Coronation Street in 1979

1979 was Coronation Street's twentieth year.

Main characters

Ranking	Character	Played by	Duration	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1	Len Fairclough	Peter Adamson	Full year	59	1495	1
2	Ivy Tilsley	Lynne Perrie	Full year	58	132	25
3	Elsie Tanner	Patricia Phoenix	Full year	57	1312	5
3	Gail Potter/Tilsley	Helen Worth	Full year	57	283	10
5	Suzie Birchall	Cheryl Murray	Until December	55	163	19
5	Hilda Ogden	Jean Alexander	Full year	55	1056	3
7	Rita Fairclough	Barbara Knox	Full year	54	521	7
8	Deirdre Langton	Anne Kirkbride	Full year	50	402	13
8	Betty Turpin	Betty Driver	Full year	50	751	7
10	Ken Barlow	William Roache	Full year	49	1279	3
10	Stan Ogden	Bernard Youens	Full year	49	975	18
10	Brian Tilsley	Christopher Quinten	Full year	49	50	33
10	Annie Walker	Doris Speed	Full year	49	1453	5
14	Alf Roberts	Bryan Mosley	Full year	47	551	20
14	Bert Tilsley	Peter Dudley	Full year	47	47	-
16	Fred Gee	Fred Feast	Full year	46	217	16
16	Eddie Yeats	Geoffrey Hughes	Full year	46	241	21
18	Mavis Riley	Thelma Barlow	Full year	42	358	14
19	Mike Baldwin	Johnny Briggs	Full year	41	174	7
19	Bet Lynch	Julie Goodyear	Until March and from May	41	683	2
21	Emily Bishop	Eileen Derbyshire	Full year	40	1068	10
21	Renee Roberts	Madge Hindle	Full year	40	200	14
23	Steve Fisher	Lawrence Mullin	Until December	39	112	10
24	Albert Tatlock	Jack Howarth	Full year	36	1107	22
25	Ena Sharples	Violet Carson	From March	35	1143	23
26	Tracy Langton	Christabel Finch	Full year	32	99	24
27	Vera Duckworth	Elizabeth Dawn	Full year	31	71	26
28	Ida Clough	Helene Palmer	February to July and December	18	30	27
29	Audrey Potter	Sue Nicholls	April and November to December	8	8	-
29	Billy Walker	Kenneth Farrington	May and June	8	340	29
31	Derek Wilton	Peter Baldwin	April only	4	33	32
32	Jack Duckworth	William Tarmey	November and December	2	2	-
33	Susan Barlow	Suzy Paterson	December only	1	28	-

Production

1979 Strike — 24th October 1979: After 11 weeks off air, *Coronation Street* returns to screens with a specially-filmed prologue with Bet Lynch and Len Fairclough

Bill Podmore produced Coronation Street for the fourth consecutive year. After the introduction of Christopher Quinten as Ivy Tilsley's son Brian in the last episode of 1978, Peter Dudley joined the programme as her husband Bert in January, and the family moved into No.5. After eight years in a supporting role at the factory, Ivy rose to prominence as one of the programme's key matriarchs.

Meanwhile, Sue Nicholls made her first appearance as Gail Potter's unwed and man-hungry mother Audrey, a role which was at first recurring. Jack and Vera Duckworth appeared together for the first time at Gail and Brian's wedding, with William Tarmey being cast as Vera's feckless husband after years as an extra in the programme. Making two short appearances, Jack wasn't envisioned as a long-term character but after seeing him on-screen, writers decided to bring him back.

Coronation Street was off-air for eleven weeks because of the 1979 ITV strike, during which Channel Television was the only ITV franchise in operation. The technicians' strike dragged on until the management agreed to a 17.5% pay increase in October. During the strike, no production of new episodes took place. Episode 1935 on 8th August was the last episode before the strike. Coronation Street returned on 24th October with a specially recorded scene in which Bet Lynch and Len Fairclough chatted about recent events to remind viewers what was going on before the strike. No mention of the gap was made within the programme's storylines.

Viewing figures

The most-watched episode of the year was Episode 1894 on 14th March, which saw the residents continue to deal with the after-effects of the lorry crash, with a bereaved Deirdre Langton contemplating suicide, yet to discover that Tracy wasn't crushed by the lorry, which was seen by 19.5 million viewers.

The average figure for the year was 15.42 million viewers, an increase of 400k on 1978 and the 6th highest of the decade (although this total is missing the ratings for five episodes). The biggest drops on the previous year were in October and November, immediately after the strike finished, which were down by two million viewers on 1978, however March to August all rose from that year.

11 episodes reached number one in the weekly viewing charts, climbing from eight the previous year, with fewer episodes.

