Sunday Comments, April 25

Lines of the week:

• Tyrone "I'm not totally daft, me, you know"
  
• Jesse "Seven year olds are very dangerous"
  
• Kirk to Jesse "Can i owe you it, no pockets in me dress" Graeme "is it me or does Kirk look good in a dress? I've had worse looking dates!"
  
• Tony about Rosie "The only thing lower than that daft lass's neckline is her IQ"
  
• Tony to Maria in labour "Do it for Liam" (and that must have killed him to say that!)
  
• Tyrone to Molly "If i die before you do, don't go off with anyone else? I want you to be happy. Just not that happy!" (Selfish thing)
  
• Audrey "Can Auntie Audrey have a hold?" Kirk "Go on then, but be careful" (Aw Bless. Uncle Kirkie is very protective!)
  
• Sean "You're probably sick of hearing this but your brother, In't he lovely?" Norris "I disagree almost violently"
  
• Eddie to Eileen "Can you think of one single reason why any woman wouldn't want to marry me?" (Um. How much time have you got?)
  
• Tina "I am in control" (yeah until David goes on a rampage again)
  

Tony's control freak came flashing through! It's ok to be worried because she was gone and not answering her phone but he did go a bit over the top. That's the Tony we know and love! I was waiting for Tony to have another panic attack, delivering the baby of the man that he murdered. He came through for Maria at least. Can you imagine giving birth in a remote beach house? Only on a soap, eh? Not only that, she had the baby while sitting on Tony's jacket and the baby landed in his tshirt! Why was there a "It's a Girl" balloon? Kirk, of course. And did you see that baby smile when Tony asked him if he was going to be good for his mummy? Tony actually shed a tear over the baby. I wonder if that was genuine guilt and remorse?

Molly and Kevin make me physically ill. Sneaking around, making puppy eyes at each other and shoving tongues down throats. Bleurgh. Did Sally really expect Kevin to be able to identify a mauve makeup bag and a fuscia lippy? Tsk. No wonder he's having an affair! (bleurgh again) And i really don't think Kevin would ever betray his best friend and partner like this, do you?

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Hayley ends up making a deal with Pam to share the catering profits for her sandwiches. Good deal all around i'd say. Joe's back and he's begging Graeme to get him more painkillers because the doctor won't give him any! It's official. Addiction with a capital A.

Rosie is now partner in Underworld. Tony's worst nightmare, i think! Rosie gets to do exactly the same job as before but with business cards to appease her and a cut of the profits, if there are any. She thinks she's educated. She went to a private school for a year or two but never finished her A levels so she's only got basic qualifications.

Lloyd is really missing Liz. Lots of male totty this week, shirtless Tony and then Jason in the gym. Sean spied a good looking fella and started showing off. At least those puppy eyes (the ones Sean was making at the other fella) were guilt free! But Sean, Sean, Sean, you just can't help yourself can you?

Janice is messing up with the PA job, the one Sally has always been salivating over. I wonder if Sally has to call Rosie "Miss Webster" too! Eddie has a red pullover and proposes. That must be his proposing shirt. I thought they were married but obviously not though she uses his name. Emily and Ramsay seem to be getting on like a house afire. Wouldn't it be nice if she found love? Nice to see her have a storyline anyway. And Norris isn't any more inclined to be friendly with his brother.

Laughed at David, Darryl and Graeme wondering why women are fawning over Jason and his new shirt. Duh. Kirk didn't have much luck as Hiya Lowa but he looked hysterically funny! Only he could have pulled that off! I like Jason and Tina together, don't you? I laughed at him telling Tina he was afraid of cows, though i'm sure he was just winding her up. I wasn't surprised it was David sending Tina those flowers and i wasn't surprised he went spare when he found out about her and Jason. Typical David. Then Jason had to sit there while David assured him with Gary out of the way, he and Tina could get back together again. *gulp*

Jesse's parents surprised Jesse and Eileen. Tit for Tat. Jason took the opportunity to tease his mother. So Jason is going to be a property developer and Tina decides to do it with him as a business? Doesn't seem like her type of thing.

On my holidays for a few weeks. See you later in May!

Sunday Comments, April 18

Lines of the week:

• Tyrone "Vera, give us a sign!" (*knock knock*)
  
• Molly to Tyrone "Look at ya! you're 26 going on 12!"
  
• Rosie about Luke "It wasn't my money he wanted last night" (Oh yes it was!)
  
