Coronation Street in 1979. In 1982, the arrival of Channel 4, and its edgy new soap opera "Brookside", was one of the biggest changes for "Coronation Street". Unlike "Coronation Street", which had a very nostalgic view of working-class life, "Brookside" brought together working and middle-class families in a more contemporary environment. The dialogue often included expletives and the stories were more hard-hitting, and of the current Zeitgeist. Whereas stories at this time in "Coronation Street" were largely about family affairs, "Brookside" concentrated on social affairs such as industrial action, unemployment, and the black market. The BBC also introduced a new prime time
Mike Baldwin (Coronation Street) the cracking and breaking of wide-boy Street stalwart Mike Baldwin into dementia and death. A soap can do Alzheimer's perfectly because it can draw on the collected memories of it audience in a way no other art form, except perhaps the epic novel, can. When Mike loses it and starts crying for Alma – the ex-wife who died years ago – we remember her too. When we see him breaking from his dementia-fever for a moment and asking his old flame Deirdre to dance – an almost unimaginably sad scene, as he beams in mid-dance and says: 'This is lovely',