The program is perhaps best known for its realistic depiction of everyday working-class life in a northern community. Set in a fictional area of Weatherfield in a working-class region of northwest England, it grew out of the so-called kitchen sink drama style popularized in the late 1950s. The series, originally called Florizel Street by its creator, Tony Warren, began as a limited 13 episodes, but its cast of strong characters, its northern roots, and its sense of community immediately created a loyal following. These factors, combined with skillfully written and often amusing scripts, have ensured its continued success.

From its opening titles with scenes of terraced houses, there is a strong sense of regional and local identity, which is echoed in the language of its characters. Set in a domestic existence of various homes, pubs, and shops, which are all set out to be part of everyday life, Coronation Street is imbued with a definite feeling of community. Through its account of supposedly everyday life, the program shows a high degree of social realism. A close parallel is made between the fictional world of Weatherfield and the everyday world inhabited by its audience, whose loyalty is encouraged by the sense of close community, the predictability of plot, and the regular transmission times.

The storylines of Coronation Street tend to concentrate on relationships within and between families rather than on topical or social issues, as is the case with the newer soaps such as Brookside and EastEnders. Critics might argue that the celebration of a mutually supportive community has more than a touch of nostalgia, whilst its fans would argue that the program reflects shifts in social attitudes in Britain.

Early episodes were recorded live without editing, requiring a high standard of performance. This theatrical style of production has influenced the character of the program, resulting in a reliance on good writing and ensemble performance. For many years Coronation Street was produced on a studio set and shot on multicamera with few exterior film inserts. The advent of the social realism soaps and introduction of lightweight video cameras have resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of exterior scenes. The Street itself has been expanded to incorporate such filming with a specially constructed exterior set, although interior filming is still multicamera.

The Street, in common with other soaps, has always been noted for its independent and assertive women characters, such as Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Annie Walker, and more recently Bet Lynch and Rita Fairclough. Even a more downtrodden character such as Hilda Ogden produced a huge amount of affection from the program’s audience. The men in the cast often seem weak by comparison. The viewer of Coronation Street is often encouraged to make a moral judgment on the behavior of a particular character, and it is generally the stronger women characters who set the tone. Tony Warren summed up the program as “a fascinating freemasonry, a volume of unwritten rules . . . . Coronation Street sets out to explore these values and in doing so, to entertain.”

Only two characters have remained on the program since its launch—Ken Barlow, played by William Roache, and Emily Bishop, née Nugent, played by Eileen Derbyshire. However, the program has been the ground for many actors who have gone on to greater fame, such as Davy Jones (later of the Monkees), Joanna Lumley, and Ben Kingsley. The Street has also nurtured many novice writers such as Jack Rosenthal and Jimmy McGovern, while the award-winning, feature-film director Michael Apted has also been part of the production team.

The deaths and departures in recent years of several well-established characters combined with the introduction of EastEnders, Brookside, and the Australian soaps have resulted in a shift toward the lives of its younger characters.

The success of Coronation Street has resulted in a series of merchandising and promotional ventures by Granada, many of them focused around the soap’s local pub and center of gossip, the Rover’s Return. By providing a secure economic base through high ratings, Coronation Street has enabled Granada to build a wide range of programs. Because of the long-standing cultural ties and familiarity with the world it evokes, Coronation Street has also built up a sizable audience in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

In 1989 the Street went from two to three episodes a week, and in autumn 1996 this was increased to four. Granada was confident that a more pressurized production line would not affect Coronation Street’s reputation for quality writing. Instead, it planned to develop secondary characters more strongly. Coronation Street celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2000 and continues to top the ratings with an average audience of 16 million. Its longevity and success are testament to the firm place it holds in the hearts of the British public.