Latest news with #LizMcDonald
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Is Rovers Return pub on Coronation Street real and can you go inside on the tour?
Are you Coronation Street's biggest fan? The ITV soap offers fans a chance to explore the real set but you might wonder whether you can go inside the iconic Rovers Return and Roy's Rolls. Whether you've been a fan for years or you're new to the cobbles, you can be like one of the stars for a day and explore the iconic street. Would you like to experience the fictional town of Weatherfield first hand? Here's everything you need to know about the soap's set. The pub is not a real working pub and is only used for filming the TV show. The Coronation Street tour's website explained: 'The Rovers Return located on Coronation Street is a façade and does not contain any internal set dressing, as the real interior sets are located within a secure studio complex and not accessible to guests. 'However, within the Coronation Street Experience, you are able to enjoy the 'Rovers Return' and 'Roy's Rolls' replica sets.' Coronation Street fans can explore Rovers Return on the set tour and even pretend to pull a pint from behind the bar at the replica set. Fans can enter the pub and ring the same bell that Corrie icons Bet Lynch and Liz McDonald rang. The soap tour encourages fans to take plenty of pictures of their experience and create memories on the set. The tour's website adds: 'Coronation Street Exhibition offers an exclusive opportunity to venture beyond the cobbles and into the heart of the drama. 'Prepare to be awestruck as you step into meticulously crafted replica sets of iconic landmarks like Roy's Rolls and the legendary Rovers Return. 'You'll find a fascinating display of costumes and props that have become part of Coronation Street's legacy – including Deirdre Barlow's iconic glasses!' Fans can even book to meet one of the soap's characters while touring the set. If visiting the Coronation Street set is on your bucket list, here's how you can visit it. You can book your tickets via the tour's website and choose between a variety of experiences: Coronation Street Exhibition & Cinema (no access to set) - £7 per person (Monday to Friday) Coronation Street Tour & Exhibition - £38 per person (weekends) Star Tours - Meet a Cast Member - £55 per person (special weekends) Twilight Tour - £32 per person, £27 for children (weekends from 3.30pm) Relaxed Tour - £38 per person (Sunday) Coronation Street Experience & Emmerdale Village Tour Bundle - £76 but currently discounted to £70 Recommended reading: Coronation Street to uncover a character's secrets in 2007 flashback episode Coronation Street star lands new role on rival soap just months after ITV exit Coronation Street star 'medically dehydrated' after crying following final scenes You can also buy a gift card to be redeemed for one of the options above. The Coronation Street Experience is located at ITV Studios, Trafford Wharf Road, Trafford Park, Manchester, M17 1FZ. Have you toured the Coronation Street set? Let us know in the comments.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Where is Coronation Street set and where is the ITV soap filmed? All to know
Most fans know Coronation Street is based in the fictional and often drama-filled town of Weatherfield – but where is it really set? Corrie is one of the most popular programmes on TV, having been on air since 1960. In fact, it's the longest-running soap in the UK. It was previously filmed at Granada TV studios in the Castlefield district of Manchester for more than 50 years, but recently changed location. So, where is the ITV soap filmed now? Let's find out. We're here for this 90's reference 💃 #Corrie — Coronation Street (@itvcorrie) April 2, 2025 For the last 11 years, the Corrie set has been based at MediaCity in Salford, just outside of Manchester city centre. The set has been purpose-built for the soap and has been home to the cobbles since 2014. To make the new filming set at MediaCity, 400,000 bricks were used to recreate the beloved neighbourhood - 144,000 of them were reclaimed from a derelict row of properties in Salford, The Guardian previously reported. The newer set was also built 80% of 'real life size' compared to 60% at the old location in the city centre. Meanwhile, the streets are now almost a metre wider to allow cars and fire engines to pass more easily - rather useful for all the emergencies in Weatherfield. Viewers might have noticed The Rovers Return has a new window upstairs to indicate the right number of bedrooms. "So that Steve and Liz McDonald don't have to share with Michelle any more", said executive producer Kieran Roberts at the time. He described the set move (which took two years to plan) as "the biggest, most dramatic change in the show's history". But best of all, you can see the latest Corrie set for yourself – as the soap offers an exclusive tour, the Coronation Street Experience. The experience's website shares: 'Once the cast and crew head home after a week of filming, we open the doors for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Manchester's most famous street. 'Join one of our expert tour guides and step in the world of Coronation Street like never before.' Recommended reading: Coronation Street icon gives update on soap character's future after 65 years Who is the highest-paid actor to ever appear on Coronation Street? When did Coronation Street start and how many episodes have there been? It continues: 'Gain exclusive insights into the making of Coronation Street as our knowledgeable guides share behind-the-scenes stories and trivia. 'Discover hidden corners and meticulous set designs, where you'll get a glimpse into the incredible craftsmanship that goes into creating the world famous television institution.' Book your visit via the Coronation Street Experience website.
