Coronation Street reveal extraordinary 60th anniversary cast shot – can you name them all?

Coronation Street bosses have unveiled the official 60th anniversary cast photograph to celebrate the programme reaching the broadcasting milestone – although there has never been a cast image quite like it.

The shot had to be taken adhering to the Government’s health and safety guidelines for TV and film production and the COVID protocols and measures introduced by the programme.  

It meant all of the actors in the new portrait were photographed at different times.

Previous photography to celebrate the show’s big milestones has featured all the cast, starting with the famous black and white shot to launch the very first episode back in December 1960 here in Manchester.

But 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.

Of course, that means that the show’s sole surviving original cast member, William Roache, takes pride of place at the centre of the image as the patriarch Ken Barlow – a role he has played for all 60 years of the show’s history.

Meanwhile, the most recent addition to the soap cast, actor Gareth Pierce, takes his place on the front row after taking on the role of Todd Grimshaw since October this year (after the sacking of the previous actor to play the role, Bruno Langley).

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.

Finally, with a nod to the show’s history, Hilda Ogden’s iconic ducks from her ‘muriel’  were added to the image, complete with wonky middle one!

The full line-up in the 2020 photo – and when they first appeared on Corrie

William Roache (Ken Barlow)                               9th December 1960

Barbara Knox (Rita Tanner)                                  02 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)                    06 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)                       07 October 2020

And here’s the full line-up of the 1960 Corrie cast photo

The line-up between rehearsals, for the first episode of Coronation Street in December 1960.
Back row left to right Harry Hewitt [Ivan Beavis], Albert Tatlock [Jack Howarth], Ivan Cheveski [Ernst Walder], Dennis Tanner [Philip Lowrie]n David Barlow [Alan Rothwell], Jack Walker [Arthur Leslie], Extra Unamed [William Croasdale], Frank Barlow [Frank Pemberton], Ida Barlow [Noel Dyson], Minnie Caldwell [Margot Bryant.

Front row Annie Walker [Doris Speed], Florrie Arnold Lindley [Betty Alberge], Linda Cheveski [Anne Cunningham], Elsie Tanner [Patricia Phoenix], Ena Sharples [Violet Carson], Christine Hardman [Christine Hargreaves], Ken Barlow [William Roache], Policewoman [Penelope Davies], Sue Cunningham [Patricia Shakesby] and Martha Longhurst [Lynne Carol].