Tram Crash Week

Tram Crash Week was a week of episodes to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Coronation Street, airing from the 6th to 10th December 2010, which included an hour long live episode on the 9th December. It also carried the subtitle Four Funerals and a Wedding. The episodes took place over the course of one night.

The episodes became available on DVD titled Coronation Street: Tram Crash.

This episode is notable for the fact it showed surrounding areas of Weatherfield, which was made with the use of CGI.

The storyline was the second of such a storyline to happen as in 1967, a train crashed into the street.

Characters who died[]

These are the victims of the tram crash who died, and were part of the "Four Funerals" tagline.

Taxi Driver - this unseen, unnamed taxi driver died while driving past the Joinery just as it exploded. It was later mentioned in dialogue about his death, and official sources confirmed he was indeed one of the four deaths.
Ashley Peacock - was crushed by the collapsing Joinery after helping Nick Tilsley escape with an unconscious Peter Barlow.
Molly Dobbs - Molly was trapped in the corner shop along with her baby son Jack. Jack was retrieved and Molly died, but not before confessing to Sally Webster about her affair with her husband Kevin, and that baby Jack was Kevin's son.
Charlotte Hoyle - the only victim not to actually be killed due to the tram crash. Prior to the Joinery explosion she was hit with a hammer by John Stape, rendering her unconscious and brain dead. John moved her body to the tram crash site, to make it look like it was the crash that killed her. Her life support was later turned off in hospital.

Characters who were caught up in the disaster but survived[]

Rita Sullivan - She was in The Kabin at the time and the Kabin was party demolished. Rita escaped with minor injuries. She said to herself "What is it about me and trams?". She said this to herself because in 1989 she was in Blackpool and was running away from her villainous boyfriend Alan Bradley when he was hit by a tram.
Tram Driver - The tram driver tried to stop the tram as it was heading towards the gaping hole in the viaduct caused by the explosion. The tram did not stop in time and it derailed. The tram driver miraculously survived even though the tram ploughed into the corner shop upon impact to the ground.
Peter Barlow - Peter Barlow was caught up but survived and was wheelchair bound for a few months.
Jack Webster - Jacks mum Molly told Tyrone he wasn't Baby Jack's father and that she was leaving him. That evening while in the corner shop with Jack they were trapped when a tram derailed from the viaduct and crashed into the shop. Emergency services managed to retrieve Jack, but Molly passed away, but not before telling a shocked Sally about her affair with Kevin.

Episodes[]

Aftermath[]

The crash cast a shadow over the street for the next twelve-months, and was mentioned frequently. Peter Barlow was rendered wheelchair bound for a couple of months, causing him to lapse back into alcoholism and get angry at his problem.

Number 13 Coronation Street remained gutted for a few months, until finally being bought and refurbished by Lloyd Mullaney.

Molly's confession to Sally caused her to divorce Kevin, and bitterness occurred between then and Tyrone Dobbs. However overtime they became more friendly, and moved on from the affair.

On the first anniversary of the crash, Peter was meant to do a speech but was unable to and instead chose to drink. His father Ken Barlow - a life long resident of the street - stepped in instead. During the memorial only the portraits of Ashley and Molly were presented, nothing with Charlotte (possibly due to it coming out she was murdered and not involved in the accident) or the unnamed taxi driver.

Inbetween December 2011, to December 2020, the incident was not referred to. It was remembered by Nick Tilsley during the tenth anniversary in December 2020, when the residents had their hands full trying to stop Ray Crosby destroying most of the street. Nick said the tram crash killed his best mate Ashley Peacock.

Ken Barlow and Emily Bishop never mentioned the first train crash in Coronation Street of May 1967 when a goods train derailed, trapping Ena Sharples and killing Sonia Peters. Ken and Emily were residents of Coronation Street in 1967. Even at the first anniversary of the 2010 crash, the 1967 one was never referred to, despite Ken saying he had lived in the street for 70 years, all his life. Also other Weatherfield residents who were not yet living in Coronation Street at the time may remember the 1967 crash, such as Gail Rodwell (then Potter) who was 9 at the time, or Deirdre Barlow, (then Hunt) who was 11 at the time.

Notes[]

The date that the episode takes place in is up for debate. Although it is assumed that the episodes takes place on the night of when the tram crash aired (Monday 6th December 2010), subsequent episodes seem to imply that it took place on Thursday 9th December, in order to fit with the show's anniversary air date (which can be seen in an episode when a character reads a text from that night). The 60th Anniversary book for Coronation Street confirms the tram crash took place on the 9th December 2010, as it lists the victims of that night dying on that date.