The Waltons of Weatherfield

(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2015.)

Just how big are the extended Platt-McIntyre-Rodwell-Tilsley family going to get? I'm starting to think ITV should invest in a spinoff show just for the residents of 8 Coronation Street and their entourage. It's Plattination Street. 

I know each character in Corrie needs his or her time in the storylining limelight but it feels like Gail's brood have been dominating screen time for months on end now. What with the ongoing complex Andy/Gavin saga, David's custody battle with Camp Callum for Max and now the return of Sarah-LOU and Bethany, it's all getting a bit much. At the same time all Audrey gets to do is tut "Oh Gail/Bethany/David/Sarah-LOU" and lug Ken's massive tome about (say nothing) while Nick occasionally turns up and grimaces.

Oh the Waltons of Weatherfield just keep on expanding like some mad experiment conducted by Kenneth Williams and Fenella Fielding in Carry On Screaming. If only they'd vitrify Bethany and Gail and turn them into non-speaking extras for a while. It would allow the viewers time to recover. I'm all for making Corrie about family relationships even if it does smack a bit of EastEnders.

A lot of people love Gail and Michael together. While I think he is a superb match for our Gail it does mean we have to endure lots of beige-jumpered eye fluttering and mutual simpering. The writers have cleverly given Michael a life-threatening heart condition so at least there's a way out for us if it all gets a bit too Last of the Summer Wine.

My main regret about the Andy/Gavin storyline is that it has drawn the lovely Steph into the stinking mire. Would she really have gone along with all the lies, deception and comedy coverups for the sake of snivelling, shifty-eyed Andy? She entered stage left as a street-smart, bright, intelligent young woman. I hope she doesn't exit stage right as the complete opposite. It's happened oh so many times before. My other sadness is that the evil Gavin didn't stay on for longer. He was properly horrid and very convincing. He could have shown Callum how it is really done.

I know Gail has kept the dodgy secret for the sake of Michael's equally dodgy ticker but surely even she must know it will all come out in the wash. And when Michael does inevitably find out the truth he won't have the benefit of ITV player or the pause button so he can take a comfort break or make a cup of hot sweet tea to revive himself. Will the massive revelations finish him off before he's got the chance to fully engage with the delightful grown up Bethany? 

Ah yes, Bethany Platt. Do you think she swallowed the Hovis theme on her way back from over seven years in Milan because the odd mention of Nonna or pepperoni or Sarah's Roberto just ain't going to cut it. Gino D'acampo could dub all her lines and I still wouldn't buy it. I wonder if Sarah enrolled her in a module of "How to speak Weatherfield" just in case she ever had to pop back for a spot of underage drinking with shifty-eyed Andy in t'Rovers. Apart from the accent, or lack thereof, there is also the incredibly irritating requirement for her to swivel her eyes in the standard wild child-dabbling in shoplifting-giving cheek to anyone who's been in the show long enough to remember Annie Walker kind of way. We've seen it all before. 

To make the whole thing more believable apparently the older, wiser, more mature "I've lived in Milan and worked for Uncle Stephen" Sarah-Lou will apparently start bedding Camp Callum the drug dealer and fill in the rest of her time behind the pumps in the Rovers bar. There's career progression for you.

Meanwhile we must endure the ongoing Max/Callum/David round robin of angst-ridden nasty camp posturing. I'm waiting for Callum and David to just get down to it on Gail's impossibly tiny couch. That would make a good re-entry for Kylie, as it were. The way David moans on about Kylie is very strange considering he actually threw her out and told her not to come back. Not so weird then that she's actually done what it says on the tin. Callum had still not grown on me the last time I saw him snarl up the cobbles in his pimped up spiv-mobile. He'll be excellent if the Rovers ever do another festive panto. Oh yes he will!

I know I mentioned that poor Nick hasn't had much to do of late but he's soon to muscle into the Platt-o-sphere with an apparent dalliance with Carla Connor, or Dame Fenella Fielding Of The North as I like to call her. I can't see this being a love match. Nick must still be recovering from being Kim Tate's adventure playground. Heaven knows what she used as a climbing frame but I bet it didn't light up and buzz. Carla is a vision and I adore her. Would she really ask Nick for help with, well, anything and then pop open the Angie Freeman vintage red wine with him? After Paul/Frank/Tony/Peter I think not. 

