38 TVBEurope The Workflow The golden age of the Street
WHEN THE soap reached its 50th anniversary, the BBC commissioned a one-off drama titled The Road to Coronation Street that revealed the story behind the humble beginnings of the programme. To do so, Studio 12 of the Granada complex in Quay Street, Manchester was briefly turned into the Studio 2 that had been home to Corrie in 1960. “To ensure the authenticity
of the era we were asked to provide equipment from our vast inventory,” explains Dicky Howett of Golden Age Television Recreations (GATV) based in Essex. GATV was established in
1994 by Howett and colleague Paul Marshall for the purpose of providing historic film and television equipment dating back to the 1940s. Included in its equipment list are cameras, lenses, lighting, cranes, audio equipment, VTRs — even two complete outside broadcast units. Howett goes on: “The
Marconi MkIII cameras mounted on vintage Vinten HP419 pedestals seen in The Road to Coronation Street were the same type used at the
Having supplied the 1960s kit for the Coronation Street documentary, Dicky Howett acted as cameraman on the reproduction set
Granada studios in 1960. We also recreated the Granada badging that appeared on the side of cameras. Even the lighting rigs used in the Coronation Street studio reconstruction were from the early 1960s. I’m a stickler for detail, and we wanted to make certain that the studio was as close to the period as possible. We also tracked down some
people who worked in the studios at the time.” Operating cameras more than half a century old is quite different from using modern technology — knowing how to revolve lens turrets, for example. In order that camera movements during the Corrie drama were authentic, both Howett and Marshall were used as ‘extras’ on the set as 1960s cameramen. “It was like going back to our early days in television.” Howett continues:
Authentic equipment from the 1960s was used for the documentary, including Marconi MkIII cameras on vintage Vinten pedestals
“Interestingly, some of the cameras we now own came from the Granada studios in Manchester. But everything that we own, from the smallest lens to the largest outside broadcast truck, has been carefully restored and is ‘period’ correct. And we have found there is an ongoing demand for this unique collection from production companies, not just in the UK, but also from abroad.”
www.golden-agetv.co.uk
recorded on 2-inch Ampex tape, Granada set up a film camera in front of the VT preview monitor to also capture a telerecording of the early programmes. In those early days, even the
‘exteriors’ were shot in the studio — with the cobblestones painted on the studio floor. However, the show’s producers decided that external shots were needed for a 1967 storyline that involved a tram crash close to the Street. That first external set was simply the previous wooden studio build which had been weather-proofed and then erected against scaffolding by the yard arches.
“The first outdoor set was on the site of an abandoned railway goods yard,” recalls the show’s creator, Tony Warren. “It
credits and location inserts were still in black and white. The next three episodes were made in the same way, but all four were networked in black and white, until ITV started colour transmissions later that month. As the programme’s success
continued to grow and more demands were placed on storylines and production deadlines, it was decided to rebuild the whole set in a new location near to Granada’s Quay Street centre. “Denis [Parkin — the show’s designer] finally got to build his real street in the 80s,” states Warren. “That was when Coronation Street had its own purpose-built unit. That street is the outdoor set we have used until now.”
“To build something new, whilst recreating brick-by- brick, cobble-by cobble, puddle-by-puddle, the fine detail of Weatherfield has been the most incredible experience”
already had cobbles, but they slanted the wrong way. I remember it as a dank hole. Between shots the cast could take shelter from the wind and the rain in an old Nissen hut.” By the late 1960s, when
production had moved from black and white to colour, the wooden set had become so severely dilapidated by the Manchester weather that it needed to be replaced with a small brick built construction. The first colour episode
was produced in early November 1969 using EMI 2001 four-tube colour cameras although the title credits, end
www.tvbeurope.com March 2014
Jon Huddleston, ITV
The new Street The move to the latest set has been a couple of years in the planning. “When we broke ground at Trafford Wharf Road in September 2011, ITV had already been planning our move to MediaCityUK for a significant period of time,” declares Jon Huddleston, ITV’s Manchester move project director. “But the most challenging piece of the jigsaw has been to rebuild Coronation Street — terraces, pavements, cobbles and all. To build something new, whilst recreating brick-by-brick, cobble-by cobble, puddle-by-puddle,
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