Corrie comments, for the week of June 25 - 29

Lines of the week:

• Tracy to Charlie (about lying) "That's all you ever think of doing!" Charlie "you too!" Tracy smirks.
  
• Fred "You've only yourself to blame, you know, you've had first choice.. of me!" Audrey "It could have been me. And i wish it was"
  
• Bev about Fred's hands "Invest in a pumice stone or you're dead meat" Michelle "I'm sure she meant to put a "darling" on the end of that"
  
• Audrey "I thought I could do better because I'm a vain shallow old woman."
  
• Fiz "It's like having a flaming Dalek in my ear! Indicate! Indicate!"
  
• Audrey to Gail about David "You've got to say what you mean and mean what you say" (foreign concept to Gail, i'm afraid!)
  
• Fred to Ashley "Look the problem in the eye" (Fred needs to take his own advice)
  
• Betty to Norris "Surprising what you can pick up during the war" Norris, wryly "I bet"
  
• Bev "I'm so happy!" (aaagghhh! SOPOD!!)
  
• Fred "Get us a scotch and threat!"
  

Charlie is still trying to talk his way out of everything. She came on to him? And Tracy is more upset that she was made a fool of? Can see what's coming. She's just going to make him beg a little more and then go back to him in the end. And isn't he good? Even Tracy got sucked in by Charlie's smooth lies and manipulations. By God, if you put him up against Richard Hillman, it would be a dead heat which one could out lie the other and get away with it. He's such a piece of work. Gets Tracy back in the house and goes off to Maria. I can understand Ken and Deirdre's worry but unfortunately, where Tracy's pushing 30, there isn't much they can do but let her make her own decisions and pick up the pieces later.

I have to say, Sue Nicholls has put in a blinding performance this week and last. I am absolutely blown away. Every emotion shows on her face even when she says nothing. She's finally realized she loves Fred. But is that only because he's marrying someone else? I wonder. Surprised Bev didn't figure it out. Using the Square Dealers as an excuse for one of his meetings with Audrey? He hasn't mentioned them in years! Wasn't he flummoxed when she finally admitted her feelings? I can't imagine how he must have felt. Guilty, and probably having more mixed feelings than you can imagine. Part of me thinks she'd always been "the one" for him but he never asked her again because he thought (and she thought) it wasn't what she wanted. As she admitted, she thought she could do better. We all know Audrey was always shallow and she's finding it hurts to admit it to herself too. So *Now* she tells him! one week before his wedding! What to do, what to do!!!! Well Fred certainly made it clear in front of everyone how he feels about Bev and implicitly telling Audrey that she's not the one for him, yet his private feelings, the ones he spilled out to Ashley, are eating him up. Ashley has a point. Just what i've been saying. Audrey only wants Fred because she can't have him and she's being cruel and selfish.

I gotta ask. Do you think Bev is acting like she's just hit the jackpot? I wonder sometimes if she loves Fred's bank account more than himself when she seems to be a bit offhand with him at times though i'm sure she does care for him and vice versa. He won't back out, he's too honourable but as we leave the week, he's left the church at the last minute to go see Audrey because she couldn't bring herself to go to the church!!! He said he was going to marry Bev but will he let Audrey down easy or elope with her to Gretna Green!? I have a very bad feeling about this. Bev even uttered the Soap Opera Phrase of Doom! Do NOT miss this coming week!

I'm not surprised Bev is sucking back the champagne on her wedding day. Blanche might have a point about the bride drinking the profits of Fred's pub! An awful lot of hats with frippery things on them. What on earth was that on Rita's hat? I'm not sure i liked what Bev was wearing. That thing on her head, indeed her whole outfit, looked very 1950's didn't it? It was ok i guess. Liz looked a bit like a dog's breakfast, i must say.

Fred is always wonderful with the little ones, isn't he! David needs a quick kick up the jacksy as Danny would say. He sure was shocked that Gail actually took all his toys away (fully her right since she paid for them all). Looked like they were at a stalemate, and he couldn't even get round Audrey when he figured out they were stored at hers. Maybe Maria can sweet talk him back to school? Ooh Claire's coming home! That was less than the 28 days they suggested, wasn't it? I would expect they'll have someone come in and check on her. She missed that early bonding with the baby so it's going to take some time to create that but i'm sure it will happen. Poor Ashley is still walking on eggshells and it took a few stern words from Fred to settle him down.