Out of all of this I'm most interested in Audrey's verdict on Anna Karenina. I've never read it but I understand it goes on for a thousand pages. A bit like one of the scripts for the Platt dynasty. 


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Secrets of the Barlow Boy Scout revealed

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog March 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Coronation Street Blog reader Christina Drakos emailed in to ask about the history of the picture that hangs on the wall in the entry of the Barlow household. With a little bit of help from the lovely people at ITV we can reveal the following about the picture.

The picture in the Barlow's house is called “Wayfarer” and the Boy Scouts Association owns the original.

Copies can be obtained from Howarth & Wrightons Ltd. Unit 2, Cricket Street, Denton, Manchester, M34 3DR, telephone 0161 335 0220.

We also have it on good authority that the following is the true provenance of the picture:

The Pathfinder (1913) shows a young Scout with the hand of Jesus Christ on his shoulder. It was widely circulated as a print, and a copy has featured on the set of the television soap opera, Coronation Street since 1961. One of two original versions of The Pathfinder, together with a number of Carlos's other Scouting works, are held at Gilwell Park in Essex, the headquarters of The Scout Association^.

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Coronation Street wins Soap of the Year award

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog March 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Coronation Street was awarded Soap of the Year at The Television and Radio Industries Club awards this week.

At the bash to collect the award were some of the younger cast members including Colson Smith (Craig Tinker), Sam Aston (Chesney Battersby-Brown), Brooke Vincent (Sophie Webster), Sean Ward (Callum) and Katie McGlynn (Sinead Tinker).

The awards were held on Wednesday March 10th at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Well done, Corrie!



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Coronation Street Chit-Chat news catch-up

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog March 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Here we go with Coronation Street chit-chat, a catch-up of some of the shorter news stories that haven't made it into their own blog post. 

Current Corrie cast
Sally Dynevor (Sally Webster) attended The Silver Butterflies event at the Mere Golf Resort and Spa in Knutsford which raised thousands of pounds for a cancer charity. Read it here.
The Guardian cries out for Corrie to DO SOMETHING with lesbian Sophie Webster. Read it here.
Les Dennis (Michael Rodwell) says it'd be nice to do some stand up comedy. Read it here.
Jack P Shepherd (David Platt) was snapped by paparazzi filming in Liverpool. See pics here.

Ex-Corrie cast
Andrew Lancel (Frank Foster) in cast of stage play 12 Angry Men. Read it here.
Michelle Keegan (Tina McIntyre) in new TV show Ordinary Lies. Read it here.  She'a slso getting married soon. Read it here.
Thomas Craig (Tommy Harris) in cast of stage play The Armour. Read it here.
Charlie Condou (Marcus Dent) to star in new game show. Read it here.

Glenda Young 
Flaming Nora Blog / Twitter   



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EXCLUSIVE Coronation Street Blog interview with David Neilson (Part 3, slight spoiler)

(This post was originally posted by Martin Leay on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2015.)

In the third and final part of our exclusive interview with David Neilson, David tells us about the relationship between Roy and Hayley in Coronation Street and what the future may hold for Roy Cropper. 

“A Perfect Duet - the Diary of Roy and Hayley Cropper” by Coronation Street Blog Editor, Glenda Young, is available to buy now. More information about how you can pick up a copy is available here.

The first part of our interview with David, in which he talks about how he became an actor and some of his roles before joining Corrie, can be read here. And the second part of our interview, which focuses on David’s portrayal of Roy Cropper, can be read here.

Here is the final instalment of our exclusive David Neilson interview…

David Neilson with Corrie Blogger, Martin Leay
(Photo by David Doig)

Martin Leay (ML): Did Hayley transform Roy as a character?

David Neilson (DN): When Hayley came in she was going to be the first in a long line of disastrous relationships but because she was so good and we worked well together they went ‘hang on, we’re going to have to bring her back’. 

ML: Was it a surprise when you found out Hayley was transgender?

