Corrie releases its 60th anniversary cast photograph

It’s no secret that Corrie will surpass a special milestone this year. The soap is celebrating its 60th birthday next month (in December 2020). Ahead of the big event, Corrie has released its official 60th anniversary cast photo. This has been taken to celebrate the achievement. But this is no ordinary photo. Due to the pandemic, it was impossible for the whole cast to get within the same shot, so Corrie did things a bit differently.

What’s changed?

In the past, photography that’s been released to celebrate the show’s big milestones has featured all the cast. This started with the famous black and white shot, which was used to launch the first ever episode.

But only 14 cast members appear in the 60th anniversary shot, along with a couple of iconic additions, like Hilda Ogden’s iconic ducks from her ‘muriel’  (including the wonky middle one).

With the pandemic meaning that large gatherings are not possible a decision was taken to represent the show by photographing the first seven of the current cast to join the soap alongside the most recent seven actors to have appeared on screen as a regular cast member.

How did they do it?

Over a period of two weeks the actors were photographed individually in a covid secure studio and then cleverly photoshopped to give the impression of being together.

Who is included?

The following actors appear in the photograph:

William Roache (Ken Barlow) – 9 December 1960

Barbara Knox (Rita Tanner) – 2 December 1964

Helen Worth (Gail Platt) – 29 July 1974

Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts) – 16 April 1979

Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster) – 19 October 1983

Sally Ann Matthews (Jenny Connor) – 6 January 1986

Sally Dynevor (Sally Metcalf) – 27 January 1986

Ryan Russell (Michael Bailey) – 12 June 2019

Lorna Laidlaw (Aggie Bailey) – 12 June 2019

Jane Hazelgrove (Bernie Winter) – 24 July 2019

Mollie Gallagher (Nina Lucas) – 11 November 2019         

Adam Hussain (Aadi Alahan) – 15 April 2020

Tony Maudsley  (George Shuttleworth) -16 September 2020

Gareth Pierce    (Todd Grimshaw) – 7 October 2020

The dates next to each actor mark their first appearance on screen.

The shot had to be taken adhering to the Government’s health and safety guidelines for TV and film production. Covid protocols and measures introduced by the programme which meant all of the actors in the portrait were photographed at different times.