Corrie A-Z: B is for Births

(This post was originally posted by Llifon on the Coronation Street Blog in April 2013.)

Births, marriages and deaths – the three staples in life and in soaps too. Over the last 53 years, there have been 39 births included in the street’s history. The first baby was Paul Cheveski back in 1961. He was the firstborn of Ivan and Linda Cheveski and the first grandson of Elsie Tanner. What a woman to have as a grandmother!

To date, there have been three sets of twins born on the street. The first Corrie twins were born in 1965. Susan and Peter were born to Ken and Valerie Barlow. Thirty-three years later another set of twins were born. Billy and Becky were born to delighted parents Gary and Judy Mallett. And in 2006, Aadi and Asha were born to Dev and Sunita Alahan. They left the street with their mother the same year but returned in 2009. Coincidentally, every set of twins have lost their mothers in tragic circumstances - Valerie was electrocuted in 1971, Judy died of a pulmonary embolism in 1999, and Sunita died in the Rovers fire in 2013.

 

We, as viewers, have been able to see some babies grow up on our screens and become teenagers and adults. They include Susan and Peter Barlow, Tracy Barlow, Nick Tilsley, Sarah Platt, Rosie Webster, David Platt and Sophie Webster. In 2004 we saw Tracy give birth to Amy, 27 years after we saw her mother Deirdre give birth to her.

 

Incidentally, Tracy was the first baby we saw on the day she was born. Rosie Webster’s birth was the first actual birth witnessed on screen. As for locations, Rosie Webster was born in the back seat of Don Brennan’s taxi on Rosamund Street while Ben Watts was born in 7 Coronation Street’s living room.

 

The youngest  mother to give birth on the show is Sarah Platt who was only 13 when daughter Bethany was born. She was only 17 when she gave birth to her second child Billy in 2004 but lost him prematurely. Zoe Tattersall and Katy Armstrong were also in their teens when they gave birth to their respective children.

The oldest mother to give birth was Natalie Barnes (albeit off-screen) when she gave birth to Laura at the age of 44. Denise Osbourne was 40 when she gave birth to Daniel in 1995 as was Marion Yeats when she gave birth to Dawn (again off-screen) in 1984. Ken Barlow holds the record for the oldest father at the age of 56 when he fathered Daniel.

While some babies have survived into childhood, some sadly haven’t. Katie McDonald was the first premature baby to die and that was in 1992. Others who died maybe a few hours, days or months after being born include Shannon Tattersall, Jake Webster, Billy Platt and Paul Connor Jr. Darren Barlow, son of David and Irma Barlow, and the first grandson of Stan and Hilda Ogden was killed in a car crash aged only two along with his dad in Australia back in 1970.

 

Some babies have arrived on special days: Nick Tilsley was born on New Year’s Eve 1980; Rosie Webster on Christmas Eve 1990; David Platt on Christmas Day 1990; Katie McDonald on New Year’s Day 1992; Billy and Becky Mallett on Christmas Day 1998; and Ben Watts on Boxing Day 2001.

Up to now, 25 of the births have been boys while 14 have been girls. 

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