HUMOUR has always been at the heart of Coronation Street and the show has kept us laughing decade after decade.
Back in the Sixties, we all chuckled as Ena Sharples, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst put the world to rights in the Rovers’ snug.
The cast of Corrie has seen plenty of pranks and bust-ups during its 60-year run
In the Seventies, we witnessed the hilarious marriages of Stan and Hilda Ogden and Jack and Vera Duckworth.
The Eighties saw the comic capers of larger-than-life supermarket boss Reg Holdsworth and his assistant Curly Watts, and the Nineties brought us the battling Battersbys — Les and Janice, followed by Les and Cilla.
More recently, the Street’s laugh-out-loud moments have included Blanche Hunt’s 2009 visit to an alcohol support group with grandson Peter and the rest of her family — voted one of the show’s funniest-ever moments.
But sometimes the humour is unintentional, as things go wrong behind the scenes . . .
We all chuckled as Ena Sharples (pictured), Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst put the world to rights
During her 30 years as Liz McDonald, Coronation Street star Beverley Callard has featured in some of the show’s most dramatic storylines, including fights, feuds and more than her fair share of passionate flings.
But learning her lines for emotional scenes proved only half the battle — for Beverley found it far more exhausting trying to keep a straight face as she witnessed the antics of the show’s arch prankster Simon Gregson, her screen son Steve.
When the two of them filmed scenes together in the Rovers Return, Simon could not resist winding up his screen mum.
“We can’t look at each other without laughing,” Beverley revealed.
As well as Blanche Hunt’s great one-liners, fans loved her 2009 visit to an alcohol support group
“And Simon makes fun of my tiny feet all the time. I’m a size two-and-a-half and he puts Barbie shoes in the till and in hot pot dishes.
“Kym (Marsh) is doing it as well — they all laugh at my feet!”
Another prank saw the cast placing random objects in Beverley’s handbag while she was filming her scenes.
Kym admitted at the time: “Simon and I both do naughty things. We put things in Beverley’s handbag while she’s filming, such as a can of beer, a load of beer mats or an old dishrag.
“She’ll come off set and go in her bag for a lipstick and find all this stuff!”
That was nothing compared to what Sue Cleaver went through when a fight scene went wrong and she ended up being knocked out for real.
The accident happened as she filmed inside her character Eileen
Grimshaw’s kitchen with actress Judy Holt, who played Lesley, the wife of Eileen’s firefighter boyfriend Paul Kershaw in 2012.
In the Seventies, we witnessed the hilarious marriage of Jack and Vera Duckworth
Sue recalls: “The character had Alzheimer’s. She lost the plot and she punched me.
“It was from underneath and she misjudged it and I got knocked out cold on the floor.
“I had to have a visit to the hospital to get checked out — she was absolutely mortified.
“The next day she delivered a load of plants round to my house by way of apology.
Stan Ogden’s line ‘you’re like false teeth and toffee, yer can’t let go’ went down in history
“When it went out on screen they used the real sound from the punch on the show.
“Fights are always choreographed and we’re very careful with health and safety, but they do sometimes go wrong.”
Ben Price — the soap’s Nick Tilsley — reveals a similar thing happened when he filmed a punch-up with Chris Gascoyne, who plays rival Peter Barlow.
“Sometimes things go a little wrong and you have to giggle about it,” he laughs.
In the Eighties fans were treated to the comic capers of Reg Holdsworth and his assistant Curly Watts
“Chris reminded me that once when we were filming Nick hitting Peter, I ended up hitting him properly.
“Then he was meant to throw a plastic bottle at me, but forgot and threw the real one.”
Other things go wrong at very inopportune moments.
Earlier this year Rob Mallard, playing Daniel Osbourne, was filming an emotional scene at the reception following the wedding of Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien) and Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson).
Mary Taylor telling Hayley Cropper ‘I’m afraid I mated your husband . . . twice!’ had us in stitches
Chris, as Peter, was listening intently but just as heartbroken Daniel began to open up about his life, Chris suddenly sneezed — right into a tumbler of whisky Rob was holding.
Filming was halted as they burst into laughter, and Rob asked the crew: “Can I have a clean glass?”
Meanwhile, the cast are capable of finding humour even in the middle of dramatic scenes.
Behind the scenes of Gail and Eileen’s fight, Helen Worth and Sue Cleaver couldn’t stop laughing about the hilarious sight
Sue Cleaver has been at the centre of some infamous fights with Eileen’s rival Gail Platt, played by Helen Worth.
Sue says: “We have a real giggle about it. At one point I was lying in the middle of the road and Helen was sat on top of me in her dressing gown.
“We looked at each other and said: ‘This is the most ridiculous way to pay the mortgage!’ ”
