Explore Coronation Street’s characters, from iconic legends to new arrivals, with the latest stories and drama unfolding on the cobbles.
Explore Coronation Street’s cast, from iconic legends to new arrivals, with the latest stories and drama unfolding on the cobbles.
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Coronation Street is known for its iconic characters – but what about the production team? We are very familiar with the likes of Ken Barlow, Roy Cropper, Carla Connor, and all the other the faces we see on our screens throughout the week, but there are many others we don’t see who are responsible for the magic behind the camera.
The writers, producers and directors, and everyone else behind-the-scenes, are all working in the background to make the award-winning soap, and are just as integral to keeping the Corrie machine ticking along as it does.
Without further ado, here is a closer look at the talented people who create Coronation Street.
Mark Wadlow is Coronation Street’s longest-running writer. He has been penning scripts as far back as 1993. To date, he has written over 400 episodes of Weatherfield drama. Very impressive.
He has also written for Robin Hood, Holding the Baby and Bad Girls.
Damon Rochefort has been a key Coronation Street writer since 2004, penning over 300 episodes. He is the script mastermind behind some major moments such as Deirdre Barlow’s funeral and the 50th-anniversary tram crash aftermath.
He also co-wrote the Coronation Street stage musical Street of Dreams.
Joe Turner is another regular member of Coronation Street’s writing team. He came on board as a writer in 1999, and for the past few years has written the Christmas Day episode. He also wrote the spectacular tram crash as part of Corrie’s 50th anniversary episodes in 2010.
In 1997, Joe’s work won Best Children’s Drama award at the British Comedy Awards for the children’s comedy show My Dad’s a Boring Nerd. This also starred Coronation Street actors Julia Haworth and Alan Halsall.
Ellen Taylor has been part of the Coronation Street writing team since 2010. Before joining Corrie, Ellen produced Sky Television’s Dream Team in 2003 and later worked on Casualty as story producer, storyliner, and editor from 2005 to 2010.
Her late father, Malcolm Taylor, directed 43 episodes of Coronation Street between 1979 and 1987.
Susan Oudot joined the Coronation Street writing team in 2012 and has since penned 208 episodes.
She actually started in the UK and Australia before moving into journalism, working on The Sunday Magazine and Woman’s Own.
After writing a few short stories, she published four books – Real Women, All That I Am, Perfect, and Virtual Love, with the first three adapted for TV. She’s also written for Casualty, Down to Earth, and Blue Murder.
John Kerr has been with Coronation Street since 2009, writing over 200 episodes. Before joining Coronation Street, he was a story associate at Emmerdale.
Mark Burt has been writing for Coronation Street since 2004, contributing over 240 episodes. He has also written for shows like London’s Burning, The Invisibles and The Dumping Ground.Julie Jones
Julie Jones has been on Coronation Street’s writing team since 2005, with over 300 episodes to her name.
She has also written for Brookside, Britannia High, Bob the Builder, and Shaun the Sheep. Before TV, she worked in local theatre and as a freelance advertising copywriter.
David Proud has been writing for Coronation Street since 2021, contributing over 50 episodes so far.
An actor and award-winning disability campaigner, David starred in EastEnders, Doctors and Marcella before becoming a scriptwriter. He has also written several short films.
Jonathan Harvey is an award-winning playwright and TV writer best known for Gimme, Gimme, Gimme.
He joined Coronation Street in 2004 and has written over 332 episodes. Jonathan initially helped with the direction for Todd Grimshaw – the programme’s first gay character, and his favourite character to write for later became Sean Tully. He also penned the 2010 stage hit Corrie!, which went on a year-long tour in 2010 to mark the show’s 50th anniversary
In 2024, Jonathan confirmed that he was stepping back from his Corrie responsibilities. However, he returned to the writing team earlier this year, penning Dev and Bernie’s summer wedding as his first episode back.
He’s brilliant at bringing the humour to Weatherfield. If there’s a sharp one-liner in a Coronation Street episode, there’s a very good chance it was written by Jonathan Harvey.
Holly Illis is a senior storyliner at Coronation Street, joining in 2021 and contributing over 1000 episodes, including stints as story and script editor. She previously worked at Lime Pictures, which produces Hollyoaks.
