Coronation Street (ITV, 1960)

Abstract

The first episode of Coronation Street was transmitted live on Friday 9 December 1960 at 7.00 pm, almost exactly six years after Nineteen Eighty-Four was first broadcast. In the intervening six years, however, much had changed in British television. Coronation Street was produced by Granada Television, one of the Independent Television (ITV) companies that began broadcasting in the mid- to late 1950s, providing commercial competition for the BBC. With its network of 15 regional companies coming on air between 1955 and 1962, ITV targeted different audiences with a range of different programming. Needing to maximise audiences in order to attract advertising revenue, unlike the BBC which had a guaranteed source of income through the licence fee, ITV prioritised popular programming — quizzes, game shows, variety programmes — and was accused by its critics of deliberately going downmarket in order to attract viewers. Yet there was ‘quality’ programming too, not least in its anthology drama series — Armchair Theatre, Play of the Week and Television Playhouse — which formed an important part of ITV’s drama programming. There were also imported American series, such as Dragnet and Gunsmoke, and indigenous drama series produced by the ITV companies, such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (ABC, 1955–59) and Emergency — Ward 10 (ATV, 1957–67).