DN: The way we dealt with it, it was about any kind of prejudice. Roy is very straight – it wasn’t ideal for him. It was a big crisis but he was in love with this person, so therefore he had to deal with it. There was always a bit of grit – it wasn’t easy. It was outside of his realm. They were both up against society and I think the decency in people identifies with that. And also, we both had immense sympathy for the characters. We always went from the point of view of the integrity of the characters above anything.

ML: Do you think Roy and Hayley helped to shift attitudes in society for the better?

DN: What people related to was their relationship. It was ‘we like them, we want them to be together’. That was Roy’s thing: ‘if I leave this person, I’m less of a person than when we are together’ and he discovered something that unfortunately for him wasn’t easy. But that’s part of development, it is part of growing… life is a struggle. I think people relate to that.

ML: How did you feel when you found out Hayley was going to die?

DN: The writing was fantastic. I got the scripts and it was like wow, this is quite difficult to read, so when we came to doing it – you know it was huge – you get the pay off from a 15 year relationship in real time and you realise you’ve been in their life. It has a feeling of reality about it, which you can’t get in any other kind of show. People have gone through all these experiences with them.

ML: It must have been very difficult to film?

DN: Yes, because you go through it on a daily basis scene after scene and then you get a pile of scripts and go home with it. There is a huge responsibility involved because of what the subject matter is. I had two friends die of cancer during that year and it was quite surreal. The great thing about a human story is that it affects everyone. You can have car crashes, fires and tram crashes but for most people, these things don’t happen. This happens and affects people and so it’s an everyday human story but immense – devastating. It does feel like a responsibility to the story, to the character and to people watching. It was very difficult to watch. I know a lot of people who couldn’t – and that’s quite understandable. 

ML: Julie Hesmondhalgh says she cried after filming her last scenes. Did you get emotional?

DN: The character cried. It was very upsetting. I just remember feeling completely exhausted by it. I remember the scene we filmed, the actual death; that was quite something. And it had never happened to me before – Kay Patrick, who directed it, didn’t have any interruptions. Normally you get retakes but she said ‘let them rehearse on their own as much as they want’ and then we just did it once. It was a great sense of concentration and everybody, the whole crew and team, was right at the top of their game.

ML: You and Julie are very good friends. It must have been great working with her?

DN: It was such a pleasure to go to work. You might do several episodes one after the other so we’d be on all day and sometimes we’d have such fun and the crew would be laughing and at the end of the day you’re knackered but it’s such a nice job. It’s just messing about for a living. It’s great. I actually do for a living what I got told off for at school.

ML: But you’re very good at it!

DN: Well, getting away with it. It’s finding that little bit of something. That’s the skill – and making a living out of it.

ML: You picked up Best Dramatic Performance at last year’s British Soap Awards. How does it feel to have your work recognised in this way?

DN: What I have found is that it makes a big impression on other people and that’s nice. It does change other people’s perception of you. So I realise it’s better to win than not to but as far as all the other stuff is concerned… I have been up for Best Actor several times and I’ve not won it but I’ve never come away thinking I’m any better or worse than I’ve ever felt about myself. ‘Best Dramatic Performance’ – it’s who cried the most. And also, it depends on who has had the most lines and who has had the storylines.

ML: Hayley’s exit storyline was beautifully written but surely it would have been much less powerful without the wonderful performances from you and Julie?

DN: It comes together. You can look like the character and dress like the character but unless the words are there and the situations are there – you’re up against it. I’ve been very fortunate – with the people I’ve worked with and with the writing.

ML: Can you tell us what’s coming up for Roy?

DN: I actually don’t know. It’s a choice I make, really. It’s like life, it just happens. I’m working with Melanie (Hill). I’ve done a couple of days with her. She’s great – a really good actor and a nice woman. That’s the most important thing – that we get on. And we do, so that’s fab. It’s interesting – it’s all wide open, really.

ML: I’ve read it is not going to be a romantic relationship between Roy and Cathy. Do you think viewers are ready to accept Roy with another woman at some point?

DN: It’s a completely new area for him. It depends how it’s handled – it’s all going to be in the writing. Anything is possible. I think it’s the appetite of the writers… and then I deal with it. When it comes through that process, it lands in my pigeonhole and I’ve got a pile of scripts and I go ‘oh, right, OK - what’s happening here?’ Again, it’s like life. I don’t know what’s going to happen this afternoon.

