‘Coronation Street’ will kill off Rita Tanner’s husband Dennis to mark the soap’s 10,000th episode.
Rita – played by cobbles legend Barbara Knox – will be left stunned when she receives her late hubby’s ashes in a parcel.
It will contain a note asking to scatter them in Blackpool, so she asks Ken Barlow (Bill Roache) to go with her, and several other Weatherfield residents end up accompanying her on a coach trip.
Jenny Bradley (Sally Ann Mathews) will book a coach for the excursion, and the vehicle will be driven by grumpy Des, played by ‘Early Doors’ actor John Henshaw.
‘Coronation Street’ boss Iain MacLeod said: "10,000 episodes! Not bad for a programme which one newspaper said in 1960 was ‘doomed from the outset’.
"I am first and foremost a massive fan of the show and I watched this landmark episode with absolute glee.
"It is uniquely ‘Corrie’: funny, poignant and characterful – and a glorious homage to the comedic charabanc trips of times past, packed with strong female characters and sparkling dialogue.
"It’s a really great exhibition of Coronation Street’s classic qualities as we start a new decade on the cobbles."
For the 50th anniversary, the soap marked the occasion with a week of episodes centred on a tram crash, which culminated in a 60-minute live broadcast.
Although the programme’s 40th anniversary episode was also live, that edition did feature a pre-recorded segment as Prince Charles visited Manchester and met Audrey Roberts.
Coronation Street: Rita’s husband to be killed off for 10,000th episode
