Coronation Street will mark the 10,000th episode of the iconic soap with an hour-long special - and lives will never be the same again for some of the soap's favourite characters.
Residents of Coronation Street will take a trip down memory lane as they head for Blackpool on a special mission on Friday February 7 - and for one of them the time has come to leave the famous street, although it hasn't been revealed who is leaving.
Rita is surprised when a parcel arrives containing her love rat ex husband Dennis Tanner's ashes and a note requesting she scatter them in Blackpool.
Taking in the news of Dennis’s death she confides in Ken who agrees to go with her, and her friend Jenny Connor decides to make a day trip out of it.
The landlady books a coach and invites lots of the residents to join them on a day out to the place that holds terrifying memories for Rita after the death of another of her husbands Alan Bradley when he was struck by a tram in 1989.
Amy and Tracy Barlow, Audrey Roberts, Carla Connor, Eileen Grimshaw, Emma Brooker, Evelyn Plummer, Gail Rodwell, Jenny, Ken, Mary Taylor, Nina Lucas, Sean Tully, Sally Metcalfe, Yasmeen Nazir and Rita all set off for Blackpool, and the trip is far from drama free.
The day out is a comedy of errors from the start with the coach turning out to be a blacked-out party
bus driven by grumpy driver Des, played by comedy actor John Henshaw.
It starts to look as though the Weatherfield gang won’t make it to Blackpool as tensions rise.
By the end of the trip one resident realises the time has come to wave goodbye to the cobbles for pastures new.
Producer Iain MacLeod said: “10,000 episodes! Not bad for a programme which one newspaper said in 1960 was ‘doomed from the outset.’
"I am first and foremost a massive fan of the show and I watched this landmark episode with absolute glee. It is uniquely Corrie: funny, poignant and characterful - and a glorious homage to the comedic charabanc trips of times past, packed with strong female characters and sparkling dialogue.
"It’s a really great exhibition of Coronation Street’s classic qualities as we start a new decade on the cobbles.”
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