Websters are going to Paris but Sally was underwhelmed by the reaction of the kids! Craig and Rosie don't want to go. Will Sally put Rosie under the eagle eye of Rita? Well what else did Rosie expect? I think that was partly instrumental in why they made their plans to run away to Berlin. Sally of course continues to have blinders on, thinking that her girls now respect her and think of her as a friend when Rosie is actually talking about her mother with contempt because she's so uncool and planning to run away!

You should never be taught to drive by someone that loves you. Trust me. totally cracked up at Betty's command of Hungarian flummoxing Norris's phrase book. Even though Craig is staying with Roy and Hayley, his hair still looks like it needs a good wash!

Does Audrey want the one that got away?

Audrey lost her Alf and really didn't want anyone else. She wasn't above a flirt now and then but just didn't want another relationship, it seemed. So when Fred Elliott asked her to marry him (like he does everyone else), she turned him down. She loved him, but just as a good friend, and she knew his history with serial proposing. And she admitted, she thought she could do better. Audrey always was shallow. Now she has to face it herself and the regret and shame was etched on her face. I always felt that of all the women Fred proposed to since Audrey, she was really the one he'd have wanted to marry and if she'd changed her mind, he'd have jumped at the chance.

Except it was too little, too late. With Fred leaving her life, moving away with a new wife, Audrey realizes that she's losing a very good thing. I wonder, though, if she only started feeling this way because he's the one that's getting away. Finally, on tonight's show, she admitted her feelings to Fred. Now he's in a tizzy. Why tell him now that he's with someone else? Why wait all this time? If you say that you didn't know how you felt until you were going to lose it, did you really feel it or were you taking it for granted and only want it because you can't have it?

She's really put poor old Fred on the spot now. Does she really want him? What's he going to do? He is an honourable man. He's promised to marry Bev and he does care for her but here's the woman who's been in his heart for a long time saying she loves him and wishes it were she that was marrying him. Imagine the guilt he must feel. The confusion! The stress! Does he dump a woman he genuinely cares for? Is Audrey only wanting him because she can't have him and will go off him later if he does choose her?

Sue Nicholls is an extraordinary actress, highly underrated and stories like this prove how good she really is. This time next week, we'll know the outcome. I already know but I'm not saying. If there are comments, there may be spoilers. You were warned.

Sunday Comments (Canada) June 24

Lines of the week:

• Shelley "I wanted to prove i could stand up to him" Bev "By laying down for him?"
  
• Tracy "I'm going to smack the truth out of that bitch if i have to"
  
• Tracy to Charlie "You would have hit me back by now if it were a lie"
  
• Shelley to Charlie "I got what i wanted from you. You're surplus to requirements"
  
• Fred "I'm a bit long in tooth to be tied to a lamppost at 3 in'morning"
  
• Tracy "Look where we live, mam, it's hardly Wisteria Lane"
  
• Tracy "I never thought i had a heart but now i know i do because i can feel it for the first time. Breaking"
  
• Sean to Jamie "Game over. You win"
  
• Ken "I don't think i've ever gloated in my life" (!!!!!!!!)
  

Of course Charlie is the father of Shelley's baby. There wouldn't be any storyline otherwise. She pretended that she lied about having sex with him, so will Tracy find out and then believe it was Charlie's after all? No, Charlie didn't force himself on Shelley, but she was drunk and vulnerable at the time. I don't think she did it to prove it to herself that she was over him, or "one for the road". Doesn't Bev have a nasty tongue on her when she's drunk though? to be fair, i can understand where she's coming from. Knowing Shelley would have a tie to that horrible Charlie is an awful worry but she did go a bit too far with her opinions. Now you know how good Bev is about keeping secrets don't you? Right. First one out of the post, she's blabbing it to Deirdre, the mother of the woman who's living with Charlie! So how long will it take Deirdre to tell Tracy? Not long. Charlie's reaction was about what i expected. Fierce, forceful and it drove Shelley away again.

Tracy's reaction was typical too. (see line of the week). I can't figure out if she really loves Charlie or if she sees him as a meal ticket but i suppose she must as much as she can love anyone. Plus, well, nobody takes anything from Tracy, do they! Tracy's not that gullible. You might fool her once, but not twice. Loved Shelley throwing that date rape drug back at Tracy and it was nice to see Tracy taken down a peg or two for a change especially putting in a few doubts on top of the revelations. And *wait* until she finds out about Maria which is where Charlie was when this all came out! (And he was wearing the new shirt Tracy bought him!)

