan Wright-Miller	15,182,000	5
28	2089	Wednesday 8th April	Barry Hill	Jonathan Wright-Miller	16,851,000	1
29	2090	Monday 13th April	Peter Whalley	Charles Kitchen	15,411,000	2
30	2091	Wednesday 15th April	Adele Rose	Charles Kitchen	15,402,000	3
31	2092	Monday 20th April	Leslie Duxbury	David Carson	9,345,000	n/k
32	2093	Wednesday 22nd April	Leslie Duxbury	David Carson	16,338,000	2
33	2094	Monday 27th April	Dave Simpson	Richard Holthouse	15,211,000	2
34	2095	Wednesday 29th April	Leslie Duxbury	Richard Holthouse	16,162,000	1
35	2096	Monday 4th May	Adele Rose	Charles Kitchen	15,629,000	2
36	2097	Wednesday 6th May	Barry Hill	Charles Kitchen	15,732,000	1
37	2098	Monday 11th May	H.V. Kershaw	David Carson	14,750,000	6
38	2099	Wednesday 13th May	Tony Perrin	David Carson	15,950,000	1
39	2100	Monday 18th May	H.V. Kershaw	Richard Holthouse	15,600,000	2
40	2101	Wednesday 20th May	Tony Perrin	Richard Holthouse	16,350,000	1
41	2102	Monday 25th May	Adele Rose	Charles Kitchen	10,850,000	20
42	2103	Wednesday 27th May	Leslie Duxbury	Charles Kitchen	11,750,000	11
43	2104	Monday 1st June	Peter Whalley	David Carson	13,900,000	4
44	2105	Wednesday 3rd June	Julian Roach	David Carson	14,800,000	2
45	2106	Monday 8th June	Tony Perrin	Gareth Jones	14,600,000	2
46	2107	Wednesday 10th June	Adele Rose	Gareth Jones	15,100,000	1
47	2108	Monday 15th June	H.V. Kershaw	Charles Kitchen	14,150,000	5
48	2109	Wednesday 17th June	H.V. Kershaw	Charles Kitchen	16,300,000	1
49	2110	Monday 22nd June	Barry Hill	Richard Holthouse	14,200,000	2
50	2111	Wednesday 24th June	Leslie Duxbury	Richard Holthouse	16,100,000	1
51	2112	Monday 29th June	H.V. Kershaw	John Michael Phillips	14,150,000	1
52	2113	Wednesday 1st July	Adele Rose	John Michael Phillips	13,850,000	2
53	2114	Monday 6th July	Barry Hill	Charles Kitchen	14,700,000	1
54	2115	Wednesday 8th July	Peter Whalley	Charles Kitchen	14,500,000	2
55	2116	Monday 13th July	Leslie Duxbury	Gareth Jones	14,750,000	2
56	2117	Wednesday 15th July	John Stevenson	Gareth Jones	15,100,000	1
57	2118	Monday 20th July	Barry Hill	John Michael Phillips	14,100,000	3
58	2119	Wednesday 22nd July	Tony Perrin	John Michael Phillips	15,250,000	1
59	2120	Monday 27th July	Leslie Duxbury	Charles Kitchen	15,350,000	1
60	2121	Wednesday 29th July	H.V. Kershaw	Charles Kitchen	12,200,000	5
61	2122	Monday 3rd August	Julian Roach	David Carson	13,400,000	2
62	2123	Wednesday 5th August	John Stevenson	David Carson	13,750,000	1
63	2124	Monday 10th August	H.V. Kershaw	Richard Holthouse	14,450,000	1
64	2125	Wednesday 12th August	Bob Mason	Richard Holthouse	13,900,000	2
65	2126	Monday 17th August	Adele Rose	Ken Grieve	14,150,000	3
66	2127	Wednesday 19th August	Tony Perrin	June Wyndham Davies	15,400,000	1
67	2128	Monday 24th August	Leslie Duxbury	David Carson	14,250,000	1
68	2129	Wednesday 26th August	John Stevenson	David Carson	13,150,000	3
69	2130	Monday 31st August	H.V. Kershaw	Richard Holthouse	11,820,000	10
70	2131	Wednesday 2nd September	Peter Whalley	Richard Holthouse	14,250,000	1
71	2132	Monday 7th September	John Stevenson	Gareth Jones	14,500,000	3
72	2133	Wednesday 9th September	Leslie Duxbury	Gareth Jones	14,150,000	4
73	2134	Monday 14th September	Tony Perrin	David Carson	15,750,000	1
74	2135	Wednesday 16th September	Julian Roach	David Carson	13,900,000	4
75	2136	Monday 21st September	Tony Perrin	Brian Mills	16,150,000	1
76	2137	Wednesday 23rd September	Adele Rose	Gareth Morgan	14,800,000	4
77	2138	Monday 28th September	H.V. Kershaw	Gareth Jones	15,100,000	4
78	2139	Wednesday 30th September	Barry Hill	Gareth Jones	15,900,000	2
79	2140	Monday 5th October	John Stevenson	Charles Kitchen	15,750,000	2
80	2141	Wednesday 7th October	Leslie Duxbury	Charles Kitchen	15,650,000	3
81	2142	Monday 12th October	Peter Whalley	Gareth Jones	16,600,000	2
82	2143	Wednesday 14th October	Leslie Duxbury	Brian Mills	16,650,000	1
83	2144	Monday 19th October	Leslie Duxbury	Gareth Jones	16,900,000	1
84	2145	Wednesday 21st October	Cliff Gerrard	Gareth Jones	16,800,000	2
85	2146	Monday 26th October	Tony Perrin	Richard Holthouse	16,200,000	2
86	2147	Wednesday 28th October	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	16,150,000	3
87	2148	Monday 2nd November	H.V. Kershaw	Gareth Morgan	15,600,000	5
88	2149	Wednesday 4th November	Peter Whalley	Gareth Morgan	16,650,000	2
89	2150	Monday 9th November	Bob Mason	David Carson	16,250,000	3
90	2151	Wednesday 11th November	Leslie Duxbury	David Carson	16,450,000	2
91	2152	Monday 16th November	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	16,563,000	2
92	2153	Wednesday 18th November	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	13,311,000	n/k
93	2154	Monday 23rd November	Barry Hill	Gareth Morgan	17,250,000	1
94	2155	Wednesday 25th November	Leslie Duxbury	Gareth Morgan	17,550,000	2
95	2156	Monday 30th November	Peter Whalley	Charles Kitchen	17,100,000	2
96	2157	Wednesday 2nd December	Leslie Duxbury	Charles Kitchen	16,500,000	3
97	2158	Monday 7th December	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	16,700,000	2
98	2159	Wednesday 9th December	H.V. Kershaw	Richard Holthouse	17,300,000	1
99	2160	Monday 14th December	H.V. Kershaw	Gareth Morgan	17,450,000	2
100	2161	Wednesday 16th December	Tony Perrin	Gareth Morgan	18,050,000	1
101	2162	Monday 21st December	John Stevenson	Charles Kitchen	16,700,000	4
102	2163	Wednesday 23rd December	Adele Rose	Charles Kitchen	17,150,000	1
103	2164	Monday 28th December	Cliff Gerard	Richard Holthouse	15,200,000	4
104	2165	Wednesday 30th December	Leslie Duxbury	Richard Holthouse	16,900,000	1

