Archie Shuttleworth will soon make his presence felt in Coronation Street. He is an undertaker, an appropriate figure to arrive in Weatherfield as the long-running ITV soap embarks on a much-publicised cull of cast members.

He'll come in handy to pick up the pieces as executive producer Carolyn Reynolds, back at the helm of the Granada show, takes on the role dubbed "mad axewoman" by the tabloids. She'll be attempting to restore the Street to its position as the nation's number one soap.

The show's poor showing with viewers and critics over the past year has been exaggerated by the spectacular success of arch-rival EastEnders. The BBC1 soap has collected the lion's share of soap awards and hooked viewers with a series of sensational storylines, including the Who Shot Phil Mitchell? saga and the Slater family's antics.

The secret weapon that Reynolds and producer Kieran Roberts, newly arrived from Emmerdale, have unveiled is a brassy blonde with a penchant for big ear-rings and a cigarette holder - the soap legend who goes by the name of Julie Goodyear, alias former Rovers Return landlady Bet Gilroy.

Can Bet save the Street? Well, the publicity won't do anyone any harm. The other week I glanced along the shelves of the newsagents to see EastEnders faces on the cover of every TV listings magazine. The Street didn't get a look in, an indication that recent stories haven't been perceived as having much viewer appeal.

The will she, won't she, return story about Goodyear, who was in the Street for 25 years, has been running for several months while she and Granada engaged in protracted negotiations about pay.

She wanted more than they were prepared to offer at first. This was obvious when I interviewed her in advance of her arrival in York later this month to appear in the musical La Cage Aux Folles at the Grand Opera House.

Stories had already appeared in print - and been denied - that Bet was set to return to Weatherfield. When asked if she was going back, the actress referred me to the Street press officer and added, "Would you ring me back to tell me what they said, but don't tell them you're going to tell me?"

Granada's official line was that if they could find the right storyline, Bet might be back. "Does it sound likely that they can't come up with a story line?" Goodyear said when I reported back to her.

But she still refused to say if she wanted to return. Clearly, financial negotiations were at a tricky stage with both sides using publicity to score points.

Now it has been confirmed that Bet will walk along that famous cobbled street in the summer, although no one is saying how the character will be brought back. She's expected to stay at least a year. The initial ratings surge will be huge, but much will depend on the exact role Bet has in the faster, racier, younger Street. In all likelihood, they haven't worked out yet exactly how her re-appearance will be explained.

News of her return after a six-year break, apart from a short spin-off series, coincided with the Street team holding a long-term planning conference away from prying ears and eyes in a secret Cheshire hotel.

Even before that, three actors were given their marching orders - Dr Matt and his wife, and Vic's girlfriend Bobbi. Other rumours claim that as many as a dozen more characters are facing the chop.

The result will be a return to the Street's roots, with more comedy and fewer far-fetched plots, more warm Northern humour and fewer controversial storylines, like Toyah's rape.

Producer Kieran Roberts claimed in a recent TV Times interview that the mood of soap viewers had changed since last year's terrorist attacks in America. People wanted more comedy now, he said. "We've brought back some classic writers to concentrate on traditional Corrie value - a sense of community, family, fun and warmth."

Blaming Corrie's woes on the Twin Towers tragedy seems rather extreme. The soap had problems before then, having trouble coming to terms with viewers' appetite for the more sensational storylines pioneered by EastEnders and Brookside.

Reynolds, who has been both producer and executive producer of the series in the past, is right to say the Street has been in this position before. All soaps have ups and downs. It's the natural way of things. The fact that the Albert Square series is on a high has emphasised the poverty of too many of the Street's characters and stories.

Street viewers, she says, will begin to notice the shift in emphasis - a return to strong dialogue, strong characters and character humour - by the spring and early summer.

As well as Bet, other old favourites could return. Reg Holdsworth has been mentioned. So has Bet's other half Alec Gilroy although, when I interviewed him 18 months ago, actor Roy Barraclough doubted he would ever come back, although Goodyear's return might be enough to convince him otherwise.

One person we won't see again is Thelma Barlow, who played dithering Mavis Wilton. The Middlesbrough-born actress has told producers she doesn't want to rejoin the soap. Another Street legend, Jean Alexander, alias Hilda Ogden, feels the same, even complaining that lack of humour and too much bed-hopping is alienating viewers.

Jacqueline Chadwick has sent writers in a spin by announcing she's not coming back from maternity leave, leaving them to explain the mystery of Mike Baldwin's missing wife Linda.

One confirmed new face is Roy Hudd, best known as a comedian for BBC Radio 2's The News Huddlines but who's taken straight roles in series like Dennis Potter's Lipstick On Your Collar. He plays aforementioned undertaker Archie, drafted in as a romantic interest for Deirdre's dreadful mother Blanche.

It will be interesting to see if East- Enders producers come up with something special to counteract the Street's initiative. They've already cheekily invaded Granada's territory. A special, to be screened at Easter, sees Albert Square's Ricky and Bianca Butcher reunited - not in the East End but in Manchester, the home of the Street.