Coronation Street

Coronation Street was a long-running British television drama airing in the final decades of the 20th century and well into the 21st, as well.

The Sixth Doctor had a dream in which his adventures were broadcast on television and taken off the air, and when they were returned they were placed opposite this series. (PROSE: Christmas Special)

Betsy, Bernard Watson's Irish wolfhound, had a penchant for barking during the theme tune. (PROSE: The Sleep of Reason)

While in Prague in 1989, Heather Lake mentioned Corrie (a common nickname for the series) as one of the things that she missed about London. (COMIC: The Broken Man)

In 1998, it was watched by Robert Gibson while he was in a hospital. (PROSE: System Shock)

Among the casualties of the Vore invasion of Earth in 2005 were members of the cast of the series, though they lost less than EastEnders. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles)

In 2008, the TV at the community room at the Lavender Lawns Rest Home blew up half an hour before the latest Corrie (Coronation Street) wedding. (PROSE: Eye of the Gorgon)

Behind the scenes

Both Doctor Who and Coronation Street started in the 1960s, have had notably long runs and have entered into British culture as television institutions.

In the late 1980s, Doctor Who aired opposite Coronation Street, which is often considered a factor in the show's decline and cancellation. The short story Christmas Special includes a reference to this situation.

Coronation Street has included the odd reference to Doctor Who over the years, especially since the show returned in 2005. The young boy Simon Barlow is a Doctor Who fan. He made reference to Journey's End when he saw two men who looked similar to each other. He said "there's two of them, it's like Doctor Who" referencing the Tenth Doctor and the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor seen in that story.

The 2006 episode The Idiot's Lantern is set in Florizel Street, which was the original planned name of Coronation Street.

In the 2008 episode Turn Left, Donna Noble attempted to insult a woman standing in her doorway by calling her Vera Duckworth, who was a long-standing character in the series.

In the Doctor Who Confidential instalment, 'Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello, Derek Jacobi stated that one of his ambitions since the 1960s has been to take a part in Doctor Who and Coronation Street. As of 2017, he has still not yet been asked to appear in the soap opera.

Shared actors

Actor	Primary DWU role	First apperance	Primary Corrie role	Duration	Notes
Craig Charles	Dave Lister	NOTVALID: Red Dwarf special	Lloyd Mullaney	2005-2015	Charles was playing his Red Dwarf character during his Doctor Who appearance.
Michelle Collins	Kathryn McDonnell	TV: 42	Stella Price	2011-2014
Shobna Gulati	Najia Khan	TV: Arachnids in the UK	Sunita Alahan	2001-2006, 2009-2013
Julie Hesmondhalgh	Judy Maddox	TV: Kerblam!	Hayley Cropper	1998-2014
Suranne Jones	Idris	TV: The Doctor's Wife	Karen McDonald	2000-2004
Katherine Kelly	Andrea Quill	TV: For Tonight We Might Die	Becky McDonald	2006-2012	Kelly also portrayed Becky in NOTVALID: Dermot and the Doctor.
Bruno Langley	Adam Mitchell	TV: Dalek	Todd Grimshaw	2001-2004, 2007, 2011, 2013-2017
Ian McKellen	Great Intelligence (voice)	TV: The Snowmen	Lional Hipkiss	2005
Gray O'Brien	Rickston Slade	TV: Voyage of the Damned	Tony Gordon	2007-2010
Helen Worth	Mary Ashe	TV: Colony in Space	Gail Platt	1974-present

• Suranne Jones, Bruno Langley, Helen Worth, Gray O'Brien, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Shobna Gulati, Michelle Collins, and Ian McKellen are among the most notable Doctor Who actors to have appeared in the soap.
• Katherine Kelly also rose to fame through her 6-year run (2006-2012) on the soap as Becky McDonald. Kelly briefly appeared as Becky in Dermot and the Doctor, 5 years before taking on the role of Miss Quill in Class.