Coronation Street marks 10,000th episode with hour-long special

Coronation Street are celebrating their 10,000th show with a special hour-long episode on Thursday night.

Britain's most popular soap has been running for almost 60 years on ITV.

The first-ever scene of the programme back in 1960 began with two girls singing a nursery rhyme, which will be replicated in the 10,000th episode.

Patti Clare, who plays Mary Taylor, told ITV News: "I love things like that, you can just weave in nods to the past and I think this episode does that very well."

In the hour-long special, the cast are taking a trip to Blackpool in order to scatter Dennis Tanner's ashes.

The famous cobbles are still in place, even if the filming site has moved from its original, as the drama maintains its popularity.

Hosting a soap in Manchester was a new concept back in 1960 when regional accents were rarely heard on the television.

"You've got to remember always what it felt like when it first burst onto the screen - nobody on television spoke like us," Maureen Lipman, who plays Evelyn Plummer, told ITV News.

There has been plenty of drama in the first 10,000 episodes but things do not seem to be slowing down on the country's most famous street as their prepare for their latest milestone.