Coronation Street in its place. "Coronation Street" returned to ITV screens with a regular scheduled time closer to the end of 1979. "Coronation Street" had little competition within its prime time slot, and certain critics suggested that the programme had grown complacent, moving away from socially viable storylines and again presenting a dated view of working class life. Between 1980 and 1989, "Coronation Street" underwent some of the biggest changes since its launch. By May 1984, William Roache (Ken Barlow) stood as the only original cast member, after the departures of Violet Carson (Ena Sharples) in 1980, Doris Speed (Annie Walker) in
The Only Way Is Essex introduction of several new cast members including James Locke, Dan Osborne, Jack Bennewith and Abi Clarke. Twin sisters Amy and Sally Broadbent were also confirmed to have joined the cast however after two episodes, Lucy Mecklenburgh announced on Twitter that they had been used by the show to create storylines and had been dropped from the cast. The series saw the departures of numerous long serving cast members such as Kirk Norcross, Debbie Douglas and Mick Norcross, Billi Mucklow and Danni Park-Dempsey who all announced their departures midway through the series. The ninth series began airing from 2 June 2013