HIGH spots, low spots, crackpots… and half a century of Betty’s hotpots. Yes, we are of course talking about that national institution Coronation Street.

Jonathan Harvey’s hilarious and loving look at the world and characters of the long-running soap is a veritable tram ride through 50 years of life on the cobbles.

Narrator Roy Barraclough aka Alec Gilroy, one-time Bet Lynch’s battered husband at the Rover’s Return, is our time lord, at times perched precariously on the infamous viaduct that has changed so many lives down the years.

Six actors play all the key roles, doubling and trebling up to play those northern souls who have so long inhabited our living rooms. And believe me, they all deserve a mention.

Leanne Best switches from gullible Gail to terrible Tracey with all the ease of a pint of Newton & Ridley’s slipping down Duckie’s throat. And Jo Mousley can turn from sexy specs Diddery’s fags-drenched croak to Hilda Ogden’s screech of joy at the sight of her ‘muriel.’

Then there’s Peter Temple’s fabulous Roy Cropper tilting shoulder, the oddball who falls for trannie Hayley, played with all its toffee-chewing Lancashire burr by Lucy Thackeray who also makes for a thoroughly convincing strutting slut as Elsie Tanner.

Daniel Crowder’s philandering and ultimately doomed Brian Tilsley somehow morphs into Fred Elliott (I said Fred Elliott) and then there’s the male hoot of the whole show, Simon Chadwick, who makes Ken Barlow seem even more useless than he is in real life.

It is real life, isn’t it?

The writer of this wonderful tribute to Tony Warren’s unique creation has created a part pantomime, part Shakespearean masterpiece. For there is undoubtedly a basic truth that runs like a lifeblood through this perennial show - and that is most surely the secret of its eternal success.

Corrie! runs until Saturday, July 2.