THROUGHOUT the years, Coronation Street has been a real stalwart of British Pop Culture that led the way for agenda-setting storylines. Who could forget the huge tram crash that was part of the 50th anniversary celebrations , the incident that killed off the beloved Ashley Peacock? ( Steven Arnold ). We have seen gripping love triangles that viewers couldn’t miss like Deirdre Barlow’s ( Anne Kirkbride ) trysts with Mike Baldwin ( Johnny Briggs ) behind the back of Ken ( William Roache ).
Meanwhile, the monochrome images of the street rows between Violet Carson ’s Ena Sharples and Patricia Phoenix ’s Elsie Tanner are forever embedded into our minds. This is on top of the multiple fires at the Rovers Return. The soap has also shown ground-breaking storylines on-screen when it came to handling difficult topics.
Sarah-Louise ( Tina O’Brien ) having a baby at the tender age of 13 comes to mind, only for her daughter Bethany to face her own grooming storyline seventeen years later. In 2018 former X Factor star Shayne Ward opened up about the many people that got in contact with him after his character Aidan Connor committed suicide , which led to important discussions around mental health issues. ITV has aired incredible moments over the years, that is undeniable.
But another fact that is undeniable is that the storylines that are being shown on the cobbles at the moment are absolutely abysmal and they cannot even compare to the incredible legacy of the longest-running Br.
