Fans rejoice as Coronation St returns

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Fans of Coronation Street across the country are celebrating after TVNZ said the soap would move back to its later timeslot.

The broadcaster decided to shift the British show from 7.30pm to 5.30pm last month, to make way for reality cooking show MasterChef Australia.

But with MasterChef finished, TVNZ has announced it would return Coronation Street to its former timeslot on Thursday and Friday from next week.

When fans first learned of the show's earlier timeslot, there were cries of outrage, with some disgruntled viewers creating a Facebook page and a petition calling for the show to stay put.

Many rest-home residents were also upset at the change, which clashed with dinner time at several establishments.

Mabel Randall, an 80-year-old resident of Wellington's Johnsonvale Rest Home, who had watched Coronation Street since it began in 1961, was particularly unhappy that she could no longer watch her favourite show.

But yesterday she was delighted to hear about the reversal, although not completely taken by surprise.

"I got a Listener and looked at next week's TV listings and I looked on Tuesday and Thursday and it said 'to be assessed'."

Mrs Randall said she had been racing upstairs after dinner to watch the last 10 minutes of the show, then catching up on repeats during the weekends when she could.

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said though the network had always said it would review Coronation Street's timeslot after MasterChef Australia finished, it was clear the soap had not performed well earlier in the evening.

"You would be mad not to listen to what people have to say ... we said right from the beginning that we would have a look and see how it went. If it was a roaring success at 5.30pm, we might have kept it in place, but clearly 7.30pm is better for everyone."

- © Fairfax NZ News