The Mirrorpix photo archives have unearthed rare images of the real-life weddings of two of Coronation Street’s biggest-ever stars.
Pat Phoenix, who played Elsie Tanner from the ITV soap’s first episode in 1960 until 1984, and Julie Goodyear, famous for playing Rovers landlady Bet Lynch, married within a year of each other in the 1970s.
Pat Phoenix married Corrie co-star Alan Browning at Etherow Brow Methodist Church in Broadbottom, Cheshire, on December 23, 1972.
A Daily Mirror photographer captured the events outside the church and at the reception. They show Pat and her husband greeting the crowds after the ceremony, which was attended by several of the soap’s biggest names.
Alan Browning was Pat’s second husband; he died seven years later in 1979. She later married actor Anthony Booth, the father-in-law of future Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Heywood-born actress Julie Goodyear married her second husband, Tony Rudman, less than a year later on April 21, 1973, at the Parish Church in Bury.
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It wasn’t a happy ever after, sadly, as the marriage was annulled the following year. Julie married and divorced again before finding true love with her husband, Scott Brand, tying the knot in 2007.
Both sets of photographs serve as a fascinating record of the lives of two of the country’s biggest TV stars, shared with the public in a way that few celebrities do today.
See how many famous guests you can spot in these wedding day snaps.
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