Coronation Street through the years

1975: Gail and Tricia - 'Proof that everyone was young and wild once.' Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1981: Ken Barlow and Deirdre langton wed. It'll all end in tears. Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1983: Rita Fairclough mourns her husband Len. Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1983: Elsie Tanner leaves the street, a sad day for devoted Coronation Street fans. Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1984: Vera, Terry and Jack Duckworth – 'Arguing can be a family hobby.' Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1984: Hilda married Stan Ogden in a hurry six days after she tripped over him in a wartime blackout, the joke for writers being he had the next 40 years of daylight to rue his mistake. Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1985: Ivy Brennan, previously Tilsley, previously Nelson, was Gail's mother-in-law, Vera Duckworth's best friend and a devout Catholic. Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1989: Deirdre and Ken Barlow – 'A good rule of thumb in life is to think, ‘What would Deirdre Barlow do?’ then act utterly to the contrary.' Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1992: Bet and Alec Gilroy 'welcome' Raquel to the staff of the Rovers Return. Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

1995: Audrey Roberts, mother of Gail, has a cuppa with Fred Elliot. Photograph: ITV / Rex Features/ITV / Rex Features

2003: Todd Grimshaw makes a pass at Nick Tilsley, the first gay kiss in Coronation Street. Photograph: PA handout photo

2003: Richard Hillman drives 'a people carrier holding Gail and her kids into the canal while playing the ­Wannadies’ You and Me Song at full volume.' Photograph: ITV / Rex Features/ITV / Rex Features

2005: Another episode in 'Liz McDonald’s daily toil with ­passionate yet booze-sodden Jim.' Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

2009: Steve McDonald in trouble again. Could it have something to do with his 'constant stream of ­warlike, belligerent or plainly ­demented wives and girlfriends'? Photograph: Mark Campbell / Rex Features

2010: Sophie and Sian AKA 'the Corrie lesbians'. Photograph: Mark Campbell / Rex Features