Aussie fan seeks help with Coronation Street research

An Australian Coronation Street fan called Adrian Schober has written and published a substantial article about the visit to Australia of Pat Phoenix, Doris Speed and Arthur Leslie in 1966, and Violet Carson in 1968. His article is quite detailed and interesting.

The actors were treated like superstars in Australia, yet only a few years later, Corrie’s popularity in Australia had fallen dramatically. Adrian Schoble discusses the reasons why this happened and you can find it here: https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/La-Trobe-Journal-102-Adrian-Schober.pdf  - some great pics included. His notes on his research are here: https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/La-Trobe-Journal-102-Notes-and-contributors.pdf

Adrian is very interested in furthering his research and would love to hear from anyone who has memories or photos of the 1960s tours.

Apparently he has had a lot of responses already from long term Corrie fans in Melbourne. He has also heard that Arthur Leslie took a lot of photos and possibly home movies while in Australia, and is wondering if any descendants of Arthur’s still have them.

Adrian is happy for his email address to be published if anyone would like to contact him: beatles9@optusnet.com.au

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Important news for Coronation Street fans in Oz

There's news in today for Australian Coronation Street fans.

BBC Australia have announced a huge soaps catch-up.  Fans of both Corrie and EastEnders can catch double episodes of both soaps from Monday July 17.

For Coronation Street fans these are the important dates and schedule changes:

From Monday August 7 until Friday September 8
Monday to Friday during those dates
Every evening, double episodes at 6.50pm and 7.20pm
Every morning, double episodes at 8.40am and 9.10am

So every evening, stay in and catch this:

6.20pm: Emmerdale
6.50pm: Coronation Street
7.20pm: Coronation Street
7.50pm: EastEnders, Monday to Thursday, and QI on Friday

And every morning, wake up to this:

8.10am: Hollyoaks
8.40am: Coronation Street
9.10am: Coronation Street
9.40am: EastEnders

So there you have it! From September 11 we’ll be fully up to speed with EastEnders AND Corrie. You’ll get 4 all new episodes of EastEnders and 6 of Coronation Street each week. So your nights will go a little something like this:

Monday to Thursday:
6.50pm: Emmerdale
7.20pm: Coronation Street
7.50pm: EastEnders

Friday:
6.50pm Emmerdale
7.20pm: Coronation Street
7.50pm: Coronation Street

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Grayson Perry’s Corrie comfort

Merry Christmas everybody - I hope you are having a fantastic festive time wherever in the world you are!

I am currently on holiday in Australia and a real highlight has been the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney where I viewed the Grayson Perry exhibition, ‘My Pretty Little Art Career’.

One piece that I found particularly striking was Perry’s ‘Comfort Blanket’, a tapestry first unveiled last year at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Taking the form of a £10 note, it depicts the rich tapestry of British life. It is so accurate that I almost felt homesick.

As I approached the installation, I wondered if Coronation Street would be one of the cultural markers used by Perry to define ‘Britishness’. And sure enough, I soon spotted the word CORRIE right below Cheddar and CURRY. Amazing!

When describing this work, Grayson Perry has said “you could lay it out for a national picnic”, imagining the Queen “might have stitched the whole thing in front of her hissing gas fire, with her brass ornaments twinkling in the background, Corrie playing on the telly and The Hay Wain over the fireplace”.

I wonder if Grayson Perry really is a Corrie fan? If so, it would be fascinating to hear his views on the artistic merits of Deirdre’s pottery or Craig Tinker’s recent artistic endeavours; and to know what he made of the short-lived cross-dressing storyline involving Claud, Aud and Marc/Marcia!

I always think of Coronation Street as a comfort blanket within my own life. It has always been there. It reminds me of childhood. It reminds me of home. It makes me feel safe and warm. It is also bloody brilliant, of course. 

So, I’d better go and figure out how to watch Christmas Corrie over here in Australia. It’s just not Christmas without it!

By Martin Leay

You can follow Martin on Twitter @mpleay

You can listen to Martin on the Happy Sundays show on Croydon Radio

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Strewth! Free-to-watch Coronation Street axed in Australia

Sad news for Coronation Street fans in Australia reached Blog Towers this week.

Coronation Street has been axed in Australia by Channel 7Two.  It was screening weekdays at 4:30pm on 7Two the digital free to air broadcaster, and was showing classic episodes from 8 years ago. It has been replaced by repeats of classic sitcoms instead.

Corrie fan Barrie Turnbull in Australia contacted Channel 7 and was told that they "no longer have the rights" to show Coronation Street.

Although Coronation Street can still be seen on Australian TV until 2020, on Foxtel, fans have to pay to watch this channel. Foxtel's UKTV is now the only channel in Australia to show all five UK soaps.
   

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Australia Day! Exciting news for Coronation Street fans in Oz

Here's some exciting news for Coronation Street fans in Australia.  With thanks to our friend Nick who has sent us this news today, on Australia Day!

See also: Coronation Street's Australian connections.

From May 1 2014,  UKTV in Australia will bring fans Coronation Street just one and a half weeks after the show is broadcast in the UK.

To catch up, Australian fans can enjoy more of the latest twists and turns with UKTV screening
double episodes weekly throughout February-April.

Coronation Street will kick off double episodes each week night at 7pm from February 10 until March 16.

EVENING SOAP LINE UP – WEEKNIGHTS FROM FEBRUARY 10 TO MARCH 16
7:00pm Monday – Friday: Coronation Street
7:30pm Monday – Friday: Coronation Street

EVENING SOAP LINE UP – WEEKNIGHTS FROM MARCH 17 TO THE END OF APRIL
7:00pm Monday – Friday: Coronation Street

Tim Christlieb, Head of Channels at BBC Worldwide Australia and New Zealand, commented ‘We’re delighted to be bringing loyal followers right up to date with the latest storylines from the UK. And what better way to catch-up than by treating fans to double helpings through February, March and April.”

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Happy Australia Day! The Coronation Street connections

Today, Sunday January 26th 2014 is Australia Day.  Happy Australia Day to all of the Coronation Street fans down under.

From 50 years of Corrie in 50 days: Coronation Street has been shown in Australia since 1963 and by 1966 it was more popular there than in the UK.

Channel 9 sent an invitation for a party from Coronation Street to visit fans in Australia. Granada accepted the invitation and a group was put together consisting of Doris Speed (Annie Walker), Arthur Leslie (Jack Walker) and Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) from the cast along with producer/writer H.V. Kershaw and Norman Frisby from the press office.

The group visited Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and they were mobbed everywhere they went. They visited several local Coronation Streets, presented awards, appeared on numerous chat shows and even performed a sketch specially written by Kershaw. Driving back to the airport in Adelaide, Doris and Pat wept as 50,000 people turned out to wave them farewell.

While Corrie has many Canadian connections, the links with Australia are less obvious.  Here are some we can think of, and do please let us know if you know of any more.

Norris' brother Ramsay Clegg was sent to Australia as a child.

And David Barlow emigrated out there after marrying Irma Ogden, only for David to die in a car crash.

And of course, we've even got a Kylie on Coronation Street.

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