• Kevin to Molly "All I want to do is jump on your bones" (classy)
  
• Molly to Tyrone "You're behaving like a moron and pushing Jack away"
  
• Jack to Tyrone "Like you, carpet burns on your chin"
  
• Tony "I'm a pussy cat" (with very big claws)
  
• Hayley "Trouble with a Capital T!"
  
• Kevin about Steve's diamond jumper: "Is it Jeeves or Wooster?" Tyrone: "More like Norris Cole!"
  
• Sally "I feel like Audrey Hepburn" Rosie "You look like Audrey Roberts!"
  
• Sean about Jason "I heard he was a bit deshabille" (i.e. unclothed) Jason "Yeah we'd had a couple" (of beers) Doh.
  

Hayley isn't too happy to hear Slug was back on the scene. You just got to love Hayley. With a capital L :) Steve is turning 35 and he dresses like he's 60 and that argyle vest that Becky bought him doesn't do him any favours. It looks like something out of Mike Baldwin's wardrobe! I really doubt she'd buy him something like that, really.

Bill and Pam are writing personal ads for each other. Why don't they just date each other? Jesse's dad wont' speak to him and his mum's all over him. Mommy's boy? Something tells me Kevin (nor Molly) would be too keen on being one big happy family with each other now!

FINALLY Hayley tore a strip off Pam for selling sandwiches and taking cafe business away. What took her so long? Kirk wants to be HiyaLowa with Jesse? Stay Tuned Monday for a very funny sight!

Luke has talked Rosie into investing in Underworld. She's going to be even more insufferable now she's an owner. So let me get this right. It wasn't ok for Rosie to shag Stape, her teacher, but it was ok for her to jump into bed with the equally aged Luke Strong, her boss? But because he didn't reject Sally and he's cute, Sally is just fine with it but Kevin at least, remembers that Martin got a great deal of grief for exactly the same thing.
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Kevin and Molly????????? What are the writers thinking? What's going on? Kevin is fed up with Rosie and his wife gets on his nerves. Her husband is spending time moaning about Jack and not paying a lot of attention to her. They've only been married for 10 minutes. Big blue eyes flirts with him and he's got an instant mid-life crisis and has a huge crush on Molly. She didn't think anything more of him than a pal until he said he was crushing on her. She slapped him but did you see her face when she walked away? She thought, well this might be fun! And she was back there the next day, with all glossy lips and low cut tops and doing some heavy flirting with him. We are in for a very bumpy ride and you're not going to like it very much at all.

And before you say it's out of character, it's not. Molly thought nothing of trying to split up Kirk and Fiz just for the hell of it, remember? It is out of character for Kevin. I really REALLY don't believe he'd go after his best friend/partner's wife. And it wasn't that long ago he was beating up Stapid (Stape-stupid-vapid) for going after his teenage daughter. Molly's not that much older than Rosie! And i don't understand why Molly had to hide in the trunk of a car because Sally was at the door. They weren't doing anything wrong and Molly was just there for the books. (and a flirt)

Sean is always putting his foot in it isn't he? Jason seemed to have to get very drunk to put up with Minnie for the evening but she knew it. Who knew she'd have enough confidence in herself to turn him down for being drunk and looking for a one night stand? Well done Minnie! Tina spent the evening gazing at Jason across the room. Minnie might have been flashing her cleavage for Jason but Tina has quite an impressive cleavage too and Jason seems to like hers better. ooops, though, Mother walking in on you making out! eek! Rosie is throwing more money away. Buying a flash sports car she can't even drive! Luke wasted no time sucking up to her and flattering her about it though.

Of course John decided to see Fiz after her very public display of affection and proposal. He had her right where he wanted her. And i'll tell you. Someone that is truly suicidal and depressed isn't going to snap out of it suddenly and completely just because his girlfriend proposes. I've always believed that John Stape is a passive aggressive weak willed spineless pillock and i stand by that. (The actor, Graeme Hawley, however, is quite good at his job!)

Tyrone needs a good smack up the chops. I know he has a hard time seeing Jack with someone else and he misses Vera dreadfully but he needs to grow up and understand that nobody replaces Vera but Jack needs to have a life beyond her grave. Tyrone is really making a prat of himself and with the photo falling off the shelf, he figures that's Vera and she's not happy. Me? I'd have only said that if the photo fell on Connie's head! Well, he is about to drive Jack right out of the house. I do like Connie, mind you and i think if anyone could be a replacement for Vera, it's her.

