Coronation Street [06/07/92] (Coronation Street)
Eldorado vs Coronation Street!
Opening on a rowdy darts match in The Rovers Return pub, this one hour special episode of Coronation Street was reportedly ITV’s ‘spoiler’ – broadcast at the same time as the BBC’s new sunny Spanish-set soap Eldorado. How exactly was this well-established Manchester-based soap meant to compete with the BBC’s promised saucy tales of sun, sea and sangria?
Don Brennan lies in a hospital bed facing a leg amputation after his dramatic car crash. His estranged wife Ivy is clueless about his predicament. Ivy later finds out, but the information comes from an unwelcome source. High drama ensues as she dashes to his bedside beside herself with worry. Meanwhile, Street stalwarts Alf Roberts, Reg Holdsworth and Bet Gilroy begin to get suspicious about Rita Fairclough’s new relationship with Ted - who seems just too good to be true. Elsewhere Percy Sugden frets about his landlady Emily Bishop who is returning home from hospital following a nervous breakdown.
This episode typifies what audiences have come to expect from Coronation Street. It showcases the show’s narrative strengths by putting a variety of well-rounded characters and a sense of community at the centre of the episode. The storylines strike a balance between high tension and heartfelt drama, rowdy community spirit and quiet moral support. The qualities that Eldorado couldn’t possibly manufacture in its opening episode.
Who won the audience tug of war? Press reports at the time declared Corrie the winner with 14.5 million viewers tuning in for Coronation Street versus the 6.5 million who switched on to Eldorado’s pilot episode. Ultimately Eldorado’s promised sizzle fizzled out and the soap was axed in 1993. Coronation Street, meanwhile, continues to be broadcast on ITV. Created in 1960 by Tony Warren, Coronation Street is the longest running television soap opera in the world. Set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester, the soap follows the dramatic lives of those living on Coronation Street and its immediate area.
There are some intermittent sound and picture issues at the start of the episode. These were present when the programme was originally broadcast on Thames Television. An on-screen message appears at approximately 12:35 after which the issue is resolved.
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TV Soap: Selection Box
Continuing drama on the small screen: explore how TV soap has changed over the decades.
The UK is a nation of soap addicts, with programmes commanding audiences of millions every week. Since they first appeared on British television in the 1950s, British soaps have given us hundreds of memorably distinctive characters in many different settings. But while they take many forms, there are some common characteristics.
Where in the US soaps tend to favour glamour and frothy fantasy, here they typically centre on relatable communities and families and reflect life in (usually) contemporary Britain, exploring sometimes thorny social issues and attitudes to class, race, gender, sexuality and more. While originally steeped in real-life domestic conflict, soap marched into the new millennium with hard-hitting storylines, sensationalist plots and issue-driven narratives highlighting pressing matters of the day.
This collection showcases a variety of soaps; rural or urban, north or south and everything in between. Some were shortlived and are much missed, while others are longstanding favourites embedded in our collective memory.
So settle in and prepare for drama!
24 videos in this collection
1
2
General Hospital [19/10/72]
3
Garnock Way [01/04/76]
4
Emmerdale Farm [05/04/76]
5
A Stitch in Time
6
Coronation Street [14/11/77]
7
Crossroads (Promotion)
8
Pat Phoenix &Tony Booth (Live from Two)
9
Mary Whitehouse Reacts to Brookside Scenes
10
Emmerdale Farm [14/05/85]
11
Coronation Street[01/11/1961]
12
Crossroads [23/05/85]
13
Albion Market
14
Coronation Street [13/08/86]
15
Yorkshire Television
16
Brookside [13/04/87]
17
Families [14/01/91]
18
Family Pride [08/09/91]
19
Emmerdale [10/10/91]
20
Coronation Street [06/07/92]
21
Sus
22
Machair
23
Sus
24