The Story of Coronation Street: 80s saw Ken and Deirdre’s wedding day have more viewers than Charles and Diana

WHAT do you think the most-popular wedding of 1981 was?

Did you say Charles and Diana? Pretty good guess, but when it came to ITV viewers, more people tuned in to watch Ken Barlow (William Roache) wed Deirdre Langton (Anne Kirkbride) than the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Records show more than 24 million tuned in to that special wedding episode of Coronation Street.

There was a whole year of drama before Deirdre became Mrs Barlow, however, and not only did 1980 mark the 2,000th episode of the show, it was also the one when we bid farewell to a Corrie legend — Ena Sharples (Violet Carson).

Ena wasn’t the first character to pass away in the 80s, as Alf Roberts (Bryan Mosley) found himself mourning the death of his wife Renee (Madge Hindle).

She had been the owner of the Corner Shop and had just persuaded Alf to buy a bigger shop in the country.

They were celebrating their purchase in 1980, when Renee’s car stalled at the lights and a lorry crashed into it.

It was a horrendous thing for Alf to have witnessed and he only survived because he’d got out of the car moments before, ready to take over driving duties.

Alf would marry again, but Ken and Deirdre wed first, on July 27, 1981, just two days before our future King married his bride.

And much like with Charles and Diana and Camilla, it transpired there were three people in the Barlow marriage, as Deirdre was discovered to be having an affair with Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs).

Their circumstances hadn’t been ideal when Deirdre and Ken started dating. Aside from the fact that Ken was more than a decade older than Deirdre, she wasn’t yet divorced and was the mother of a young child.

After a brief split when they disagreed on whether or not they should get hitched, Ken finally realised that Deirdre was the woman for him, and proposed to her after a trip to Glasgow.

Deirdre — who had previously dated Mike — was tempted away from Ken by the Baldwin’s Casuals boss, preferring the excitement of their risky liaison to the boredom at home.

She eventually told Ken about their affair although they would reunite.

Around 20 million viewers tuned in to see the latest twist in the love-triangle storyline.

“It was big news — all over the papers,” Johnny Briggs said.

“I remember we went along to Old Trafford and news that Deirdre was going back to Ken was flashed up on the giant scoreboard — Ken 1 Mike 0.

“Some cheered, then the crowd starting booing. Annie (aka Deirdre) thought it was hilarious.

“To this day, I believe Deirdre chose the wrong man. But the writers got it right. They knew exactly how she would have reacted.”

Things took a very strange turn when it transpired a couple of years later that Mike had moved on from Deirdre, dating Ken’s daughter Susan instead . . .

In 1985 — the same year in which Alf married Audrey Potter (Sue Nicholls) — Mike and Susan left for London to spend the New Year together.

When Ken heard of their relationship, he turned up at Baldwin’s Casuals and thumped Mike, saying: “I’ve had enough of your poison in my family.”

He eventually made his peace with Mike — to a point — to give his daughter away when she married Mike.

A career-minded person, Susan was unhappy when Mike expected her to be a housewife.

After claiming she’d had an abortion, she left for Newcastle. She was actually still pregnant, however, later giving birth to Adam.

He’s currently back on the street, living with his uncle, Daniel, who is actually seven years younger than him . . . such is the Barlow family tree!

While Annie Walker left Weatherfield to live in Derby with her daughter, and Len Fairclough, Albert Tatlock and Stan Ogden all passed away in quick succession, we welcomed a variety of new faces to the show in the 80s.

Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) was one of them, arriving on the street in October, 1983.

His appearance in Weatherfield was quite accidental, however, as he’d been hitchhiking when he happened upon Alf Roberts, whose car had broken down.

Kevin was a mechanic who was able to fix his car, so Alf recommended him to garage owner Brian Tilsley (Christopher Quentin), who was looking for staff.

Living in the area meant that Kevin met Sally Seddon (Sally Dynevor), marrying her in 1986.

It was a decade for iconic weddings, with Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) also marrying Alec Gilroy (Roy Barraclough).

They may have seemed mismatched, but were very fond of one another, proving very popular with the British public.

Also an established and well-loved member of the cast was Jean Alexander in her role as Hilda Ogden, and there was a public outcry when she announced her plans to leave the soap, in 1987.

In fact, fans were so devastated, there was even a “Save Hilda!” campaign to try to persuade the actress to stay.

