CLASSIC CORRIE
I was trolling around YouTube a couple of weeks ago whilst looking for material for a Video Wednesday post and somehow came upon a vintage episode of Coronation Street – known as “Corrie” to it’s fans – from January 3, 1977. Having never actually watched the show, I made the mistake of clicking the link. I watched the espisode and, Reader, I was hooked. Line and sinkered, too. I discovered that YouTube user Auntie Corrie has uploaded years of vintage Coronation Street, which you can find on her playlists. I’ve been watching episodes daily, which Victoria seems to think is hysterical, mainly because I’m watching episodes of a soap opera that are forty-odd years old.
Coronation Street debuted live on December 9, 1960 and is set in the fictional town of Weatherfield, located just outside of Manchester. What makes Coronation Street so special are it’s characters, who lead ordinary, every day lives, have human flaws and are, by turns, endearing, frustrating, snarky, like-able, utterly loathsome, timid, brash, sneaky, golden hearted and always fascinating to watch.
Perhaps the most important character on Coronation Street is the pub called The Rovers Return, usually referred to as The Rovers, which is the hub and heart of the Street.
The Rovers was owned by Annie Walker, below right, and staffed by everyone’s favorite barmaid and bottle blonde, Bet Lynch, at left.
The bar staff were rounded out by Betty and Fred, pictured below.
You’ll find a complete list of the Rover’s landlords and staff from 1960 till today here.
Other residents of the Street included Ena Sharples, who was the caretaker of the community center along with Albert Tatlock, and who spent much of her time criticising the activities of her neighbors. Mrs. Sharples was in the very first episode and spent the next twenty years as a regular cast member, making her final appearance in 1980. Actress Violet Carson received an OBE for her work in 1965.
Then there are Rita (a former exotic dancer) and Len Fairclough, who own a corner store called The Kabin.
Actress Barbara Knox is still playing Rita to this day. Rita was helped in the shop by the hapless, scatterbrained and unlucky in love Mavis Riley.
Also in the Street is the Corner Shop, owned by Renee Roberts
But the biggest employer in the Street has to be Mike Baldwin, factory and shop owner and local lothario
Comic relief is provided by Hilda and Stan, the always battling Ogdens. Stanley is a window washer, while Hilda cleans both at Mike’s factory and The Rovers.
In the background in the photo above can be seen Hilda’s “muriel,” of which she’s very proud. Geoffrey Hughes (Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances) played Stan’s mate and petty criminal Eddie Yeats. You can watch a compilation of Hilda and Stan clips here.
Of course, these are but a handful of the Street’s residents you’ll come to know and love if you should choose (dare?) to tune in. You might become a fan, as well. You’d be in good company – Benedict Cumberbatch is a huge fan of the show and discusses Corrie in this video clip made for the celebration of the show’s 50th Birthday. Even the Royals are apparently hooked on the Street. Here are some snaps taken when they visited the set.
Queen Elizabeth opened the new set in the 1982
Even Mrs. Thatcher stopped by The Rovers – and raised a glass with the cast
Click here to see an introduction to the new Corrie set, with a retrospective of the Street from the 1960’s through to today. And here’s an hour long special called Coronation Street: A Moving Story on how the residents of the Street felt about moving to the new studios and an in-depth, behind the scenes look at the building of the new set, as well as a retrospective of the past fifty years.
I’m off to watch another episode of classic Corrie – I’m up to March, 1980. Only thirty-four years to go!
Do you have any idea what you have done with this post? We lived in England from 1967 through 1971 and we watched every episode of Coronation Street that was on in those years. When we came back to the States my Mom's best friend from the village kept her up to date on what is going on on Coronation Street. She has kept her up for over forty years!! My Mom hasn't seen the program in forty years and she STILL knows what is going on. What until I tell her she can watch episodes on YouTube. I can't watch. If I do I will be hooked beyond hooked!
So funny! I haven't watched t.v. in weeks – just Corrie on YouTube. And I'm only up to April 1982! Gail's still married to Brian, Fred Gee just fell down the cellar stairs, Len and Rita are fostering a 16 year old girl and Eddie Yates just found a girlfriend. Bliss! I have to be careful re: what I Google about Corrie because there are so many spoilers for someone still just seeing episodes from the 80's. Does your mom have a computer? If so, tell her I said "you're welcome!"
