Albion Market was a British soap opera, set in a covered market in Salford, in the northwest of England. It was intended as a companion to fellow ITV soap Coronation Street, starting at 7:00 pm on Fridays and 7.15 pm on Sundays. However, due to continued troubles and ratings competition from the BBC's Open All Hours, the series was only broadcast for one year; a Friday episode of Coronation Street would be introduced in October 1989.
History
Albion Market launched in August 1985, four months before Coronation Street celebrated its 25th anniversary. As with Coronation Street, Granada Studios dubbed it a "continuing drama series", considering the term "soap opera" derogatory. The show ran twice weekly on Friday and Sunday night; at the time, 7.00 pm on Fridays and 7.15 pm on Sundays were considered "graveyard slots", usually broadcasting game shows or American imports. Very quickly, the Sunday episodes were moved back to around 6.00 pm, and LWT and TVS, who felt that ITV's network schedules had too much of a Northern bias, later dropped the Friday episode and instead broadcast a double bill of the series at 5.00 pm on Sundays. At the series' launch, the chairman of Granada Television claimed that "When Coronation Street celebrates its Golden anniversary, Albion Market will be celebrating its silver anniversary". Despite this, the show lasted for only one year. The show received negative reviews from critics and did not do well in the ratings. Many noted that the actual storyline rarely strayed from the confines of the market itself. The long-suffering market superintendent Derek Owen was the primary focus; his day usually began with the difficult task of assigning the few unowned stalls to the large number of casual traders. Prominent among these were Lynn Harrison and her ex-convict husband Roy ; while the regular traders included the gossiping ceramics dealer Morris Ransome and handsome lothario and cake seller Tony Fraser. The series struggled to attract a sizeable audience. Characters were bogged down by the business of running their stalls, and the sheer drabness of the set compounded the monotony. After this faltering start, compounded by Michael Grade's success with his newly rearranged schedules for the BBC, Granada attempted to change direction and bring in both glamour and familiar actors. Despite attempts to encourage viewing figures by bringing in Coronation Street actor Antony Booth and singer Helen Shapiro, the ratings did not improve, and some ITV regions dropped the series from their peak-time schedules. The show was cancelled after just 100 episodes. For many years, the outdoor location with its distinctive arch-shaped Albion Market sign above the River Irwell remained intact. When the Granada Tours Experience was closed in 1999, the sign was removed, and the building which was once Albion Market was sold. It now forms part of the Victoria and Albert Hotel.