Maria is completely fooled by Charlie, but Tracy never did trust him completely. They're too much alike! I bet she wished there was an iron rod in those flowers, except she's not too good on the "blocking", she missed him by a mile! He thinks she might think it not so bad since Shelley means nothing to him but i think that would be even worse. Tracy is still holding that "abortion" over Charlie's head, but didn't he find out that she didn't have it? I can't remember. When he realized she spent the money on shoes? Or maybe he just didn't put two and two together and she's making sure he doesn't. He sure came on to Shelley though she stood up to him very well. I wonder if she did mean to get pregnant or if it was an accident? I can understand if she had sex with him to prove to herself that he really didn't have any more control over her but it's a funny way of doing it. Tracy still loves Charlie? Well give it a minute, luv, you'll get over it. Do you feel sorry for her? I don't, not at all. Payback is a bitch.

Looks like Liam is just as subject to the Ego as any other man, telling Danny that he was the one that dumped Frankie and not the other way around. Love how Liam keeps sticking it to Danny, winding him up about Frankie or his age etc. I think Liam and Steve could be good mates given the chance.

Jamie needs to get a clue. Violet is making an effort and he wonders if she actually thinks it's her fault that things aren't going as well. Duh. Then all of a sudden they're planning a holiday? Violet really has it in her head that Jamie could be gay. I think they're spending so much time on it that it's bound to be a red herring. He's already admitted he has feelings for someone he shouldn't have and if he's not gay, then it's going to be someone completely inappropriate. Like Frankie. Holy cow!

Gail and Rita both say they don't want to get married again. Audrey seems to still be a goer. No surprise there except i think the one she wants is about to marry someone else and Fred seems a bit melancholy. Is he having doubts? Bev sure recovered quickly after that upset over Shelley. There she is bubbling and buying champagne. My gosh Sue Nicholls is a good actress. You could read Audrey's face exactly what she was thinking when she was trying not to let everyone including Fred see how she felt about him. Too Little Too Late, methinks but she may have let the cat out of the bag now. He's certainly suspicious so what is Fred going to do with that admission of heartfelt love?

At least Shelley has given up those horrible poncho things she was wearing. Blanche is right. I wouldn't think a pub lunch would be condusive to health and safety with the sewing machines, either. Craig and Rosie are looking to the future together, dreaming of the wide world. Was that Emily legless on champagne? Does Gail really believe David's stories do you think? Down deep? So yes, it sounds like she is at least going to pretend to if he wants her to and yes it makes her stupid. Letting him get away with anything does not help him, doesn't she realize that? The last head teacher, wasn't it a man?

Tracy hurts

The show's quite good this week, isn't it? Shelley's back for a few days and we've discovered that she's pregnant. That shag on the floor of the Rovers with Charlie before she left did the trick. (pun intended) She says she did it as an act of defiance, to prove she was in control and that he had no power over her. I wonder.

She was drinking that night and then let him come back into the dark empty pub with her for another drink. Alarm bells should have been going off then. He cornered her against the bar and when she didn't move, they kissed. We imagine the rest of it. Perhaps she did do it as a "one for the road", to prove to herself that she no longer cared and no longer felt under his control. I can understand that. Did she get pregnant on purpose? Subconsciously? Maybe but i tend to think it was an accident. After she dumped him, maybe she stopped using birth control. He doesn't seem to be the type that would use condoms regularly. Too arrogant for that. I also think that, while we all know Charlie is always up for it, he was also probably determined to get the upper hand because Shelley was the one that got away, the one that dumped *him* and slipped out from under *his* control. A revenge shag, if you will.

Bev of course, went ballistic when she found out. Understandably. But she did go a bit over the top too. That was the booze talking. Never could keep a secret could our Bev. Blabbed it within minutes to her best friend Deirdre, also the one person she shouldn't have told. The mother of the baby's father's girlfriend. And to Deirdre and Ken's credit, they told Tracy straight away, hoping of course that it would help break them up.

Great bitchfight between Tracy and Shelley with insults flying back and forth. For every name that Tracy called Shelley, Shelley had a great comeback. Tracy didn't want Shelley's pity and Tracy knew the truth of it. I was surprised that Tracy was so hurt, that she loves Charlie. She had more of a crush on Steve, i don't believe that was love no matter what she said. I think with Charlie, at least at first, it was a way out of Number 1. And sure, he's a sexy guy and he's strong and just as manipulative as she is so he was probably a challenge. Two peas in a pod. The couple from Hell. Can she actually love someone properly? unselfishly? probably not. Even her love for her baby seems selfish. She uses her more than she puts Amy first. I'm sure she does love the baby by instinct somewhere. And i think she probably does love Charlie in her own way and that was evident this week when she was so hurt by his actions.

