Coronation Street timeline
Coronation Street has had a large number of major events. There have been over 2000 storylines. Some of the most notable are included in this article.
1960s
- 31 December 1960: May Hardman collapses and dies in her hallway of a brain tumour.
- 27 January 1961: Emily Nugent first appears.
- 2 February 1961: Len Fairclough first appears.
- 16 February 1961: Alf Roberts first appears.
- 12 June 1961: Linda Cheveski gives birth to Paul Cheveski, the programme's first baby.
- 11 September 1961: Ida Barlow is knocked down and killed by a bus.
- 1962: Ken Barlow marries Valerie Tatlock.
- 1962: Jack Walker and Annie Walker celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
- 19 October 1963: Jerry Booth marries Myra Dickenson.
- 13 May 1964: Martha Longhurst suffers a heart attack in the Rovers Return Snug bar and dies.
- 29 June 1964: Stan Ogden first appears.
- 8 July 1964: Hilda Ogden first appears.
- 26 August 1964: Harry & Concepta Hewitt move to Ireland.
- 27 November 1964: Rita Littlewood first appears.
- January 1965: Ena Sharples and Elsie Tanner clash in the street; Ena has become Elsie's new landlady and orders Elsie out of the house. Ena attacks her and smashes one of Number 11's windows with her handbag.
- 1965: Number 7 collapses into the street due to a faulty beam; the residents evacuate their houses.
- 1965: A piece of coal falls from the Barlows' fireplace and starts a blaze that nearly kills Susan and Peter Barlow.
- 23 May 1966: Bet Lynch first appears.
- 11 January 1967: Ena Sharples breaks down as her daughter, Vera Lomax, dies of a brain tumour.
- 11 May 1967: A goods train derails from the top of the viaduct on Viaduct Street, crashing off the structure and into Coronation Street. Several of the residents are missing and feared dead; Jack Walker turns up unharmed, as does Lucille Hewitt and Elsie Tanner. Ena Sharples is found unconscious but alive under the rubble, as is a police officer, P.C. Jimmy Conway. Conway's girlfriend, Sonia Peters, is found dead.
- 4 September 1967: Elsie Tanner marries Steve Tanner. Harry & Concepta Hewitt return for the ceremony; Harry is later killed whilst fixing his broken-down van when the jack slips and he is crushed to death.
- 29 May 1968: Dennis Tanner marries Jenny Sutton.
- 5 August 1968: Convicted rapist Frank Riley breaks into the Barlow's maisonette and takes Valerie Barlow hostage. She is rescued by the police.
- 28 September 1968: Steve Tanner is murdered.
- 2 June 1969: Betty Turpin first appears.
- November 1969: A coach crash leaves several of the residents of the Street injured and the coach driver dead. Ray Langton suffers a spinal injury; Ena Sharples faints; Elsie Tanner breaks her arm; Annie Walker dislocates her jaw; Jack Walker breaks his sternum; Emily Nugent suffers bruises; and Minnie Caldwell loses a severe amount of blood and is left unconscious.
1970s
- 8 April 1970: David Barlow is involved in a car crash in Australia and is killed instantly. His son Darren dies in hospital the next day as a result of his injuries.
- 8 July 1970: Jack Walker dies of a heart attack whilst visiting his daughter.
- 12 December 1970: Joe Donelli commits suicide after confessing to the murder of Steve Tanner.
- 27 January 1971: Valerie Barlow is electrocuted by a faulty hairdryer and is killed instantly; a blaze is started in the maisonette.
- 14 June 1971: Ivy Tilsley first appears.
- 14 August 1971: Mavis Riley first appears.
- 3 April 1972: Emily Nugent marries Ernest Bishop
- 8 October 1973: Elsie Howard leaves the programme after 13 years.
- 29 October 1973: Ken Barlow marries Janet Reid.
- 25 February 1974: Cyril Turpin dies.
- 10 July 1974: Maggie Clegg marries Ron Cooke.
- 12 July 1974: Gail Potter first appears.
- 19 August 1974: Vera Duckworth first appears.
- 23 December 1974: Eddie Yeats first appears.