Storylines[]

Who lives where[]

Coronation Street

Rovers Return Inn - Annie Walker. Fred Gee (from January to September and December). Eunice Gee (from May to September).
1 Coronation Street - Albert Tatlock and Ken Barlow. Deirdre Barlow and Tracy Langton (from July).
3 Coronation Street - Emily Bishop.
5 Coronation Street - Bert and Ivy Tilsley. Vera Duckworth (May only).
9 Coronation Street - Len and Rita Fairclough. John Spencer (from August to September).
11 Coronation Street - Elsie Tanner. Wally Randle (April only). Audrey Potter (from September to November).
13 Coronation Street - Stan and Hilda Ogden, Eddie Yeats.
Corner Shop (No.15) - Alf Roberts.
Corner Shop bedsit - Deirdre and Tracy Langton (until July).
Community Centre flat - Fred and Eunice Gee (from September to December).

Rosamund Street

The Kabin flat - Mavis Riley.

Others

Brookhouse Hotel - Mike Baldwin (Long-term room, until March).
5 Buxton Close - Brian and Gail Tilsley. Nicky Tilsley (from January).
37 Hillside Crescent - Betty Turpin.
20 Inkerman Street - Jack Duckworth. Vera Duckworth (except May).
Ludlow Avenue - Bet Lynch.
46b, St. Mary's Place - Mike Baldwin (from March).

Coronation Street in the 1980s
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