Thomas Sean Hughes (also credited as Tom Hughes) has worked on Coronation Street since 2019, contributing over a 1000 episodes as storyliner, story editor, and script editor.
He was previously a storyliner on Emmerdale.
Tom Kinney has been a storyliner on Coronation Street since 2024, and also served as script editor for four episodes in 2023.
He previously worked at Manchester University and LA Productions on Moving On and Anthony as a script and assistant script editor.
Paris Ventour has been a storyliner on Coronation Street since October 2022. He previously worked on River City as a story assistant and on Hollyoaks as a script editor and storyliner.
Vicki Bunce has been a storyliner on Coronation Street since November 2022.
Before this, she studied English Literature and Screenwriting at Manchester University. She is also no stranger to the Soapworld having previously worked on Hollyoaks and EastEnders.
Neevon Khayati-Daryan has been on the Coronation Street story team since March 2023.
He was previously the show’s assistant storyliner and has worked as a script reader and project coordinator.
Kate Brooks is at the helm of Coronation Street, having taken over as Series Producer last year.
Although credited from December 2024 onwards, Kate had actually been stepping into the role for a few months before that, working alongside former producer Verity MacLeod.
Kate is in charge of Corrie’s day-to-day production, storylines and scripts. She also oversees episode production, casting, creative tone – and much more.
Corrie fans are in capable hands, though, as Kate was previously a producer at Emmerdale. She is also married to Emmerdale star Michelle Harwick.
Verity MacLeod stepped in as a temporary producer before Kate Brooks’ appointment last year. She steered the ship for an interim period between June and December, and is now back in her assistant role.
Over the years, Verity has worked as script editor, script producer, and assistant producer on the show. She is known for championing storylines that tackle real-life issues such as suicide, grooming, and coercive control.
Fun fact: Verity is married to fellow producer Iain MacLeod. Speaking of which…
Formerly Coronation Street’s producer, Iain was promoted to oversee both Coronation Street and Emmerdale at ITV in 2024, focusing on long-term creative strategy.
He took over as producer in 2018, following the departure of Kate Oates, and oversaw several award-winning storylines. Some of his highlights include the Yasmeen Nazir domestic abuse plot and Seb Franklin’s murder/hate crime story.
Under his leadership, the show won a BAFTA in 2022 and National Television Awards in 2019 and 2020.
John Whiston was the Managing Director of Continuing Drama and Head of ITV in the North. His role saw him oversee both Coronation Street and Emmerdale, contributing significantly to their success.
However, he decided to retire early this year after nearly three decades with ITV.
Prior to his time at ITV, John also had a notable career at the BBC, producing shows such as Red Dwarf and The Royle Family.
Lucy Beckett is the script producer on Coronation Street. She works closely with writers and story producers to plan and refine storylines, develop dialogue, and ensure continuity.
David Kester is a long-term director on Coronation Street, having worked on the show since 1999. He is known for creating gripping, character-driven episodes and has won awards for his work.
David has also worked on EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Doctors.
Reece Dinsdale was a former actor on the show, playing Tina McIntyre’s dad Joe from 2008 to 2010.
He then later returned to Coronation Street but this time as a director. Since 2022, he has been behind the camera on multiple episodes, also directing on Emmerdale, in which he also starred.
Clive Arnold began directing for Coronation Street in June 2019 and has since directed nearly 50 episodes since then.
Like Reece, Clive was originally an actor before transitioning to life behind-the-scenes. His directing debut was actually with EastEnders in 2000 and he went on to direct notable episodes there, such as the live 25th anniversary special in 2010. He has also directed episodes for Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.
Emma Lindley has directed four episodes of Coronation Street this year, including Daisy’s baby secret reveal back in January.
She also has directing credits on Emmerdale, Holby City, and Hope Street.
Pip Short has directed 173 episodes of Coronation Street, with his work on the show dating all the way back to 2002.
He had several directorial contributions at Corrie from 2006 to October 2010, before returning to the show in 2020.
Pip has also directed multiple episodes of EastEnders, Emmerdale, Brookside, Hollyoaks and Fair City.