- 7 July 1975, Ray Langton marries Deirdre Hunt.
- 1 October 1975: A warehouse fire kills Edna Gee and two other factory workers. The storyline was part of the show's 15th anniversary.
- 23 February 1976: Elsie Howard returns after 3 years.
- 7 April 1976: Minnie Caldwell moves to Whaley Bridge.
- 11 October 1976: Mike Baldwin first appears.
- 24 January 1977: Tracy Langton is born.
- 21 February 1977: Ken Barlow's estranged wife Janet dies of a drug overdose.
- 20 April 1977: Len Fairclough marries Rita Littlewood.
- 11 January 1978: Ernest Bishop is killed by two armed robbers at Mike Baldwin's factory.
- 15 November 1978: Ray Langton moves to Holland, leaving his wife Deirdre and daughter Tracy.
- 7 March 1979: A lorry crashes into the Rovers Return, injuring Alf Roberts, Mike Baldwin and Betty Turpin.
- 14 April 1979: Audrey Potter first appears.
- 28 November 1979: Gail Potter marries Brian Tilsley.
1980s
1980
- April 2, 1980: 82-year old Ena Sharples makes her last appearance after 20 years. She goes to stay with an old friend, Henry Foster.
- July 28,1980: Renee Roberts is killed after a lorry smashes into the back of her husband Alf's car in a country lane.
1981
- July 27, 1981: Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton.
1983
- February 21, 1983: Ken Barlow discovers that his wife is having an affair with Mike Baldwin.
- October 12, 1983: Annie Walker, 83, makes her last appearance after 23 years.
- December 7, 1983: Len Fairclough dies in a car crash (off-screen, on a motorway) after visiting his mistress.
1984
- January 4, 1984: Elsie Tanner leaves the Street to live in Portugal with her boyfriend of the '60s, Bill Gregory; she followed a horde of other favourite characters that left the show without familiar faces for a while in 1983 and 1984.
1986
- June 18, 1986: A fuse box in the Rovers Return explodes and a fire ruins the pub. The pub is schedule for demolition; however, it is soon rebuilt completely.
1987
- December 25, 1987: Hilda Ogden, 63, leaves the show after 23 years amid a huge public outcry. The episode attracts 26.8 million viewers.
1989
- February 15, 1989: Brian Tilsley is stabbed to death at the back of a nightclub whilst trying to save a woman from a gang of thugs.
- December 8, 1989: Alan Bradley is hit and killed by a Blackpool tram while chasing Rita Fairclough. This was the record for the highest rated Coronation Street episode ever (26,930,000 viewers).
1990s
1990
- 1990: Ken and Deirdre Barlow divorce after nine years of marriage.
1993
- February 12, 1993: Lisa Duckworth is killed by a passing car outside the Rovers due to roadworks on Rosamund Street.
- March 12, 1993: Maureen Naylor first appears.
1994
1995
- 1995: Ivy Brennan dies of a stroke off-screen, a year after her final appearance.
1997
- October 8 1997: Don Brennan dies after crashing Alma Baldwin's car into the viaduct. His death came after a reign of terror in which he drove his taxi into the River Irwell in an attempt to kill himself and Alma Baldwin, as well as burning down Mike Baldwin's factory.
1998
- 1998: 17-year old Nick Tilsley marries his 16-year-old girlfriend Leanne Battersby.
- 1998: Ken Barlow's blind-date, Babs Fanshawe, drops dead during their night out.
- 1998: Deirdre is sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraud, but is released three weeks later.
2000s
2000
- June 4 2000: Sarah-Louise Platt gives birth to a baby daughter, Bethany, at the age of 13.
2001
- February 11 2001: Ken Barlow's daughter, Susan, is killed in a car accident.
- April 13 2001: Toyah Battersby is raped in the Ginnel beside the Rovers.
- June 17 2001: Alma Halliwell dies of cancer.
2002
- February 4 2002 Duggie Ferguson dies after taking a fall from a fourth-storey bannister. Richard Hillman was arguing with him at the time and fled the scene, leaving Duggie to die.
