The Road to Coronation Street a Londoner most famous for her role as Kat Moon in "EastEnders", "religiously" watched YouTube footage of early episodes to master the "old-fashioned Mancunian" accent as she described it. Wallace also briefly had sessions with a dialect coach before filming commenced. James Roache plays his father William Roache in the drama. The elder Roache has played Ken Barlow in "Coronation Street" since its inception. As well as acting in "The Road to Coronation Street", James was filming scenes for "Coronation Street" in a non-regular role as Ken Barlow's grandson at the same time. Celia Imrie played Doris Speed, who played
The Road to Coronation Street the character of Annie Walker, and Lynda Baron played the role of Violet Carson, who played one of "Coronation Street"s most iconic characters, Ena Sharples. John Thomson and Michelle Holmes, who had previously been members of the Coronation Street cast, appeared as H.V. Kershaw and Harry Elton's secretary respectively. The drama achieved a peak of 852,000 viewers on its first transmission, making it the second most popular programme in BBC Four's history, behind 2008's "The Curse of Steptoe" at 1.41m viewers. Sam Wollaston, a critic for "The Guardian", gave a positive review, stating ""The Road to Coronation Street" is fond,