News: Rovers Return

From April to October this year the original Coronation Street is on view to the public – and in the first two months since its opening over 100,000 people have walked the cobbles.

Soap fans can take a tour which includes the actors’ green-room and dressing rooms, and the homes where Carla, the Platts and the Duckworths lived. They can also see an exhibition of iconic props, including Deirdre’s glasses and Roy’s train set.

Following 50 years at the Granada Studios, the soap moved to Manchester’s Media City. The new set is a replica of the original – paved with 54,000 cobbles it took 3,000 builders more than two years to create.

The original set featured actors such as Sir Ian McKellen who played Mel Hutchwright in 2005, and Mel B, aka Scary Spice, who was a Bettabuys checkout worker in 1993. In 1990 the then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, paid a visit to the Rovers Return for a drink, and Prince Charles also stopped in for a pint in 2000.

Visitors can wander around the set as they please, taking pictures outside the Rovers Return. Soap fans have been paying homage to the character Tina McIntyre by recreating her ‘death’ scene on the cobbles, and posting their results to social media.