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
Coronation Street first of their kind ever seen on British television. If later characters are stereotypes, it's because they are from the same original mould. It is the hundreds of programmes that have followed which have copied "Coronation Street"." Over the show's history, "Coronation Street" has highlighted a wide range of different social issues, including rape, cancer, HIV, incest, hoarding, stillbirth, murder, suicide, arson, hit-and-run, miscarriage, adultery, euthanasia, homosexuality, depression, epilepsy, osteoporosis, childhood cancer, domestic violence, post traumatic stress disorder, teenage pregnancy, gambling addiction, widowers moving onto other relationships, ehlers–danlos syndrome, brain aneurysm, drink driving, bipolar disorder, multiple sclerosis, alzheimer's disease, families