No surprise that he'd deny it at first. He really is a piece of work, laying it on thick with Maria to keep her sweet. Maria is completely taken in but i don't think Tracy ever did trust Charlie completely. Shelley doesn't trust him either and she's got a lot more reason even than Tracy so she's got herself out of dodge but not before Charlie gets a few more threats in but Shelley stands her ground. She got what she wanted from Charlie. And with that she's gone, leaving Charlie to pick up the pieces with Tracy who's still pissed and keeps reminding Charlie that he was able to force *her* into an abortion so why not Shelley. Excuse me? She was never pregnant? I thought he figured that out when he knew about the shoes she bought with the abortion money but maybe he never did find out and she's making sure he doesn't. I'll have to go back in the updates and look.

And you think a Tracy scorned is like a loose cannon, you just wait until she finds out about his ongoing fling with Maria on top of all this. There *will* be hell to pay.

Sunday Comments, June 17

Lines of the week:

• Bev "How's Claire?" Fred "Barking!"
  
• steve "Let me do the negotiating" Fred "Come up with the asking price and the pub's yours" Steve "Done!" (great negotiating, there, Steve!)
  
• Danny about Liam "He's ripped off that dimwit i call my brother" "Feel free to wind him up as much as you like"
  
• Norris "And i'm short of friends, am i?" Rita "You said it, not i!"
  
• Kelly "There's one thing for sure. There'll be bloodshed before teatime"
  
• Audrey "Everybody i know is either dropping dead or moving away"
  
• Kirk "It's the thought that counts" Fiz "let me know when you have one"
  
• Tracy to Shelley "Where did you park your broomstick?" Shelley "Three guesses!" *snork*
  

Steve's buying the Rovers! Steve's buying the Rovers! Actually i think it's a cracking idea even if it means Liz gets to lord it over everyone as landlady. Steve's gonna be an "executive troubleshooter". Liz figures Potman is more his speed. Hey, when did he own the flat he's living in? As far as i know, Alec Gilroy still owns it. I hardly think Alec would sell it to Steve after all! Must have, though.

Claire hasn't settled down much yet but it will take time. I see they let her have her makeup though. Where's Claire indeed. She's in danger of shutting right down. Leave to Ashley to be the voice of reason (yay), telling Fred not to put his plans on hold. Maybe there will be a wedding yet! Fred said these things don't happen in days (real estate sales) but on Coronation Street, yes they do! Laughed at Steve telling Liz she should quit to save money, while sucking on a cig himself. Audrey thinks Fred wants to stick around to help his family but Bev is pushing to get him away from them. I wonder if she's right. Shelley's back for a visit. What *has* she done with her hair!

Danny's kicking back hard at Liam. The girls in the factory really are fickle. I think they like having a good looking totty in the area. How does Danny think he's going to get Liam out of the factory if he owns 40% of it? Buy it back? Yeah right. Liam has almost as much patter as Danny has! I think he'll just wear Danny down in the end. Danny gave Adam a chance because he had no choice. Adam owned a share. Well now Liam does so i don't see how Danny has much of a choice here either. You got to hand it to Liam though. He's fearless, risking Danny's wrath by telling him he's seeing Frankie.

I'm surprised nobody has cleared out Craig's stuff from the old bakery but i see the mattress is still in there. Mind you when he was living in there before, there was no mattress, he was living rough with a sleeping bag. Rita's won a trip and Norris has gone into overdrive. First person through the door gets the holiday. It's Blanche!! LOL! Didn't Hayley look lovely in that bright red twinset top? You know, if they're going to have the "Sunday" episode be the day after the "friday" one, which they sometimes do, they'll have to watch the dialogue. There's a bit of a continuity fluff. Jamie arrives home at 1 p.m. the day after he and Sean get drunk. Frankie and Violet both refer to it as last night and Sean asked Violet what she and Frankie did Friday night which you don't usually do if today is Saturday.

Geez, Charlie went into see Maria right under Tracy's nose! "Just finishing up" indeed. Violet has moved in with Jamie and he seems to be backing off. Poor Vi, all dressed up and nowhere to go. Oh now Jamie seems to be in love with someone he shouldn't be. It's not Sean is it? It certainly looks like Sean could have secret feelings for Jamie, looking back at his passed out form with a bit of longing tinged with regret (that Jamie isn't gay) perhaps? Ooh Rita won the trip! Well i can see why she wouldn't have thought of asking Norris with out prompting. I certainly wouldn't stomach the idea of spending the weekend with him even as just a friend. He'd drive me potty! I see Deirdre's still sneaking outside for a cig.