Episodes

#	Ep. No.	Date	Writer	Director	Viewing Figures	Chart Position
1	1873	Monday 1st January	H.V. Kershaw	Alan Bromly	Not known	n/k
2	1874	Wednesday 3rd January	Leslie Duxbury	Alan Bromly	16,400,000	6
3	1875	Monday 8th January	Julian Roach	Laurence Moody	16,250,000	4
4	1876	Wednesday 10th January	Julian Roach	Laurence Moody	16,850,000	3
5	1877	Monday 15th January	Paula Milne	Richard Stroud	16,250,000	6
6	1878	Wednesday 17th January	H.V. Kershaw	Richard Stroud	16,700,000	2
7	1879	Monday 22nd January	Leslie Duxbury	Jeremy Summers	16,350,000	6
8	1880	Wednesday 24th January	John Stevenson	Jeremy Summers	17,150,000	2
9	1881	Monday 29th January	Adele Rose	Terry Steel	16,500,000	3
10	1882	Wednesday 31st January	Julian Roach	Terry Steel	17,550,000	2
11	1883	Monday 5th February	H.V. Kershaw	Matthew Robinson	16,300,000	4
12	1884	Wednesday 7th February	John Stevenson	Matthew Robinson	17,950,000	1
13	1885	Monday 12th February	Leslie Duxbury	Stephen Butcher	16,750,000	5
14	1886	Wednesday 14th February	Leslie Duxbury	Stephen Butcher	18,350,000	2
15	1887	Monday 19th February	Barry Hill	Jeremy Summers	16,650,000	4
16	1888	Wednesday 21st February	Julian Roach	Jeremy Summers	16,700,000	3
17	1889	Monday 26th February	Barry Hill	Brian Mills	16,250,000	3
18	1890	Wednesday 28th February	John Stevenson	Brian Mills	16,700,000	2
19	1891	Monday 5th March	Adele Rose	Matthew Robinson	16,800,000	3
20	1892	Wednesday 7th March	H.V. Kershaw	Matthew Robinson	16,950,000	2
21	1893	Monday 12th March	Leslie Duxbury	Jeremy Summers	18,300,000	4
22	1894	Wednesday 14th March	H.V. Kershaw	Jeremy Summers	19,500,000	2
23	1895	Monday 19th March	H.V. Kershaw	Alan Bromly	18,400,000	3
24	1896	Wednesday 21st March	Peter Whalley	Alan Bromly	18,800,000	2
25	1897	Monday 26th March	Adele Rose	Roger Cheveley	17,700,000	4
26	1898	Wednesday 28th March	Barry Hill	Roger Cheveley	18,250,000	1
27	1899	Monday 2nd April	John Stevenson	Jeremy Summers	16,650,000	4
28	1900	Wednesday 4th April	John Stevenson	Jeremy Summers	17,450,000	2
29	1901	Monday 9th April	Barry Hill	Philip Draycott	16,400,000	3
30	1902	Wednesday 11th April	Adele Rose	Philip Draycott	16,900,000	2
31	1903	Monday 16th April	Leslie Duxbury	Colin Richards	Not known	n/k
32	1904	Wednesday 18th April	Leslie Duxbury	Colin Richards	16,700,000	1
33	1905	Monday 23rd April	John Stevenson	Jeremy Summers	17,100,000	4
34	1906	Wednesday 25th April	Julian Roach	Jeremy Summers	18,000,000	2
35	1907	Monday 30th April	Adele Rose	Laurence Moody	15,300,000	2
36	1908	Wednesday 2nd May	Leslie Duxbury	Laurence Moody	15,700,000	1
37	1909	Monday 7th May	Peter Whalley	Paul Bernard	13,650,000	10
38	1910	Wednesday 9th May	John Stevenson	Paul Bernard	16,050,000	3
39	1911	Monday 14th May	Barry Hill	Philip Draycott	13,150,000	5
40	1912	Wednesday 16th May	H.V. Kershaw	Philip Draycott	15,250,000	1
41	1913	Monday 21st May	Adele Rose	Alan Bromly	15,100,000	1
42	1914	Wednesday 23rd May	Alec Baron	Alan Bromly	13,950,000	4
43	1915	Monday 28th May	Tony Perrin	Laurence Moody	11,700,000	9
44	1916	Wednesday 30th May	H.V. Kershaw	Laurence Moody	14,450,000	2
45	1917	Monday 4th June	Leslie Duxbury	Philip Draycott	14,500,000	4
46	1918	Wednesday 6th June	John Stevenson	Philip Draycott	15,300,000	2
47	1919	Monday 11th June	H.V. Kershaw	Nicholas Ferguson	13,250,000	4
48	1920	Wednesday 13th June	Adele Rose	Nicholas Ferguson	15,100,000	2
49	1921	Monday 18th June	Alan Downer	Alan Bromly	13,000,000	2
50	1922	Wednesday 20th June	Adele Rose	Alan Bromly	12,750,000	4
51	1923	Monday 25th June	John Stevenson	Laurence Moody	12,950,000	2
