Happy Birthday Coronation Street Happy Birthday Coronation Street was a one - and - a half hour spectacular broadcast on 9th December 1990 ( exactly thirty years to the day since the live transmission of Episode 1 ) to celebrate three decades of the programme . It was recorded on the previous day . The setting for the show was the Stage One complex next to the Granada Television studios in Manchester which had just been converted from a warehouse into a studio complex . After an opening of cast , both present and past ( including Ivan Beavis and Cheryl Murray ) getting out of limousines and walking past the press cameras while fireworks exploded in the rain - filled sky overhead , the action cut to the incongruous site of dancers on the outdoor set to the sound of ’ s " " and then transferred inside where Cilla Black was introduced as the host on a mock - up of the street with the present cast sat to one side . Black introduced the programme as a celebration of the “ most popular programme on British television ” and promised faces that everyone would remember and surprises that “ you won ’ t believe ” . A montage of clips of deaths , wedding , disasters and funny moments was followed by the ubiquitous question of Ken Barlow ’ s many girlfriends and an appearance by Joanna Lumley who was the recipient of a badly - phrased comment by Black that she was back on the street - where she belonged ! Magician then presented a round of comic mind - reading tricks with Peter Baldwin and Thelma Barlow . Gorden Kaye , at the height of his fame with " " was then brought on who reminisced about his time as Bernard Butler after which a voxpops of children talking about the show was followed by an appearance by Paul Shane who appeared twice on the programme in the 1970s . sang " " to a montage of clips of the various affairs of Ken , Deirdre Barlow and Mike Baldwin and then Mollie Sugden came on to talk about her time on the show while her - life husband William Moore ( Cyril Turpin ) watched from the audience when she was “ reunited ” with an awful pink hat of Nellie ’ s that she wore in a clip from Episode 1210 ( 21st August 1972 ) . After an advert break , Cilla Black moved back to the outdoor set where she met various stars of other programmes who had once played guest roles on " Coronation Street " including Kevin Lloyd and Peter Ellis from The Bill , Frazer Hines and Arthur Pentelow from " Emmerdale Farm " , Bill Dean from " Brookside " and Michael Melia and Peter Dean from " EastEnders " . After another montage of clips , Roy Barraclough and his " " partner , the legendary comic Les Dawson performed a sketch where Dawson , in drag , tried to apply for a holiday relief barmaid job at the Rovers with the two at times barely able to suppress their laughter . After that , there was one of the highlights of the programme as a montage of clips of Hilda Ogden led to an appearance of Jean Alexander to a standing ovation from her old cast members and delighted the audience by indulging in a short piece of classic Hilda “ singing ” . The programme moved to the Wembley Arena where fan of the programme Cliff Richard was in concert . The claim was made that his record " " was No . 1 in the charts when the programme began and Richard sang an exceprt ( however the actual top of the charts on 9th December 1960 was Elvis Presley ’ s " " ) . The guest of honour for the evening was introduced by another montage of clips before Doris Speed came on to rapturous applause and told a story of how her mother had told her that she wasn ’ t worth the £50 a week salary that she was offered back in 1960 . The rest of the cast joined her on stage for a surprise for them all - a congratulatory telegram from The Queen . Throughout the programme , video messages of congratulations were shown from rival shows " Neighbours " , " EastEnders " , " Home and Away " and " Emmerdale Farm " . The show was produced by and directed by Ian Hamilton and Daran Little was billed as its archive consultant . Future programme producer s David Hanson and Jane Macnaught were the floor manager and producer respectively and David Liddiment was the executive producer of the whole enterprise . Broadcast at 7 . 15pm , the show attracted 13 , 100 , 00 viewers placing it 11th in the charts for the week . The entire programme was repeated just over six years later on Granada Plus on Sunday 5th January 1997 at 8 . 00pm and on Saturday 8th March at 4 . 00pm .