Coronation Street place at university, and thus found his working-class background—as well as his parents, Frank and Ida (Frank Pemberton and Noel Dyson)—something of an embarrassment. The character was one of the few to have experienced life outside of Coronation Street. In some ways this predicts the growth of globalisation, and the decline of similar communities. In an episode from 1961, Barlow declares: "You can't go on just thinking about your own street these days. We're living with people on the other side of the world. There's more to worry about than Elsie Tanner and her boyfriends." Roache is the only remaining
Coronation Street cruise spin-off, "Coronation Street: Viva Las Vegas!" was released on VHS, featuring Jack Duckworth, Vera Duckworth, Fiona Middleton and Maxine Peacock on a trip to Las Vegas. In 1999, six special episodes of "Coronation Street" were produced, following the story of Steve McDonald, Vicky McDonald, Vikram Desai, Bet Gilroy and Reg Holdsworth in Brighton. This video was titled "Coronation Street: Open All Hours" and released on VHS. In 2008, ITV announced filming was to get underway for a new special DVD episode, "", following the Battersby-Brown family, which included the temporary return of Cilla Battersby-Brown. In 2009, another DVD special,