Great to see your article. It is a lovely show, isn't it.
The Auntie Corrie channel now is up to 1992 (from 1976)…
Cheers, Auntie Corrie
Could not agree more! What would I do without Auntie Corrie????
sp from Canada
Still wondering who the heck is fat Brenda though……
Auntie Corrie has been terminated on Youtube! What can we do?
I know! Some people are still posting new episodes, though no where near as realiably as Auntie Corrie. Often it's days after the air date. If I can't find it on YouTube, What I do is put "watch coronation street 6 december 2015" in the google search engine. Then I often find the youtube post, even if it didnt come up on youtube itself. Go figure. Then there are people who post episodes on Daily Motion, but the quality is often poor, or the sound lags, etc etc. Somebody sure knows how to ruin things for alot of loyal fans . . . . . bad sportsmanship, that.
my wife has two loves in her life one watching all the old corries and aunt corry was a godsend I bought my wife all the old video and then CD box sets but they jumped about so much and storylines kept changing unlike the continuity from aunt corrie
Her second love is brookside and last year I was lucky enough to get the contact details of someone who had every episode and was kind enough to let me have a copy which just nicely coincided with our 25th wedding anniversary so sat in the Hilton hotel in Manchester the mobile hard drive was produced and I managed to get a whole day of bringing her food and drink while she watched brookside from episode one she said it was the best present I had ever given her
If any one knows where I can get all the corries from and a deal could be done then I would indeed be a happy man my wife tells me that the old coronation streets are miles better than the ones that are shown these days you would think the powers to be would put them all out for sale so dedicated fans can watch favourite story lines over again and possibly fill in episodes that may have been missed over the years
cheers guys
A husband after my own heart! Here's a link to the Coronation Street Blog, which lists others who have been posting episodes on a regular basis over the years – http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/2013/10/corrie-z-y-is-for-youtube.html
It's also a great site for updates, up coming schedules and the bloggers have all been Corrie fans for years. Your wife will love trolling around this site and perhaps an email to the bloggers will answer some of your questions. Thanks all for using this space to band together in support of Auntie Corrie. Hope we all have our answers soon! And yes, the older storylines were much better – a point often discussed on the blog above, as well. Wouldn't it be fab if Auntie Corrie started her own blog!?
I started watching the shows after the death of Ann Kirkbride. I live in the USA and have always loved UK shows. I didn't know who Ann was, and through clips and news articles, I got hooked up with the episodes on youtube. I watched everything I could from 1960 on. When I got to 1976, I was so grateful to Auntie Corrie for posting every single episode. When you talk about the story line and what happened in today's episode, it sounds hilariously mundane and simple. However, the acting is so good and the characters are so wonderful that you just can't stop watching. I had JUST started watching the 1982 episodes when I saw that Auntie Corrie was gone. I am still muddling through….but it seems some episodes that are still available might be missing?? I'm doing my best. With Auntie Corrie, you could just hit the link with all the episodes from a particular year and let it play. I am not sure yet, but from the bits and pieces I've seen of the current show, I think I will probably stop watching when I get into the 1990's. As soon as it starts getting too "soapy". As I said..not sure, though. Right now, I just want to watch the old shows.
I wish there was something we could do to bring Auntie Corrie's episodes back. If youtube only knew!!
Oh well…..I'm off to watch from April, 1982 to see how Mavis and Derick are getting along and see what the Ogden's are up to.
Glad to have this blog to vent on!
Your comments mirror my thoughts exactly, Mark. Those were the days. And how fascinating the mundane was. Mavis and Rita, Mavis and Derick, Rita and Len, Bette Lynch and Betty Turpin, Mike Baldwin and whomever, Emily Bishop, Kevin and Sally, Gail and Brian . . . I could go on and on. I just thank my lucky stars that Auntie Corrie was around when I was binge watching the old episodes. I feel your pain. Sigh.
I was still able to get most of the episodes and was up to December 27, 1983. Suddenly (overnight, really), that particular episode was gone! I watched the first part of it one evening and was going to watch the second part the next day. It had disappeared. Now, the episodes look very spotty from here on out. Does anyone know what is going on with youtube?