Whatever did happen that afternoon, I hope David had a very Happy Birthday. It was an honour to meet him and learn about his career and I am very grateful to him for giving so much of his time to speak to the Coronation Street Blog. David is a great actor and, I am pleased to say, a really nice guy - modest, friendly, funny and down-to-earth.

I hope that readers enjoyed these interviews. If you missed Parts One or Two, they are available here and here.

I would like to thank ITV, David Neilson and also Glenda Young for her expert editorial guidance.

Roy Cropper is a character that I have enjoyed watching over the past 20 years – he has made me laugh and he has made me cry. David Neilson has been involved in some of the most interesting and moving Corrie storylines I can remember and never fails to turn in a first class performance. 

Long may Roy continue to serve the most competitively priced organic breakfast in Weatherfield (with allotment-grown tomatoes and mushrooms)!

Interview by Martin Leay
You can follow Martin on Twitter @mpleay
You can listen to Martin on Croydon Radio



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Fab Photo Friday, Roy and Hayley

(This post was originally posted by Sunny Jim on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2015.)

It's Friday again so it's time for this week's fab Coronation Street photo.

This week we've been featuring blogger Martin's EXCLUSIVE interview with the lovely David Neilson so here's Roy and Hayley in the Tower Ballroom Blackpool.

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10 things I love and loathe about Corrie right now

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog March 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Now then, you know I love Corrie. I’ve been watching it since I was knee-high to a pint of stout. But being a Corrie fan is much like supporting your favourite football team. Sometimes they’re top of the Premier League and sometimes they’re bottom of the division having scored too many own goals.  You wish the players were moved about and some of your favourites brought in from the subs bench. You call for the manager to be sacked. But in your heart, you couldn’t ever change allegiance. You just wish – and hope – that things will turn around. They always do, it’s just a matter of waiting…

In the meantime, in no particular order, here are 10 things I love and 10 things I loathe about Corrie right now.

I LOVE:

1. Faye's pregnancy storyline especially the involvement of Craig Tinker. Two cracking young actors.
2. Bethany Platt being back - this could be great (despite lack of Italian accent), especially when Sarah returns
3. Sally and Tim
4. Jenny Bradley being back
5. The Nazir women - Yasmeen and Alya
6. Classic characters I'll always enjoy - Roy Cropper, Gail McIntyre
7. The remaining fanciable men - Billy the vicar, Gary Windass
8. Les Dennis as Michael Rodwell
9. Steve and Michelle and their upcoming wedding
10.The remaining women with some gumption about them - Liz, Rita, Eileen, Julie, Tracy, Emily, Izzy, Audrey, Steph, Fat Brenda

I LOATHE:

1. Sinead being in hospital and the 'will she, won't she' walk again stuff. Of course she flaming will.
2. Fake Gavin/Andy. Just get it over with, please
3. Callum - surely the campest villain that Corrie's ever had, and not in a good way
4. David 'fighting for Max'
5. The Nazir men - Kal, Sharif, Zeedan
6. The chicken storyline. It might have worked as a storyline for Mavis and Derek in the 80s but it doesn't work now
7. Huge, important storylines that have been suddenly forgotten e.g. Nick's brain injury
8. Female characters with no point to them - Maria, Andrea, Sophie
9. Male characters I like but who are being much under-used - Tyrone, Kirk
10. Emily being given trite and dull things to say. She's a treasure, use her properly.

Agree? Disagree? Let's have your thoughts and your own 10 things you love and 10 things you loathe in the comments below.



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A week without Corrie

(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2015.)

As you may know I'm currently having some time away from Corrie as I'm suffering from a bit of Weatherfield burn out. I still have a deep love for the show, its history and many of its characters but a lot of Corrie happenings today are either irritating me or just leaving me cold.

I've now missed seven consecutive episodes, the biggest gap in my Corrie watching life I'm rather ashamed to admit! I also must admit I've not missed it nearly as much as I'd feared. Corrie cold turkey is yet to descend. The question is, should I tune back in now? 

I started to think about what I was missing most about Coronation Street. Most of all I miss the humour. I know some would say Corrie is nowhere near as funny as it used to be but there are still moments that make me laugh out loud much more than actual sitcoms do. I also miss some of the more longstanding and well established characters, particularly Emily, Audrey, Rita and Sally. After so many years of dedicated watching they do feel like extended family. On a purely personal and pretty shallow level I also miss certain parts of Gary Windass and rather surprisingly Nick Tilsley. Don't shoot me down!

From interactions with some lovely Twitter followers I'm rather glad to have missed out on more of the new Bethany Platt. I saw her return episodes the other week and the character got on my nerves straight away. I wonder if she has improved any since then? 

I also missed Sean and Billy hosting the butler auction which I'm not too bothered about even if it did feature the lovely Emily. Michelle proposing to Steve...hmmm while I do not object strongly to the idea of them marrying I do worry it might be one big cringe fest. 

One thing I am definitely sorry I missed was Sally going into service and working for Norris! Sally as Norris' slave...that has the potential for its own kinky spin off I reckon!

Undoubtedly I will pick up watching Coronation Street again. I love it too much to keep away. I just don't love it nearly as much as I did. 


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Corrie Canada sneak previews for April 13 - 17

Without further ado here is a brief sneak preview of what you'll see on  next week's Corrie in Canada.

Faye has a baby girl. Owen accuses Craig of being the father. Faye outs Jackson's lie and later confides in Sophie. Bethany plays games with Sarah and Jason so they play games with her. Alya impresses Carla. Tracy continues to play Tony. Todd plays games with Eileen via the online dating site.


For more details and photos, visit the Moosejaw Mercury at Corrie.net



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EXCLUSIVE Coronation Street Blog interview with David Neilson (Part 2)

(This post was originally posted by Martin Leay on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2015.)

David Neilson with Corrie Blogger, Martin Leay
(Photo by David Doig)

Following on from the first part of our exclusive interview with David Neilson (published yesterday and available here), in which David talked about how he became an actor and some of his roles before he joined Corrie – here is the second part, which focuses on David’s portrayal of Roy Cropper in Coronation Street.

Martin Leay (ML): Roy has had many interesting storylines over the years – do you have a favourite?

David Neilson (DN): I’ve been very lucky. I liked the Tony Gordon thing when Roy got obsessed with truth and honour and trying to get Tony to confess and redeem himself. It was nice to be involved in that story and to be thrown into the canal. I also liked the Tracy Barlow story – being drugged and sleeping with Tracy. And I liked the initial stories – when he was just this weird Roy. And then, of course, the cancer story probably topped everything because it was the climax of something.

ML: Roy was brought in for only six episodes. Did you imagine you would be playing him 20 years later?

DN: Well, it was a brilliant part. It really made me laugh. I did think, I wouldn’t mind five years of this! As long as the writers have the appetite for writing for the character, then you’ve got a future.

ML: During his early days on The Street, you described Roy as ‘a bit like Norman Bates’. Was Roy ever really a ‘Psycho’-type character?

DN: He was supposed to be quite sinister but it was really nicely written. They write these characters and because they’re not regular characters, they can be a bit outrageous. Right up until they brought Hayley in, you didn’t know whether he was daft or dangerous – which was great and I don’t think the writers knew. That was exciting because the audience didn’t know either – and that’s intriguing.

ML: Roy has become one of the most loved characters on The Street. How does it feel to play someone who is a ‘national treasure’?

DN: It always surprises me how popular he is. Sometimes it doesn’t happen but we call it ‘Croppermania’. My wife will say, ‘have you been ‘Roy’d’ today?’

ML: Roy has an amazing vocabulary. Do you have much input into the dialogue?

DN: Occasionally, I’ll tweak something. When my friend Stephen was writing it, I used to tell him stories about my mother and he did put something in once but he gave it to another character. I remember when I was a kid, I hadn’t got my bus fare and I had to get to school. My mother was looking for thruppence or something and in her panic she gave me a postage stamp and she said ‘give that to the conductor – it’s got the Queen’s head on it, he’s obliged to accept it’. He gave that line to Jamie Armstrong (played by Joseph Gilgun) who said it to Roy.

ML: I’ve read that Roy’s shopping bag belonged to your Mum. Are there any other props or mannerisms that you added to the character?

DN: My father-in-law was a bit Roy-like and always dressed in beige but the key on the string was my mother as well. It’s all from bits and pieces that you pick up. The great thing about being an actor is that everything, even the bad things; you can treat them like research. You can access it in some way and use it. That’s the nice thing. But then you try and make him who he is and not a type. It’s in the writing… and its development.

ML: It has been suggested Roy might have Asperger’s syndrome. What do you think?

DN: I don’t know, I’ve never asked him! I don’t think it’s anybody’s business. I don’t think labels are helpful – he’s just who he is.

ML: I agree. But would you say Roy has difficulties understanding social situations?

DN: My wife was a Special Needs Teacher and when I was first in it, playing this guy who stood too close and might be dangerous, it was her who said to me, ‘well he might have Asperger’s – he might just not get it’. And that’s when I thought, oh yeah - he just doesn’t get it. And the great thing about that for the writers was that it’s quite difficult when a character is on their own because they need to link to other parts of the show. Nobody would be surprised to find him in the corner shop and then in Ken Barlow’s living room because he didn’t know the barriers. It means you can interact with a story or take the story around. At that time he was just this guy who lived in these flats or sat in the café, went in the pub and brought his own coffee – he had his own flask. He broke the rules, really. That was a really interesting, exciting period, not knowing where it would go. 

ML: Do you share any of Roy’s passions?

DN: I read and I’m interested in stuff but I don’t think I’m obsessive – apart from, unfortunately, about football and Leicester City. Roy wouldn’t be into football. Steam trains are great – I like them but I prefer the Pendolino – 2 hours, 10 minutes from Manchester to London is very good.

ML: There is a replica of the Magna Carta on the wall of Roy’s Rolls. Did the criminal justice system treat Roy fairly after his recent altercation with Gary Windass?

DN: He really thought he deserved punishing. He thought they were a bit lenient!

Corrie Blogger Martin Leay serves up a Full English at Roy's Rolls

ML: Roy serves the most competitively priced breakfast in Weatherfield and his Full English has been frozen at £3.95 for years. Does Roy’s Rolls have an ethical pricing structure?

DN: Or the design department haven’t really kept up. There are also things about his organic suppliers. I think that’s an area we shouldn’t look too closely at.

David Neilson, Martin Leay and
the late, great Tony Benn

ML: Roy is quite politically active, having campaigned to save the Red Rec and Weatherfield Library. How would he exercise his democratic right in the general election in May?

DN: He would definitely vote and he wouldn’t postal vote - he would show up. He’d know all about the candidates and he’d challenge them… so it would depend on who is standing. He obviously cares about community. For him, there is such a thing as society.

ML: Would you have liked Roy to meet his father?

DN: I like the thing where Roy came in and you didn’t know who he was and where he was from and it always happens in these shows that they have to fill in the background. It was great when I heard they were bringing a mother in – I thought 'oh, what’s going to happen?' But then it was so well cast and Steph (Stephanie Cole) was brilliant, so that was nice. It was something I didn’t know was going to happen. It’s nice that you can continue to have some kind of mystery about him or about any character. That’s quite a quality because if you keep people wondering, that intrigues them.

ML: I’ve been wondering… is Roy still sleepwalking?

DN: Not that I know of but he’s asleep when he does it! It was a lead in to the cancer story. He had some wonderful things – like piling all the chairs on top – and that’s the thing about playing a character like that. You get quite eccentric things to do, which is good – whereas the others have affairs and all that stuff. You can’t give that to Roy because he’s no good at it. They find other things that are a bit off the wall, which I enjoy.

Don’t forget to visit the Coronation Street Blog again tomorrow  for the final part of our exclusive interview with David Neilson, focusing on Roy and Hayley’s relationship and what the future may hold for Roy Cropper.

Interview by Martin Leay
You can follow Martin on Twitter @mpleay
You can listen to Martin on Croydon Radio

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Who would you choose as your Corrie Butler?