- May 20 2002: Richard Hillman murders his ex-wife Patricia with a shovel after an argument on a building site where he later buried her body.
- 2002/2003: Richard Hillman starts a "reign of terror"; he sets fire to his mother in law's house, attempts to murder Emily Bishop, murders Maxine Peacock with a crowbar and later ends up drowning in a canal.
2003
- October 5, 2003: The programme's first homosexual storyline occurs when Todd Grimshaw kisses Nick Tilsley.
- December 15 2003: Martin Platt crashes his car, and is pulled out just in time just before the vehicle explodes in a fireball.
2004
- March 8, 2004: Janice Battersby drops a lit cigarette in the Underworld storeroom; the place is set alight, she is rescued by Nick Tilsley.
- May 24, 2004 : Sarah Platt finds out that Todd Grimshaw has been seeing Karl Foster behind her back; this leads to a massive brawl in the street between their mothers Gail Platt and Eileen Grimshaw.
- November 24, 2004: Dev Alahan's corner shops are blown up by his vengeful ex-girlfriend, Maya Sharma. Dev and his wife Sunita are nearly killed in the Coronation Street shop blaze.
2005
- March 4, 2005: Tommy Harris is beaten to death by his 18-year-old diabetic daughter Katy, who later died of a self-induced sugar overdose.
- April 8, 2005: Ken Barlow and Deirdre Rachid remarry.
- April 10, 2005: Ray Langton, dies in the Rovers Return during Ken and Deirdre's wedding reception as a result of stomach cancer.
- September 19, 2005: Shelley Unwin leaves husband-to-be Charlie Stubbs at the alter during their wedding.
- October 24, 2005: Danny Baldwin finds out that Mike is his father.
- October 31, 2005: Status Quo sing at Cilla Brown and Les Battersby's wedding reception.
- December 30, 2005 15-year-olds Craig Harris and Rosie Webster are caught by Rosie's mother Sally having sex.
2006
- February 2006: Emily Bishop meets her husband's killer and has trouble forgiving him, having to seriously question her religious faith.
- March 17, 2006: Mike Baldwin is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
- April 7, 2006: Mike Baldwin dies in the arms of Ken Barlow after having a heart attack outside his factory, ending 30 years in Coronation Street.
- May 31, 2006: Ronnie Clayton kills an old-age pensioner in a hit-and-run accident and tries to frame her boyfriend Steve McDonald.
- September 15, 2006: Claire Peacock is sectioned under the mental health act after pushing her son, Thomas Peacock, into the road while in his pram - he was unharmed. She is diagnosed with severe post-natal depression
- October 9, 2006: Fred Elliott dies from a heart attack on his wedding day (to Bev Unwin), following a talk with friend Audrey Roberts. Stuck between the two, he finally decides to choose Bev; as he gets up to leave Audrey's house and return to the church for the wedding, he collapses and dies in her hallway.
- November 27, 2006: Cilla Battersby-Brown is diagnosed with terminal skin cancer after she finds a mole on her body. Her husband Les, son Chesney and daughter Fiz initially think that she is having an affair (due to Cilla refusing to sleep with her husband).
2007
- 12 January, 2007: Tracy Barlow tries to murder her cheating boyfriend,Charlie Stubbs, by hitting him twice over the head with a statue, but fails. She set up so it looked like self-defence,but when Charlie later dies she is arrested and refused bail.
- 2 April, 2007: After a shocking court case and a nerve wrecking 4 months, Tracy Barlow is found guilty in front of a court of law. She was sentenced to life in prison and must serve at least 15 years before she is eligible for parole. This means that Tracy cannot be released until 2022.
- 18 May, 2007: Claire Peacock wakes to find her babies bedroom Freddy in flames and is knocked unconscious landing at the bottom of the stairs. She is saved by local zero to hero Kirk Sutherland and Jamie Baldwin but Freddy is missing.
- 4 June, 2007: Paul Connor is killed in a car crash after kidnapping local escort Leanne Battersby and holding her hostage in his car boot. He went too fast, skipping a red light before the car ploughed into a lorry. Leanne suffers minor injuries and is released from hospital the next day.