Corrie crowned ITV's best show

Coronation Street has been crowned ITV’s greatest show of all time – with Ant and Dec not far behind.

The soap favourite was a dead cert to top the poll marking the channel’s 50th anniversary.

But in a surprise result, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway came second, ahead of such classic shows as The Sweeney and Inspector Morse.

The duo had a hat-trick of shows in the top 10 – I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! At number six and Pop Idol at number nine.

More than 500,000 viewers voted for their favourites and the results were broadcast tonight in ITV’s 50 Greatest Shows, hosted by Cat Deeley and Phillip Schofield.

Coronation Street’s Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, paid tribute to the show.

“It’s amazing really, it’s been going for 44 years and it is still top,” he said. “Let’s hope we stay at number one for many years to come.”

Michael Parkinson also hailed Corrie, saying: “I think life without Coronation Street would be unthinkable. It’s part of all our lives.”

David Jason detective drama A Touch Of Frost was third, followed by Inspector Morse, while Emmerdale was voted fifth.

The Bill was at number seven, ahead of 70s favourite The Muppet Show.

Satirical show Spitting Image just made it into the top 10.

Dramas in the top 50 included Prime Suspect, Cracker, Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel In The Crown and Cold Feet.

Footballers’ Wives is there, as are This Morning and Blind Date.

There are classics such as The Avengers and The Prisoner; serious current affairs programmes World In Action, The World At War and Death On The Rock; comedy favourites The Benny Hill Show and Rising Damp; and entertainment shows Ready, Steady, Go! And Opportunity Knocks.

ITV’s 50 Greatest Shows:

1 Coronation Street

2 Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway

3 A Touch of Frost

4 Inspector Morse

5 Emmerdale

6 I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

7 The Bill

8 The Muppet Show

9 Pop Idol

10 Spitting Image

11 Cold Feet

12 Cracker

13 This Morning

14 Footballers’ Wives

15 Minder

16 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

17 The Avengers

18 Prime Suspect

19 The Sweeney

20 Tiswas

21 Rising Damp

22 Stars In Their Eyes

23 Upstairs Downstairs

24 Hillsborough

25 The Kenny Everett Show

26 An Audience With…

27 The Darling Buds of May

28 The World At War

29 The Naked Civil Servant

30 The Prisoner

31 7 Up

32 World In Action

33 The Benny Hill Show

34 Brideshead Revisited

35 Blind Date

36 Jimmys

37 Sunday Night at the Palladium

38 Heartbeat

39 Survival

40 Death On The Rock

41 Ready, Steady, Go!

42 The South Bank Show

43 This Is Your Life

44 Candid Camera

45 Tonight With Trevor McDonald

46 The Jewel In The Crown

47 Whicker’s World

48 Opportunity Knocks

49 It’ll Be Alright On The Night

50 Family Fortunes