Coronation Street in 1962 1962 was " Coronation Street " ' s third year . Production . The Equity strike ends . The Equity actors ' strike ended on 3rd April after raging on for over five months . The latter weeks of the dispute saw " Coronation Street " ' s cast reduced further , with Philip Lowrie ' s contract expiring at the end of February ( although Lowrie had wanted to leave anyway ) . The programme ' s production was also hit , with the demands of creating storylines involving solely the thirteen remaining characters causing writer / storyliner Vince Powell to leave . According to then - writer John Finch , if the strike had gone on long enough that all of the actors ' contracts ran out ( ie . forcing production to shut down ) , the return of the programme wasn ' t guaranteed . Fortunately , ITV reached an agreement with Equity on 28th March , ending the strike two months before contracts ended . Returning " Coronation Street " ' s cast to full capacity was a gradual process which continued for the rest of the year . Storylines were planned so far in advance that it wasn ' t until mid - May that actors other than the core cast were given starring roles ; Jennifer Moss had returned as Lucille Hewitt for one episode on 23rd April , but her appearance didn ' t affect the plot and was easily slotted in to a completed script . Moss came back permanently with Episode 148 on 14th May . Priority was given to characters who were supposed to have been living in Coronation Street ( or close by ) for the duration of the strike , and so Esther Hayes , Christine Hardman , Sheila Birtles , Emily Nugent , Doreen Lostock and Leonard Swindley all re - appeared in the following weeks . For Esther and Christine , due to the availability of actresses Daphne Oxenford and Christine Hargreaves , these appearances included their departures from the street . Hargreaves signed a new contract in October after completing her theatre commitments , although Esther was strictly a recurring character post - strike . Subsequent returns included Anne Reid as Valerie Tatlock in July , and in November , Kenneth Cope , Anne Cunningham and Ernst Walder as Jed Stone , Linda Cheveski and Ivan Cheveski respectively . Valerie and Jed moved into the street , with Val marrying Ken Barlow and Jed becoming Minnie Caldwell ' s lodger , but the Cheveskis returned to their new home in Canada after two months . Some characters didn ' t return ; in the main Jean Stark , Phil Braithwaite and Norman Dobson , despite all three living in Coronation Street at the onset of the strike . H . V . Kershaw ' s first year . Script editor H . V . Kershaw replaced Derek Granger as producer with Episode 141 on 18th April . Kershaw would be the go - to producer for " Coronation Street " for the following 11 years , with eight separate stints in the role ( and several as executive producer ) . Due to the focus on bringing characters back , only one actor joined the main cast in 1962 ; Graham Haberfield as young builder Jerry Booth , who became Len Fairclough ' s apprentice . Meanwhile , Len ' s role grew , with Peter Adamson essentially becoming the programme ' s leading man owing to Len ' s will - they - won ' t - they relationship with Elsie Tanner as well as his new joinery business . Meanwhile , Reginald Marsh was first seen as London - born bookie Dave Smith , a role he played on a recurring basis until 1976 . The year ' s biggest storyline featured the snatching of baby Christopher Hewitt - born to Concepta and Harry in August - by Joan Akers ( see " Viewing figures " section below ) . At the end of the year , the cast size was still lower than its size before the strike hit in October 1961 ; having proved that it could function ( and attract huge audiences ) with a cast of thirteen , the programme was allocated a smaller casting budget than before . " Coronation Street " stirred up an unexpected controversy when , in Episode 149 , Ena Sharples wrote to Prince Philip asking for his help in stopping Coronation Street from being renamed Florida Street . This contravened a law stating that living members of the Royal Family couldn ' t be mentioned by name in stage plays or films . The Postmaster - General contacted Granada and told them to drop all references from future scripts but no further action was taken . After this , other programmes began to mention the Royal Family and the law quietly fell into disuse . In a reflection of the changing lives of people in the working class north , No . 9 became the first household in the street ( other than the Rovers Return ) to have a phone installed - requiring the cobbles to be dug up - and have an indoor lavatory . Viewing figures . " Coronation Street " was at number one at in the ratings in all but two weeks of the year . Due to several episodes tying for first place , 57 episodes reached the top - the programme ' s highest ever number . With an audience of 8 , 406 , 000 homes , Episode 189 on 3rd October was the highest - rated episode of " Coronation Street " up to that point . The record was quickly broken by the following episode , in which Elsie Tanner found the missing Christopher Hewitt alive and well with Joan Akers and convinced her to return the baby to the Hewitts . As well as being the the most - watched episode of the year with 8 , 868 , 000 homes / 19 . 509 million viewers , it was the highest ever audience recorded for a British television programme , beating the 8 , 480 , 000 homes which had watched the " Royal Variety Performance " in November 1961 . Just three weeks later , the 1962 " Royal Variety Performance " attracted an audience of 9 , 255 , 000 homes , breaking " Coronation Street " ' s short - lived record . In one of " Coronation Streets most successful years , every month built upon 1961 ' s audience averages . The yearly average was 16 . 80 million viewers " ' - a 29 % increase on 1961 . Who lives where . Coronation Street Mawdsley Street Others Awards and nominations . Daily Mirror Television Awards Variety Club of Great Britain