left-wing leanings, Granada began broadcasting from Manchester in May 1956, proudly proclaiming its origins with the slogan 'From the North' and labelling its new constituency 'Granadaland'. The first night's programming opened, at Bernstein's insistence, a homage to the BBC, whose public broadcasting pedigree he had always admired, and closed with a public-spirited statement of advertising policy which suggested an ambivalence about the commercial imperative to maximise profits. As early as January 1957, Granada was responsible for the top ten programmes, by ratings, available in its region. Bernstein's company soon came to be regarded as one of the most progressive of the independent television contractors. One famous series Bernstein was not enthusiastic about was the drama serial Coronation Street. Bernstein's brother Cecil felt the same way about it; upon hearing the proposal for what was then to be known as Florizel Street, Sidney stated that scriptwriter Tony Warren had "pick[ed] up all the boring bits and strung them together one after another". Nevertheless, Coronation Street was approved and soon become a popular programme. Granada also garnered a reputation for producing high-profile current affairs and documentary programmes, such as World in Action, Disappearing World and What the Papers Say, all of which lent Granada prestige and aligned it, unmistakably, with the ideals of its founder. Later life On 3 July 1969 he was created a life peer as Baron Bernstein, of Leigh in the County of Kent. In the 1970s, Lord Bernstein finally relinquished stewardship of the television company and moved over to the business side of the Granada plc. He retired in 1979 and became chairman of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. He was named a Fellow of the British Film Institute and received the International Emmy Directorate Award in 1984. He died in 1993, aged 94. Bernstein was portrayed by Steven Berkoff in the 2010 BBC one-off drama The Road to Coronation Street, about the creation of the soap opera. Personal life Sidney Bernstein's first marriage, in November 1936, ended ten years later in an amicable divorce, with his first wife, Zoe Farmer, eventually marrying Robin Barry, the son of his close friend, Iris Barry, the lifelong film curator of the Museum of Modern Art and one of the founders, along with Sidney, of the London Film Society. Bernstein remarried in 1954, to Canadian-born Sandra Alexandra Malone, with whom he had two children, a son, David, and a daughter Jane