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Title caption 1977-82

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 1524 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 1036 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 1140 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[]

1980 ratings

Ratings chart for the year

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

Rosamund Street

Others

Awards and nominations[]

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

Variety Club of Great Britain

  • Silver Heart Award for the programme
Coronation Street in the 1980s
1980198119821983198419851986198719881989
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