Fifty years since Elsie married Steve in Coronation Street

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the first of two Corrie episodes covering the wedding of Elsie Tanner to Sergeant Steve Tanner. Conveniently, no change of surname was required! 

At the time, it was the most talked-about event in the history of Coronation Street. In fact, the episode broadcast on 6 September 1967 was the first in Corrie to show the wedding ceremony itself.

It was such a big event that the nuptials spawned a special ‘Coronation Street Wedding Souvenir’ magazine published by the TV Times on 7 September 1967. This was the first ever Corrie magazine and, apart from some records and jigsaws, one of the first pieces of Coronation Street merchandise.

For one shilling, Corrie fans that had enjoyed the wedding on TV could relive it all with a 32-page souvenir mag packed with photos of the ceremony and reception – a lavish do in Warrington.

I have never seen the Tanner wedding. However, having recently acquired a copy of the TV Times supplement, I feel like I know a lot about the big day! 

It’s a great historical document and one interesting feature is a copy of Dennis Tanner’s speech, which was not heard on screen. It was printed along with his supposed hand-written amendments.

Other highlights include an artist’s impression of the lounge in Elsie and Steve’s new luxury flat in Altrincham. The flat was decked out with wall-to wall carpeting and a craftsman-designed fireplace in natural stone, with a built-in gas fire and a slate hearth. It was a far cry from the sparsely furnished living room of 11 Coronation Street.

Elsie was going up in the world, you see – from the cobbled back streets of Salford to the tree-lined avenues of Manchester’s stockbroker belt. The wife of an American GI, she could kiss goodbye to cooking on a stove in the living room and her tiny scullery with a sink and larder. Now Elsie could enjoy a real kitchen with all mod cons: new cooker with eye-level grill; stainless steel sink unit; plenty of cupboard space; Venetian blinds and a transistorised clock – plus, a refrigerator! 

According to Corriepedia (read more here), the photos in the magazine were not taken on set because recording was too close to the TV Times’ publication date. Instead, the cast assembled at St Margaret’s Church in Whalley Range, which looked like the church designed in the studio. The back cover featured a photo of the Tanners at Manchester Airport, staged as if they were about to board their honeymoon flight to Lisbon.

The Coronation Street Wedding Souvenir magazine was given a second print run and is thought to have sold over one million copies in total. Not surprisingly, the TV Times went on to publish more special Corrie magazines, for example to mark the tenth anniversary in 1970, the wedding of Len and Rita in 1977, and the 2000th episode in 1980.

I came by this wonderful relic thanks to a friend of a friend, Scarlett, who found it when clearing her Aunt’s bungalow after she had passed away at the age of 92. It was sitting inside a folder of Royal souvenirs and cuttings; alongside some old Cadbury Creme Eggs and Woods of Windsor talc sets.

Scarlett’s Auntie Alice was an avid Corrie fan from the very start and actually passed away peacefully as the opening bars of the theme tune could be heard from the residents’ lounge in the care home where she spent her last eighteen months. Alice hated Len Fairclough and Annie Walker and she thought Ken Barlow was a womaniser. She would have liked to have tried Betty’s hotpot. Me too!

It’s amazing to think that someone I never met spent many happy hours watching Coronation Street, just as I, and many other millions of people have, all of us formulating opinions about the same set of characters. It made me think of the wonderful ‘Coronation Street: Then, Now & Forever’ promo produced by ITV to celebrate 57 years of our favourite continuing drama. For us Corrie fans, we’ll always have iconic scenes and storylines by which to remember major milestones in our own lives.

My first child is due soon and I look forward to sharing many Corrie moments with her. I’m sure she will grow up to love Coronation Street, just as her Daddy always has – Then, Now & Forever!

By Martin Leay, on Twitter @mpleay

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Classic Corrie Christmas Moments Countdown - Day 17

Today we're going back to 1967 for Christmas Day on the cobbles.

The men are having a tug of war against The Flying Horse. Elsie and Steve Tanner spend their last Christmas at No. 11. Well, that's what Elsie thought!

So join the Tanners, Albert, Ena, the Barlows, the Ogdens, the Cheveskis, Jerry, the Walkers, Len, Emily, Minnie and Lucille for Christmas on the cobbles 47 years ago.

