The world’s most famous soap opera Coronation Street has been on air for over 57 years, and now Salford Museum and Art Gallery have honoured the show’s creator Tony Warren in a special exhibition, Four Miles from Manchester: Tony Warren’s Coronation Street. The museum, which is beside the University of Salford and Salford Crescent train station, has presented a number of unseen artefacts from Warren’s career as a screenwriter in a new exhibition space which opened on 21st October.

Born and raised in Pendlebury and Eccles during the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Tony Warren’s early life in Greater Manchester was very much the driving force towards creating Coronation Street, and for that reason the exhibition also takes a nostalgic look back at times gone by in the local area. An authentic 1950s living room takes up one corner of the exhibition hall, and it’s almost reminiscent of early Coronation Street sets with flying ducks on the wall and a retro television showing the first ever episode. The culture and heritage of Salford was something which current city mayor Paul Dennett was keen to stress when he spoke at the exhibition’s press event.

A close friend of Tony Warren, David Tucker, spoke of his surprise when he was left all of his original documents and possessions. “His house was full of organised clutter. I was under strict instruction to destroy any of his work that had gone unpublished”, said David, who spoke candidly of his friend’s final days.

Also in attendance at the launch was incumbent executive producer for Coronation Street, Kieran Roberts, who will soon depart his role on the show after sixteen years. Speaking of how it felt to walk in Tony’s footsteps, it was evident that he was nothing less than honoured.

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Officially opening the exhibition and the events surrounding it was actor William Roache who marvelled at the original rehearsal scripts for Coronation Street which he had not seen for almost sixty years. The scripts and other outlining documents are surrounding the typewriter which Warren wrote them on.

The exhibition in Salford is the latest attraction for Coronation Street fans who crave to look behind the scenes at their favourite  television programme. This comes two years after the closure of the Granada Studios Tour which opened temporarily in 2014 to show fans around the old studios. Author of Coronation Street tie-in books Glenda Young is enthralled by the new exhibit in Salford; “it would love to see a permanent memorial for Tony Warren set up in a museum. I think it’s fantastic and what Tony did was groundbreaking. He struck a chord with the viewers.”

You can listen to the whole interview with Glenda below.

The Tony Warren exhibition, Four Miles from Manchester, at Salford Museum and Art Gallery is open until 3rd July 2018. More details can be found here.