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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents as of 2019. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, gastronomy, science, and arts. Paris is especially known for its museums and architectural landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre-Dame.

Paris in Coronation Street[]

In July 1967, Annie Walker won a weekend in Paris with a French film star by virtue of being the 100,000th customer of Cutie-Beauty cosmetics. Annie was initially hesitant about the trip but decided to go and was driven to the airport in a limousine. She brought husband Jack a beret back as a present from her trip and it also gave her the idea of putting tables outside the Rovers to make it a more Parisian establishment. Although the idea didn't come to fruition immediately, it clearly stuck with Annie as she attempted to go through with it in September 1969 with limited success.

Alan and Elsie Howard spent their honeymoon in Paris in July 1970, despite Alan being in a large amount of debt.

In January 1972, Stan Ogden agreed to take Hilda to Paris for her birthday and an excited Hilda went to the trouble of reading up about the city and quizzing Annie Walker about her previous experiences there. There was just one snag, Stan was afraid of flying. When the Ogdens' reached the airport terminal, Stan panicked and needed some fresh air causing them to miss their flight. The couple spent their day getting drunk in the airport bar.

Alf and Audrey Roberts also spent their honeymoon in the city in December 1985.

Youngsters Martin Platt and Jenny Bradley left Weatherfield in August 1987 to go and find work in France but were unsuccessful and Martin returned home within a matter of weeks, reporting that Jenny had met a French student named Patrice Podevin and gone off to Paris with him. When Jenny returned to England a few days later, she informed her father Alan and foster mother Rita Fairclough that she planned on marrying Patrice and living with him in France permanently. Alan informed Jenny he wanted her to continue her studies for two years before marrying, leaving them in a long-distance relationship that didn't work out. After a fateful visit to England in January 1988, in which he discovered Jenny had kissed local boy Gary Grimshaw at a party, Patrice broke off the engagement and returned to Paris alone.

In December 1990, Phil Jennings invited his partner Deirdre Barlow to spend New Year's Eve in Paris. The trip caused problems when Deirdre's daughter Tracy who had elected to stay behind, informed Deirdre's estranged husband Ken about Deirdre's jaunt which caused a blazing row between him and Tracy which was the final straw in driving Ken to a suicide attempt. Deirdre's romantic break also came back to haunt her during her re-election campaign for the local council in May 1991 as the Gazette accused her of being more interested in trips abroad than representing her constituents in a damming article.

Reg Holdsworth and his bride Maureen planned to honeymoon in Paris in January 1994, but this was another trip that would fail to go ahead as Maureen's elderly mother Maud Grimes went missing and by the time she was found the Holdsworths' flight had departed without them.

In December 1996, after a forced resignation from Firman's Freezers, Curly Watts planned to head for Paris but changed his mind at the last minute and decided to remain in Weatherfield.

Roy Cropper began collecting coupons to win a trip to the French capital In July 1997, but as the holiday was for couples, the bachelor was stuck with the problem of finding someone to take with him. He decided to give the prize away to colleague Gail Platt so she could take her husband Martin with her.

In October 2000, Ashley Peacock and his wife Maxine headed off for a holiday in Paris with Ashley's father Fred and Maxine's employer Audrey Roberts accompanying them. Audrey also happened to be a romantic pursuit of Fred's and while Audrey took in the beauty of the city, Fred informed Ashley that he intended to propose to her. Whilst in France, the group took the opportunity to meet up with Curly Watts and his girlfriend Emma Taylor who were visiting Curly's daughter Alice at his ex-wife Raquel's chateau in the Loire Valley. While touring some vineyards near the chateau, Fred popped the question and was taken aback when Audrey accepted. Audrey quickly realised she didn't love Fred enough for marriage and when he took her to Fabrice Sancier's jewellers to find an engagement ring on their return to Paris, she told him she'd changed her mind leaving Fred hurt. Another proposal beckoned however, when Curly popped the question to Emma during a boat trip down the Seine and she happily accepted.

Whilst in Paris, Maxine was flattered when street caricature artist Olivier Madar complimented her beauty and asked to paint her portrait. Ashley had his reservations but Maxine went ahead with the portrait. Ashley was further put out to discover Maxine had posed nude for Olivier back at his studio and accused him of 'ogling' her despite Maxine insisting it was all professional. Maxine was aghast when it turned out the painting was abstract with Olivier attempting to capture Maxine's 'essence' unflatteringly. Ashley found the result hilarious but Maxine branded it a mess.