Sunday Comments, April 11

Lines of the week:

• Stape "Why do you think i became a teacher?" Rosie "Because you're too boring to be an accountant"
  
• Ted to David "I'm not ready for a Werther's Original moment just yet"
  
• Ramsay "We can't remember if it was Richard or John that succeeded Henry II" Sean "I'm better with Queens, me" (Richard, as it happens).
  
• Fiz about John's compensation "Why didn't he tell me?" (hello? not talking to you!)
  
• Kelly "I could wear some unsuitable heels and ask daft questions and flick my hair a lot!" (you already do!)
  
• Rosie about Fiz (and John) "If anything happens to him she's just going to blame me! It's so unfair!"
  
• Tyrone "Call it a sixth sense" Molly "You have trouble with the other five, don't tell me you can read minds now"
  
• Sally about Stape "I saw through him from the start!" (starting with after he rejected your advances)
  

Don't know why Stape aka Prisoner 666 found it difficult to tell Rosie what he wanted to tell her. Why didn't he just get the solicitor to send the letter notifying her? Totally unbelievable. Did we need that scene just to see Rosie's boobs? He wants her to do good with the money. Luke needs money for the factory. Can you connect the very obvious dots? Rosie has money, Luke isn't wasting any time flattering and sucking up. I HATE contrived stuff like this! And for the record? Rosie isn't that intelligent and shouldn't be at university. And John should realize that and is it too late to stop the transaction? No wonder she sees it as compensation, and so she should. But having her flouncing around all smug and even more obnoxious with money in her pocket is going to be excruciating.

And even more pain... Fiz crying into a recorder, whining, sobbing, sucking up to the prison, you name it. Fiz takes drastic action and chains herself to a fence and then threatens to strip. How's she going to do that chained to a fence, i don't know. Blech! I guess she was scared he wanted Rosie again after Rosie wound her up about the visit. Then they told her he was on suicide watch. AGAIN would they really tell her that since she's not related nor on his "to tell" list? And how did she know to talk directly to John through the cctv cameras just at the moment he walked into the governor's office? What i really want to know is why have they totally ruined Fiz Bomb!

Why does Tony have to sleep on the sofa when Michelle is away on tour and Ryan is staying at a mate's? Now Maria's doing his laundry and he's cooking for her. Laughed at Sean having a nightmare about comfy trousers!

Is Kevin actually jealous of Jason, thinking he's after Molly? or is he protective of his mate Tyrone? Jason is too loyal to his friend Tyrone to go after Tyrone's wife. I wonder if the same is true of Kevin? Is Kevin developing a mid-life crisis and getting a crush on Molly? Does he think her flirting just a bit and being all friendly with this running and training means she *likes* him? Whammo. one fluttering eyelash later and Kevin's all over her. Tyrone is more interested in moaning about Jack and Connie's holiday so what's a girl to do? She's having a bit of fun at Kevin's expense and Kevin falls in lust with her? Sorry. I don't buy it.

I love Ted. He's such a Voice of Reason, isn't he? I thought Jack was only gone 2 weeks? Feels like he's been gone a lot longer. Ooohhh General Custard is back! That was the fella that Eileen took a shine to! Oh oh, and Slug aka Neil (Becky's no good ex) is back too! This can only be trouble. He says he's changed. I don't buy that either. Definitely sparks between Jason and Tina. Minnie and Rosie. peas in a pod. Not even enough brains between them to fill a peapod.

Jack is back from Spain and missing his cuppa and a good pint. But very likely where he was is full of English tourists and I bet you could get as good an English fry up there as back in old Blighty. Too bad he had to try to fool Tyrone (and did it badly) when the whole trip was completely innocent. And if he was trying to keep the trip secret, why would he bring back all kinds of souvenirs? I'm sure he and Vera have been to Spain so it's not like it's his first time. Tyrone is going to end up pushing Jack right out the house if he keeps up this attitude.

I'm surprised Becky doesn't know the trendy clubs in town. She's always been a clubber, she and Sean.

Canada's #1 Corrie fan visits the cobbles!

Last year, Deborah Cyr won a CBC sponsored contest as "Canada's Number 1 Coronation Street Fan" and her prize was a trip for two to Manchester and a VIP tour of the set. I published an interview that I did with her here.

