Antony Cotton: I used to have lunch once a month with Tony at the Midland hotel and he’d tell me about these amazing women he’d written for and who they were based on. And there were the old battle axes he’d grown up with, but a lot of it was the men who’d been on the scene in the 50s and 60s. Helen Worth (Gail Platt 1974-present) : It was a time of change. When I joined, the greats were all there and it was still practically broadcast live. I remember sitting in Violet Carson’s [who played Ena Sharples] chair and she came into the room and just took one look at me and I scampered out of it.

Philip Lowrie: We all became very good friends. I remember Margot Bryant [who played Minnie Caldwell] sitting in the rehearsal rooms doing a bit of knitting. She had a mouth on her – she was one of the rudest women and could tell a story like nobody. Her sister Joan had danced with Fred Astaire. My happiest memory was the first day when through the double doors came the most beautiful girl I think I ever saw. It was Anne, who played my sister Linda. In the first episode, Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) tells her son Dennis to get a job and is rude about her daughter Linda’s legs: “I’m afraid you’ve got the Tanner side of the family to thank for that. Yer know, without a word of a lie, yer grandma Tanner were that bandy she couldn’t have stopped a pig in an entry.”While there will be public events, parties and even a Coronation Concert taking place over the course of King Charles' coronation long weekend (which includes a bank holiday on Monday 8 May,) if you're after a keepsake to remember the occasion for years to come, you may be looking for Coronation memorabilia to mark the historic event. Whether you want to keep a souvenir for yourself or want to show it to your children and grandchildren in years to come, you may be after a piece to remind you of this monumental event in history. The Battersbys had been trailed as “the family from hell”, with Danson cast as a wild child. Audiences hated them so much that 97% of people in a Teletext poll voted to have them evicted.

It's been almost 70 years since the UK and Commonwealth have seen the crowning of a monarch, so King Charles III's coronation ceremony on Saturday 6 May is set to be a much anticipated and celebrated event. There's a bank holiday weekend planned to celebrate the King taking the throne and we can expect it to be a once-in-a-generation event. Paul Abbott (script editor/writer 1985-1996): I remember at one point I was getting the blame for all these leaks so I wrote different versions of letters with fake information and left them in the booking table where all the actors got their dates. In one letter it said we were going to film in Barbados and it was in the Manchester Evening News by 5pm. I’d got the greedy little shit!Coronation Street celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010 with a live episode featuring a devastating tram crash. The pandemic has forced a return to the show’s more modest origins, without parties or big stunts. Existing storylines will instead come to a head, including Yasmeen Metcalfe’s trial for attempted murder . Bill Roache will also star in tonight’s pre-recorded anniversary episode, which he plans to watch at home with his children. William Roache: The love triangle had a colossal impact. Suddenly newspapers had reporters dedicated to soaps and all the soap magazines and awards were starting. They even flashed it up at Manchester United! Archie Street, which Warren had used as the visual inspiration for Coronation Street, was demolished in 1971 as part of the postwar urban clearances in Salford. In 1964 , a producer called Tim Aspinall shattered the golden age by killing off several big characters, but also introducing the Street legends Stan and Hilda Ogden . It was the first of many off-screen upheavals.

Alastair Campbell ( Downing Street press secretary 1997-2000): The papers were just going crazy with “Free Deirdre” and I thought: “Sod it, let’s get on this.” Antony Cotton: When Sean burst on to the street there wasn’t a character like him. People said it was a stereotype, like John Inman in Are You Being Served?. But for me he wasn’t a stereotype – he was an archetype that a lot of people hadn’t seen.

Sally Ann Matthews: This whole year has proved how important Coronation Street still is. I’m a huge telly addict and love to binge, but this year we’ve all been at home so much, with so much choice, and in such a stressful world it’s reassuring to turn on the TV and know that Corrie is still there. This t-shirt is everything you've dreamed of and more. It feels soft and lightweight, with the right amount of stretch. It's comfortable and flattering for all.