Coronation Street fans beg ITV to release bizarre 'lost episode' of soap

Coronation Street fans have begged ITV soap bosses to release a bizarre 'lost episode' into the public domain. In 2005, former script writer Daran Little had been tasked with writing a special episode that would be set in 2055, when ITV will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The episode was never meant for the public, and was only ever intended as a gift for the late Queen Elizabeth. It had remained a secret for nearly 20 years, and fans who attended An Audience With Coronation Street on Saturday night at The Lowry in Salford were shocked to discover its existence.

This Morning star Sharon Marshall was in charge of the proceedings, and interviewed stars William Roache (Ken Barlow), Jack P Shepherd (David Platt), Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby),Patti Clare(Mary Taylor) and Jimmi Harkishin (Dev Alahan) about their time on the nation's favourite street. But the audience were in for a very special treat when Sharon introduced the futuristic skit as she warned them that it may be the only copy left.

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All set in the Rovers Return, and filmed on the programme's old set at Quay Street in Manchester, viewers watched as it emerged that Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien) had married a cyborg version of Ken.

At this point, he would be nearly 120 years old, whilst Jack Duckworth (Bill Tarmey), who would be around the same age, had won the lottery four times and created several clones of his long-suffering wife Vera (Liz Dawn).

I was there, and the short clip not only brought back fond memories of some of the legendary characters die-hard fans will always hold dear, but also reminded us all of the humour that made the country fall in love with the Manchester backstreet in the fist place.

Jack introduced Drinking Vera and Bedtime Vera, a 'slightly modified' version of his wife who was played by a lingerie-clad woman that looked more like a glamour model, before Cooking Vera stormed into the pub to remind him that his tea was ready. Fed up of that clone's nagging, he simply switched her off and continued to enjoy his pint.

Despite this, Jane and Jack were just as taken aback as the audience, and had no knowledge of it in the slightest even though they were both filming the soap at the time. Following the show, some one fan was quick to take to Reddit to tell all of what they had seen and users of the social media site begged bosses to release it, if at all possible.

The initial poster wrote: "They’d done a good job of keeping it all a secret as I had never heard of it before last night. I expected to at least find some mention of it online but, after a fair bit of searching… nothing!

"Even most of the cast members being interviewed onstage had no recollection of it. Does anybody know more about this hidden gem??"

One fan wrote: "Seriously this is fascinating. Would love if they put up the whole episode on YouTube, it would get a lot of views!" Another said: "Thank you for sharing this, so yeah we could see the full episode!"

A third joked: "I was there too!!! What got me is thatJane Danson and Jack P Shepherd were also surprised as they’d never heard of it. Imagine dressing up as a cyborg and never mentioning it to your colleagues. Sarah Lou was married to Ken!"

This was not technically the first time the lost episode had been made public, as Daran wrote about it on X just a few weeks ago. At the time, he told fans the episode was actually much longer than the clip that was show and had a lot more people involved in it.

He said: "For those of you who love Corrie... sorry about the quality but I think I've got the only version left! Part of something special I wrote for the late Queen to watch (my first bf was her footman) with some old Coronation Street pals 20 years ago... set in 2055. The whole thing runs for 15 mins and has a lot of cast in!"

Coronation Street runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1. Episodes can also be downloaded on ITVX.

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