Yes, I think they don't want people seeing how fantastic it used to be and realise how shite it's become.

Lots of tinfoil hatters in tonight.

Transferring 9000+ episodes across multiple different formats from film to digital and collating them into a viewable catalogue is presumably no easy task, maybe rather than wanting to hide from the world they simply don't have the manpower dedicated to showing it at the moment, or believe they'd get a significant return on investment if they did dedicate the manpower too it. The fact fans have illegally shared the shows before probably only adds to that, they might indeed think "well, we'll sell a few DVD box sets and then the entire lot'll be on YT" or "no-ones going to buy the lot at the price we need to sell them at".

Laugh out REALLY loud at your username!!!!

Exactly the response that would be expected from a paid up serf of the establishment. Hark at you trying to second guess the fans from your jaundiced perspective-oh the irony. Tinfoil hatters? How many PAID man hours did it take to come up with that particular insult?

Looks to me like the prols are revolting and they've sent a spook out to tamper it down.

What you don't want to admit is that the reason soaps are utter crap now is because they're AGENDA driven, and the prols you underestimated are getting wise.

And if any posters are still in any doubt that the ptb have paid up serfs steering this forum - this here should be your proof. And they're in EVERY forum on here.

Oh i do hope Network would start releasing yearly boxsets, similar to what they've done with Emmerdale and The Bill (even though the former is at a snails pace!)

Are you kidding? I wish I was being paid for the shite I write online, I'd be very very rich. lol

I want the archives released as much as the next bloody person, look at my flaming post history. I was just trying to rationalise the logistic reasons that they might not have released it rather than jump to the conclusion that ITV are deliberately attempting to hide the show's history because of the current state of the show. That is possible but it's also possible they just don't see any reason too.

I'm trying to second guess the show and ITV from my ickle position as watcher of the show, nothing more.

Didn't they give up on the Emmerdale releases?

I would love for the episodes to be released, but just because there is demand here doesn't mean there is general demand for it.

I wrote to ITV months ago and got the standard 'keep an eye out' response, but I don't expect we'll see a Netflix style service anytime soon.

Corrie alone wouldn't be a good archive selling point, Emmerdale, Heartbeat, The Bill and tons of dramas would also need to be offered.

Yeah, unfortunately you probably have a point. By nature those of us on here are disproportionately likely to want it, the counter argument to that is the sheer reaction of "oh damn, i thought it was real" sadness when they did trail it for aprils fools, suggests there's a slightly wider demand than just a few weirdos.

I also emailed ITV, on several occasions and got the standard "keep an eye out" response. They've been giving that response for a long time now. Regarding other shows Heartbeat and The Bill are available on DVD.

I think the best hope of any Corrie release is them striking a deal with Network to release them, but the way Network releases stuff that means it will take several decades for the sixties alone to believe. The only other hope would be another private company buying the rights for a commercial release, which would be a huge huge gamble.

Kind of, they released another volume last year, the first since 2012, so we're now on 1974.. 32 episodes a volume, being released in dribs and drabs. Better than nothing i suppose.


If ever i became a millionaire, i'd set up my own DVD distribution company and release them myself!

Last time I emailed Network they said they had no plans to release another Emmerdale one at present, so you could well be looking at another 4 years for the next volume.


In all honesty, would a million even come close to covering the rights issues and logistics of releasing them, I somehow doubt it. I've had similar thoughts myself in the past, but don't play the lottery so probably not much chance.

I'd do an initial release of the first 3 years in individual boxsets, and the income generated would help to pay for the next batch and so on. But doing them all in the one go i'm sure when getting towards the 80s/90s episodes, clearing the music rights playing on the radio in the background or in the Rovers every other episode would become very costly!

I suppose you could mask the music out, which would bring the cost down but take away from the show. If my memory serves me rightly from the very few episodes I managed to watch on youtube from the 60s and 70s music was used regularly in those as well that would still be well under copyright.

I was more thinking of the extras and short term characters and what kind of contracts they'd have signed, if they'd signed one-off appearance fee contracts with no scope for a DVD release then woud you have to track down them or their descendants to acquire permission to use their episodes in the DVD releases?

Surely the future is streaming, which would be far more lucrative for any company since the outlay that goes into producing 'hard' DVD releases would be quite high?

ITV could do this in house and I would happily pay a premium for access to Corrie's back catalogue. All ITV would need to do is set up the streaming website, upload the episodes and then maintain whatever storage they need (I know very little about these things so perhaps it's far more complicated).

They'd need to be able to anticipate the demand on their servers and cover it from the amount people are paying, which is a risky game to get into. Videos are normally very large files and as such have a very large cost attached to people viewing them in terms of server space, they could set their own server up but again they'd need to finance that server - depending on demand that could crash and burn very quickly. If there's a high demand on the site, you could be looking at a three figure server bill.

http://www.whoishostingthis.com/blog.../website-cost/

There's also the question of what format these are currently held in. I'd assume ITV have already preserved the original film recordings by transferring them to a more modern format such as videotape, dvd or digital files, but if they haven't you've got the purely practical issues of time and money in converting old film reels into digital format. According to google film reels last twenty years - the 60s episodes are 56 years old!

If that's the case they haven't been digitised the old episodes may well exist but it could be physically impossible to transfer them into the sort of catch-all back catalogue we all desire and want.

Ah yes, i forgot the incidental battle music they used during Ena and Elsie's poison pen row I hate when they edit the music out of DVD releases. Should be released as originally shown or not at all. And like Network, i'd include the ad break cards

Clearing all the rights and permission would take a while, but it'd be worth it.


I was thinking about this too, and think ITV may have it planned, 5-10 years from now when streaming really takes off and picture quality matches that of broadcast tv. It's the future, i could see more networks and companies releasing their own streaming services and opening up those back catalogues.

I'd actually quite like to see the entire ad breaks included unattended, but as far as I'm aware they wouldn't be on the copies kept.


Streaming's already took off as much as it's going to I think, regarding picture quality in this instance does it matter - the episodes up until around about the late noughties would all look as good as they did on telly on a computer.

ITV started going tits up when Thatcher forced the franchises to bid again and Carlton/Granada were allowed to eat up competition. The regional identities which you saw at the start/end credits were an indicator of quality, now everything's merged into one, tat presented by yours truly, Keith Lemon.

The merger is possibly a reason why ITV haven't released the full Corrie archive. Episodes were on Granada Plus, but that was because Granada held the distribution rights. That's not the case now.......ITV are preoccupied in looking to the bleak future, rather than the glorious past.

Wonderful ad here of the late Jean Alexander promoting Corrie on G Plus.

I like it when someone uploads episodes on Youtube with the original ad breaks intact. Especially with the old Cadbury bumpers. I've done that myself in the past.


I'm sure a few more million will be subscribed and not watching tv. Or getting rid of Sky/cable with their extortionate price rises.

I'd be streaming it to my own telly like Netflix, so a higher bitrate would be ideal for less compression artifacts.

Bloody Thatcher, the soap snatcher! It's strange Carlton would prevent Granada from continuing to distribute them on lets say ITV3 (which was supposed to be Granada Plus' replacement after all) after the merger.

Also what a wonderful find! What better way to promote classic Corrie on a new channel than getting Jean Alexander to reprise her role as Hilda. I could definitely see her in 90s Corrie!

If Granada don't own the distribution rights anymore then who do?

Also why did G+ never show the first 16 years?

G+ decided to start from 1976 because that year is often cited as being the beginning of the show's 'Golden Era' with a good blend of characters. Most of the original cast was still present, along with newer icons who were still in the show when G+ started airing.

I think there may also have been another reason but I can't remember.

This has been discussed in depth on this forum umpteen times. DVD is not going to happen, the number of discs and replication costs alone make it prohibitive.

Streaming is unlikely due to the niche only interest in old episodes. As I've said before, and it wasn't popular yet it remains my opinion, more likely is an ITV archive with best of compilations offered as "extra features" - for example when a long running character leaves etc.

Network Distributing have access to the archive and hold the right to release DVDs. Granada still probably own the distribution rights, what I meant was ITV's merger has led to ITV Studios and changing priorities. Granada's sales branch has wound down as a result.


I think the best we could hope for is themed nights on ITV3, dipping into the archive now and again.