BBC News
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
When EastEnders crossed over with other shows
You're one of the biggest shows on telly. It shouldn't be a surprise when you get involved in a collaboration or its first 40 years on air, BBC soap EastEnders has entertained millions of fans with its regular episodes of drama and everyday London life. But it has occasionally joined forces with other shows as well, and actors who made their names in Walford have also popped up in the nation's other soaps too - sometimes before their time in Albert Square, and others when they had left Walford BBC Bitesize as we take a look at a few examples. East Street: Walford meets WeatherfieldEastEnders hit our screens in February 1985. Before too long, it became one of the 'big' soaps on British TV, alongside the ITV shows Coronation Street, Crossroads and Emmerdale (then known as Emmerdale Farm). Of the latter three, the Street was the longer-running, its first episode airing in December and Coronation Street were often toe-to-toe in the battle to top the ratings, especially in the 1980s. More than a quarter of a century after they both occupied the TV listings, the two shows shared a story for the first time. The BBC's Children in Need telethon screened a special 15-minute mini episode in November 2010 called East Street, where EastEnders' fictional borough of Walford tested out an official twinning with Coronation Street's Weatherfield. It was the same year that the Square celebrated 25 years on screen and the Street marked its 50th for laughs, scenes included Corrie's Liz McDonald working behind the bar of the Queen Vic with Kat Slater, while Gail McIntyre and Denise Fox attempted to outdo one other in the Bridge Street Cafe, arguing over whose husband was the most evil (they had both married murderers). Meanwhile, Weatherfield welcomed EastEnders regulars Christian Clarke, Zainab Masood, Darren Miller, Jane Beale and Jodie Gold to the cobbles. Zainab and Corrie's Eileen Grimshaw shared a cup of tea while talking about both being mums of gay sons, and Jane learned from Hayley Cropper and Sunita Alahan how crime and disaster were two things that Walford and Weatherfield had in episode ended with the (fake) cliffhanger that Liz may have been the mother who gave Kat up at birth - a typical soap opera storyline that firmly united both shows. Dimensions in Time: Albert Square goes sci-fiThe travels of The Doctor in the TARDIS may seem millions of light years from the dramas of Albert Square but there was a brief spell in 1993 when two of the BBC's most popular shows joined forces. In 1993, the sci-fi series Doctor Who celebrated its 30th anniversary, although no new episodes had aired since mark the time traveller's three-decade milestone, a special mini adventure - Dimensions in Time - was filmed for that year's Children in Need appeal on the set of EastEnders, using 3D technology that could be viewed through special glasses, and with characters from both shows interacting. At the end of the first episode, viewers could then call in to choose which EastEnders character would save the day in episode two - Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton) or Big Ron the market trader (Ron Tarr).The story followed the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) caught up in an adventure with villainous Time Lord, The Rani (Kate O'Mara). Her machinations led to different incarnations of The Doctor appearing in Albert Square, including the third (Jon Pertwee), fifth (Peter Davison) and sixth (Colin Baker), along with various companions who had appeared in the series as far back as its 1963 debut. Louise Jameson and Bonnie Langford, who reprised their companion roles in the special, would later join EastEnders playing regular characters. A cavalcade of monsters from throughout the show's history also turned up as part of The Rani's plans. The story jumped in time between 1973, 1993 and 2013 and gave viewers the opportunity to see characters Pauline Fowler and Kathy Beale 'aged up' by 20 years for scenes set two decades in the future. This would later lead to an unexpected continuity hitch, as Kathy and Pauline were killed off in EastEnders prior to 2013 (although Kathy would return in 2015, very much alive) - but then The Doctor is renowned for doing tricky things with time! The two shows crossed over again in 2006 when Dame Barbara Windsor made a cameo as Queen Vic landlady Peggy Mitchell in the Doctor Who episode Army of Albert Square actors who popped up in other soapsActors who have appeared on one soap can sometimes be found popping up in another. It has happened to a number of EastEnders actors over the decades. Here are a few Collins: Between her two stints as the selfish Cindy Beale, Michelle also spent three years in Coronation Street as Rovers Return manager, then owner, Stella Price from 2011 to 2014. Her character was revealed as the mother of long-standing character Leanne Battersby, but after having her heart broken, Stella left for New York once she had sold the Rovers to the McDonald Kemp: He is returning to EastEnders for its 40th anniversary as Grant Mitchell - but before his character debuted in 1990, Kemp played Graham Lodsworth in Emmerdale Farm. His character appeared in late 1986 and early 1987 when he came to Beckindale in search of his birth mother, Dolly Taylforth: The actress who appeared in the very first episode of EastEnders in 1985 as Kathy Beale has an impressive three soap roles on her acting CV. After leaving the Square for the first time in 1998, with shorter term stints in 1999 and 2000, Kathy was believed dead from 2006 until she returned full-time in 2015. In the years between, Taylforth played Sgt Nikki Wright in police drama The Bill and then spent two years as Sandy Roscoe in Hollyoaks before returning to article was published in January 2025
