An audience with the Street team

xcept · Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 11:17 am Post subject: An audience with the Street team

You should be able to do a bit of 'Russell spotting' when this show is on - I wonder if he was one of the celebs in the audience asking questions.

For those not familiar with the ' Audience with..' shows -
Its basically a star /group (but in this case the entire cast of the soap Coronation street) on stage singing, talking and answering questions put to them by a celebrity audience.
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An audience with the Street team
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IT was a proud moment for Coronation Street last night as the stars of the show granted a very special audience.

Almost 60 members of the Weatherfield cast travelled to London for a celebrity-packed recording of An Audience With Coronation Street.

From founding cast member Bill Roache (Ken Barlow) to young Sam Aston (Chesney Brown), stars gathered on the red carpet before the show to be screened on ITV1 later this month.

Among those who later sang on stage with a 20-piece band were Richard Fleeshman (Craig), Andy Whyment (Kirk), Jennie McAlpine (Fiz), Wendi Peters (Cilla), Tupele Dorgu (Kelly), Ray Fearon (Nathan), Beverley Callard (Liz) and Simon Gregson (Steve).

Other Rovers regulars introduced the acts and were on hand to take questions from the 500-strong audience, against a backdrop of images from Coronation Street's 46 years on screen.

It also featured a reunion for Johnny Briggs, killed off as Mike Baldwin on screen on Friday, and former co-star Amanda Barrie, who played his late screen wife Alma.

Former cast members in the audience from the show's past included Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales, who played bus conductress Eileen Hughes in 1961, and Catherine Cusack, who was nanny from hell Carmel Finnan three decades later.

Recent guest stars Status Quo were also there, along with Salford's Russell Watson, G4, Gary Rhodes and Street creator Tony Warren.

Johnny Briggs arriving with his son Anthony - Actor Antony Cotton, who plays Sean Tully, said all the cast had looked forward to making the show. "It can only be great, can't it, because it's Corrie."

The hour-long spectacular follows the Manchester-produced hit Soapstar Superstar, which featured several Corrie stars and which will be returning for a second series.

And there was yet more reason for the Corrie cast to celebrate at the after-show party.

A peak audience of 12.6m viewers watched Mike Baldwin die in Ken Barlow's arms in Friday's emotional episode.

source:manchesteronline