ITV brings to life the moment Coronation Street was born in 60th marketing campaign depicting Tony Warren and Olive Shapley s infamous train journey
It was 1959 and a young writer from Salford named Tony Warren was on the late King's Cross to Manchester train with BBC Producer, Olive Shapley, when he woke her in the early hours to announce he had a great idea for a show about ordinary people on an ordinary street .
Now, ahead of the shows 60th anniversary and recreating the story Olive was later to recount on a This Is Your Life' dedicated to Tony - ITV has produced a campaign certain to capture the nation's heart as we relive the very moment he first announced his bright idea -only to find himself knocked back with Olive telling him how boring and to go back to sleep!
With the sounds of the train staff and ticket officer echoing in his head, we see the young Tony sit back with a smile still on his face, as if the he knows his idea is definitely the right one, and after sixty years of being in the top ten most watched UK shows every single week, selling to over 130 countries and employing thousands of people it seems it most definitely was.
Created by ITV Creative, ITVs in-house creative agency and directed by Dee Koppang OLeary (The Crown, Bridgerton), the celebratory campaign has a synergy all of its very own as Tony is played by the latest recipient of the Tony Warren Bursary, Harry Chalmers Morris, who only began his studies at LAMDA in September.
On being asked to play the man whose bursary is helping him become the actor he's always dreamt of Harry said: Only when I was playing Tony did I realise the magnitude of his contribution. His sheer force of will helped break what seemed like an impenetrable glass ceiling as the thought of giving working class voices air time was unthinkable. I have so much gratitude for Tony for paving the way for actors from the north west .
Filmed in a specially created train carriage at Dukes Island Studios, the campaign captures an era now long gone, a time where it was unheard of to have working class people featured on television and Tony's herculean task to get the bosses at Granada' to listen to him was about to begin.
Director, Dee Koppang O'Leary commented: It was a total joy to be part of creating a film paying tribute to such an iconic British TV series & its creator - Tony Warren.
Filming with Harry was a delight, and it felt like true serendipity with Tonys legacy giving a helping hand to an up & coming actor. Happy 60th Coronation Street!
Tony Pipes, Executive Creative Director, of the campaign also noted: Its always been a privilege to work on projects for such an icon of British Television, like Coronation Street, but even more so to celebrate its creativity. The true story of a young man whose imagination lit a spark that turned into a flame, lasting 60 years and beyond. I hope this inspires young writers, young actors and young imagineers' to carry on its legacy and create its future and more. Happy Birthday Corrie and Thank you Tony Warren.
Sarah Tobias, Marketing Controller, ITV, states: For the 60th campaign we wanted to show the nation how the street came about, with these two very special people travelling on a train. This is a love letter to Tony and Olives journey and hopefully shows what an amazing thing happened in that moment, in that carriage.
In a year of so much tragedy we hope to bring joy to viewers in celebrating the spark of an idea that, when mixed with a lot of determination, became the longest running continuing drama in the world .
The campaign will premiere ahead of the new series of Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! on Sunday 15th November at 9pm and will be running on ITV until the anniversary itself on Wednesday 9th December.
[end]
Editors Notes:
The Tony Warren Bursary
A professional actor before he became a writer, Coronation Street creator, Tony Warren, was always a champion of local talent and acutely aware of just how difficult it was for disadvantaged young people to get a step on to the drama school ladder. Shortly before his death in 2016 he discussed his wish for Coronation Street and ITV to establish a bursary that would support local actors from disadvantaged backgrounds in to training at drama school.
After extensive research ITV announced the Bursary noting they would work with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) and Manchester School of Theatre, part of Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).
All the above schools are recognised industry leaders who regularly hold auditions in Manchester and the north west proving their links with the city and the region.
Credits
Executive Creative Director: Tony Pipes
Creative Director: Ben Knapp
Creative: Heidi Martin
Marketing Controller Drama, Soaps, Daytime & Itv3: Sarah Tobias
Marketing Manager Drama, Soaps, Daytime & Itv3: Cleo Montague
Head Of Campaign Production: Jill Findlay
Campaign Manager: Lucy Manning
Director: Dee Koppang O'Leary (at Dark Energy Films)
Producer: Hannah Cooper
Director Of Photography: Iain Struthers
Production Designer: Mikey Hollywood
Costume Designer: Julian Day
Assistant Costume Designer: Shaida Day
Hair & Make-Up: Sarah Exley
Gaffer: Andy Long
Casting Director: Kate Ringsell
Offline Editor: Sam Jones at The Quarry
Colourist: Duncan Russell
VFX Supervisor: Jorge Escorihuela
Post Producer: Sarah Morowa at Dirty Looks
Sound Design: Tom Pugh at Grand Central
With thanks to Gilbert Lake
Tony Warren: Harry Chalmers-Morris
Olive: Lisa Bowerman
Tea Ladies: Lauren Fitzpatrick and Johannah Allit
Ticket Inspector: Paul Croft
Passenger: Adam Grayson
VO: Julie Hesmondalgh
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
17/10/2025
The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...
17/10/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...
17/10/2025
Austin PBS has recently upgraded its facility-wide communications infrastructure, deploying Clear-Com 's Eclipse HX, FreeSpeak II beltpacks, and V-Series ...
17/10/2025
ZEISS announces an open call for the closed BETA testing phase of CinCraft Virtual Lens Technology, the innovative digital tool that brings authentic lens chara...
17/10/2025
Situated in the town of Kokkola, Centria University of Applied Sciences offers higher education across five core fields: engineering, business, social and healt...
17/10/2025
Public information channel in Georgia, USA, to implement a powerful, simple, and cost-effective playout automation platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, co...
17/10/2025
HBO Max is reporting that it has launched in 15 new markets, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Macau, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ukraine, boosting the streaming serv...
17/10/2025
Netflix said it will make a major push into video podcasts, inking a wide-ranging deal with Spotify through which it will offer 16 podcasts in the U.S. starting...
17/10/2025
Lexington, Ky. As part of a push to highlight its advanced advertising capabilities, Viamedia has launched a new AI-powered ad tech platform and officially rebr...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK QuickLink has announced the release of StudioPro Version 4, which the company is calling the most significant upgrade yet to its flagship video product...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK and CUPERTINO, Calif. Apple and NBCUniversal said they will sell Apple TV and Peacock streaming bundles to U.S. subscribers starting Oct. 20....
ITV brings to life the moment Coronation Street was born in 60th marketing campaign depicting Tony Warren and Olive Shapley s infamous train journey
