Street TREATS!

THERE’S MORE THAN THE DRAMA...

The anniversary festivities continue with a selection of special programmes on this week, delving deep into the Coronation Street history books.

The jewel in the crown is Queens Of The Street (Wednesday 9pm, ITV), a celebration of Weatherfield’s wealth of wonderful women, installed at the heart of the soap from its very first episode.

The show focusses on mighty matriarchs such as Bet Lynch, Annie Walker and Elsie Tanner – plus, we’ll catch up with much-missed faces of the show’s more recent past, including favourites Julie Hesmondhalgh (Hayley) and Amanda Barrie (Alma). Meanwhile, current cobbles cast members – including Sally Dynevor (Sally) and Patti Clare (Mary) – look back at the great and the good of Corrie’s grand dames. And watch out for the likes of Lorraine Kelly and Sir Derek Jacobi, also paying tribute to the Street’s powerful women. Coronation Street: 60 Unforgettable Years (Monday 8.30pm, ITV) is narrated by none other than Joanna Lumley OBE (aka Ken Barlow’s former girlfriend Elaine Perkins), and charts the series’ journey to becoming a national institution. We’re promised a host of stars will spill never-before-revealed secrets of the show they’re proud to call home. We can’t wait!

Over on ITV3, the home of Classic Coronation Street, we’ll step back in time every evening at 10pm, as the channel repeats the first-ever episode, followed by the special anniversary episodes from 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 – and, of course, the spectacular tram-crash drama of 2010.

Elsewhere, streaming service Britbox gets in on the action, offering an exclusive selection of classic episodes, as well as The Road to

Coronation Street – the 2010 dramatisation of the series’ creation, starring EastEnders’ Jessie Wallace. Also available is Against The Odds: The Pat Phoenix Story, which follows the affair between the screen siren behind Elsie Tanner, and fellow actor Tony Booth.