Coronation Street fans based in Scotland were left frustrated last night over STV's decision not to air the special programme to mark legend William Roache's birthday.
Brian Altman, known as Scotland's biggest Corrie fan, hit out at the TV channel for not showing the documentary - Happy Birthday Bill - which aired on ITV at 8pm on Tuesday in England.
The lifelong fan of the hit soap said the country was 'crying' in response and labelled the move as 'disgusting'. However STV says they will air the documentary next month instead.
Replying to a Corrie fan on Twitter who said they were in tears watching the special episode, which commemorates the veteran's 90th birthday with cast appearances, Brian wrote: "WE ARE ALL CRYING IN SCOTLAND AS @WeAreSTV DECIDED NOT TO SCREEN THIS WHICH IS DISGUSTING.
"WILLIAM ROACHE M.B.E. O.B.E At 90 years of age still working and 61 years on the cobbles - WHY IS THIS NOT BEING SCREENED IN SCOTLAND?"
Brian, who takes four trips a year from Glasgow to the Manchester studios and says he has met 93 stars of Weatherfield, later said it was 'disgraceful' that the documentary didn't air on Tuesday night. Instead, Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs aired from 8pm-8.30pm followed by Animal 999.
He added: "Scotland is part of the United Kingdom & makes up a large part of the Coronation St viewing family. It’s Disgraceful".
Brian was later able to watch the programme online this morning on the ITV Hub - but says his location is set as Manchester. "I was teary-eyed by the end of it," he said. "I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was well edited, but I thought they would have given it an hour and a half but it was just 44 minutes long without the adverts.
"It was very frustrating that it wasn't on the STV schedule."
William Roache, who is set to turn 90 next week, is best known for playing the classic character of Ken Barlow in the British soap. December 2020 marked Ken's 60th anniversary onscreen.
STV - a Scottish channel part of the ITV network - said the reason why they didn't air Happy Birthday Bill on Tuesday evening was due to a schedule clash.
An STV spokesperson said: “ We didn’t show Happy Birthday Bill on STV last night as ITV’s scheduling of the programme clashed with the latest episode of our popular regional series, Animal 999.
“We’re looking forward to joining STV viewers in celebrating Bill Roache’s landmark 90 th birthday when we air the programme at 8pm on Tuesday 3 May.”
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