Coronation Street live sees death and marriage

Warning: This story contains spoilers

Villain Callum, played by Sean Ward, brought the biggest drama to the show

A special live edition of Coronation Street contained a marriage proposal from one fan to his girlfriend.

Before the broadcast, producers had asked viewers to suggest a message to be written on the blackboard at The Rovers Return pub.

A fan called Adam won the contest by tweeting his proposal message: "Katie Lowe will you marry me?"

He later tweeted to say Ms Lowe had accepted. "I'm officially engaged," he said. "What a night!!"

Coronation Street's latest live episode was broadcast to mark 60 years of ITV.

The plot revolved around the Platt family, who have been terrorised by small-time drug dealer Callum, while Roy celebrated his 60th birthday and Lloyd and Andrea threw a leaving do in the Rover's Return.

According to overnight figures, the episode was watched by an average 8.369 million viewers, giving the channel a 38% share of the audience.

BBC One's Great British Bake Off was in direct competition, pulling in 8.366 million viewers - 1.6 million down on last week - which equated to a 35% share of the audience.

The soap previously screened a live episode in 2010 to mark the show's 50th. Then, the storyline revolved around a dramatic crash when a tram careered off the line running at the end of the street, causing death and devastation.

That episode attracted more than 14 million viewers.

There were no big mistakes during last night's 30-minute broadcast other than slight sound problems and camera wobbles.

Here's what the critics had to say:

• "Apart from a fluffed line from Carla (Alison King) and a noisy flight into Manchester airport, it went swimmingly." - Veronica Lee, The i newspaper.

• "Far and away, the strongest strand was Roy and Cathy taking their awkward, grief-stricken love story to its next level." - Dan Martin, The Guardian.

• "The acting was excellent. So much so that you forgot it was live. My only problem is that Callum carking it cribs from two memorable soap storylines from years gone by." - David Brown, Radio Times.

• "The performances were wooden at times and some of the segues between scenes stilted, especially from the less experienced actors, but the cast's stronger members compensated ably and the whole episode was well-choreographed." - Michael Hogan, The Telegraph.

The big drama on the night involved the departure of two of the show's characters.

The first was the most showstopping as drug-dealer villain Callum Logan was killed with a wrench by ex-girlfriend Kylie Platt.

Lloyd Mullaney, played by Craig Charles, left the show after a decade

Sean Ward, who played Callum, said he was "gutted" to be leaving the show.

"It's been phenomenal playing Callum," he added.

The other exit was that of the character Lloyd Mullaney, played by Craig Charles.

He was seen driving away with his partner Andrea Beckett, played by Hayley Tamaddon, to start a new life.

Former Red Dwarf star Charles had been a fixture on the soap for 10 years.