During the week Deborah and her husband, Al, were there, they met lots of actors both on the day of the tour and during one or two other days that they waited at the gates of the staff parking lot including the day they arrived. What better way to kill some time before the hotel has your room ready? Deborah has done this before but not as many times as implied by several newspaper stories that were published about her during her visit.

Deborah has kindly given me a description of her visit to Manchester and allowed me to publish it here. These are her words and the photos are her copyright! For those of you who don't like spoilers, there are a couple of minor ones.

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July 30th, 2009 I had a message on my answering machine I will never forget "I am calling from CBC to tell you that you have won the contest looking for Canada's # 1 Coronation Street fan." After waiting what seemed to be the longest 7 1/2 months my husband Al and I headed to Manchester. Our prize included airfare for two to Manchester, 6 nights at the Marriott hotel, spending money, a tour of the set and bragging rights as the # 1 fan.

We dropped off our luggage at the hotel on March 15th and immediately went to see if we could spot any of the actors. We'd only been there 5 minutes and we saw Craig Charles (Lloyd). We knew it was going to be a good day. We ended up meeting 14 actors that day including Graeme, Mary, new character Izzy who hasn't been seen on the screen yet. The biggest surprise of the day was when we went back to check into our hotel. I was looking after that and Keith Duffy (Ciaran) walked into the hotel and asked Al if he was the man he was there to meet. He wasn't, but we still had a chance to chat with him and pose for a photo. Very nice!!

Over the week we met 26 actors....my favourite being Jack P Shepherd. I had received a letter from him years ago, plus a video message and I'd been hoping to meet him for a while. I was not disappointed. He spent quite a while chatting to us and we shared a few laughs. Of all the 60 plus actors I've met, he is my favourite. Others we met that week were Peter, Graeme, Leanne, Kirk, Steve, Eddie Windass (I did not recognize with his wool hat on until Al pointed him out) and Claire. We also saw Eccles.

Our tour date was March 18th. There were 9 of us, 3 other winners that had won a Quality Street Coronation Street contest and a chaperone from CBC. We got to see a number of sets The Rovers, Underworld, Roy's Rolls, Streetcars, Blanche's bedroom (there won't be a dry eye when we see Deirdre going through some of Blanche's things next month), Rita's flat and many other sets. We heard some fabulous stories as we went from set to set. The sets are all very small, you wonder how everyone can fit in. There are cameras, lights and wires everywhere. The highlight for me was stepping onto those famous cobbles and walking down the actual street. There is something special about walking on them.

On the day of the tour I appeared in the Daily Mirror, The Sun and was mentioned on Radio 2. It was a very exaggerated story with a number of errors. I don't make the 12,000 km pilgrimage yearly, plus I go to visit relatives when I do with a day trip to Manchester, I don't camp out there either. It was still very exciting being in the paper. That day I was surprised when someone recognized me and I ended up sigining 3 autographs! Because of the article, I received a number of messages. I have done an interview with Pick Me Up magazine and will be in issue number 17. This will be 'my story' of being a Coronation Street fan.

It was an amazing week, one I will never forget. All of this for enjoying a TV show!! You can see my photos here, I took lots of photos, hopefully you will feel like you are right there on the tour with us. Grab a cup of tea and enjoy. (click on any photos to make them bigger)

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Thank you so much, Deborah for sharing your story!!! I'm so pleased you had such a great trip and jealous as hell that you met so many of the actors! Memories to last a lifetime!

Sunday comments, April 4

Lines of the week:

• Becky to Poppy "You're a bossy two faced cow and nobody watns you here"
  
• Gary "Platt set me up!"
  
• Jason to Pam "Here she is now, the working man's crumpet"
  
• Eddie about David "He's the brains behind all this. Our Gary's not smart enough" (you got that right, but David's none too clever either)
  
• Tony "I'll be back before you can say Mad Scotsman"
  
• Norris "How was i to know he likes his nuts left under the mat?"
  

David now has to scramble to replace the photos. Plot Hole alert! Didn't Ted notice that the photos were all gone? And that lame lie about Gary hiding the photos because he felt guilty about the faces looking at him? Duh. Gary might go to prison but i really wouldn't want to be in David's shoes when he gets out. Gary whines about David setting him up but let's face it, even if that's true, and it is, Gary *still* was up for a breakin wasn't he? And David scrambling to right the photos and didn't quite make it. That's going to be his main mistake but will his family reveal it to the court? Will Gary land David in it? Oh yes he will! Will they believe him? oh yes they will! The photos were the thing that tripped up David.

