When you get Elsie Tanner, Hilda Ogden, Ena Sharples and Bet Lynch all sharing a stage, it’s not long before the hairnets and slingbacks start to fly.

Breathing new life into these iconic Coronation Street women has been a labour of love for Jonathan Harvey, a scriptwriter on the soap.

Jonathan has written a new stage show, Corrie! – a funny, affectionate tribute to Britain’s longest-running soap, which rolls into Bradford this spring.

The show follows two of Weatherfield’s finest families, the Barlows and Platts, and features much-loved storylines, with a cast of six playing more than 50 characters.

Scenes include the Ken, Deirdre and Mike Baldwin love triangle, dastardly Alan Bradley’s demise beneath a Blackpool tram, and serial killer Richard Hillman’s dark deeds.

Roy Barraclough, who played Rovers landlord Alec Gilroy, is the show’s narrator in Bradford.

Choosing which storylines and characters to include was quite a task for Liverpool-born Jonathan.

“I worked with an archivist and we looked at the top five storylines from each year of Coronation Street. Ken, Deirdre and Gail popped up a lot, so I shaped the play around them.

“Then I started looking at more comedic characters, like Hilda and Raquel, and brought in some of their stories,” says Jonathan.

“I wasn’t sure if I was being a bit self-indulgent, so I was relieved when at the premiere everyone seemed to be chuckling all the way through.

“Now we get audiences coming along dressed as Corrie characters – lots of blonde beehives, leopard print coats and curlers!”

The play opens with Blanche Hunt arriving at the Pearly Gates, waiting to take her place among the other Corrie battleaxes in that Rover’s Return snug in the sky.

“St Peter isn’t sure whether to let her in, so she tells him about her life on the Street. That leads into the action,” says Jonathan, 43.

“It’s essentially a comedy, but I’ve been careful to strike the balance between gentle mockery and respect for the show. I wanted the dramatic scenes to have the same impact they had when people watched them on TV.”

Is the show an in-joke for fans, or can audiences not so familiar with Weatherfield enjoy it too?

“A friend of mine who has never watched a single episode of Coronation Street went to see it and thought it was great as a stand-alone comedy. She was surprised at how familiar it felt,” says Jonathan. “Coronation Street is part of our social history. It seeps into the public consciousness.”

A former teacher, Jonathan’s writing credits include 1996 film Beautiful Thing and BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme.

He has been involved with some of Coronation Street’s biggest storylines since joining its writing team eight years ago. He wrote the Tracy Barlow prison storyline and created the character of Tony Gordon, sly businessman-turned deranged murderer.

“He started off as an inappropriate boyfriend for Carla and he just evolved. Characters develop organically,” says Jonathan. “We don’t each write for specific characters, but we have our favourites. I like writing for Mary, Sean and Tracy.

“The writers all meet up every three weeks and we’re expected to turn up with fistfuls of stories. When I started out, it was pretty daunting. Everyone chips in, and by the time a story gets to the script stage, there’s a sense of ownership among us all.”

Sometimes real-life events lead to last-minute changes. “When Madeleine McCann went missing, we had to scrap a story involving Ashley and Claire Peacock’s baby being abducted,” says Jonathan.

“It was a major storyline due to run for months, but it would have been so wrong for us to go ahead with it. It would’ve looked to the public like we’d just done it because of what was in the news, whereas we’d actually been working on it months beforehand.” So what are his favourite Corrie storylines? “There are loads, but I particularly liked Mike and Deirdre’s affair, and Carmel’s obsession with Martin Platt.”

A highlight was working on the 50th anniversary live episode last December.

“We knew we had to do something big and we started planning the tram crash about nine months before,” says Jonathan. “It was really exciting. Seeing it all come together made me very proud of being involved with this show.

“I used to think Coronation Street existed in its own little bubble, and to a certain extent that’s what people want – real life with the sound turned up.

“But it has reflected changes in society over the years, and as writers, we keep having to come up with ways of keeping the show and its characters fresh.”

Corrie! runs at the Bradford Alhambra from May 24 to 28. For tickets, ring (01274) 432000.