Coronation Street: 60th Anniversary

Conor Burns Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Batley and Spen (Tracy Brabin) on securing this debate; I call her my hon. Friend on this occasion because we are all here today, friends of the Street. The Minister for Media and Data, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Mr Whittingdale), is on the Front Bench. He knows what a long-term, dedicated, ardent “Corrie” fan I am. I have visited the set on a number of occasions with him. I was saying to my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Greg Smith) earlier that I could just imagine the scene in the Department as the Minister’s officials grappled with putting together a script. I think we could have had a spin-off, watching them going through the history of the storylines and characters.

Mr Speaker, you mentioned the Newton and Ridley tray. One of my most prized possessions is a cobble from the original Street that was given to me in a presentation case by the cast: “To Conor Burns, a great friend of the Street and of the show.” That is used on my desk as a serious paperweight, because those cobbles are very deep.

I have visited “Coronation Street” on a number of occasions, both before I was elected to this place and subsequently; I go more or less annually. I went with my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham in 2009, before I was elected to the House of Commons. We went for the purpose of doing a political leaflet. I wondered how to engage some of the communities in my Bournemouth constituency, so we met up with Bill Roache and had pictures taken in one of the booths in the Rovers. There were also pictures of he and I walking along outside No. 1, and of us both sitting at Ken and Deirdre’s dining room table. We did it as an interview with Bill Roache. The number of people who picked up and read a political leaflet because Ken Barlow was talking to the Tory candidate—they were just intrigued. I think it was probably the best piece of political literature that I have ever done.

I visited again a couple of years ago, and Rita and Audrey were filming in the salon the Christmas scenes. This was in October, and we were at the conference. I made the mistake of saying to Sue Nicholls that I well remembered watching her as a child on “Rentaghost”, without realising this would cause her significant offence, because it pointed out the longevity and the age gap.

My right hon. Friend the Minister worked with Lady Thatcher when, as Prime Minister in 1989, she visited the set of “Coronation Street”. I have never quite known whether this story is apocryphal or actually happened, but it was reported that people were explaining to her on the way up that Alderman Roberts runs the corner shop and Ken Barlow used to edit the local newspaper, and basically setting out who all the key characters were—Bet Lynch was the landlady of the Rovers—and she is reported to have said just before she got out of the car, to the terror of those accompanying her, “Now, which one is Alf Garnett?”

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has yet to visit “Coronation Street”, and I hope that that is something he will rectify, for those of us who are dedicated fans take great offence at the fact that, as Mayor of London, he went to the inferior “EastEnders”, but has not yet paid tribute to “Coronation Street”. The 60th anniversary would be a good occasion for the Prime Minister to go up to “Coronation Street” and say thank you on behalf of the Government and the United Kingdom.

The hon. Member for Batley and Spen went through some of the groundbreaking issues that the writers and the cast have covered, and I think that is one of the things that has embedded “Coronation Street” in the heart of the nation. It has been groundbreaking in the issues it has been prepared to cover. We have talked about the Adam Rickitt and Bruno Langley—Nick and Todd—gay kiss. There is domestic abuse dating back to Rita and Alan Bradley, but most recently with Geoff and Yasmeen. It has dealt with child death, assisted suicide, the Roy and Hayley sex change, rape, adultery, teenage pregnancy, homelessness, stillbirth and suicide. Most recently, there were the incredibly moving scenes in which Aidan Connor committed suicide, played by the brilliant Shayne Ward, and the incredibly moving scenes—award-winning scenes, frankly—with Daniel and Sinead as Sinead died, leaving a young child behind. Daniel is played by the brilliant Rob Mallard, who is the on-screen son of Ken Barlow. I have to say that Rob, I think, is going to have the longevity of Ken Barlow and Bill Roache.

However, there is also the humour that the hon. Lady raised and talked about. Who can ever forget the scene where Blanche, Peter, Ken and Deirdre go to Peter’s meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, and Blanche brings out all the dirty laundry to air it in public? Somebody says to her, “I am not a fan of yours”, and she replies, “I am not particularly a fan of your halitosis either.” She is desperately missed. There was the humour of Percy Sugden and Phyllis, Rita and Mavis, the relationship between Ken and Mike Baldwin, and Stan and Hilda. I remember from when I was a very young child—I have been watching “Coronation Street” for over 40 years—when they win the weekend away to a hotel. Hilda puts on some special lipstick, and Stan kisses her and says, “What does that taste of?”—“It tastes of woman, Stan, woman.” That is one of the best scenes I have ever seen.

Next week, we have the actual anniversary on 9 December. “Coronation Street” celebrated its 10,000th episode on 7 February this year. I think we should all salute everybody who has played a part over those 60 years in making it the national institution it is, and in particular Bill Roache, the longest-serving soap cast member in the world. By the way, for anybody watching this who does not know about “Coronation Street”, I would commend to them the wonderful programme “The Road to Coronation Street”, in which Bill was played by his real life son James Roache. It charts the story of Tony Warren taking this to the leaders of Granada and having it rejected, and then its being played internally and the tea ladies and others being suddenly gripped by it, and they saw the power it could have.

I end by saying this: “Coronation Street” is a family—the cast, the crew, the production teams, the writers, the directors, and everybody at MediaCity who puts so much into turning out this quality, dramatic, humorous production. They have done brilliantly during the pandemic in making sure that there are still fresh, vibrant episodes coming out at each week. I simply say, as a long-term fan, thanks to everybody involved in making “Coronation Street” for the laughter, the drama, the heartbreak, the tears and the smiles for the last 60 years. It sustains me in a positive way to know that it will be going long after I cease to be on this earth.