1985: An Unfounded Rumour - And Was The Street "Out Of Touch With The '80s"?

The 1980s saw UK soap operas change radically - the arrival of Brookside in 1982 and EastEnders in 1985, both shows featuring gritty story-lines and social issues never seen before, sent out shock waves which rattled and shook the village of Beckindale and the borough of Weatherfield.

And Corrie was also battling the loss of several of its longest running characters.

The ratings remained high, but some of the tabloid newspapers had a field day - was the end of Coronation Street nigh?

I recall reading a rumour that Corrie was to end after the ITV strike of 1979. It had been off-air too long for viewers to regain interest was the rather potty logic of that particular tabloid story.

In 1985 former Street story-liner Esther Rose was in the news with a similar story:

The Sun, April 15, 1985:

Coronation Street will NOT be axed, angry TV chiefs said yesterday.

They denied a claim by Esther Rose, the Street's veteran scriptwriter, that they plan to end the TV series in December, its 25th birthday.

The show, starring Jean Alexander as Hilda Ogden, has been slammed as "out of touch with the Eighties."

Of course, the Street was not taken off during its 25th birthday month, and has outlived the Eighties, the Nineties and most of the Noughties!