Commons support for Corrie at 50

Residents of Weatherfield could get full parliamentary approval as they reach Coronation Street’s 50th birthday next month.

An all-party group of Greater Manchester MPs has been joined by colleagues from all over the country in a Commons motion of support for the Street.

Their early-day motion congratulates “all those involved in the production of ‘Coronation Street’ both in front and behind the cameras on the occasion of the programme’s 50th anniversary”.

Signed by a dozen MPs from as far afield as Portsmouth, Bristol, and Northern Ireland, it pays special tribute to its creator Tony Warren and actor William Roache — who has played Ken Barlow for 50 years and holds the Guinness Book of Records title for the world’s longest serving soap star.

The MPs describe the soap as the most accomplished, successful and critically-acclaimed drama serial on British television having sustained consistently high ratings and award-winning performances throughout its 50 years and is screened in more than 40 countries.