A link to the video on YouTube is here.

And then Ena plays the piano as the regulars have a Christmas singsong.

Enjoy!

To see information and synopsis of this episode (Episode 733) on Corriepedia, click here.

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50 Years Of Corrie In 50 Days – 1970

Day 10 of our 50 day countdown of Coronation Street - written by blogger Sunny Jim.

Christmas 1970 saw the conclusion of a story that had started some 2 years earlier. When Steve Tanner had been found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs in September 1968 there had been no evidence to condemn anybody of foul play. In November Joe Donnelli, a friend of Steve Tanner’s from the American base at Burtonwood turned up on Coronation Street and lodged with Minnie Caldwell. A dangerous and violent man who enjoyed going to war, he locked Irma Barlow in the flat above the shop and confessed to how he had murdered Steve over a gambling debt. Threatening her with a pair of scissors he told her he would not let her share her secret with anyone.

For over two weeks he kept her in a constant state of fear as his prisoner in the shop. Knowing something was amiss, some of the residents lured them both to the Rovers, having called the Military Police. Joe escaped and went to no. 5 where he held a terrified Minnie at gunpoint. Unaware of the gun, Stan Ogden crashed into the house to deal with the ‘damn Yank’ who had threatened his daughter, Irma. Joe let Minnie go but held turned his gun on Stan. As the end credits rolled on Christmas Eve, a single shot rang out and viewers had to wait until after the festivities to find out that Joe had shot himself and for once in his life, Stan was the hero.
In June 1970, the 1000th episode was transmitted. John Braine, author of Room at the Top wrote in a TV Times supplement: ‘The most important character in the Street is the Street itself. No matter who comes and goes, the Street remains.’ Words that still hold true as we head towards the 50th anniversary.

By 1970, the programme had been broadcast in ten other countries including Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Holland, Greece and Sierra Leone, where it was voted the most watched television series, although there were only 3000 TV sets in the country.

Also in 1970: David Barlow & son Darren die in Australia; Elsie Tanner and Alan Howard marry; Dave Smith arrives; Bet starts work at the Rovers; Stan Ogden sells some of Ena Sharples’ songs to club singer Mickey Malone; Handel Gartside romances Minnie Caldwell.

50 Years Of Corrie In 50 Days – 1967

Day 7 of our 50 day countdown of Coronation Street - written by blogger Sunny Jim.

Tragedy hit the Street in 1967 when a goods train plunged off the viaduct. At this time, the programme was still filming exterior scenes in the studio so it was quite some feat to set this up. A huge mass of bricks with iron girders sticking out was constructed and five goods wagons wrecked on top of the pile. Underneath was placed a squashed Mini from which PC Conway was dragged out alive. Nearby a corridor of timber and bricks was constructed in which Violet Carson, as Ena, had to lie completely still.

Ena, Jack, Elsie and Lucille were all missing, though only Ena had been caught up in the crash and as the programme went on each of the missing residents turned up. During the second episode of the disaster, David Barlow crawled out of the rubble to report that he had found Ena alive. The only death was of Sonia Peters, the girlfriend of PC Conway who had been in the crushed Mini. The disaster scenes were directed by Michael Apted who went on to be a renowned film director.

There were happier scenes when Elsie Tanner married her wartime sweetheart Steve Tanner. As soon as the wedding date was announced on screen, action off screen began to hot up. Viewers wrote in asking for the date to be changed as they would be away on holiday, the TV Times produced a 32 page souvenir that sold over 1 million copies and over 500 wedding presents were received by people unable to distinguish drama from reality.

The viewers weren’t the only ones to be confused. Pat Phoenix insisted on choosing her own wedding dress, she arranged for jewellers H. Samuel to visit producer Jack Rosenthal with a selection of rings and when it came for her to appear on set, she refused to leave her dressing room. She only came out when Jack Rosenthal had visited her and reassured her as he might have done with a daughter with pre-wedding nerves.

Also in 1967:  Ken Barlow goes to prison; Harry Hewitt dies; Irma Barlow miscarries; Emily Nugent joins a marriage bureau; Hilda Ogden has a breakdown; Jack Walker leaves Annie and Annie Walker is arrested for throwing a football rattle through a shop window.