Coronation Street actor William Roache has said that the soap “could go on forever” as it approaches its 10,000th episode.
Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, added that things have “changed unbelievably” on the programme over the years he has been on it.
He said: “It’s amazing, actually it’s not amazing we’re still going, Tony Warren set the heart of the street as a community that cares and you can’t go far wrong.
“You can have police dramas, hospital dramas, all sorts of things.
“We’re about people, so you have all of those, you have the police, you have hospitals, but we’re just about people.
“And so long as the stories are character based it could go on forever.
“Well, 60 years in television terms is almost forever isn’t it.”
He added: “The change from then til now is unbelievable, it’s totally different.
“In those days we’d have three days rehearsal and then record the episode straight through.
“Now, we turn up, do a scene, we can do pick-ups, retakes, not too many, but we can do a few.
“And there’s no rehearsal, absolutely none.”
He added that there is also no prompting for lines, “so we have to turn up knowing it and ready to do it”.
An hour long episode will mark the 10,000th episode next week, with Coronation Street residents heading to Blackpool on a special mission.
Rita receives a parcel containing Dennis’ ashes along with a note requesting that she scatter them in the seaside resort.
A group of the show’s characters then head for Blackpool but by the end of the trip one person then decides to leave Coronation Street, according to ITV.