Doctor Who Vs. Coronation Street at 60, Part 1: 1960/61

"There was life before Coronation Street but it didn't add up

to much." Russell Harty

"Manchester produces what to me is the Pickwick Papers.

That is to say, Coronation Street, I live for it. Thank God.

Half past seven tonight and I shall be in paradise." 

Sir John Betjeman

L to R: Jessie Wallace, Dawson,
Celia Imrie & Lynda Baron
depicted Pat Phoenix (who
played Elsie Tanner), Warren
(1936-2016), Doris Speed
(Annie Walker) & Violet
Carson (Ena Sharples).

"Its Tony Warren. The writer.
Thought you were an actor.
That was yesterday."
The Road to Coronation Street

Shown again on ITV last night,
the BBC Four drama The Road to

Coronation Street documented the
creation of ITV's long-running soap opera, from inception (as Florizel 
Street in 1959) to first trans-
mission a year later.

Set mainly at Granada Studios in
Manchester, the biopic told the true
story of Tony Warren (born Anthony
Simpson in Salford, and played here
by David Dawson) - struggling actor
and scriptwriter who envisaged an
authentic Northern drama that
portrayed normal, working-class
life in a Salford terraced street.

After an initial commission to write thirteen pilot episodes, Warren con-
tributed to the soap - affectionately known as Corrie - until 1978, and even made a cameo appearance in

the show's fiftieth anniversary live edition in 2010.

Based in the fictional Northern town of Weatherfield, Corrie debuted
with a live episode on Friday December 9th 1960, and within six
months was Britain's most watched TV programme and a national
institution.
The show's first year on air included scripts from future Doctor Who 
writer Barbara Clegg, guest starred former actor Barry Letts,
and featured twenty-six other cast connections:

• Alan Rothwell (David Barlow, 1960-1968) voiced Janto for Big Finish's The Twilight Kingdom (2004)
• Daphne Oxenford (Esther Hayes, 1960-1972) was the Archivist in Dragonfire
• Cyril Luckham (Dr. Tinsley) was the White Guardian from The Ribos Operation to Enlightenment
• Frank Crawshaw (Arnold Tanner, 1961) was Arnold Farrow in Planet of Giants
• June Barry (Joan) voiced Jo Grant for Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?
• Campbell [Jakob Kobel] Singer (Mason) and Reg Lever (Davies) both appeared in The Celestial Toymaker - Singer was Joey the Clown, the King of Hearts and Sergeant Rugg, and Lever was the Joker
• [Alfred] Graham Rigby (Thief here; Whitehead, 1963; Lambert, 1965/6; Wardle, 1995) was Larry Madison in The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• Bryan Mosley (Alf Roberts, 1961-1999) and Phillip Anthony (Pilkington) both starred in The Daleks' Master Plan - Mosley was Prop Man (episode 7) and Malpha (11), whilst Anthony was Roald (1)
• Fulton Mackay (Dr. Graham) was Dr. Quinn in The Silurians
• Angela [Josephine MacDonagh] Douglas (Eunice) was Doris Lethbridge-Stewart in Battlefield
• John [Colin Smith] Collin (Snape here; Pickens, 1969; Stringer, 1979) was Brock in The Leisure Hive
• Robin Wentworth [Victor Roy Wheeler] (Dewhurst here; Greaves, 1969) was Professor Horner in The Daemons (1)
• Donald Morley (Fletcher here; Bolton, 1974) and Keith Anderson (Constable) both appeared in The Reign of Terror - as Jules Renan and Robespierre respectively
• Kenneth [Charles] Cope (Jed Stone, 1961-63, 1966, 2008-09) was Packard in Warriors' Gate
• Keith Marsh (Foreman here; Chippendale, 1966; Marsden, 1980; Uncle Mervyn, 1999) was Conway in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD
• Neville Barber (Marsden) was Dr. Cook in The Time Monsters
• Steve [Phokion Stavros] Plytas (Leo) was Wigner in The Tenth Planet
• Anne Reid (Valerie Tatlock/Barlow, 1961-1971) was Nurse Crane in The Curse of Fenric, and Florence the Plasmavore in Smith and Jones
• Jack [William] Woolgar (Stallholder here; Noblett, 1970) was Staff Sergeant Arnold in The Web of Fear
• Harold [Israel] Goldblatt (Riley) was Professor Dale in Frontier in Space
• Bernard [Frederic Bemrose] Kay (Foster) was Carl Tyler in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Saladin in The Crusade, Inspector Crossland in The Faceless Ones, and Caldwell in Colony in Space, then voiced Major Dickens for Night Thoughts (2006)
• [Philip] Stephen Hancock (Assistant here; Spinks, 1962; Gordon Bishop, 1967; Ernest Bishop, 1969-78) voiced the First Mate for Here There Be Monsters (2008)
• Stratford Johns (Powell) was Monarch in Four to Doomsday

First shown in September 2010 (and repeated on ITV3 in 2017),
The Road to Coronation Street also featured Jane Horrocks, Jessie
Wallace, Corrie veterans Michelle Holmes, John Thomson, and
seven Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Lynda Baron (Violet Carson here; Renee in Corrie, 1997) recorded The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon (sung off screen) for The Gunfighters, was Captain Wrack in Enlightenment, then Val in Closing Time 
• Steven Berkoff (Sidney Bernstein) provided the voice of the Shakri in The Power of Three
• Celia Imrie (Doris Speed) was Miss Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Dr. Elizabeth Bradley for The Fifth Citadel (2013), Madame Tissot for Gallery of Ghouls, and Lady Livia Caralis for Gallifrey: Enemy Lines (both 2016)
• Shaun Dooley (Bennett here; Fitzgerald in Corrie, 1997/8) was Epzo in The Ghost Monument
• Tim Palmer was also the cinematographer on Let's Kill Hitler, The Wedding of River Song and Nightmare in Silver
• Thomas Alibone was assistant director on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• Adam Green also edited The Girl Who Died, The Woman Who Lived and The Husbands of River Song