Coro St Goes HD Ahead of EastEnders

Carla (Alison King) quizzes Jed (Kenneth Cope) in Tuesday's Coronation Street (TV One, 7.30pm).

This week Coronation Street will screen in HD in the United Kingdom for the first time.

But because of the lag between UK and NZ broadcasts, don’t expect to see it here in HD until at least this time next next year. (For a sneak peek of the new opening credits, visit YouTube.)

TV One’s decision to add a third weekly instalment was rewarded last week with higher ratings for the 7.30-8.30pm Friday slot and will lessen the network’s embarrassment of celebrating the soap’s 50th anniversary while still being a year behind.

Meanwhile, rival BBC soap, UKTV’s EastEnders, will go HD in 2011, which The Times reports has forced the building of new sets because “the effects of cut-price renovation jobs are all too clearly visible on HD. A source said: ‘You can see every crack, chipboard flake and Blu-Tack solution. HD also shows that the set isn’t built of real brick.’”