Doctor Who Vs. Coronation Street at 60, Part 8: 1979-1982

By 1979, Corrie had scant competition within

its primetime slot. But some critics suggested

that the programme had grown complacent,

whilst moving away from socially aware story-

lines, and was again accused of portraying

a dated view of working-class life. The late

 1970's however, saw the show's popularity

grow, and the Street regularly topped the

TV ratings.

The series was again affected by industrial 

action when the whole ITV network was

blacked out for 75 days, from August 10th

to October 24th 1979.

The early 1980's would prove to be one

of the show's most popular periods, and

earned its highest viewing figures since

its heyday. Ena Sharples (played by Violet

Carson since 1960) left Corrie in 1980, and the wedding of Ken Barlow

and Deirdre Langton in 1981 was watched by over 24 million viewers.

 Then in 1982, a brand-new exterior set finally replaced the original,

which was little more than a dated facade. These four years on the

cobbles featured another twenty Doctor Who cast and crew alumni:

• Michael Melia (Cummings) was the Terileptil leader in The Visitation
• Bill McGuirk (Wilson here; DC Banks, 1984) was a Guard in The Enemy of the World, and Policeman in (episode 3 of) Terror of the Autons
• Paul Seed (Harris) was the Graff Vynda-Ka in The Ribos Operation
• Christian Rodska (Newton) voiced Laan Carder for Big Finish's Faith Stealer (2004), and Reverend Small for AudioGo's Hornet's Nest: The Dead Shoes (2009)
• Sue Wallace (Mrs. Fletcher here; Jean, 2005) voiced Mrs. Baddeley for The Chimes of Midnight, Edith for Season of Fear (both 2002), and Mertil for The Whispering Forest (2010)
• Richard Shaw (Johnson) was Lobos in The Space Museum, Cross in Frontier in Space, and Lakh in Underworld
• Jonathan Caplan (Cheveski) was Roskal in Planet of Fire
• Tenniel Evans (DI Vaughan) was Major Daly in Carnival of Monsters
• Kenny McBain was director of The Horns of Nimon too
• Paul Lowther (Jackson) was a Knight in The King's Demons, and Orderly in Frontios
• Gilbert Wynne (Dodds) was Thara in The Krotons
• Brian Miller (Elliott here; Pughes, 2012) [husband of Elizabeth Sladen and father of Sadie Miller] was Dugdale in Snakedance, voiced the Daleks for Resurrection of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks and Doctor Who Pinball: Time Streams, and was Barney (pictured) in Deep Breath
• Graham Seed (Solicitor) voiced Bevan for The Forgotten Village (2014), Pyrepoint for The Romance of Crime (2015), and Gramoryan 2, Taverner and Squire for Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated (2019)
• David Simeon (Simpson here; Dr. Bird, 1998) was Private Latimer in Inferno, and Alastair Fergus in The Daemons (1)
• Dave Hill (Hurst) voiced Nessican for Death Comes to Time
• Tony Osoba (McGregor here; Peter Ingram, 1990) was Lan in Destiny of the Daleks, Kracauer in Dragonfire, and was Duke in Kill the Moon
• Philip Jackson (Smitty) voiced Laxton for Valhalla (2007) and Mr. Peabody for The Contingency Club (2017)
• Brian Capron (Worthington here; Richard Hillman, 2001-03; Dickie in A Knight's Tale) voiced Lesley Kulcade for Subterfuge (2020)
• Mark Eden (Randle here; Alan Bradley, 1986-89) and Lesley Manville (Jill) both appeared in An Adventure in Space and Time, as Donald Baverstock and Heather Hartnell respectively - Eden had played the titular explorer, Marco Polo