With just months to go before Coronation Street enjoys its landmark 50th birthday, the soap has released a glamorous photoshoot to promote a series of new stories. The ITV1 show is the most watched soap so far this year, averaging 9.9 million viewers per episode for the first half of 2010. This is up 4.2 per cent on the audience share during the same months in 2009. Bosses say the actors pictured will be central to the storylines in the build-up to the 50th. Many of them will be affected by the tragic and dramatic events in December when a tram crashes off the viaduct and changes residents' lives for ever. "Coronation Street has the ability to move with the times whilst retaining a unique sense of northern humour pathos, tragedy, conflict and drama," said producer Phil Collinson. "I have never worked on a show where the audience is so passionately involved in the lives of the characters on screen... and that brings with it a huge responsibility to make sure we keep their stories truthful and compelling." Behind the scenes film of the shoot is available to watch from Tuesday August 31 on Corrie's website. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop
