Coronation Street in 1995 1995 was " Coronation Street " ' s thirty - sixth year . Production . Sue Pritchard spent her second year as " Coronation Street " ' s producer , with Carolyn Reynolds continuing as executive producer . The programme marked its 35th anniversary in December with its first purposely written hour - long episode , featuring the surprise wedding of Curly Watts and Raquel Wolstenhulme ( previous hour - long episodes were made as single episodes which were edited together for scheduling purposes ) . Curly and Raquel ' s honeymoon aboard the QE2 was unseen on the main programme but served as the basis of its first straight - to - video spin - off , released under the title " Coronation Street - The Feature Length Special " . The video also starred Barbara Knox and Thelma Barlow , with Rita Sullivan and Mavis Wilton ending up on the same cruise at the Watts , and featured an appearance by Roy Barraclough as Alec Gilroy . Meant as an optional bonus for viewers , offering them a chance to see familiar characters in a more exotic locale , the special had a self - contained plot which was teased in the main programme but was not required viewing to follow current storylines . After 25 years playing Rovers barmaid and landlady Bet Lynch , Julie Goodyear decided to move on from the programme . Goodyear ' s exit storyline saw brewery Newton & Ridley sell the Rovers Return , and Bet quietly leave Weatherfield for an uncertain future after failing to convince Rita and Vicky McDonald to fund her takeover of the pub . The Rovers was bought over by Jack and Vera Duckworth , using their £30 , 000 inheritance following the deaths of Jack ' s brother Clifford and sister - in - law Elsie and the sale of 9 Coronation Street . The Rovers becoming a free house brought an end to 35 years of brewery - related storylines , and led to more frequent changes of landlords . Meanwhile , No . 9 was bought by Gary and Judy Mallett , a new young couple played by Ian Mercer and Gaynor Faye . Ken Morley also quit , after six years playing Reg Holdsworth . The door was kept open for Morley , with Reg working away in Lowestoft and maintaining an off - screen presence until April 1996 when he ran off with wages clerk Yvonne Bannister . Curly Watts became the new manager of Firman ' s Freezers , which had first appeared as a continuing location in February . Although not seen as often as Bettabuy had been in the earlier part of the decade , Firman ' s served the same role in being the main workplace which wasn ' t part of Granada ' s backlot . Other staff members included Anne Malone , played by Eve Steele who joined the main cast in September . Another setting introduced this year which was similarly shot on location was 5 Crimea Street , a large Victorian house converted into flats and owned by Mike Baldwin . With Anne Kirkbride well enough to return to a full - time role , Deirdre Rachid ' s husband Samir was killed off . The attack itself was not seen , but viewers were left to assume that Samir had been beaten up by a gang while walking to Weatherfield General to donate a kidney to Tracy Barlow , who was on dialysis after taking bad ecstasy . The storyline also marked the departure of Dawn Acton from the regular cast , although she returned for short stints as Tracy in 1996 , 1997 and 1999 . Deirdre was subsequently offered a flat and the job of caretaker at 5 Crimea Street by Mike . One of the tenants was Roy Cropper , who was introduced as a creepy loner who hung around Deirdre . When David Neilson was asked back full - time , the darker elements of Roy ' s character were removed , establishing him as a harmless eccentric . Ivy Brennan suffered a fatal stroke , 17 months after Lynne Perrie ' s last appearance . In order to claim No . 5 as his inheritance , Nick Platt had to change his surname back to Tilsley . Don ' s new partner Josie Clarke was played by Ellie Haddington , who joined the cast in January . Helene Palmer returned as Ida Clough for Ivy ' s funeral . Other new cast members included Tracy Shaw as hairdresser Maxine Heavey , Lee Warburton as mechanic Tony Horrocks , Lewis Harney as Daniel Osbourne , newborn son of Ken Barlow and Denise Osbourne , Frank Mills as Billy Williams , who wed Betty Turpin in October and , for two episodes , Steven Arnold as helium - voiced butcher Ashley Peacock . Meanwhile , Tracy Brabin and Joseph Gilgun as Tricia and Jamie Armstrong were made regulars , Peter Armitage returned as Bill Webster after ten years , and Roy Barraclough , Bill Kenwright and Amelia Bullmore made short returns as Alec Gilroy , Gordon Clegg and Steph Barnes respectively , the latter making her final appearances in the role . Lastly , Sally Whittaker was absent for three months between March and June due to maternity leave . A small change was made to the title sequence following Episode 3819 . The last shot , which featured a dog frantically running up the length of the Street appeared for the last time in that episode . From the next episode onwards ( and many beforehand ) , a differing number of shots of activity in the Street closed the sequence and if the opening scene was set on the Street , then the title caption appeared over the start of that scene . Viewing figures . For the fourth year in a row , " Coronation Street " sat atop the charts on most weeks of the year . 44 episodes reached number one , down from 46 in 1994 , and for the third year in a row no episodes fell outside the top twenty . The highest - rated episode was Episode 3802 on 9th January , which saw Curly Watts fight Des Barnes after Des convinced Raquel Wolstenhulme to break her engagement with Curly . 19 . 44 million viewers either watched the episode on original transmission or saw it as part of the omnibus . Overall , ratings declined by the same factor as in 1994 . The average ( aggregated ) was 16 . 07 million viewers , a drop of 366k on the previous year . All months except October and December were down , with the biggest drops ( of a million viewers ) occurring in March , May and August . The first hour - long Christmas special was shown at 6 : 30pm on 25th December , gaining an aggregated audience of 12 . 78 million viewers and charting at 13th place for the week . From 1997 onwards , an hour - long episode of " Coronation Street " was shown every Christmas Day . Who lives where . Coronation Street Rosamund Street Others