YouTube is suddenly on high alert for copyright infringement where Corrie is concerned, by the look of things. All the channels belonging to regular espisode posters were blocked. This week I went back and started watching episodes from 1982 again and you're right – much less content and spotty. Many episodes missing. Really a crying shame. One bright spot – actress who plays Carla Connor said she's not taking a break – she's leaving for good. Please let this be the end of the dysfunctional Connor Clan!
About to go through major withdrawal as I have watched all the episodes from the first to 1997…which is now getting very sporadic and sadly, many episodes are missing. Anyone know where else to watch classic corrie? (in the states)
Hello everyone,
I was so sad when they closed my site! No I haven't published them
anywhere else. It took so much time to upload them…
I have spent the last few months sorting and cleaning out advertisements from
my collection. I still have some gaps in the early 2000's (missing about 100
episodes), but other than that my collection is complete from 1976 to early
2013. If anyone has those early 2000 episodes, I would love to trade…
best, Auntie Corrie
Ooooh, Auntie Corrie, thanks so much for checking in. As you can see by the prior posts here, you are much loved and much missed. We should all club together and somehow create a fund by which we could collect and share all the past episodes. What's ironic is that if it was the powers that be at Corrie who balked about copyright infringement on YouTube, they have only done themselves a disservice. So many people around the world first found Corrie on YouTube and consequently became longtime and die hard fans. People who were already fans and then moved away from the UK could still tune in. I think they're going to lose a good portion of their loyal viewers now. Corrie has gotten quite repetitive and, hate to say it, boring lately. Couple that with the trouble one has in finding episodes online anymore and many will lose interest, like myself. Currently, the Platts are the only ones with a marginally interesting storyline. You know the writing has gone downhill when Roy can fall in love again and get engaged – and no one cares. Or even notices. Really? After how much we were all invested in his and Haley's storyline?
A thousand thanks again, Auntie Corrie, from all the loyal viewers who have you to thank for their love of Corrie and for the hundreds of hours of pure enjoyment provided by your hard work!
P. S. It may be fun to see a classic advert every now and then!
Hello
Thank you Auntie Corrie for taking the time and effort to upload the episodes.
I managed to watch from 1976 to 1983 and it was a great joy to rewatch those great acting performances and listen to the actors deliver those often witty lines.
A sincere thank you to Auntie Corrie
Any know where I can rewatch the episodes and watch others?
I was watching episodes i missed from Jan 2016 on and all was fine until one day when i got to fri April 15 all i can get are spoilers! Where oh where can i get all episodes from 15 April 2016 on?
fsmum – Email me at the email address in the right hand sidebar. I am hesitant to say anything about where to watch Corrie publicly any more, as it seems that whenever I do, the powers that be take it away within a few months!You'd think they'd want us to watch, not prevent us from watching. On a better note, the Coronation Street Tour is going on the road. They had the tour at the old set in Manchester, but it's been closed for a while now. They are taking old sets and props on the road, with the first stop being Glasgow. I'm thrilled to say that I've got tickets to see it on October 1, so watch this space for photos and a complete report of all I see then.
I am having withdrawal from the classic Corrie episodes since they have been pulled down from YouTube. Would love to know where they can be found. Can anyone advise me? Would be sooo grateful.
Sorry Jane (and everybody else). I still have an empty unpleasant feeling deep inside me from the loss of my channel. We all love Corrie!
I had over 20 consecutive years on Youtube, but now it is gone.
So… I have spent the last year to gather a few more episodes, (and to edit out advertisements from a few hundred other episodes).
So now my collection contains about 300 from 1960-1976, pretty much all 1976 to 2000, about half of 2001-2004, most of 2005, and pretty much all 2006-Apr/2013. I also have almost all the specials and special episodes, etc.
I know some people wanted me to re-post the collection or to send episodes by email. Unfortunately I am not prepared to do either – it took 3 hours per episode to get them onto Youtube (ie. years!), and email is much slower… sorry.
I suppose that I am lucky I have such a large collection. I can just watch it again.
I stopped watching the current Corrie in April 2013. I just couldn't stand it any more. It has become a pathetic boring mean-spirited show – nothing like what we all love.
Auntie Corrie has become 'anti-Corrie'!!!
But I still love re-watching the Classic Corrie.
Love always, Auntie Corrie
auntie.corrie@gmail.com