For more than six decades, Coronation Street's dramatic storylines have kept viewers on edge, with everything from affairs to tram crashes happening in the town of Weatherfield. Although it may be small, Weatherfield certainly is not sleepy, as it has a shocking crime rate.
Despite a pandemic taking hold of the world in the last couple of years, and there being more Zoom calls than pub bust-ups on the soap, 2021 was a year of trouble for Coronation Street. With a total of 55 'incidents' and eight deaths in 2021, Weatherfield apparently has a murder rate of 9.3 per cent compared to the 0.001 per cent real-life national average.
A new study, orchestrated by SimpliSafe, analysed the storylines, cast and events of the UK's four major soaps - Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders and Hollyoaks, as well as historical data since they were first broadcast, to unveil the most dangerous town in the land of the soaps. And, according to the results, Coronation Street's Weatherfield is 9,200 times more dangerous than the average UK town.
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Assault, drug-related crimes, murder, burglaries and criminal damage incidents were 112 per cent higher on Coronation Street, compared to those living in Walford, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks. The murder rate in the North West, where the fictional town of Weatherfield is set, is a staggering 606,211 per cent lower than that of Weatherfield.
Over the past 12 months, the murder rate on Coronation Street stands at 9.3 per cent - the highest of all the soaps - with Hollyoaks the second most murderous settlement in the world of soaps with a murder rate of 8.3 per cent. Walford took the spot of the third most murderous area with a rate of 6.9 per cent. Emmerdale is the safest spot to live - the Dales-based show has a murder rate of 4.8 per cent, a figure 578,206 per cent higher than the average in Yorkshire.
In terms of year-on-year comparisons, Coronation Street was the only place that saw an increase in murders, with three more than what was predicted for the year based upon the number of episodes aired according to the analysis, and five more than the yearly average. Hollyoaks, Eastenders and Emmerdale were all in line with their show’s yearly murder average for the fictional areas, although both Hollyoaks and Emmerdale fell under the number of murders predicted for 2021, with nine and six estimated based on episodes screened across the 12 months.
When it comes to incidents in the fictional towns, boroughs and villages, there were 67 per cent more kidnappings in Hollyoaks compared to any other place. Meanwhile, theft was most prevalent in Emmerdale and incidents of bribery or blackmail were most common on Coronation Street.
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