Coronation Street: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Wasn't this story loathed by fans? I wish I could remember all the reasons why. DS doesn't have a lot of talk about Corrie's past anymore, it's mostly just cheerleading or talk of the present. I know this and Alma's death both drove away viewers and were panned.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It was very unpopular, this period in particular is seen as one of the show's most ridiculed and detested eras.

2001 was a peak year for EastEnders though, so Corrie tried to compete with that and failed a lot of the time during the 1998-2002 years. Much like how everything EastEnders did from 2003-2006 was panned by the press, while Corrie was on the up and up.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

You saw that start again last year with the hype about how fantastic Corrie was and how Eastenders couldn't compare. Corrie then went on to effectively collapse, so the press and most of the fans can't really do the comparison now, as both are seen as very uneven (I read that some of the press that normally support Corrie have trashed some of their recent stories).

That was also when they gave Sarah Louise so many "issue" stories one after the other. There was a rumor that they wanted her to have a sexual abuse story with Martin, which the actor refused to play.

[BadBoy93]

Can someone please give me an update on what's been happening since The Tram Crash ? I havent tuned into Corrie that much so i am kind of lost on what's happening.

CarlD2, i know your the ideal person to help me out as you did last time.

Thanks.

I watched Corrie last night and it seems ok but has lost steam since 50th Celebrations.

[DRW50]

Tracy Barlow returned and her entire case was thrown out because of a technicality. After being even more of a bitch than usual and sleeping with David and Nick for no real reason, she was hit over the head. Claire did this because Tracy insulted Ashley. Claire's friends helped her flee the country with her sons.

Becky's sister Kylie returned and has married David for a money scheme.

Maria went to work for Carla after she quit the salon due to David being nasty to her and Audrey not taking her side. Carla encouraged her to tart up for a client, Frank. He was very aggressive with her and Maria felt this was attempted rape, but Carla convinced her to keep quiet. Frank made trouble for Maria, and when Carla decided to leave her in charge, Maria ruined the business. After some weeks, Maria did press charges, but it was too late. Carla took Frank's side and forced Maria out of Underworld. Maria's boyfriend, the thuglike Chris who beat his last girlfriend Cheryl, beat Frank.

Nick and Leanne had sex again after Peter's accident. Leanne then dropped him, but Tracy found out, and told Peter. He had a hissy fit on their blessing day and whacked Nick with his brace, but forgave her in about a day and they went on a honeymoon with Simon. Leanne is now competing with Cheryl over their sons.

Tracy knows that Becky bought Max from Kylie. She is trying to win Steve back. Amy lives with her now because she forced them to give Amy up or she would tell about Max. Becky looted from Dev's store to pay Kylie, so when Dev found out about this, he hit the roof. So did Liz, briefly back from Spain. With pressure from all sides, Becky and Steve planned to run away with the kids, until Jim returned and robbed a bank in a failed attempt to buy the Rovers for Liz. Jim went to prison. Liz fucked off back to Spain, for good this time.

Kevin won money in a lottery. After much shaming and abuse from Sally, he gave her all the money. She still hates him. So does Tyrone. Tyrone and his new friend Tommy Duckworth delight in tormenting him all the time. Sally is now happy with Jeff, who lied to her about his real name and who shoots porn and before he knew who Sally was, tried to get Rosie to get a boob job. Sally doesn't care, and told the girls to accept Jeff or else. Sophie, feeling like no one, girlfriend or family, wanted her, got drunk and fell off a roof. She recovered in about five minutes.

Stape killed Colin Fishwick's mother to keep his secret. He had a nervous breakdown. While he was in treatment, Fiz pretended to be Colin's wife to get money to keep the family going. John is back and is still having a nervous breakdown. Chesney and Katy are living together and she's pregnant.

Eddie and Anna took in a foster child named Faye, but once she started acting up, Eddie suddenly became so repulsed that he took a job in Germany and abandoned his family for good. Gary had PSTD for about a month but then magically recovered.

Eileen, in one of the typical Eileen stories that has no purpose, was arrested for embezzling money from Owen to help pay for roof repairs.

Roy's mother Sylvia arrived, and couldn't be a bigger Blanche ripoff if she wore Mr. Magoo glasses.

Sean got back in contact with Violet and thought he was going to see their son, Dylan. They forgot he was coming. Violet and Jaime split up over her whoring around. Just in case the show did not completely destroy Violet, she then basically said she did not want her son around Sean because she didn't want her son to be a big fat flaming poof. Sean returned home, pouting, but his ex Marcus, who is suddenly in love with Sean again in spite of the awful way Sean treated him, is back.

Todd returned for one episode and is suddenly a complete self-loathing wimp who is ashamed of his family and only grudgingly accepted them because his posh boyfriend ordered him to do so.

Tina forced Graeme to marry her longtime friend Xin, who was going to be deported if she didn't have a husband. Tina is now upset over this and she and Graeme fight all the time. This story is so thrilling that Michelle Keegan trashed it in the press.

After losing her job at Underworld for the 4584534893 time, Janice left for a life of traveling with her old binman/lodger/crush, Trevor.

Claudia's boyfriend is a drag queen and Audrey knows it.

