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Prince Charles makes
special appearance on soap
Prince
Charles traded the gild ed
halls of Buckingham Palace for the working-class world
of Britain’s Coronation Street with a special appearance
on the 40th-anniversary episode of the beloved television
show.
The heir to the throne will make a cameo appearance
on Coronation Street, Britain’s longest-running
soap opera, which has become a national institution
since it was first broadcast on December 9, 1960.
“We can confirm that the Prince of Wales is to
appear in the program”, a spokeswoman for the Prince
said. The spokeswoman said she did not know if Prince
Charles would have a speaking role or even if he was
a fan.
“He hasn’t ever appeared on television in
something like this before”, she said.
Charles will join actor Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow,
the last member of the original cast still on the show,
which weaves gritty plotlines about barmaids, taxi drivers
and others in a world far from Prince Charles’
blue-blood life.
Coronation Street has made its stars household names
in Britain and beyond with its portrayal of domestic
ups and downs in a fictitious district of the city of
Manchester. Some say its pub — The Rover’s
Return — is the country’s most famous.
Twenty-five countries — from Bulgaria to Nigeria,
Estonia to Thailand — lap up Coronation Street’s
tales of infidelity, teenage pregnancy, and violence.
Liz Dawn, who plays Vera Duckworth, one of the soap’s
best-loved characters, received a bunch of flowers from
Prince Charles for her 60th birthday, a message from
the Pope and a card from Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“I love it so much I don’t know what I’d
do if I left Corrie”, Dawn said. “I mean many
a time I have wanted to leave but I couldn’t cope.”
As many as 20 million British viewers are expected to
tune in to the special episode, which will be broadcast
live. Storylines for the show, which will begin in black
and white to echo the first episode, have been kept
under wraps but it will also include a guest appearance
from Noddy Holder, lead singer of rock band ‘Slade’.
Charles will go one better than his mother Queen Elizabeth
who was the first royal to walk down the cobble streets
in 1983 when she opened a new Corrie set.
Earlier the Prince met its creator, Tony Warren, and
unveiled a plaque to mark the soap’s anniversary.
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