Episode 8740 (23rd September 2015)

Plot[]

Part One: Callum demands to know what's going on. Sarah tells him that her phone is dead so she had to text him using Kylie's. Roy arrives back from Blackpool alone on the bus in an agitated manner and sees the bistro staff delivering food to the cafe for a surprise party for him. Craig dresses up smartly for his date with Caitlin Ryan. Sarah tries to get Callum to talk about his actions, secretly trying to record him on her hidden phone. He grows suspicious and looks round the house as she gabbles excuses at him. Lloyd and Andrea arrive for their party which Steve chooses to miss. Roy's friends dress up in period clothes and have decorated the cafe in the style of the 1930s Orient Express. He walks straight through them and up to the flat. Michelle calls Sarah to see where she is and Callum hears her phone ringing from its hiding place. He realises that she has been recording him and attacks her, only breaking off momentarily as Michelle bangs on the window. From his flat, Roy refuses his party. Cathy turns up and when she tells his friends that she took him to Blackpool, they realise why he is in a state. Sarah confesses the money isn't ready and Callum goes berserk as she tries to escape. He pins her down on the kitchen floor but her ordeal is ended by Kylie who walks in and clubs him with Tony's wrench, killing him instantly.

Part Two: The two women grow hysterical and hide the body from Bethany when she returns to find her mum. They send her away and summon David. Carla tries to talk to Roy but he avoids her questions. Most of the cafe partygoers decamp to the Rovers where Eva helps out in Sarah's absence, pleased to have her foot back in the door. David is horrified to find out what has happened. Roy comes down to the cafe and finds Carla alone, tidying up. Ashamed by his actions, he talks to her about his day and how he was constantly reminded of Hayley. Carla puts it to him that he is hiding his feelings for Cathy. David wraps Callum up in a duvet cover, intending to take him in the dead man's car and dump him in water somewhere. Finding out that Roy and Hayley were in Blackpool when she was dying, an embarrassed Cathy decides to leave. Before the Platts can put the body in the boot of the car, Tony and Todd drive off in it, thinking they are getting back at Callum.

Part Three: Liz is upset when Steve refuses to come down to the party. David decides to put Callum's body in the manhole in the garage for the night. Kylie starts to break down at the enormity of her crime when Marion Logan tries to ring her son. Tony and Todd destroy Callum's car in a rigged explosion. Having seen Cathy at the bus stop, Carla rings Roy and tells him that she is planning to leave. He runs after the departing vehicle which stops when a tyre blows and he finds her on board. David has to stop a panicking Kylie leaving him when he finds her packing her bags. Back at work in the Rovers, Sarah can barely hold it together. Anna gets drunk and she and Sally snipe at each other. Everyone at the party is stunned when Anna loudly reveals that Sally kissed Kevin. Tim walks out on her.

Part Four: Gemma texts Callum to see if he has left No.8 and David texts back posing as him to say he is just leaving. Lloyd makes a farewell speech to the regulars as Sally cries. Kevin finds Tim but he's in no mood to talk to him. Craig is upset when Caitlin stands him up. Callum's body is dumped down the manhole by David and Kylie. Tony tells Todd not to say anything about their actions that night. Tim goes to spend the night at Anna's flat. Roy and Cathy reach an understanding and they kiss. As a tearful Eileen and the regulars watch on and cheer, Lloyd and Andrea leave in a classic American 1950s car, organised by Luke and decorated with balloons by Sean and Billy. David assures Kylie that tomorrow the body will be moved and everything will then be fine.

