Bob Greaves was one of the most recognizable and best loved of Granada’s presenters. He joined the company in 1964 as a reporter and editor for the regional news magazine programme Scene at 6.30 and went onto work for Granada for 35 years, mainly in local programmes. He sadly died in 2011 and his obituary…
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Wally Butler – Director
Wally Butler joined Granada Television during the early 1960s and became one of the first directors of Coronation Street, beginning when the programme was still recorded live. Over the next 20 years he directed over 1,000 episodes of Coronation Street. Wally sadly died in 2003 and there is a link to his obituary here. …
Read MoreTom Elliott – Storyliner & Script Editor
Tom Elliott joined Coronation Street as a storyliner in 1983 contributing 577 episodes in that role over almost ten years. He also acted as the programme’s script editor in the early nineties and went on to write more than seventy episodes of the soap, before retiring from the writing team in 1997. My impressions when Coronation Street first began, I…
Read MoreRobert Khodadad – Director
Film Director, Granada TV. When I started on Coronation Street it’s quite a strange sensation working in through the doors of Stage One. I was born and grew up in south Manchester, just six miles down the road from Granada, and I remember as a five year old watching television with the family. We used…
Read MoreNorman Frisby – Press Officer
Norman Frisby joined Granada Television in 1959 and became chief press offic er. Much of his time was spent dealing with Coronation Street. I joined Granada in May 1959. I was there on the opening night as a journalist as the television correspondent of the Liverpool Evening Express, a tabloid newspaper in Liverpool. I…
Read MoreLes Chatfield – Cameraman & Director
Les Chatfield was for many years a Cameraman on Coronation Street and later became a director on the programme. Coronation Street was suddenly just there, it was called Florizel Street then. We were going to do six I think and we did the first one and nobody thought it was anything out of the…
Read MoreLeita Donn – Press Officer
Leita Dunn was Press Officer for Coronation Street from 1965 until 1987. As such she was responsible not only for getting stories into the newspapers but also for scotching some of the more absurd stories that appeared in the tabloids. She was a close friend to many of the actors. Over the years we’ve…
Read MoreJose Scott – Casting Director
Jose Scott was a Casting Director and cast the first ever Coronation Street, casting characters such as Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Annie Walker, Len Fairclough and Albert Tatlock. I started working there in 59 and I was the booking assistant to Margaret Morris. Was she head of casting? No she wasn’t head of casting,…
Read MoreJohn Temple – Storyline Editor & Producer
John Temple was a storyline editor on Coronation Street and later producer of the Street between 1985 and 1987. Regarded as one of the most influential figures in Coronation Street’s history. My whole Granada career spanned about twenty-eight years from 1960 to 1988. Of that period I worked at Granada for 19 years in…
Read MoreJohn Finch – Writer
John Finch was one of the first writers on Coronation Street, joining the programme from the beginning. He helped create some of the Street’s greatest characters, such as Ena Sharples, Else Tanner and Len Fairclough, writing dialogue that has rarely been surpassed. When I look back an enormous amount of the stuff I’ve written…
Read MoreJim Quick – Graphic Artist
Jim Quick was a graphic artist who worked on the Street during the 1970s and 80s. In late 1972 I was given the great glory of working on the Street which turns out wasn’t the great glory. The one thing every graphic designer hated about Coronation Street, the biggest bore in everything you did…
Read MoreAlistair Houston – Sound Engineer
Alistair Houston started working for Granada Television in 1958 as a Sound Engineer and spent his career there progressing to become a Senior Sound Supervisor. He was no. 2 on the sound crew for the first episode of Coronation Street and worked on the programme for the next three years before moving to other dramas.…
Read MoreGeoff Lancashire – Writer
One of Coronation Street’s finest ever writers, Geoff Lancashire worked alongside Tony Warren and Jack Rosenthal in the promotions department at Granada but told Warren that the programme would never last. He later to write on many hundreds of scripts for the soap between 1964 and 1981 and is also remembered as the creator of…
Read MoreGeoff Hinsliff – Don Brennan
After training at RADA, Geoff Hinsliff appeared in many West End plays. He played characters in Coronation Street over three different periods from 1963 to 1997, but is best know for his role as cab driver Don Brennan, who married Ivy Tilsley in 1988. I was not too long out of RADA, I left in…
Read MoreDenis Parkin – Set Designer
Denis Parkin joined Granada Television in 1957 as a designer, most notably designing the original Coronation Street set, including the exteriors and the inside of each of the terraced houses to make them distinctly different depending on which characters lived there. He continued to work on the programme in the 1960s and also oversaw the rebuilding of…
Read MoreChris Atkinson – Sound Recordist
Chris Atkinson worked as a sound recordist on Coronation Street during the 1970s, recording both on location and in studio. He continues to operate as a freelance in the UK television industry. I started working on the Street about 1978, 1979. I was a boom operator, that’s a recordist’s assistant. I would hold the mike…
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Brian Spencer – Cameraman
Brian Spencer was a freelance cameraman in the early 1980s who came from the BBC to work at Granada. He worked initially on regional programmes and regularly found himself filming exterior inserts for Coronation Street. He later worked as a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. I had been a film cameraman in television for some…
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Anne Reid – Valerie Barlow
Anne Reid played the role of Valerie Barlow, first wife of Ken Barlow, from 1961 to 1971. She asked to leave the programme and her character was killed off when she was electrocuted by a hairdryer with a faulty plug. Since leaving the Street she has appeared in a wide range of programmes as well…
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