In October 2001, Dennis Stringer took girlfriend Eileen Grimshaw away on a romantic break to the city. Eileen's teenage son Todd took this as an opportunity to invite his girlfriend Candice Stowe round to sleep with him, but in the event they were both too nervous to go ahead with losing their virginity. Eileen and Dennis returned from Paris on cloud nine but only shortly after Dennis began an affair with Janice Battersby and left Eileen for her. When Janice found a handbag tucked away in the kitchen cupboard at Christmas, Dennis pretended he had bought it as a present for her but he had actually bought it for Eileen while they were in Paris. When Eileen saw Janice with the bag in the Rovers, she gleefully revealed the truth to her.

Whilst drunkenly musing on the way young people treated relationships in October 2004, Fred Elliott offered a free weekend in Paris to any couple who could prove to him that romance still existed. When Fred sobered up and regretted the expense he had caused himself, he changed his offer to a weekend at the Paris Hotel in Bridlington. Fred declared son Ashley and his partner Claire Casey the winners of his competition after a romantic public proposal and gave them tickets to the French capital anyway as an engagement present.

Websters in paris

The Webster family visit Paris in 2006

In October 2006, Bill Webster bought his son Kevin tickets to Paris to celebrate Kevin's 20th wedding anniversary to Sally. With the Websters' daughters Rosie and Sophie due to fly out with them, Rosie hatched a plan to use the weekend to run away to Berlin with her boyfriend Craig Harris who Sally disapproved of. Rosie and Craig secretly snuck off while the group were out sightseeing and headed for the railway station with Rosie leaving a note back at their hotel for Sally. When Sally found the note she went into a blind panic and the Websters' headed for the station to try and find Rosie before it was too late. Ultimately, Rosie couldn't go through with leaving her family behind and bid Craig a tearful goodbye.

After overhearing Roy Cropper tell Anna Windass the details of the Roy's Rolls company account at the cash and carry in May 2009, Anna's layabout husband Eddie decided to use the details to buy a trolley load of alcohol and got a surprise when he was flagged up as the millionth customer and won a weekend in Paris. Eddie's dishonesty was discovered when Roy's wife Hayley saw a cardboard cutout of Eddie bearing Roy's name at the cash and carry. While Hayley wanted her and Roy to take the prize for themselves, Roy felt it wasn't morally right and later donated the prize to a charity fete set up by Claire Peacock in August, but unfortunately it had expired by then.

Sally and Kevin returned to the city for a weekend in December 2009, with Kevin trying to keep this a secret from Molly Dobbs who he was having an affair with. After the couple had later split up over this very affair, Sally would frequent Paris again with new boyfriend Jeff Cullen in May 2011 and tried to persuade Tim Metcalfe to take her on another visit in 2013.

After their second wedding in January 2013, Nick and Leanne Tilsley honeymooned in the city. Their original destination had been St. Lucia but this was cancelled after they failed to complete their vows on Christmas Day 2012.

In February 2014, Carla Barlow took a business trip to France to help a friend who was running a factory over there and took the opportunity to invite husband Peter with her for a Valentine's Day weekend. Peter caught the earliest flight back he could after the weekend was over in order to spend more time with his mistress Tina McIntyre and Carla returned the following month once her work was done.

Bethany Platt pestered her mother Sarah to let her go on a school trip to the city in 2015 and was delighted when Sarah's rogue boyfriend Callum Logan paid for her to go, although in the end she found the trip boring.

In January 2019, Evelyn Plummer went on holiday with James Woodgate, but a month later missed her train home from Paris on the return leg after an argument with a taxi driver. Evelyn's grandson Tyrone Dobbs was concerned about her whereabouts and after contacting the French authorities, discovered that Evelyn had been remanded in a French jail for non-payment of the taxi driver and Tyrone was forced to pay her €700 fine to get her home.

Background information[]

Paris title sequence

The title sequence against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower in 2000

Although many trips have been made to Paris by the residents of Coronation Street over the years, the cameras have only travelled with them on two occasions. The first of these was in 2000 when Episodes 4917, 4919 and 4921 were shot entirely on location in France, between Paris where Ashley, Maxine, Fred and Audrey were holidaying and also in the Loire Valley where Curly and Emma were staying in Raquel's chateau. For these episodes, the regular title sequence was replaced and the theme tune played over footage of the city and some of its famous landmarks.

The second occasion was the Webster family's holiday in 2006, again covering three episodes with location filming. Episode 6402 again broke from the usual title sequence to display the opening credits among Parisian scenes.

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