52	1924	Wednesday 27th June	Julian Roach	Laurence Moody	13,400,000	1
53	1925	Monday 2nd July	H.V. Kershaw	Nicholas Ferguson	13,100,000	1
54	1926	Wednesday 4th July	John Stevenson	Nicholas Ferguson	12,700,000	2
55	1927	Monday 9th July	Adele Rose	Malcolm Taylor	12,550,000	2
56	1928	Wednesday 11th July	Barry Hill	Malcolm Taylor	13,200,000	1
57	1929	Monday 16th July	Leslie Duxbury	Richard Holthouse	13,050,000	2
58	1930	Wednesday 18th July	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	13,200,000	1
59	1931	Wednesday 25th July	John Stevenson	Nicholas Ferguson	12,000,000	5
60	1932	Monday 30th July	Adele Rose	Nicholas Ferguson	12,850,000	2
61	1933	Wednesday 1st August	Peter Whalley	Ronald Fouracre	12,650,000	3
62	1934	Monday 6th August	Leslie Duxbury	Mary McMurray	11,400,000	12
63	1935/6	Wednesday 8th August	Tony Perrin H.V. Kershaw	Malcolm Taylor	Not known	n/k
64	1937	Wednesday 24th October	John Stevenson	Richard Holthouse	15,100,000	13
65	1938	Monday 29th October	Julian Roach	Richard Holthouse	12,850,000	18
66	1939	Wednesday 31st October	Barry Hill	Mary McMurray	13,750,000	13
67	1940	Monday 5th November	H.V. Kershaw	Mary McMurray	13,250,000	20
68	1941	Wednesday 7th November	Alec Baron	John Michael Phillips	13,950,000	15
69	1942	Monday 12th November	Leslie Duxbury	John Michael Phillips	13,950,000	19
70	1943	Wednesday 14th November	Tony Perrin	Laurence Moody	14,750,000	15
71	1944	Monday 19th November	Adele Rose	Laurence Moody	15,200,000	9
72	1945	Wednesday 21st November	Peter Whalley	Mary McMurray	15,000,000	10
73	1946	Monday 26th November	H.V. Kershaw	Mary McMurray	15,750,000	9
74	1947	Wednesday 28th November	Leslie Duxbury	Malcolm Taylor	17,850,000	1
75	1948	Monday 3rd December	John Stevenson	Malcolm Taylor	18,150,000	1
76	1949	Wednesday 5th December	Barry Hill	Richard Holthouse	16,000,000	6
77	1950	Monday 10th December	Alan Downer	Richard Holthouse	14,950,000	6
78	1951	Wednesday 12th December	Adele Rose	Mary McMurray Laurence Moody	14,700,000	8
79	1952	Monday 17th December	H.V. Kershaw	Mary McMurray Laurence Moody	16,100,000	4
80	1953	Wednesday 19th December	Julian Roach	Mary McMurray Laurence Moody	15,800,000	6
81	1954	Monday 24th December	Leslie Duxbury	Malcolm Taylor	14,500,000	7
82	1955	Wednesday 26th December	John Stevenson	Malcolm Taylor	Not known	n/k
83	1956	Monday 31st December	H.V. Kershaw	Richard Holthouse	Not known	n/k

Storylines

Who lives where

Coronation Street

Rovers Return Inn - Annie Walker and Fred Gee. Billy Walker (May to June)
1 Coronation Street - Albert Tatlock and Ken Barlow.
3 Coronation Street - Emily Bishop. Deirdre and Tracy Langton (from February).
5 Coronation Street - Deirdre and Tracy Langton (until February). Bert, Ivy and Brian Tilsley (from February). Gail Tilsley (from December)
9 Coronation Street - Len and Rita Fairclough.
11 Coronation Street - Elsie Tanner (until November, then from December). Gail Potter (until November). Suzie Birchall (until December).
13 Coronation Street - Hilda and Stan Ogden.
Corner Shop (No.15) - Renee and Alf Roberts.
Corner Shop flat (No.15a) - Bet Lynch.
Community Centre flat - Ena Sharples.

Rosamund Street

The Kabin flat - Mavis Riley.

Others

37 Hillside Crescent - Betty Turpin.
Inkerman Street - Bert, Ivy and Brian Tilsley (until February), Jack and Vera Duckworth.

Awards and nominations

Pye Television/Writer's Guild Awards

President's Award: Doris Speed
Special award for Coronation Street presented by Sir John Betjeman

Coronation Street in the 1970s
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