Coronation Street’s DNA Secrets is a 90 minute special to be aired on ITV on Wednesday 5 September at 9pm to 10.30pm.
Around 60% of Coronation Street’s longest serving stars are born and bred in Manchester. But are they are about to get the surprise of their lives about their real origins?
In this one off, 90 minute special, Coronation Street’s DNA Secrets reveals the secrets lying deep in the DNA of Britain’s best-loved street. Uncovering the ancestral stories of Weatherfield’s finest – and revealing incredible connections they had absolutely no inkling about…until now.
From a single, tiny sample of saliva it’s now possible to find connections with people and places that span centuries and continents - revealing unexpected stories and family connections with people on the other side of the planet or in your own street. Working with Ancestry.com, the cast of Coronation Street - old and new – are opening their doors to let us find out more about who they really are.
Presenter Nicky Campbell, with the help of an on-screen genetic expert, meets the Coronation Street cast on the famous cobbles to explain the science behind the results. In the Rovers, Roy’s Rolls and Nick’s Bistro, the assembled cast will be presented with their DNA results and discover they have DNA from corners of the world as far flung as Northern Russia, Azerbaijan and Melanesia.
Along with host Nicky Campbell, the programme features much-loved Coronation Street actors including Sally Ann Matthews, Kym Marsh, William Roache, Simon Gregson, Cherylee Houston, Nicola Thorp, Katie McGlynn, Connie Hyde, Melanie Hill, Peter Gunn, Tristan Gemmill, Liam Bairstow, Daniel Brocklebank and Faye Brooks. Shelley King and Paddy Wallace will also feature.
The discoveries made within the programme could make the cast change the way they understand their own lives - and their own life experiences. With emotional revelations, entertaining reveals and heart-warming connections, all underpinned by the latest ground-breaking science and technology, Coronation Street’s DNA Secrets takes Britain’s favourite soap stars on a genealogy rollercoaster ride, revealing astonishing ancestral pasts they never knew they had.
Sally Ann Matthews explores the North of England and her typically Northern roots, while her DNA result reveals that she has a famous cousin from within the ranks of the Coronation Street cast.
Kym Marsh finds out a mysterious genetic link to the Iberian Peninsula and Shelley King discovers gets a shock when she discovers her ethnicity is entirely different to what she was brought up to believe.
Bill Roache is reunited with a long-lost cousin who was adopted out of the family and one member of the Corrie cast discovers a personal DNA link with Royalty.
Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers
Please read our advice for leaving comments on the Coronation Street Blog
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
