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,
Mike Baldwin (Coronation Street) discovering that Susan was pregnant, Mike wanted her to become a stay-at-home wife and mother but Susan decided to have an abortion, and moved to Newcastle after just a year of marriage. Mike's on/off relationship with Alma Sedgewick (Amanda Barrie) lasted the longest. It seemed to be over when he abandoned Alma to marry wealthy widow Jackie Ingram (Shirin Taylor), who inherited a factory from her late husband, Peter (who had died of a heart attack during an argument with Mike). Jackie soon saw through him and their marriage lasted one week. Jackie threatened Mike with a shotgun if he