Audrey seems to be all at sixes and sevens with herself. And who does she call first? Fred, not Gail! Fred seems a bit iffy on retirement too. I think if Claire and Ashley were happier and healthier, he wouldn't be waffling. ooh Shelley's come for a visit! and she's pregnant!!!!! That's that last one night shag on the floor of the Rovers, wasn't it! Fiz's birthday! Kirk pulled a blinder, well sort of. Still getting a lend of a car anytime proves his heart is in the right place at least. Why am i not surprised that Tracy fancies Hannibal Lecter's eyes?

Liam Connor

We've just met the Connor Brothers here in Canada, Liam and Paul. Looking at the wonderful CSVU Canadian updates, and at the current ITV ones, i really thought i would prefer the older Paul but having seen them both now for myself, i kind of think i like Liam better. He's certainly got more personality than Paul so far. He actually reminds me of Danny with his market patter and charm and I bet that's one reason Danny doesn't like him among all the others that he has. After all, he got his feet under the sewing table rather slickly and behind Danny's back and he's got the hots for Frankie which will definitely put Danny off him even if he didn't have to work with him.

But i like Liam. I think it's going to be fun watching him. Ok, maybe he does come across as a bit immature so far and you get the feeling he's a "Jack the Lad" at times, but you also see a good side of him when he interacts with his nephew, Ryan, son of Michelle. He takes unclehood seriously i think, especially since the lad's father died. Paul might have all the business sense but Liam will be a hard worker and i think in spite of himself, Danny could end up liking him. A little anyway. Grudgingly.

I've heard people comment that he talks like his mouth is full of marbles. That's really a classic Manchester accent. I've been to Manch. many times and that's how a lot of the natives sound. The actor, Rob James-Collier, was born in Swinton which is a community just bordering on the city of Salford. This is his first major acting job, too. He's only just discovered acting, took some lessons, had a small part i think in one or two tv shows and i think he's done some modelling. He certainly has the looks for it don't you think? The more i watch him, the more i think he's rather dishy! Certainly we gals don't get a lot of totty on the show, not for us more mature viewers anyway. All the good looking lads are that... lads. And most of them don't do much for me and wouldn't even if i *was* 18 or 20 though i think if i was that young, i probably would drool over at least one of them, Richard Fleeshman. He's definitely a nice looking young man. No, i think i'll enjoy Rob James-Collier's stint on Corrie.

Did I tell you my fella is an artist?

Well he is. He draws me cartoons for my birthday and Christmas cards and injects some great humour into them. He always puts himself in the cartoon somewhere too even if he's not the focus of it. This was the one he did for my birthday last year! Obviously, Coronation Street themed which is why i'm blogging it here! In case it wasn't obvious, that's me in the pub with Les, Cilla, Ken, Eileen and Shelley.


Here's another really quick cartoon he did a number of years ago. It's Doctor Who meets Albert Tatlock (with Fred Gee and Bet behind the bar)

I met him in the sorcerynet Coronation Street chat room just before New Year's Eve, 2003 via a mutual friend. He lives in Salford and the mutual mate lives in Vancouver. Quite a stretch! We met face to face the first time July 12, 2004, and we got engaged last year. No idea yet when we'll get married but he'll move here eventually. He's a fan too, though not as much as me, and he's actually been watching it longer, having grown up with it. His dad still watches, too.



There have actually been a few couples that have met and ended up together, via that same chat room, the most recent duo got married last summer and he'll be moving to Toronto very soon. Another couple lives in Buffalo, they're another UK/North American couple and there are a few more couples where both halves lived in Ontario and found each other. Another pair live in the U.K. after she moved there.There were a couple of romances that didn't work out, but most of the ones that formed did. Many, Many good friends also met in #coro_street. Sadly the chat room is pretty empty these days, with a few in on Friday nights for the trivia quiz and maybe on Sunday nights after the UK broadcast. In it's heyday, though, it was busy all weekend long and there was usually someone to chat to in the weeknights and sometimes in the weekday afternoons too. People get busier, don't have the time. We had some trouble with a couple of people that were thorns in the sides of others and that seemed to cause a few people to leave and when a beloved older member died suddenly, it felt like the heart went out of the place. Still, we do keep in touch a bit, and still care about each other's lives.

Hmm, this didn't start off to be about the chat room, it just sort of leaned that way!

Originality

Sometimes it bugs me when writers of a television show or even a movie take a previous movie and reuse the storyline. It shouldn't, really, because after all, how many stories are there? I think there's only a finite number, just changed with twists and changes of scenario and characters. Writers have been doing that with Shakespeare's stories for centuries.

Even Coronation Street isn't above reusing a plot from their own past or from other shows or movies and they're about to do it again. Warning! There are major spoilers ahead for all Corrie watchers, not just Canadians so look away now if you don't want to know!