Alas, she had made up her mind, and 26.6 million tuned in to watch her last episode, broadcast on Christmas Day, 1987, when she had her last drink in the Rovers before leaving to become a housekeeper in Derbyshire.

That final drink was in a newly-finished Rovers, after a fire the previous year that had left Bet trapped in an upstairs bedroom.

Potman Jack Duckworth (Bill Tarmey) had replaced a fuse, and unfortunately — unbeknown to Jack — the one he put in was too strong for the box. The fire damage was so bad, the building nearly wasn’t saved.

Eventually, though, the pub was rebuilt and under the management of Bet and Alec.

Working on the soap meant that Julie Goodyear had the privilege of meeting the Queen when she visited the set.

The actress was wearing a pair of Charles and Diana earrings when the monarch arrived, and said to her: “See? I even know which side of the bed they sleep on!”

Alec and Bet were generally very happy, apart from a huge upset in 1988 when Bet suffered a miscarriage.

The couple had been surprised by the pregnancy, but had embraced impending parenthood with excitement, before their devastating loss.

Another couple who were having baby woes — though of a different kind — were Brian and Gail Tilsley (Helen Worth).

Though the couple had only married at the end of the previous decade, and had a son, Nicky, together, Gail had been becoming increasingly bored of her routine life when her husband’s cousin Ian Latimer caught her eye.

When Gail discovered that she was pregnant, she found herself having to admit that she didn’t know who the father was.

Brian initially wanted Gail to terminate the pregnancy, but she told him that that would not be happening, and the whole saga led to the breakdown of the Tilsley’s marriage.

When paternity tests proved that Brian was the father of their baby, Sarah Louise, they did get back together, even remarrying in 1988.

However, after having a huge fight in 1989 — in which Brian said he was going to fight her for custody of Nicky — he went to a nightclub and ended up being stabbed to death after defending a woman from a couple of thugs.

Although Brian’s passing would leave young Nicky traumatised, there was another death that decade which is arguably more memorable to the soap’s fans — that of Alan Bradley (Mark Eden).

He had first appeared in the show in 1986, when his daughter Jenny (Sally Ann Matthews) had the news broken to her that her mother had died.

Jenny was a young girl who had taken on a paper round from The Kabin, working for Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox).

Only 14 when her mother died, and her father not around, Jenny had ended up in care before being taken in by Rita, who was a registered foster parent.

After father and daughter had been reunited, a romance between Rita and Alan began, but it would be one that Rita would live to regret.

To say that their relationship was volatile would be putting it mildly, and one evening, Jenny had called Alan and Rita, who were late to her 18th birthday party.

When Rita could be heard screaming down the line, Jenny rushed home in time to stop Alan from suffocating Rita with a cushion.

Alan had stolen Rita’s late husband Len’s identity and had become aggressive when Rita had found out.

After a short time in prison, Alan was finally a free man, and although he made amends with Jenny, his relationship with Rita remained sour — unsurprising, really, given that he was stalking her.

Constantly having to look over her shoulder, Rita’s nerves were shattered and she eventually had a breakdown before disappearing altogether.

After Mavis Riley (Thelma Barlow) had reported her missing to the police, and with it having been feared that Alan had murdered Rita, there was even an official excavation of a site that was believed to contain Rita’s body.

Bet and Alec finally found Rita in Blackpool, where she was making a living by singing at The Strand Hotel.

Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before Alan managed to track her down.

After a big fight in the street, he forced Rita into his car . . . but as he made it around to the driver’s seat, Rita made a run for it.

She managed to dodge a couple of cars in the busy street — and also a tram.

Alan was not so lucky!

He was killed instantly from the impact of the collision when the tram hit him. The episode set the record for the highest-rated Coronation Street episode ever, with 26, 930,000 viewers.

As Ken and Deirdre saw 1989 out, he was in the doghouse when he revealed to his wife that he’d been having an affair with council worker Wendy Crozier (Roberta Kerr) and that he’d spent Christmas Eve with her.

Deirdre kicked him out on New Year’s Day, 1990, when he failed to keep his word to end the relationship with Wendy.

Happy New Year, Deirdre!

You can be assured that there was far more going on than just marital strife for the Barlows in the 90s, however, and we’ll continue our series with that decade next week.