Coronation Street: Discussion Thread

[Bright Eyes]

I like both Alya and Zeedan. However, like Luke and Steph, they could work without their useless elder family members.

[BetterForgotten]

Probably the last time Corrie was amazingly good. Karen is a character we probably should have never cared about, but Suranne Jones was amazing and had great writing for most of her run. She was probably one of the last characters they really invested in as well (at least organically).

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It's a bit of a depressing exit, but haunting and compulsively watchable in the way it was directed and played by Suranne.

I know Suranne has had an active career since leaving Corrie, but I wonder if we'll ever see Karen again. In a way, I hope she never returns as I think Steve sucks the life out of everything he touches, and her exit was such a raw and heart-piercing exit. I am happy to remember her this way.

I also think Suranne/Karen left at her peak in popularity, which rarely ever happens anymore.

Edited March 21, 2015 by BetterForgotten

[TimWil]

I don't think Kal will be missed and neither would his father and mother if they got written off right behind him. I like his two kids, they both have potential. The girl who plays Aiya is cute and likeable and the guy who plays Zeedan seems to have range as an actor. And, more importantly, he brings a degree of sex appeal. I don't know who he could be paired with, though.

I agree about Suranne Jones. She was fantastic. I doubt we'll ever see Karen back on the show, though, I think Jones' career has progressed too far already, like Sarah Lancashire's has.

Edited March 23, 2015 by TimWil

[Soaplovers]

No to sally/kevin reuniting. One of.things that hurt US soaps are when couples make up.and break up. I like that they get along with one another for the most part. They seem better divorced.then when married. Sally has a strong relationship with someone...now the show needs to find a strong relationship for Kevin. Its a shame that brief flirtation with the sofa owner went no where.

Lose kal and his parents..keep the two teen characters. The adult members of that family could still.be living on the street only never seen..mentioned but not seen.

[DRW50]

Kal is going.

It doesn't just hurt US soaps - it hurt Ken and Deirdre quite a bit. I liked Kevin and Sally more than Ken and Deirdre as a couple, but I agree that they shouldn't reunite.

[Soaplovers]

Didn't Ken and Deirdre spend a decade apart before reuniting?

If a former couple reunites, it should be organic and natural.. not cause the writers have nothing better to write.

[DRW50]

Yes.

Not long enough, sadly.

[Bright Eyes]

I read on DS awhile back (I don't go to the forums anymore) that at one point Ken and Deirdre admitted they didn't love each other anymore and only married for companionship. It sounded quite interesting, but apparently the show dropped the ball on it or something.

[TimWil]

Yes, that's true. And in the two hander with Tracy some years bsck Deirdre declared that the love of her life was Samir, which I believe to be true.

At least Jonathan Harvey, who wrote that episode, will no doubt write The Death of Deirdre episodes. Maybe he'll have Emily say quietly "Well, she's with Samir now."

Edited March 25, 2015 by TimWil

[BetterForgotten]

Which is funny as Anne wasn't a fan of the Samir storyline (she was also battling her first battle with cancer for much of that storyline as well).

I know Brian Park has a controversial reputation as he set about with changing the show when he took over as Series Producer in 1997 (and the show in some cases has never been the same after him), but I thought he really loved Deirdre and she was probably last at her best in the late 90's.

mrmagister1 has much of the Jon Lindsay storyline up. It's almost 17 years since this iconic moment/story:

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[DRW50]

I think Samir was something of a fantasy for Deirdre, in that he died before the relationship could further decay or he would sour toward her, but she had so little happiness in her life I can understand why she clung to him.

I was watching this old bit, yet another variation of the "let's laugh at sad middle-aged women" trope that odious Collinson loved to roll around in, but I always think this type of thing fit Deirdre better than Gail. Mostly because that fun girl in Deirdre had to be suppressed very early on, so as she got older and she stopped caring so much about what she was "supposed" to be, she had a bit more fun. It never felt as forced as some of the Gail "comedy" sometimes does (speaking of Gail - nothing against Helen Worth but I think the fact that Gail continues to get major storyline sort of tells you just how bare the cupboard is with viable female characters on Corrie these days).

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[BetterForgotten]

Who do you think was their last viable female character?

Corrie used to be known for their diverse and popular female characters, but I can't remember the last time they got one right. Maybe Becky in the beginning before that deteriorated to hell (though they did give her a great exit, probably the best Corrie's done in in the past couple of years)?

Probably a great reason why I mentioned above that I'm glad we'll never see Karen again (probably the most successful female character they created in the 00's). I think a character like that would be trashed on today's Corrie and not allowed to develop organically.

Edited March 25, 2015 by BetterForgotten

[DRW50]

I'm sure many would say Tina, but I grew to despise Tina somewhere around the time she was with Jason, so I'm not going to say her.

Something that the show does not understand is that just because THEY think a female character is a "legend" does not mean the character should be treated as much within the show's universe. Tina acted like the queen of the cobbles, and everyone around her put up with her abuse and her vileness and even her physically assaulting them, just because she was Tina. The same is true for Michelle, a horrid, horrid woman who would get her teeth knocked out in real life.

I think the last viable major female character was Carla, or Becky, although I think Becky's stories from the time she got with Steve were unwatchable.

Edited March 25, 2015 by DRW50

[NothinButAttitude]

I agree about Carla being Corrie's last viable female character. She's endearing to me because she is the show's current tragic heroine. She's the only character I care to root for when I do watch, which is rarely in the past few years.

Like Tina and Michelle, I've never gotten the hype behind Becky. I always found her to be annoying and I hated her pairing with Steve. Her craving for children became sickening, much like how female characters here in the US are.

But in all seriousness, Corrie needs a revamp. Out of all the soaps I watch/keep up with, they need to kill about 90% of the cast. There is so much deadweight on this show.

[DRW50]

I liked Becky when she was there for Roy and Hayley and she was dating Jason. I think the decision to make her a huge central character did her no favors, and the Tracy stories were just pure [!@#$%^&*]. Collinson was a hack.