TV and Radio

The ironies fly thick and fast in The Road To Coronation Street, a fictionalised account of the creation of Britain's longest running soap opera - and only some of them are deliberate. There is, for instance, the running joke about William Roache, a serious young actor with aspirations to be a film star, taking on the role of Ken Barlow as a stop-gap. "It's only a week, what harm can it do?" he says grandly, preparing to lower himself to appear in the pilot. When the series is picked up, he reckons he might as well go on: "It's only for 13 weeks."

Nearly half a century later, he's still there, doggedly ordering halves at the Rovers and having ill-fated affairs. And two of Roache's sons, including James who plays his father here, have just popped up in Coronation Street itself, playing Ken's long-lost son and grandson.

The soap's creator, Tony Warren, was a washed-up former child radio actor who turned to scriptwriting and, remarkably, put together a whole new concept for British television aged just 24.

Played here by David Dawson, he's arch, nervy, clever and knows it, with enough chutzpah to burst into the office of a producer whom he's heard is looking for new talent and declare: "I'm young, I'm Northern and I'm ready to be nurtured!" But Warren had the ability to back it up and produced a script and a set of characters so good that, despite initial scepticism, they instantly captured people's attention.

In what may be a comment on how soap writers always end up shaping their characters to the actors playing them, the first early stars are depicted as variations on their famous characters: Ena Sharples, the gimlet-faced matriarch, as played by Violet Carson who's portrayed by Lynda Baron as a no-nonsense battleaxe; Doris Speed, working as a secretary when called out of acting retirement to play pretentious Annie Walker, is portrayed by Celia Imrie as a prim and proper social climber.

And, in another nifty bit of metafictional irony, Jessie Wallace, who made her name playing one of the many variations on Elsie Tanner as Kat Slater in EastEnders, plays the real thing, via Pat Phoenix, who became a close friend and support of Warren. There's a good bit where Phoenix turns up late to audition, all askew, then blows their socks off by bringing Elsie to life. But the short scene she plays out, taken from the original script, is by far the most compelling and lively in the whole drama. Not only do you understand completely why the Granada cleaner gets so sucked into watching the show's pilot that her avid attention convinces the producer that he's got something here, thus representing those ordinary viewers who tuned in and made it a hit, but you feel you'd rather be watching that drama than this one, interesting as it is.

But there are other ironies in The Road To Coronation Street, which was produced by ITV but on behalf of the BBC, not least in how it portrays the early days of the commercial channel as an exciting alternative to the staid, unrealistic drama produced by the state broadcaster. "We thought the whole point of a new channel is to do something new and different," says Warren, pushing for a show "with dirt under its fingernails" to be made. Though the bosses of Granada are not keen for a series filled with Manchester accents and 'boring' ordinary events, the producer wins them over by saying: "This is television for everyone, leave the privileged for the BBC."

In today's multi-channel climate, it's actually depressing to realise that Coronation Street, as it was then, would never be commissioned now. Its closest modern equivalent, The Street, was cancelled and the soap itself has long since settled into a cosy cycle of secret affairs, paternity riddles, comical rivalries and ratings-grabbing disasters - often entertaining, but hardly a reality anyone could recognise. In The Road To Coronation Street, the first actress they try out to play Ena Sharples suggests she take her teeth out and carry a small dog, for comedy value; these days they'd take her up on the suggestion and camp it up further.

Of course, they do still make dramas at ITV, like this week's David Jason film about a Second World War veteran, Albert's Memorial. Not that viewers in the STV area are getting to see it, but strangely the channel is still showing a tie-in documentary, David Jason: the Battle Of Britain, in which the actor meets some real veterans. The documentary feels a bit redundant not just because of the missing drama but because the tales of The Few have been so well covered over the years. Still, it's hard to remain untouched by the scale of it and by the pressure involved, especially when the old men sharing their stories with Jason mention that they were just 18 or 19 when they witnessed such destruction and death.

One 18-year-old, Geoffrey Wellum, was nicknamed 'Boy'; his emotional memoirs are dramatised in First Light, a BBC drama-documentary which draws back from the big political picture to try to show the flurry and impact of the sights and sounds of war. A full-on dramatisation would pull you into the story more, but the contributions of Wellum today, giving his memories, do ground it firmly in fact and leave you marvelling at what people are capable of.

Small Screen Movies

Notes On a scandal

***

Tomorrow, BBC2, 9pm

An unusual role for Dame Judi Dench, as a manipulative schoolteacher, but the usual outcome: an Oscar nomination. Cate Blanchett was also nominated, as the nave younger teacher whom Dench befriends. But when a scandal breaks out over her affair with a pupil, perhaps she shouldn't rely so much upon the older woman... Based on Zoe Heller's novel, it's an intriguingly dark comedy about how female friendship can turn destructive.

The Bucket List

***

Today, STV, 10pm

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two unlikely buddies who abscond from a cancer ward on a mission to do all the things they've ever meant to do before they die: like skydiving, going on safari and, of course, bonding sentimentally. It's soppy, but the camaraderie of its easy-going stars keeps it light.

Witness

****

Today, Channel 4, 10:30pm

Harrison Ford is the cop trying to protect a young boy who witnessed a murder; Kelly McGillis is the highly traditional Amish mother. But when they dance together in the barn, to the music from a car radio, there's a frisson between them that's all the more erotic for never being explicitly shown.

Swordfish

Monday, Five, 9pm

Halle Berry, John Travolta and Hugh Jackman trade quips and smouldering glances in this daft heist movie about an attempt to raid a secret government fund. Cue sexy banter and flashy explosions.

This article first appeared in The Scotsman, Saturday September 11, 2010