Coronation Street in 1971 1971 was " Coronation Street " ' s twelfth year . Production . The ITV Colour Strike was called off on 2nd February . The last black and white episode was shown on 10th February , although Episode 1054 ( 22nd February 1971 ) and Episode 1055 ( 24th February 1971 ) had pre - filmed monochrome inserts . Anne Reid departed the programme in January after ten years playing Valerie Barlow . As Reid was adamant that she would not be returning , the writers decided to kill off her character , and retain William Roache in order to explore Ken Barlow ' s life as a single father . As well as writing out Anne Reid , Val ' s death by accidental electrocution provided a means for the writers to scrap the maisonettes . Since 1968 , the majority of the maisonettes hadn ' t featured in the programme , and the writers felt that the opposite side of the street could be better used . Within the storyline , Val ' s death caused the maisonettes to be deemed unsafe and demolished . In their place , a new Community Centre and mail - order warehouse were built , providing a raft of new storylines which dominated the first half of the year . Graham Haberfield returned as Jerry Booth after a three - year absence in October . All other cast additions of 1971 were in some way connected with the centre / warehouse storyline : Bryan Mosley returned as councillor Alf Roberts , finally joining the main cast exactly ten years after his first appearance , Thelma Barlow made her debut as dithering warehouse secretary Mavis Riley , and Lynne Perrie joined as warehouse checker Ivy Tilsley . Glamorous and laid back , " Ivy Tyldesley " , as she was initially credited , bore little resemblance to the Ivy of later years , and had an entirely different backstory . Frank Pemberton and Daphne Oxenford returned after long absences for Valerie ' s funeral episode . According to Pemberton , his comeback was meant to test the waters for further appearances , but the actor died seven weeks after recording his scenes . For the storyline of Alan Howard ' s affair , scripts were written with Irma Barlow as the other woman , but due to Sandra Gough absenting herself just before the scenes were shot , Judith Barker was brought back as Janet Reid , and the storyline went ahead with Janet in place of Irma with minimal changes to the scripts . Gough returned to the programme in October , but was dismissed two months later without an on - screen exit . Gough was later quoted in the press as saying she was tired of playing Irma and kept taking time off to be with her husband , hoping to be sacked . Viewing figures . The death of Val Barlow was a ratings winner , with the seven episodes beginning with her exit all attracting audiences of more than 18 , 000 , 000 . Episode 1050 , on 8th February , was the highest rated episode of the year with 19 . 03 million viewers . The average rating for the year was 15 . 78 million viewers , half a million down on 1970 but higher than 1968 and 1969 and , in the rest of the decade , beaten only by 1977 . Three months gained year - on - year , each by less than 300 , 000 viewers . All other months dropped , with the biggest loss occurring in July , of nearly two million viewers ( the same month in 1970 featured Elsie and Alan Howard ' s wedding ) . Chart positions were similar to recent years . 21 episodes reached number one , a drop of three from 1970 , but this would be the last time for eight years that the total of number one placings would exceed 10 . Who lives where . Coronation Street Rosamund Street Victoria Street Others