In 2005 a movie called Transamerica was released. It's about a transsexual who is about to have gender reassignment surgery to become a woman and discovers that she fathered a child when she was younger. She meets the lad who is about 17 though doesn't tell him who or what she is. By the end of the movie, of course, he knows and it seems like they've made their peace with it and with each other.

Move that to Weatherfield. Yep, you guessed it. Hayley is going to discover that she fathered a son when she was still Harold. Hayley is only just 41 and the son is supposed to be in his early 20's according to a story in the U.K. paper, the Mirror. It must have been a confused and exploratory fumble when Harold was a teen if that's the case. Hayley will find out and then look for her son. She won't tell him at first who she really is. Thing is, when she and Roy first got together, we all assumed, including Roy, that *both* of them were virgins. Guess not. The Mirror sensationally predicts that this will shake the foundations of their marraige. Will Roy ever be able to trust a thing Hayley says again? sheesh. The Croppers have the best marraige in the show and i think if Hayley could manage to get past what she thought was Roy's fling with Tracy, he can get past this. (Of course Roy didn't fling with Tracy but for awhile, Hayley thought he did and after initially leaving him, she stuck by him all the way).

So there you have it. A copycat storyline straight out of the movies albeit a very good movie. It's a good twist to the classic soap storyline of discovering a child you didn't know you had (like Mike finding out that Susan didn't abort Adam). This is not a plot that is used often in Corrie. There have been a few incidents of people not revealing they've had previous children such as Bet's teenage pregnancy and Audrey having Stephen before Gail. Gordon Clegg grew up thinking Maggy was his mother when he was actually Betty's son but then a woman knows she's given birth. It's not uncommon for a woman to get pregnant and not tell the father, move away and he's never the wiser. That's what happened with Susan Barlow Baldwin. Of course in our show, that was really a case of the writers rewriting history which is annoying.

In this new storyline, it's not really rewriting history. This is in Hayley's distant past and ok, she lied to Roy and said she was a virgin. Well, as a woman, she was. And probably this experience that resulted in a child was her one and only as a man, too. I can well imagine for someone like Harold, that incident would have been embarassing and painful and best forgotten, and adolescent experiment, an attempt to be "normal". Happens a lot with people trying to figure out who they are, especially kids that think they're gay or, like Hayley, trans gendered.

All of Roy and Hayley's dramatic storylines seem to be handled well. The writing is always sensitive and the acting is always superb. I'm looking forward to it.

Ay yi yi!

Dear heaven. ITV has launched their new website, including the Coronation Street section. I've seen a preview version of it and i have to say. Unimpressed. I'm not even going to put the temporary url here because i don't want to subject anyone to that horror. All they provide is a java form to submit comments. And it doesn't work. You just get an error about it not submitting to the database and to try again later. No email address.

So what's all wrong with it? Just on a quick run though...

If you are not in the U.K. forget about seeing any of the streaming video or video clips. You can't have it. Sorry.

You are forced to have Internet Explorer. So if you use Firefox or Safari or anything else you will have to suck the Microsoft big one.

They only have a "selected" group of characters from the show. They've got Jason but not Eileen. They have left off most of the kids including Rosie and Sophie but they do have David. They left out Liz who's the landlady of the pub, for pete's sake!!!!

In the old site, they had a "catchup" link with all the visual updates in one place with a drop down list to pick a date. Now the archive will go back 30 days but you have to go into each episode for a brief narrative update and find the link below that will take you to the visual update/ screen cap highlights. Now you have to go in and out of each episode if you want to catch up with more than one.

Stupid stupid stupid and i wonder how much they paid to have that all redesigned. Should have saved their money.

It's Sunday again

Corrie is on evenings again starting Tuesday. I can't wait. I've mainly been doing these notes from the csvu screen grabs and adding a bit to it when i watch.

Lines of the week:

• Gail "David is nothing like Sean" Audrey "No, Sean actually gets out of bed in the morning!"
  
• Sally to Kelly about her clothes "What did you do with your normal clothes Kelly? Give them to a prostitutes refuge?" (miaow)
  
• Vi to Michelle "What are you going to sing?" Michelle, looking Liz's way "Who let the dogs out?"
  
