Coronation Street ITV And Media City


THE end of another long and varied week is in sight.
It began on Sunday night with coverage of Roxanne Pallett being frozen out of Dancing On Ice.
And continued back at the keyboard at dawn today with the story of Gary Barlow and his Comic Relief team reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Along the way I spoke to University of Manchester team captain Matthew Yeo on Monday night, just minutes after rivals Oxford were disqualified from University Challenge.
Spent a day on location in Stretford on Tuesday with the new series of The Street for interviews and behind the scenes coverage when it returns to BBC1 later this year.
Wrote about current shows like Shameless, Coronation Street and Law and Order: UK.
And revealed all about The Royle Family’s return for Comic Relief.


Quite apart from interviews to tie in with other TV series arriving on a screen near you later in 2009.
As well as sorting photos, audio and video for upcoming stories.
But the main story of the week has to be ITV’s announcement early on Wednesday morning that it plans to axe 600 jobs and cut programmes.
Our main story went online and in the hard copy MEN shortly afterwards, after I spoke to Michael Grade and other ITV bosses at their London HQ.
We were the first to reveal the very latest on the possible move of both ITV Granada and Coronation Street to Salford Quays.
And also the first to reveal the transfer of Countdown from Leeds to Manchester.

A follow up story on the possible move of Corrie “cobble-by-cobble” to wasteland next to the Imperial War Museum North was the front page splash on Thursday (pictured above) and also featured on Pg 2.
Mainly thanks to the superb photographs taken by my colleague Mark Waugh.
The article also detailed all the other options currently under discussion.
That story was itself followed up the next day by many of the nationals, with the Daily Mail using it word-for-word online.
All of which gives me the opportunity to again highlight the excellent MediaCity site run by Mark Whitfield.
It’s a real labour of love, which aims to detail the development in photos from start to finish.
Thanks to Mark, I also managed to find further details of the possible site for both Granada and Corrie at Salford Quays.
Across the water from the BBC on the main MediaCity site, the plot of land is actually located in Trafford, Manchester.
And is now called Trafford Wharfside.
I hope to find time to have another good look around that area very soon and will report back.
In the meantime, even though it’s Saturday, there are two hour-long preview DVDs to watch, an interview to transcribe and write up, a feature to post online, TV schedules to check, people to ring and dozens of “non-urgent” emails to reply to.
If one of them is from you, then I apologise and will be in touch without further delay.
But, as I said, it’s been another long week.
And the next one is just about to begin…
Roxy Frozen Out
Gary And Co Reach The Summit
Students Awarded Quiz Title
Chatsworth Spouse Is Off
Bubbly Becky’s Wedding Day Fizz
Law & Order UK: Ben Daniels
The Royle Family Return For Comic Relief
ITV Axes 600 Jobs
Coronation Street: Salford Decision Nears
Is This The New Home For Corrie?
MediaCity In Photos And Images
Trafford Wharfside