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Friday 18 January 2013

It was a cold, chilly day in Weatherfield

As you know, a number of people contribute to this blog. Today, thanks to the lovely Flaming Nora, some of us were very lucky to be part of a group visit to the ITV studios in Manchester. There are loads more of my photos here.


Here we are, chilly and cold and very happy. Left to right, Pickled Jo, Mersytart (also blogs as Scott Willison), Mr. Tvor, Tvor, Flaming Nora front and centre, Sunny Jim, David/Clinkers peeking from behind, Craig247, Mark Llewellin in back, Kathryn S, Rebecca and Chewy.

We had a look around the street set which was rather frosty around the edges. It had snowed a bit overnight but not so bad as to hamper the trains, luckily. The liaison man from ITV showed us around and later, saying he was chilly, took us inside to one of the studios where we got to see a few of the iconic sets such as the Rovers Return, the Kabin, Underworld and a number of the house internal sets. We were unable to see the other studio with the rest of the sets as they were still filming there.

While we waited to get onto the set, Tony Hirst (Paul the fireman) walked past, said hello and said he hoped we would enjoy our tour, Sue Nicholls (Audrey) drove up and waved at us and as we trooped up to the Street, Shobna Gulati (Sunita) walked by and said hello and hoped we enjoyed our tour. I peeked into the green room as we walked by and spied Jack P. Shepherd (David) and Ben Price (Nick).  One of our bloggers, Sunny Jim, also saw Michelle Keegan (Tina) very fleetingly on the set and Helen Worth (Gail) was also spotted.

The door to the Rovers Return on the outside set was open! The wall behind it is decorated so that if they film someone going it, it looks like it should but did you ever wonder what is inside the actual buildings? Many of them are just shells with the doorway decorated correctly. Here's a photo of what's inside the Rovers:

I've been on the outside set a few times before and inside the studio once before. Many of the rooms have changed since then and it was great to see the Kabin which I had not seen on my last visit. Our guide related lots of interesting information like how they make sure the room or kitchen of a house matches the personality of its owner and how the way a room is decorated can tell you a lot about that people who live there. For instance, the somewhat chaotic mixture of patterns and lines in the Windass house were devised when Tracy Barlow lived there, just before she murdered Charlie Stubbs!

After we left the set, Mark Llewellin escorted us on a two hour mini-bus tour around Manchester and Salford to show us locations that have been used for filming over the years including the location used for the Red Rec,  and the Salford Quays area including a walk near the new Corrie studios still under construction.

Huge thanks go out to Mark Llewellin for his time and effort and for the tour and to ITV for escorting us around and telling us loads of interesting things about the show including the fact that orange is used on every set where there has been a fire!


There are loads more of my photos here.

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18 comments:

Carry On Blogging! said...


Sounds like you all had a great day! I wish I could have been with you all!

Tvor said...

We missed all the bloggers that were unable to come!

Conversation Street said...

A nice little report. Sounds like you had a great time! Any more photos to share?

Donna - Halifax said...

Wish I had been there. I know they are building th new set but what was the reason for this and what will happen to the old set and the land it's on. How close is the new set to the old set. Living in Halifax, N.S. may never get to visit either. Thanks

Clinkers (David) said...

We had a fantastic if rather cold day. Great fun wandering around the sets and trying to get our heads around who lived where and why on Victoria Street!

Pickledjo said...

Thanks again a million times for inviting me!
That was one of the best experiences of my life! So much to take in, so much to see.
I've been boring Mark with Corrie facts all night about wall colours and hairdryer sales.
AMAZING!
Many thanks to Mark and David too, for sharing their knowledge and time!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you all had a wonderful time; what a unique opportunity! :)

Glenda Young said...

A fantastic day, wonderful

Dolly Tubb said...

How nice to be able to put faces to the names who entertain us on CSB! It sounds like you had a fantastic time. I went to the Corrie studios around 20 years ago just before they shut. It was amazing stuff, a bit like going around a street full of wendy houses. I love playing Spot The Location too when I watch Corrie; many of the places they film I remember from when I lived in Salford/Manchester. But some of the more 'remote' scenes often leave me scratching my head - a blog on some of the wedding venues etc would be great!

Anonymous said...

I do not understand what did you mean about the orange and fire thing? Sorry English is my second language. Can you please elaborate? Thanks

Tvor said...

When, in the show, somewhere has had a fire, like Underworld (when Tony burned it down), when they redo it, they paint something orange. In undeworld, the staircase is orange. Nick's Bistro has orange on the sign. Alahans, which Mad Maya burned, has orange in the decor.

Craig L said...

A superb day we had yesterday, absolutely loved it! Great to meet the team!

Anonymous said...

Lovely to see you all in the pic! Thank you for posting.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an amazing trip, interesting fact about the fires and painting things orange.

Chewy said...

It was a very fun day, had lots of fun looking at the little unseen details in the set :D

Deborah said...

Glad you all had a great day. What a perfect place for the bloggers of this wonderful site to meet up.

Anonymous said...

Oh thank you for explaining, Tvor! Interesting! :D

Anonymous said...

Looks like a fantastic day, and indeed great to see a picture of the fabulously good-looking bloggers!!
Rebecca in TO

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