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,
Coronation Street viewing figures peaked at 19.4 million, with Hillman dubbed a "serial killer" by the media. Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) became "Corrie's" first regular homosexual character. In 2003 another gay male character was introduced, Sean Tully (Antony Cotton). The character of Karen McDonald (Suranne Jones) was developed, with her fiery marriage to Steve and warring with Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford). In 2004, "Coronation Street" retconned the Baldwin family when Mike's nephew Danny Baldwin (Bradley Walsh) and his wife Frankie (Debra Stephenson) moved to the area from Essex, with their two sons Jamie (Rupert Hill) and Warren (Danny Young). Until this time,