It's official. Coronation Street, which less than a year ago seemed to be in irreversible decline, is now back at the top of the British TV ratings, reclaiming that position from its arch-rival on the BBC, EastEnders. "Corrie", traditionally seen as the most conservative of British soap operas, has spiced itself up over the last few months, with stories involving sex, drugs and violence. The new story lines have prompted a wave of complaints from disgruntled viewers to the British Broadcasting Standards Commission, which last week rejected complaints of excessive violence in the episode in which Don Brennan kidnapped Alma Baldwin.
There may well be more complaints soon - Don gets out of Weatherfield General tonight, while more tears and extra drama are promised for Friday's episode.
To observers of television, Coronation Street's difficulties have been symptomatic of more general problems at ITV, with the channel appealing too much to older, less affluent viewers, who don't attract as much advertising revenue. For a couple of years, Corrie seemed to be on an inexorable downward slide into self-parody and redundancy, set in the Manchester of Busby's Babes instead of the Manchester of Oasis.
The character departures, first of Bet Lynch, and then of her natural replacement, Raquel Wolstenhulme, were resented by viewers, and there was a lukewarm reception for the introduction of a Sunday night episode.
However, we should never underestimate the ability of the world's longest-running fictional television series to reinvent itself when necessary. The introduction of the dreadful Battersbys, and of a raft of younger, sexier characters, signalled a change of direction, with harder-hitting stories and audience-pleasing cliffhangers.
The results are visible in the ratings, with the ITV series regaining its place at the top of the ratings from EastEnders.
not the first time
It's not the first time that the Street has been reinvented. First created in 1960 by 23-year-old Tony Warren, the show was a breakthrough in its depiction of working-class life in the fictional Manchester suburb of Weatherfield.
After the first episode was broadcast on Friday, December 9th, 1960, the Daily Mirror's television critic wrote that: "The programme is doomed . . . with its dreary signature tune and grim scenes of a row of terraced houses and smoking chimneys."
With characters like Ena Sharples and Len Fairclough, Coronation Street became the quintessential British soap, concentrating on the minutiae of family and social life in a tightknit community. But on several occasions the show's producers, Granada, introduced dramatic changes to keep up with the times.
The "Great Purge" of 1964, for example, disposed of many of the Street's original cast, including Martha Longhurst, who "died" of a heart attack in the Rovers Return, much to the anger of the rest of the cast. (At the end of that programme, the credits rolled without music, which was a poignant touch, but didn't bring poor Martha back.) But 1964 also saw the arrival of Stan and Hilda Ogden, two of the Street's most famous characters.
Equally, when the BBC introduced EastEnders in the mid-1980s, Granada fought back with a raft of new cast members dubbed the "brat pack", including Terry Duckworth, Curly Watts and Des and Steph Barnes. With an increase from two to three episodes a week, the threat from Albert Square was seen off.
unrealistic portrayal
Even at its peak, though, Coronation Street has come under attack for its supposedly unrealistic portrayal of Manchester life - the shortage of ethnic minorities has been a regular bone of contention.
Brookside's creator Phil Redmond described Coronation Street as a "caricature of the northwest", while ex-Granada boss David Plowright admitted that the show had a "steam-age" vision of the north of England.
And it still seems that, despite the addition of younger blood, the Street's real strength lies in its older characters. The prospects for Kevin and Sally Webster's marriage has gripped audiences in recent weeks, while the most important stories arising at the moment revolve around the psychotic Don Brennan's obsession with Alma Baldwin, and the inevitable romantic triangle involves Fred and Maureen Elliott and Bill Webster - none of whom is ever going to see 50 again.
What has changed in the last year are the plotlines, which in the Reg Holdsworth era were widely derided as being closer to Terry and Junestyle sitcoms than to soap. Now they're tougher, nastier and keeping audiences tuning in to see what happens next. And that's ultimately what soap is all about.
