[Andrew]

I always assumed ‘the precinct’ to be a full sized pedestrianised precinct in the middle of a town centre, not a council estate style parade of shops with flats above

[Stuart]

I always assumed ‘the precinct’ to be a full sized pedestrianised precinct in the middle of a town centre, not a council estate style parade of shops with flats above

Weatherfield is apparently capable of having a Town Hall, a Mayor, oodles of Councillors (mainly from one street), a regularly used Crown Court and Police Station . . . but only a row of tiny 3rd rate shops as a 'precinct'.  

[Lester]

All of the additions to the outside set have been naff and unrealistic. The extension to Rosamund Street looks like a weird cul-de-sac but with a train station and matchbox sized supermarkets with zero traffic. This new addition looks the same. Coronation Street is very run down these days but seemingly has attracted a high end bistro at the end.

[eyeTV]

Is there a local by-law in Weatherfield that all shops must have a pun in the title?

Yes you can have breakfast in Roy's Rolls, dinner from For Your Fries Only, Dessert at Sweety Nuff and then maybe a kebab from Prima Doner later 

Apparently the Charity Shop is the only one that will have an interior set.

[Andrew]

Is there a local by-law in Weatherfield that all shops must have a pun in the title?

Yes you can have breakfast in Roy's Rolls, dinner from For Your Fries Only, Dessert at Sweety Nuff and then maybe a kebab from Prima Doner later 

Apparently the Charity Shop is the only one that will have an interior set.

And if you want a pizza delivery in Bolton, you can order one from “Six Fellas” 

The Canadian delivery driver is a bit unreliable though

[VMPhil]

I always assumed ‘the precinct’ to be a full sized pedestrianised precinct in the middle of a town centre, not a council estate style parade of shops with flats above

Hold your horses there Andrew, the set designers haven't got EastEnders money

[Aaron]

The first 16:9 edition was the 7th January 2002- that's scheduled to be shown on ITV3 on December 13th.

I didn’t realise at first today as my recording missed off the start with the titles but it’s nice to have it in widescreen at last.

[Spencer]

The first 16:9 edition was the 7th January 2002- that's scheduled to be shown on ITV3 on December 13th.

I didn’t realise at first today as my recording missed off the start with the titles but it’s nice to have it in widescreen at last.

I remember at the time the change to 16:9 felt like a long time coming for Corrie. There weren’t many other programmes so late in switching. I seem to remember EastEnders was quite early to widescreen in comparison.

In contrast, Corrie was quite quick to upgrade to HD.

[James2001]

There must have been a reason behind it being so late, presumably either technical (maybe there was still something in the chain that wasn't 16:9 capable that wasn't considered economical to replace until 2001), or it could have been editorial. There were plenty of shows still made in 4:3 during the early 00s even though they were from 16:9 capable studios.

Emmerdale didn't go 16:9 until the same time as Corrie, and they'd moved to new studios at the back end of 1997 and it seems suprising that a new studio for a major network production fitted out then wouldn't have been 16:9 capable (though I guess it's possible they might have saved money by using some older equipment in the fit out). The picture quality we've been seeing on the studio work on ITV3 isn't great which makes me wonder if they're older cameras that could date back to 1997, especially when the classic episodes ITV3 showed in October it looked like the cameras had been upgraded by 2005, and it's unlikely they'd be replacing cameras they'd only got in 2001.

Worth pointing out that High Road on STV was still in 4:3 until it ended in 2003. Indeed, that makes me wonder if that's part of the reason why it ended- any studio equipment that was still only 4:3 capable would have been coming to the end of its life by 2003, and presumably they didn't consider it economical to replace.

[Neil Jones]

High Road was apparently only going to survive if STV had their licence renewed in 2003:
www.thefreelibrary.com 

END OF THE HIGH ROAD; Cast facing dole as STV cancel filming for next 18 months.…
Free Online Library: END OF THE HIGH ROAD; Cast facing dole as STV cancel filmin…
  Source: www.thefreelibrary.com

They were so far ahead filming wise of that (IIRC it was only weekly by that point) they had enough material for at least two years, though they stretched it out with a few gaps, and AFAIK it never went into production again. Which may be more to do with why it stayed in 4:3, as the episodes were by that point three years old.