• Liam to Frankie "Basically you're a middle aged woman trapped in a gorgeous young bird's body"
  

Oh Wow! Did you see that coming? Claire thinks the baby isn't really hers and she tried to give it back! Then she tried to push it away and it went out in front of a car!!! It was heart breaking when Ashley had to sign her in to the hospital but it's the only thing that will help right now. Ashley's lucky they gave him the baby back but after what nearly happened, I'm not so sure! I can't imagine how much guilt Ashley probably feels for hospitalizing Claire but it had to be done. That whole story was really sad. I can understand it a bit though. Claire's mother never really bonded with her daughter and i suppose when Claire had her baby, it triggered that same reaction because of how she'd grown up, probably feeling like she really didn't belong to her mother either.

Liam started off in the factory already making enemies, well at least one, chiding Kelly for inappropriate clothes and shoes and who can blame him? Whatever happened to the green tabards they all used to wear? Under Danny's rule, they seemed to go by the wayside. Mike never would have put up with that! Kelly had to wear Hayley's shoes! Far cry from the stilettos! Sean imitated Sally down to a Tee. If only he knew how close to the mark he really was with Sally in that office drooling all over Liam! Ok, i don't suppose she massaged the bunions of any other bloke whose bones she jumped but that's not the point :) Liam seems to have the patter down though doesn't he? What's Danny going to say though! Liam has his feet under the factory table and just might be getting his under Frankie's table as well. Double whammy! So Danny came up one side of Adam and down the other and rightly so but it didn't make much of an impression on Adam. Not that much would, he's too thick. Danny doesn't know about Liam and Frankie yet.

Cilla's hooked on "MyBay" and how much of that money is going on the bills do you think? Complaining about the electric bill while laying under the sunbed. You know, she really is the most selfish person on that show, possibly even more than Tracy, certainly at the same level. Did you see Roy sneeze over Frankie's flowers and then try to wipe them off? Looks like Fiz needs some proper shoes too, for her driving lessons, which she's having a bit of trouble getting sorted. Rita, if Norris wants that pen so badly, tell him he can have it... where the sun don't shine.

I'd be annoyed at Steve too if he encouraged me to look into buying the pub and then poured cold water all over my ambitions like he did with his mother. I guess Steve could raise the money to buy the pub, he's got a lot of equity in the taxi firm. Fred and Bev are back and Bev is elbowing Audrey out of the way already!

Liam is selling the knickers for 90p per unit? Geesh, the girls must be working for less than peanuts on that sort of profit margin. I like this Liam i think. You know, this lad is very new to acting and he's not doing too bad a job. Michelle has a pretty decent voice doesn't she? Funny Jamie would be willing to do karaoke with Sean but not with Violet. Actually, Antony Cotton doesn't have a half bad voice, too bad he didn't wow everyone as Sean with a great singing performance. Ok. so not only does Les have a pulling jacket, but he's got pulling underpants too? ewwwww!

Set visits and Corrie art

Oh wow, i'm so jealous. But in a good way, of course. Corrieblog has a post that directs one to the photos and story by someone that just got a VIP tour of Granada. She has been in contact with the actress that plays Yana Lumb and was invited to the studio, lucky girl! She seems to have been there several hours and got the chance to meet lots of the actors!!! I was quite happy with our tour of the set though we didn't get to meet anyone. I couldn't complain about that though, just being backstage on the inside sets was thrilling! We did see a few from afar but no hands were shook nor photos taken. Deborah is from the Toronto area and she and her husband also met up with a bloke that's been an extra at Granada for years. He's been to Toronto for a ping in the past so that's where she got to meet him. He didn't get them in the studio however. Here's the link to her photos and the first one contains the description of her Corrie holiday.

The actress, Jane Tunnicliffe, is also an artist and has an exhibition on currently in a gallery in Manchester. She's done cariacatures of various Corrie characters, that look like a comic book panel. I'd have loved to have seen that. I must have a look on the gallery website or on ebay and see if i can order some of the artwork. Should check in at the gallery when i go over. The show won't be on but they might still have prints or cards. These are the original paintings. Doesn't look like there are cards or prints though... oooh just found her own website and i think you can get cards and prints through there!!! Yay!

A couple of the card stores in the UK are going to be carrying Corrie-themed birthday cards too, made i think by Hallmark. I emailed them but they never did get back to me that i noticed. I wanted to find out if they would be available here. Guess not. Graham will be sorted to pick me up lots and i'll get some when i go over too. I must remind him. Some for me and some for ping prizes. Hmm... What great items to get autographed by one of the actors!!

Apparently you can wait outside the studio gates and often the actors will stop their cars and greet you, sign autographs and let you take pics. I really might give that a go next time i'm over (November). I think the dinner hour is the best time to go, apparently. I'm not sure if it's the main gate or one round the side by where the actors' parking lot is. I guess we can scope it out.

