Coronation Street: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Not at all. They can be very emotional and effective, especially when a soap cares, as Corrie usually does. Some of their most moving were in their earliest days, like Martha Longhurst. And I'll never forget when poor loveable Jerry Booth died, and his best friend Len was sitting at the bar, quietly, telling Betty it was so difficult. Betty just said that's what life is about, you just get through (her own husband had died only a year earlier). He just nodded, finished his drink, and walked out.

[YRBB]

No way! You like Screechy?

[DRW50]

Claire I could take or leave, but I really like Ashley. I think Steven Arnold is an underrated dramatic actor (he was wonderful when Fred died), and he has a lot of chemistry with characters like Peter and Graeme. It's also nice to see a normal character on a soap. When I think of dead weight I think of Michelle, Sean, or Nick.

[YRBB]

Kind of how I feel about it as well... I am happy Claire's leaving but Ashley I wish would have stayed. But, I guess there was just no chance they wouldn't write Ashley off with Screechy.

[DRW50]

I don't know if we ever saw her immediate reaction, I'm not sure.

Len was such a big character for such a long time, probably the strongest male character the show ever had. His relationship with Elsie was often raw and powerful, especially in the 60s. It sucks that the backstage conflict between the producers and Peter Adamson led to not only a fairly weak exit for Len, but also character trashing (after Len died they revealed that he'd been seeing another woman for some time).

1983-1984 were such huge years of change for the show, it's almost a bit impossible to conceive now.

[Bright Eyes]

Well if you feel that way. Watch this great montage for Home and Away Deaths!

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[Ben]

Why does it feel like these departures are in the wrong order? The deadwood are still hanging around, while characters with potential are being fired before them - Natasha has potential, and the Peacocks were good supporting players, that were never used to their full advantage. I can understand letting Ashley & Claire go, but to me, they wouldn't be #1. When you look at the show, there are several that are pointless - Sean, Kirk, Michelle, Ryan...

[BadBoy93]

I am glad that she is gone. She did nothing on Corrie. She was barely on too. Good to look at but had no storys.

[DRW50]

One of the reasons I liked Natasha is because she wasn't a big player. She was a fun, entertaining supporting character. She often made me laugh or smile. And now apparently she's leaving in some miserable way.

As Ben mentioned, why are these fun supporting players going while the deadwood continues to stay??

[BadBoy93]

true true but usually those supporting characters would be able to develop into main characters like Tina did. They didn`t do this with Natasha and its a shame because she has the potential to go so far on the show.

[DRW50]

They seem to have given up on this for whatever reason. There were a ton of interesting female characters last yet they didn't do anything with, like Poppy, Minnie, Amber.

[DRW50]

This explains why Sally has been offcamera for months. How brave of Sally Whittaker. She learned she had breast cancer around the same time she was to be filming scenes where Sally Webster learned the same. At least she seems to be recovering, so I wish her the best

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/801503/Coronation-Streets-Sally-Whittaker-in-real-cancer-agony.html

[BadBoy93]

That explains why her acting was great at Xmas lol

Best of luck to her

[All My Shadows]

Sad news about Sally Hope she's feeling well and able to get back to work. I didn't realize how much I would miss her!

Last week's episodes:

~ Norris CRACKS ME UP. I don't know why, I don't know how, but M. Hebden is one of the funniest people I've ever watched on any TV show, and that's including comedy shows. He's hilarious, and I'm loving all of this Norris/Mary stuff. They really are echoing "Misery" big time with this story, especially with how much I instantly felt sorry for Mary when she made breakfast for Norris and was obviously hurt and tired of his BS in yesterday's episode. Norris still had me rolling on the floor, though! The whole phone booth thing was stupid, though, because it made no sense for him to try to run when he saw Mary coming. He should have just stayed in the booth and talked to Rita. Speaking of, Rita with David and lame Graeme was funny, too. Rita

~ The Windass stuff. So what exactly is Gary's reason for going AWOL again? He met a guy who lost his legs and an arm, and that's it? Surely they could have come up with something juicier than that. Really.

~ Poor, poor Tina. I feel for her, I really do, but she's sharing scenes with Graeme, and I can't stand the kid.

~ Audrey and Lewis. Audreh's enjoying some qualiteh shag time a lot lateleh, it seems. I personally think the whole thing stinks. I wouldn't be comfortable going about with a feller who was getting paid to go about with other women, and Audrey obviously isn't comfortable with it either. She's only with him because she probably feels like she couldn't get anyone else.

~ Nick/Natasha. Don't care, though Price is finally starting to seduce me into not fast forwarding his scenes.

[Ben]

Major Natasha exit spoiler...