Edited April 30, 2011 by CarlD2

[Ben]

This wasn't exactly what happened, Carl. No-one smashed any plate in anger. The immigration guy was anti-royals, and felt he couldn't support the royal wedding, especially on the day that he was interviewing Graeme & Xin about their visa marriage, b/c the royals themselves are made up of a mixture of ethnicities. It was meant to be ironic and show the hypocrisy of the establishment and the countries laws on visa marriages.

Graeme smashed a plate of Wills & Kate, after going all patriotic, when he realized that the immigration guy was anti-monarchy, and this gesture got him onside. It wasn't in anger, but more Graeme blagging his way through the interview. It seemed to work, as he ended up helping Xin with some of her answers.

Mary was against the wedding b/c she's of the view that royalty should only marry someone of equal stature. This is a fairly common opinion in RL.

I didn't have any problem with any of this, as it created a nice balance to all the other soaps (EE/ED/Neighbours) and represented a broader view that doesn't get heard, but I do feel that maybe, the anti-establishment was an agenda from the writers, as there was no bunting or flags, or any wedding fever from any of the characters that you'd assume would celebrate/comment on it. Instead, they shoved up 2 posters in the Rovers that looked tacky and unimpressive.

[DRW50]

Keep Betty Driver in your thoughts. She was rushed to hospital with pneuomnia

[All My Shadows]

I didn't realize Dennis has been back for two weeks now. So, according to Wikipedia, he's homeless because Elsie and her husband died a few years ago? WTF?

[DRW50]

I haven't watched much lately. I hope they aren't ruining Dennis.

Just when I am tempted to start again I read garbage like

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Five people are being axed:

http://www.people.co.uk/celebs-tv/soaps/2011/05/29/five-to-be-axed-in-coronation-street-cull-102039-23163971/

[DRW50]

I don't know how much of that to believe, although I think most of the cuts are believable. I do have to laugh at the "Cullinson" stuff again - if anything Collinson has not fired ENOUGH people. The show is a stunt-laden, bitter wasteland.

I also had to laugh at the idea of new characters somehow making the place better. Not with Collinson. I've never seen so many lifeless and worthless new characters created by one producer. Actor after actor is hyped and then flops.

After the fans at DS who love PC's Corrie have hyped and hyped Chris Gray, who comes across like a reject from Deliverance, I wonder how they will react to this. And what a lovely ending for the characters, if this is true - a woman who was beaten goes back to her abuser. That is typical of the show's current view of women.

I really hope this is BS, or a foiler, or whatever, because let's just say that Amber was NOT a character who would be believable in some grand passion storyline. Neither is Sophie.

[Ben]

Oh, please tell me that is one big fat joke?! I actually like James, and think he could be a decent character; it's also nice to see Ken relate to a member of his family, as usually he's always being put down by Deirdre or Tracey or the deceased Blanche. If they do as you report, that will be one big character assassination.

I liked Amber, and was sad when they fired her, so her returning will be good. I also think it's realistic that she would have sexually experimented while at Uni, just not so sure about her falling for Sophie. Hopefully the father-daughter banter that Dev and Amber shared will still be there. I'd also like to see them explore any issues that may be lingering between Sunita and Amber, considering she represents Dev's many love children and his years of deception. Just thought, Amber is probably only returning for the summer, and probably won't be long term, unless she transfers from London to Manchester.

All those characters are minor, so Cheryl, Russ and Chris won't be missed. Lloyd is a surprise, but then the actor is taking time out to film more Red Dwarf, so maybe the report has that confused? I've never felt Sophie & Sian were end game, as their relationship has really been about them coming to terms with who they are, but never being that attached to each other for the long term (more so Sian). They could do with getting rid of a few more, like Kirk, Fiz, Julie, Sean...

[DRW50]

It's in The Sun.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/soaps/3603613/Ken-left-for-dead-by-his-own-grandson.html

I think it's a big waste of potential, not because I just loved the James character, because he was not that developed, but because there's no real reason to trash characters this way, especially when it's only for a few minutes of shock and then they are never mentioned again. Remember what they did with Paul Duckworth a few years ago?

I liked Amber, and would like to see her back again for some of what you mention. I just don't buy that she would be with Sophie or that Sophie would somehow turn her into a lesbian. It seems very random to me. The only enjoyment for me would be if she sat around making one-liners about Rosie/Kevin/Sally.

[DRW50]

I guess Corrie isn't done turning Violet into an adulterous, abusive homophobe. Can't wait.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a322752/coronation-street-actress-jenny-platt-to-return.html

[Ben]

I've hardly watched Corrie this week, mainly due to the show clashing with other shows I normally watch (The Good Wife, The Mentalist, 90210...), but with so many options to catch up, I haven't felt interested enough. Anyway, I did watch Friday's as it was finally the climax to the accidental killer story (thank God!), but how unbelievable was that ending? John falls from a roof, hits his head, has large amounts of blood pouring out, and in the time it takes for the police to get to the ground, John gets up and walks away without a trace. WTF?! Forgetting for a moment that a fall like that should have killed him (or at least rendered him incapable of walking off without anyone seeing him), he should have left a trail of blood with an injury like that. No way would he not be dripping blood. What a stupid ending. I bet he'll be back by the end of the year.

And Becky smashes up the Barlows and no one calls the cops. Again, WTF?!