Well, here’s to another wild and crazy birthday

I was looking through some old things in the loft recently when I came across the best birthday card I have ever been given. Not the image of Betty above but this beauty below:

It was given to me exactly ten years ago to this day when I turned 25. Back then, I was young and hungry. Now I’m just hungry.  

It was an official Coronation Street greeting card copyrighted by Granada in 2006 and produced by Hallmark. My brother got it for me and the picture and message on the front is just brilliant. Nowadays, I’d take a quiet drink in the Rovers with Norris over a wild and crazy night out anytime!

Right… it’s QUIZ TIME. At what Weatherfield event were Nozzer, Blanche and Emily pictured at on the front of this card? 

The prize for the first correct answer in the comments section below (should you wish to claim it) is a Newton and Ridley Best Bitter beer mat, as pictured:

Ready, steady… PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT!

By Martin Leay, on Twitter @mpleay

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Man who put Coronation Street on TV dies aged 95

Sir Denis Forman, the former Granada TV chairman who was responsible for putting Coronation Street on TV in 1960, has died aged 95.

The Guardian carries his obituary detailing a remarkable 50-year career.  Sir Denis, who died on Sunday night in a nursing home in London, was also director of the British Film Institute and deputy chairman of the Royal Opera House but it was his work in television of which he was most proud.

One of the founding executives of Granada TV in the mid 1950s, Forman went on to become is joint managing director and chairman between 1974 and 1987.

He was responsible for a new generation of programmes that helped to redefine British TV, including Coronation Street.  In an interview with The Guardian he once said this about the show:

"I recognised its merit and I supported the move to get it on air, but I was not 100% behind it. I was nervous. Everyone was. Look at those accents. Anyone in broadcasting reading one of those scripts would say: 'It's impossible.'"

Granada made it possible, though initially only as a 13-part series. The Daily Mirror's review of the first episode was scathing. "The programme is doomed from the outset," it intoned, "with its gloomy tune and grim scene of a row of terraced houses and smoking chimneys." But it was a ratings triumph, became a twice-weekly fixture, and within six months was the most-watched programme on British TV.

And here at the Coronation Street Blog we've just checked through Sean Egan's book - 50 Years of Coronation Street, the Unofficial Story. It says Sir Forman gave Tony Warren his first exclusive writing contract at Granada TV.  And as we all know, Tony ended up penning the first episodes of Coronation Street, of which Sir Forman says this:

"If we'd been in London, I don't think we would have made Coronation Street.  I don't think anyone in London would have made Coronation Street".

And his verdict on Tony Warren's first script for Florizel Street, as Corrie was originally known was this: "Good characters, good dialogue."

At the end of the day, I think that's all we really need. 


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Corrie icon to be scrapped

The remaining parts of ITV bearing the Granada name are to be rebranded and the iconic Granada TV logo will be dismantled and removed from the ITV building in Manchester.

Guardian Media reports that the Granada name has a long and proud history in British media. However, the Granada brand – long synonymous with Coronation Street and other key ITV programme brands – lived on as the name of ITV plc's in-house production arm until it was rebranded as ITV Productions in 2006 and then to its current name, ITV Studios.

If you're interested in finding out more about the history of Granada TV and Coronation Street, you might like this book.

Exclusive! Coronation Street’s first ever trainee writer

I'm privileged to have been in conversation with Mr John Finch.

For those Corrie fans with long memories, the name might ring a few bells.

The interview's a little long for a blog post and to give John Finch's words the space they deserve, you can read the full interview here.