Bill Podmore

Who was Bill Podmore?

Edgar William "Bill" Podmore was a British television producer. Born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, he was best known for his long association with the soap opera Coronation Street, a series he produced for twelve years. This period is now widely regarded as a "golden era" in the programme's history.

Initially a Royal Air Force pilot, he became a TV cameraman for the BBC, shortly after with Granada Television and later, a director. When, as a relatively young man, he was called upon to direct an episode of Coronation Street, Violet Carson with a massive twinkle in her eye, drew herself up to her full height and confronted him - "Hello Bill, welcome...my train leaves at 5.30 p.m.!"

Bill was asked to take over as producer of "the Street" in 1976. Initially he turned the offer down flat. As former Street writer John Stevenson recalled recently in a BBC Radio 2 documentary, "Coronation Street was on a downward slope at the time. Stevenson stated that no-one wanted to work on it, the quality of the scripts had dropped, the storylines were poor and it was becoming something of a joke within the TV industry to have to work on it".