Coronation Street Director Dies

Brian Mills, the only director to work on Coronation Street in all of its five decades, has died.  From his obituary in The Independent, we learn that Mills started on Coronation Street in 1968, when Elsie Tanner's son Dennis married Jenny Sutton and the serial's first outdoor set was built, to 2000, when Mike Baldwin married for a fourth time and Sarah Platt give birth at the age of 13.  Mills directed the famous 1983 Ken-Deirdre-Mike love-triangle, springing a shock on Anne Kirkbride who plays Deirdre. When Kirkbride opened her front door, Bill Roache (Ken) threw himself full-bloodedly into a rage, grabbed her, slammed her against the door, which closed on Briggs (Mike Baldwin), and then put his hands around her throat. "It was quite frightening and I hadn't expected it," she said: