Queen Elizabeth visits 'Coronation Street' set, honors TV soap's 60th anniversary
The queen first visited the show in the early 1980s
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Queen Elizabeth II visited the set of the long-running TV soap "Coronation Street" to help celebrate the show's 60th birthday.
The monarch was all smiles on Thursday as she met with the veteran cast and crew of the show, walked along the storied cobbled street and visited the studio where the interior of the Rovers Return pub is filmed.
It was the second time the queen, 95, has visited "Coronation Street" — the first time was in the early 1980s, at the show's original studios in Manchester.
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She told the cast it was "really marvelous you've been able to carry on" during the pandemic, and took time to chat to backstage staff including writers, camera operators, set designers, and sound engineers.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II meets actors and members of the production team during a visit to the set of the long running television series Coronation Street, in Manchester, England, Thursday July 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
The show, which focuses on the lives of residents of the fictional northern English town of Weatherfield, is the world's longest-running drama series.
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Actress Kate Spencer warned the queen the set's cobblestones were hard to walk on in heels, to which the monarch replied: "No, I know. I’ve been told. Probably better not."
Actor Bill Roache, who has played Ken Barlow for decades since the soap's early days, said the royal visit was a "wonderful bit of icing on the cake."
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"She just smiles. She listens, she always has and she loves to be made to laugh," Roache said. "I’ve been lucky to meet her quite a few times and she’s always charming, and a laugh is never far away."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.