Sunday Comments, June 3

Lines of the Week:

• Liz about Steve's younger days "Half the lines on my face are thanks to him." Michelle "No one could have been *that* bad"! (well actually, Steve *was*!)
  
• Adam "I'm talking about "real" money" (80 thousand isn't real money. It's a fancy car or a small flat!)
  
• Adam "You think i'm doing this just to get one over on Danny?" (Yes, actually)
  
• Yana "Computers? They're the devil's work!" (koff)
  
• Blanche to Adam "Sit down... before i get annoyed" (aren't you always annoyed at something?)
  
• Adam to Paul "Can you say that in English" (can *you*?)
  
• 
  

Ashley must realize Claire was being evasive about her mother. There's something very wrong, all right, but it's with Claire. NOBODY but Nobody can smack Hayley like that and be a rational human being. She seems to have made it up with Hayley but it didn't seem very sincere. I'm surprised Eileen doesn't recognize the symptoms even if they all think Claire's mom is ill. Ill. Except when she walked into the Butcher shop, Claire was well and truly busted. Only she doesn't know yet. And how does Mum know the baby's name is Thomas if she's been away and not spoken to Claire for weeks? Claire's mother seemed to spot the problem pretty quick though especially once Audrey noted that Claire has left the baby a few times. So where *is* Claire going with the baby?

Steve is going to have an uphill battle with Michelle. Liz won't mind that in the least. OH god. Karaoke and Liz. Not a good combination. Ooh Fred's selling the pub! Well we did know that, though. He wants to retire to the country with Bev. So why is it such a surprise to the staff? I wonder if the sale will go through as quickly as Adam ditched the factory? Real estate transactions are like buying groceries in Weatherfield. Why would Michelle think she was sacked when Bev and Fred get back if Liz could sack her anyway (and did, just last week). Fred hired her, for Pete's sake. Now Steve has suggested that Liz get a mortgage and buy the pub herself. Do you think she's got any savings at all for a down payment? Me either.

I forgot that Violet was back living in the pub and not with Eileen, Sean and Jason. Well that's what Michelle meant when she said Vi was living with people old enough to be her grandparents, yes? So now Violet thinks Jamie might be "the one". That, my friends, is the DREADED Soap Opera Phrase of Doom! Didn't take long either. One mention of let's move in and Jamie's trainers are already leaving skid marks on the floor. He's a terrible liar! He's invited her to move in with him and Frankie (yeah. *that's* romantic) but he's not really jumping for joy, is he?

Looks like all the tat and junk in the Battersby home is going to find a new home if Cilla can get it flogged. If she's smart, she might be able to flog some of Les's old albums if there's any left. Not that she's going to use any money she makes on actual bills or anything! David still skipping school Blah blah blah. Boring. I used to like David but he's rapidly becoming my most disliked character. Kid's still a good actor though. David's going to swing allright, when the kids he named find out because they sure as heck haven't done anything wrong. If Gail thinks he may need help then how long is she going to let it go until she gets it for him? Audrey's still looking for love, even at her age and i say, good for her! Chesney must be going to a different school than the little ones. He started on a different day than them for a start, plus he's wearing a different uniform. Out of Bessie Street school and onto the Comprehensive then?

Speaking of Hayley, Liam certainly got the wrong end of the stick (no pun intended) when he thought Frankie was the transexual rather than Hayley! I guess he's going to have a bit of a climb to get Frankie to date him now. Maybe he and Steve can commiserate! Now it looks like Liam and his brother are going to buy Adam out of the factory. Will Danny be trading the devil he knows for one he doesn't? Sounds a bit like Paul owes Liam one. Wonder what for? Well it looks like Liam and Paul are really going to fleece Adam and he's certainly dangling on the hook having taken the bait. Paul's the businessman and Liam's on the markets, eh? He should be ok for the sales patter then. Adam of course, thinks he doesn't need any advice and the deal will be signed, sealed, and delivered into his pocket before Ken gets home. I wonder how long it will take him to get through 80 grand? And i wonder what Danny's going to say! Paul's not too pleased that Danny is the ex of the woman Liam fancies. He's right too, Danny's not going to be very happy about Liam wanting to date Frankie and then working right at his elbow. But Adam Barlow isn't worth the spit on Mike Baldwin's cigar!

Now we know, Sean's 30. Lessee, Violet is probably only about 22 or 23, Jason is about 22 isn't he? (i can't be bothered to look it up), Jamie is about 27 or 28 i think. Liam said he was 32, i'd say and the older brother, Paul looks about 40. Did Liz say she was married to an Ulsterman only i distinctly remember her filing for divorce from Jimbo.