The world from my window

I've long been a fan of Coronation Street .  According to my mother, the first music I ever hummed along to was the theme from this long running soap, which came to life in 1960, a good year before I was born. I'd forgotten this, as I always thought ITV was banned in the household of my childhood. But apparently, I was brought up with Corrie. A self-confessed telly addict, I've dipped in and out of it over the years - watching it with my parents in the 60s and 70s and then gorging on it with my flatmate in the early 80s. In those early days, the sharp comedy provided by characters like Stan and Hilda Ogden and then, latterly, Jack and Vera Duckworth, were what I enjoyed the most.  That regular delving into an 'Oop North'  lifestyle seemed,  to me in the rural West Country,  as comfortable - and funny - as an old coat with tricks up its sleeve. Mr Grigg and I used to watch Corrie religiously. But then the humour diminished and the writing became fl...