New series of The Corrie Years

Last year, ITV showed a three part documentary called The Corrie Years which featured clips and behind the scenes history behind Coronation Street. They're about to do it again, and starting September 6, there's going to be a six part series. News comes to us via Digital Spy who tell us that Katherine Kelly will be narrating the series.

The first episode will be titled 'Scandals' and Jane Danson will talk about Leanne's bout as a prostitute. Julie Goodyear has a few things to say about Bet's reveal about having a baby as a teenager. I wonder what other scandals we're going to hear about! I'm putting money on Frankie's affair with her stepson, Jamie.

Anyone else remember some juicy scandals from the near or distant past?


Photos from the first series can be seen on ITV.com here.

*If the new series of this starts on Thursday September 6 at 8.30pm, what's to become of the Corrie scheduled episode to be shown that day? Does this mean Corrie is moving permanently to its new Wednesday slot from that week - anyone know?

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The Corrie Years - final part tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1

It's the last of the Corrie Years tonight on ITV1 at 7.30pm. I've quite enjoyed these, has anyone else? 

Tonight's episode is all about "how Coronation Street has moved with the times and held up a mirror to an ever-changing world" (their words, not mine!).

As strikes swept the UK in the 1970s, Ivy Tilsey took the factory girls “out” when Mike Baldwin refused to buy Hilda Ogden a new broom.

Meanwhile, in the 1990s, eco warriors like Swampy inspired Emily Bishop and her tousle-haired nephew Spider (Eileen Derbyshire and Martin Hancock, with Georgia Taylor as Toyah Battersby and David Neilson as Roy Cropper) to protest against the Red Rec development by spending a night 30ft up a tree.

The Corrie Years - tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1

Don't forget that the second episode of The Corrie Years is on TV tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1.  Tonight's programme concentrates on "first" and how Corrie has consistently broken new ground in TV drama. 

The programme looks at the first live episode for nearly  40 years, the first specially written hour-long episode  and the Street’s first (and only) transsexual character, Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh).

The Corrie Years - tonight on ITV1 at 7.30pm

The Corrie Years starts tonight on ITV1 at 7.30pm.  It's one of three half hour episodes about the history of Coronation Street storylines.  You can read more about tonight's episode at The Radio Times, written by David Brown. 

And the official Corrie site at ITV has a picture gallery from The Corrie Years, which you can view here.

The Corrie Years starting this week

Last month we told you about a controversial storyline in Coronation Street from 1963 that was pulled off the air. The story is one of the ones that will be told in a three part documenary special called The Corrie Years. The first part airs on Wednesday, July 20 at 7:30 pm on ITV1. It is subtitled "The Headline Makers" and will feature, in addition to this, stories such as Sarah Platt's teenage pregnancy and Deirdre's jail time. There will be unseen footage from the 1963 story as well as behind the scenes and interviews.

Next week's episode (July 27) is titled "The Firsts", focusing on how Coronation Street has broken new ground with storylines such as the first transsexual character and the  live episode for the 40th anniversary the first since the early days and something soaps and most non-news programs stopped doing decades before.

The final part (August 3)  is "The Changing Face of Britain" and features storylines like a factory strike and Eco warriors. Many of the features will likely be clips you've seen before in other documentaries and anniversary specials but I always find the interviews interesting