Cast[]

Regular cast[]

Guest cast[]

Bus Driver - Rob Hunt

Places[]

Coronation Street
Rovers Return Inn - Public, hallway and yard
1 Coronation Street - Kitchen and yard
4 Coronation Street - Conservatory
5 Coronation Street - Downstairs rooms
6 Coronation Street - Garden
8 Coronation Street - Downstairs rooms, garage and garden
Rosamund Street
19a Rosamund Street - Hallway
Victoria Street
Roy's Rolls
16a Victoria Street - Living room/kitchen
Prima Doner
Bus
Industrial estate

Notes[]

This was a special one-hour live episode commissioned by ITV to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the ITV network and the start of broadcasts by their first franchise, Associated Rediffusion in the London area, on Thursday 22nd September 1955.
Final appearance of Sean Ward as Callum Logan. The actor had recorded his previous episodes some eight weeks earlier and had to return to the programme especially for this live instalment.
Tyrone Dobbs only appears briefly in the episode, seen in the background outside 9 Coronation Street as Lloyd Mullaney and Andrea Beckett drive up and down the street in their car. Alan Halsall had rehearsed a scene set in the back yard of No.9 to be used in case of unforeseen problems with other scenes and was on standby there throughout the episode but in the event he was not required. A full pre-recorded version of the episode had also been put on standby in the event of a larger problem taking the live show off the air.
The episode was announced by ITV’s Director of Television, Peter Fincham, on 19th November 2014 at the Salford Media Festival. It was the first live episode since Episode 7487 (9th December 2010) and the first to be transmitted from the programme's new production base at the MediaCity studios which the programme had occupied since January 2014.
After issuing a specially-made trailer entitled "Nowhere left to run" featuring David, Kylie and Sarah Platt being chased by Callum Logan to a cliff-edge at the end of Coronation Street (courtesy of CGI), the first read-through took place on 8th September, the cast having received their scripts on 28th August. Two weeks of rehearsals then took place starting on 9th September.
The press initially reported that as Simon Gregson had been given leave of absence for personal reasons on 19th September, just four days before transmission, rewrites were made to remove his character from the action and to explain his absence in the script. In reality, it had always been planned for him to be absent from the live transmission, hence the reason for the plotlines of the following two pre-recorded episodes.
The usual opening title sequence is not used in this episode. Instead, the theme music played over a montage of the street and its environs as well as the preparations for the parties in the Rovers and Roy's Rolls.
To enable the smooth flow of the action between the studio sequences and the outdoor set, as well as an external location shot, twelve first directors, six second directors and four third directors were utilised, all coordinated by main director John Anderson.
The one external location shot was the destruction of Callum Logan's car, engineered by Tony Stewart and Todd Grimshaw in a deserted industrial estate. This was also transmitted live from the nearby premises of A.K. Worthington Limited on Trafford Park Road, the actors only having nine minutes to get to the site after their previous scene at the MediaCity studios. Standby cars were available in case of breakdown with the explosion provided by special effects company Real SFX.
Several additional pieces of publicity were arranged by the programme's digital media team. The main one in the lead-up to the programme, and shortly afterwards, were six rehearsal diaries videoed by Colson Smith. In a first for UK television, as transmission of the episode took place viewers could simultaneously see behind-the-scenes shots from the studios and street set of the actors working, courtesy of a series of eleven strategically-placed cameras. During the advert breaks for this coverage, Stephen Mulhern presented from the set of 13 Coronation Street (not used in the actual episode itself) where he conducted viewer polls and held online competitions.
Kate Waters was credited as the Fight Arranger on this episode.
A special caption after the cast credits read "Thank you to all the live crew".
TV Times synopsis: The Platts have nowhere left to run as Callum closes in; the locals throw a farewell party for Andrea and Lloyd; and despite it being Roy's 60th birthday, he's nowhere to be seen.
Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast: 7,480,000 viewers (6th place).

Notable dialogue[]

Sarah Platt (seeing David Platt with a duvet cover to wrap Callum Logan's body in): "What's that for? No, you can't use that."
David Platt: "It's an old one, alright? It's not going to be missed. And I'm not being caught out by Gail's top and bottom sheet rotation."
Sarah Platt (seeing the design): "Pirates?"
David Platt: "Well, strangely enough, Max never asked for one with drug dealers on."

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Steph Britton: "Roy, did you just hex the bus? Spooksville."

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