Coronation Street

Coronation Street is an award winning British soap opera. It is the longest-running television soap opera in the United Kingdom, first broadcast on Friday 9 December 1960 in the Granada region of ITV. The programme is consistently the highest-rated programme on British television.

The show was created by Tony Warren and is produced by Granada Television (now branded ITV Productions), holder of the ITV franchise for the north-west of England, and was initially shown only in that area. Between December 1960 and March 1961, however, other ITV franchises began to broadcast the programme. It became fully networked on 3 March 1961 when ATV, the only remaining franchise, began airing it.

Coronation Street (commonly nicknamed and written as 'Corrie' or 'the Street') is set in a fictional street in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based loosely on Salford. The programme focuses on the experiences and driving forces behind the residents of Coronation Street, and examines families and individuals within the community who are of different ages, classes and social structures. The purpose of Coronation Street is to entertain through initiating the viewer into the ways of the people who live in the street,

The working title of the show was Florizel Street, but a tea lady named Agnes remarked that 'Florizel' sounded like a brand of disinfectant so the name was changed. The choice of new name was between Jubilee Street and Coronation Street, with Granada executives Harry Latham, Harry Elton and H.V. Kershaw deciding on the latter..

As of 2007, Coronation Street is broadcast in Britain at 19.30 and 20.30 Monday, and at 19.30 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday on terrestrial network ITV1. In the Republic of Ireland, Coronation Street is simulcast on TV3. Repeat episodes and specials can be seen on ITV1's sister channel, ITV2, with an omnibus edition shown on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Since its launch the programme has aired in many countries worldwide including Canada, Australia, Belgium and Holland.