Milk stout and morality tales: Why we love Coronation Street so much

BRIAN BEACOM

IT’S A world of grey skies, grey pallors and even greyer outlooks. The half-empty milk bottle may no longer be a permanent feature on the dining tables of the terraced houses but we still assume its presence. Hair curlers are no longer partially hidden under the headscarves of knicker factory workers during daylight hours, but we know residents of this locale still wear them, metaphorically. And the aloof, stray cat still lurks on slated roof, a symbol of the disdain the world shows for those whom the moggy observes from height.

How could Scotland not take to Coronation Street?

Next month heralds the 60th anniversary of the world’s most successful soap opera, an unrelenting delve into the dark imaginings of its writers’ take on northern life. It’s melodramatic, but real enough to hold its weekly audience of eight million.

And while the accents may be Greater Manchester, the no-nonsense voice speaks in a language we can readily understand: Scotland understands implicitly the stories of pork scratchings and human conflict.

Coronation Street performs better in Scotland than the UK as a whole with a network share of 37.7 per cent, the UK picking up 33.4 per cent. Every single episode of the Street shown in Scotland achieves audiences of over half a million.

Why is it such a Scots success? Is this story of common survival one that we share? “Coronation Street reflects the shifts that people adopt to make life a little more bearable,” said writer John Stevenson of the Granada-made soap.

Scots know all about survival. We also share the imperfections of these TV characters with their believable flaws. Scotland’s Knoxian heritage, a principle of the rejection of absolutist authority and values of common decency guides us in the same direction as Corrie’s scriptwriters.

Each episode contains at least one moral/ethical standpoint, whether it’s the current stand against the bully boy developer, the family unit dilemma revealed in Kevin’s backing of his troublesome sister or the decision to let a toddler’s life support system be switched off.

Coronation Street, to a greater extent than most soaps, makes sure the enshrined principles of retribution are adhered to. That’s why every one-night stand leads to discovery/pregnancy. No crime goes unpunished. Every lie is unearthed. Womanisers always revert to type. Manhaters get their just desserts.

Truths must me told. Confessions are as common as the splashes of rain on the cobbled streets. Murderers and sociopaths are an ever-present in this world –but we know they exist to highlight common decency.

We Scots also know life to be a series of dramatic moments and challenges and that’s why we love to see the characters meet them head on.

Reformed alcoholics and drug addicts have to be smacked in the face by temptation. The sexually frivolous are rarely rewarded with simple chlamydia,