COULD FICTIONAL DISASTER TURN INTO A REAL ONE?

Security has been boosted in Manchester, England at the ITV studios

where the soap opera Coronation Street — a veritable institution in the U.K. — is produced for a live broadcast marking the show’s 50th anniversary. In the current story line, the fictional city of Weatherfield has been hit by an explosion and tram disaster. According to the London Sun, Manchester police are taking seriously tips that terrorists might attempt to turn the telecast into “a real-life tragedy” while more than half the country watch the live episode. A source on the show told the newspaper, “Al-Qaeda are desperate to pull off a ‘spectacular’ in Britain. The police clearly are acting on fears that a strike on the Corrie [Coronation Street] studios is a very real possibility.”

UPDATE: The show was broadcast without incident. The London Daily Mail said that the cast delivered “a flawless performance.”