Cosy crimes and gritty sagas by Corrie Blog editor Glenda, published by Headline. Click pic below!

Saturday 16 June 2012

Who were the original Corrie cast?


Starting on Monday, there'll be a series of posts on the blog chronicling the lives and careers of the original cast of Coronation Street. There were twenty-one (there are four missing from the above photo)  in the cast back in December 1960 and it has been interesting looking at all of them. Some remained in the soap for many years while others left quite early on. 


Today, there are two originals in the cast: William Roache (Ken Barlow), who's been in the show since its inception and Philip Lowrie (Dennis Tanner), who was in the show between 1960 and 1968 and returned in 2011. I do hope you'll enjoy reading the profiles! The first original to be featured will be Arthur Leslie who played Jack Walker and that'll be on Monday.

Do you have memories of the first or early episodes of Corrie

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10 comments:

Frosty the Snowman said...

I remember the 1st episode only because it has been reshown not because I have such a good memory. It really was a gritty northern drama then with great acting from unknowns not the daft sensationalist storylines with poor acting (from some) that is the Corrie of today.

Greg said...

21 of the greatest and most realistic characters any shown has ever portrayed.looking forward to this feature, brill idea :)

Tvor said...

I look forward to it!

Anonymous said...

Just finished watching the 1960's box set over the last few months - absolutely amazing actors, some moving performances and brilliant comedy too. Makes today's dreary episodes such a chore to watch in comparison...

Anonymous said...

Corrie has to move with the times and capture new audiences even though some of the stoylines have been dismal, it was good watching most of the time. I started watching the year Katie killed her dad with the tire iron, and haven't stopped except for the occassional ffwd through the real embarassing scenes (Paul and Eileen getting busy..Karl and Sunita..ugh) but for the most part I have enjoyed it. I think the writers actually do a good of balancing the old Corrie and the new and even though I have hated some storylines it wouldn't be enough to put me off it...unless they did away with Audrey..she is my fav. Where is Diedre? Is Anne K. sick?

Humpty Dumpty said...

Brought up in the south, Coronation Street with its kitchen sink drama, didn't reflect my parents' world so we didn't watch it. We didn't know much about the north. This was the era pre-Beatles/Morecambe & Wise etc. I got into it as an adult in the 70's. I later married into a northern family and was sure they would have watched it for years. No, my father-in-law dourly said, they had enough misery in their own house without having to watch other people's.

Anonymous said...

I hope actress Joan Heath will be included it this, although she didn't appear in the very 1st episode, I still think of her as an orginal? she played May Hardman by the way !! - anyone else think the same??

Anonymous said...

Definitely - the few episodes she was in provided great dramatic scenes between her and Christine..similarly Anne Cunningham's Linda Cheveski - a shame she didn't return for Dennis's wedding....I think she's appearing in a yoghurt advert at the moment - so still working - maybe she could drop in on Dennis at some later stage....?!

Greg said...

I would've thought that Joan Heath won't be mentioned - the 21 original characters were the ones Tony Warren created to be long lasting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they were:

The Barlows; Elsie, Dennis, Linda and Ivan; Ena, Minnie and Martha; The Walkers; Lucille, Harry and Concepta; Christine; Esther; Swindley; Albert tatlock and Florrie Lindley

Anonymous said...

Well I think it would be nice to read up on the likes on Jean Heath, as I previously said, also Ruth Holden (Vera Lomax) and Gabrielle Daye( Beattie Pearson) again as I said before I know they were not orginals from episode 1 but they did appear in 1960 within the first few episodes, and also helped lay the foundation on Cornation Street- so to speak!

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

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