SIR – Let me say I have great sympathy for the families and friends of all those who died last week in the Cumbria tragedy.

However, I do not think Coronation Street (pictured) should have been cancelled. The viewing public knows it is fiction. The TV has an ‘on-off’ switch.

The programme was scheduled for broadcasting after the watershed time because of the content of the storylines.

Those who do not like the sight of blood, broken bones and surgery do not watch Casualty and Holby City. Those who are interested in so-called street life – exaggerated, overacted, made fun of or simply not real – watch Coronation Street or similar.

Were libraries closed so that the public did not borrow books about violence and crime? No. Did cinemas stop showing violent films? Maybe, but I don't think so.

Why, then, were TV viewers not allowed the same choices?

We are being presented daily with facts and opinions on the Cumbrian story; we might be allowed to catch up with the fictional Corrie, but will we have to wait until after 9pm?

Miss D Cook, Azealea Court, Bradford