Happy 50th Anniversary Coronation Street!

There has been one constant in my life for the last 27 years.
I have been watching a much loved and long running British soap opera called Coronation Street. We call it Corrie for short. 27 years ago we had to get up at 6:30 Sunday morning to watch the 2 1/2 hours that aired in Canada weekly. Eventually the start time changed to the more reasonable 9am start and there were many jokes made that no one attended church any more because of the Coronation Street timing conflict.

One of my most memorable Sundays is when the Canadian television broadcaster decided to try and catch up with the UK broadcast. We were watching episodes that aired 4-5 years earlier and one Sunday they fast forwarded us three years. The station lit up with complaint callers. Corrie fans were stunned! Today we are still about 8 months behind so if I even catch a British accent in my travels I always ask if they have a Corrie update for me. It's like getting a psychic prediction. There is a story line a friend in the UK told me about this summer.....it's sweet agony to watch knowing what is coming!

When I met my husband it was a teeny test to see if he would like the show. I am happy to report that he's been watching now for almost 18 years. Corrie is what we discuss when we go out to dinner. People must think we have a very dysfunctional family. If you walked by our table you might hear me say something to the effect of "that David Platt is driving me crazy...why don't they just kick him out, he kicked his Mom down the stairs!" To which my husband might respond by saying that Deirdre was getting on his nerves and that it isn't a wedding unless there is a fight.

These images are from my all time greatest Corrie collectible. A framed copy of the painting by Michael Nance released in 1991 to celebrate their 30th Anniversary. So many of these characters are no longer on the show and I shed many a tear over their characters departures. But even better, many of these characters are still on the show!

Meanwhile, there is an exhibit in Manchester right now that features many of the famous characters who have been turned into pop art icons. I love these portraits, but you can't beat the painting at the top of this post. It is classic Corrie.

So to celebrate the 50th Anniversary I made myself a set of kitchen magnets.
And, I'll be serving a "Roy's Rolls" style breakfast for dinner!

"The longest-running drama on television turns 50 years old this year, and CBC Television is marking the occasion with a new special: Corrie Crazy: Canada Loves Coronation Street. Airing Thursday, December 9 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT), the special is hosted by Canadian television host, design guru and Coronation Street fan, Debbie Travis."