Now Gail is so desperate that she wonders if Gary had himself arrested just to get at David? Oh PuhLeze! That woman is unbelievable! Then David decides to come clean and hope they think his plan to get Gary out of their hair was a good one but you know, since Ted was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's not gonna happen. So they all blank him. But he gets to keep his job and his place in his home. Not so bad really. They've gone through this "i'm not talking to you" before and they always weakened after awhile. Just as i figured, Ted wasn't buying into the silent treatment. But he is disappointed and that might make all the difference to David. If it was truly tough love, Audrey would let him live in the flat and make him pay rent on his paltry hair washing salary. pay your own bills, do your own cooking and laundry, sit at night by yourself.

Doctor is cutting Joe off. That man is definitely addicted to those painkillers. Molly and Kevin going running. Kevin looks like a dork in that training suit. I thought they were going to be in a race awhile back? What happened with that? This seems to be a different race. Julie is getting to look more and more like a blonde Amy Winehouse on steroids. What's with the beehive? She certainly has her own personal style. I wonder where she got the idea of early 60s Vogue though? Fiz has to get to the post office? Isn't there one still in the Kabin? that's like, 20 seconds away. Or is it? Judging from the look over Rita's shoulder near the end of the omni towards the back of the shop, there's no Post office back there where there used to be though the sign is still up.

Maria had what she thought was labour pains. Did you see the dog looking up at her when she was doing the first scenes? And Tony knew nothing about the whole incident until Maria was back home the next day. But then, Tony decides to move in and sleep on the sofa and put himself at Maria's beck and call. Why, i ask myself? Still sucking up or has he grown to care for her?

Poppy finally shot herself in the foot. Not only did she upset Betty but she insulted Sean and he sacked her by proxy! Steve is so bad under pressure. So bad that he wittered so much and badly, with it, that Becky took matters and hair extensions into her own hands and that's the end of Poppy. She was a wasted character really, they never really did anything with her.

Pam nearly got herself in hot water with her lies when her dining companions wanted her to play the piano. Eek! Ms Ness knew damn well both Pam "Stella" and "Newt" were telling porkies. Looks like Pam and Bill might actually get together. Not sure i think they work together, they could be throwing them together for lack of anything else to do with them.

Oh nice. Electrical shocks and Tony can't be arsed. It's not money. Safety is important. Rosie seems to be making cow eyes at Luke all of a sudden. She really can't seem to get over that penchant for older men. I'm sure Luke must be close to Stape's age. I've got a sneaking feeling that Tony has been cooking the books to try to wipe out Luke financially. Luke had a better idea, though, make them all buy into the company. I can't see it though. There's no way they could all find the funds to make up a total of 25 grand.

Poor Sean got edited out of the newspaper photo! I didn't realize Tina was still working two jobs. I don't think Graeme is going to win any points with Natasha comparing her to a sheep he'd butchered. Tony ironing a shirt without wearing one, and making porridge with his granny's spurtle? Hmmmm... i could get used to that sight of a morning.

Fiz keeps trying to contact John and he keeps sending back her letters even though, as she says, he really doesn't want them to be apart. Me, i just wish he'd go away and we would get are sparky Fiz back again. Meanwhile, Ches just wants out. Kevin takes pity and lets him wash a few cars. I guess he figures Ches needs a bit of time for himself. And i don't see why Fiz has a problem with Ches doing work for Kevin for pocket money. She says she gives him money but he's also had a paper round for a few years so also works for his own there too. So anyway, John doesn't want to see Fiz yet allows his personal medical officer to tell Fiz, not even a family member, that he's clinically depressed and just as I"m sure was the plan of Prisoner 666, Fiz went running to the jail. I'm throwing my hands up i really am.

As much as i can't stand all this, Sally really was too petty tearing the pages out of the books. Why didn't Fiz just tell her in front of everyone that they were Roy's books and she'd have to replace them? that would have shut her up pretty quick. And whinging and squeaking at the jail guard? Have you no pride, woman?? And what on earth would John possibly want from Rosie besides an quick ogle at all that cleavage she was determined to show off?

Roy's going to send John some books and Lloyd's going to post them? Why? John won't recognize Roy's handwriting anymore than he would Lloyd's.