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog March 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

It's the Butler Auction next week on Coronation Street and as this picture below shows...

...the look of horror on Norris' face says it all - he ended up with Sally Webster as his butler in the Butler Auction next week on Coronation Street.  Mind you, I can't see Sally being best pleased about it either.

In fact, Sally gets so fed up with being treated like a slave, she quits her job as Norris' butler.  I'm looking forward to seeing these two together, should be fun.

Which Coronation Street character would you choose as your Corrie butler? 

Glenda Young 
Flaming Nora Blog / Twitter 



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Another Rover Returns

(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in October 2014.)

The delightful Sarah Louise Platt is heading back to Weatherfield in the new year. News like this really does make my jaded little Corrie heart sing. Well not quite, but I'm hoping it'll be an interesting development. Gail better not start all that dreadful Sarah-Lou business again or else I'll be switching off.

I guess a return for Sarah was all the more likely now we have a full quota of Grimshaws back on Coronation Street. There is much shared history between the two families and this will surely be exploited once again. Sarah was once married to Jason (on the second attempt - he escaped through a toilet window first time around). They finally divorced in 2010. Although Jason now seems happy with Eva, I wonder what the reappearance of Sarah will do to that relationship?

Of course before Jason, came brother Todd. Who can forget Todd realising he was gay thanks to Martin's colleague Karl Foster, while playing happy families with Sarah and her daughter Bethany. Throw into the mix the fact that Sarah and David didn't exactly part on the best of terms and I'm worried poor old Gail might not be in for a great time. Nevertheless, I'm sure she will eye having her family back together again with Ivy Tilsley-like relish.

I wonder what Sarah has been up to in Milan these past few years? I wonder if she'll do a Peter Barlow and come back after all these years without the slightest hint of an Italian accent? You'd expect Sarah to have picked up a bit of Italian in seven years and young Bethany must also be fluent if she was schooled there. Don't let us down oh powerful Corrie production team!

I'm imagining that the teenage Bethany is going to be a bit of a handful. Oh what joy. Just what we need, another moody teenager. I suppose what goes around comes around, which means Sarah is due her share. Which can only mean sad sap Gail will pick up the slack. 

I do wonder how they will all fit into that house though, although Kylie will probably have taken flight before Sarah arrives home. I hope Sarah kicks around long enough for a face off with her sister in law. That could be fun. It will be good to have all the Platt family back together again, apart from dear old Martin, long since forgotten even though he actually only moved as far as Liverpool.

I have one plea to the Corrie writers. Please oh please can Sarah's return spark a come back for the full on Gail/Eileen public slanging match? I adored those scenes, some of the most memorable Corrie has produced in recent times. Something about the height difference made their scraps just downright hilarious. Somehow we must strive for a rematch of the infamous fight on the cobbles. It was truly sublime.

So what do you think of Sarah's return to Coronation Street? Are you looking forward to it? What do you think the powers that be have in store for the character?


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EXCLUSIVE Coronation Street Blog interview with David Neilson

(This post was originally posted by Martin Leay on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2015.)

I’ve had to pinch myself a few times since I started writing for the Coronation Street Blog but never more so than last Friday when I met up with David Neilson in Westminster, London to talk about his life and career and 20 years spent on Britain’s most famous cobbled street.

I was 12 when Roy Cropper first arrived in Weatherfield, mithering Deirdre in that block of flats on Crimea Street. I’ve grown up with Roy and seen him become one of the most loved characters in Coronation Street history – a national treasure!

David Neilson with Corrie Blogger, Martin Leay
(Photo by David Doig)

David Neilson doesn’t do many interviews and so, it was an absolute pleasure and privilege to speak to him exclusively for the Coronation Street Blog. He was great company and only too happy to chat to the many people who recognised him during the hour and three quarters we spent together. I am very grateful to David for being so generous with his time – and on his birthday, no less!

There was so much to talk about that I have split the interview into three parts, the first of which you can read below. This part focuses on David Neilson - his background, his passion for acting and how he came to play Roy Cropper in Coronation Street. 

The second part, in which David talks about playing Roy over the past 20 years, will be on the website tomorrow (Thursday 19th March).

And the final part of the interview, in which David talks about Roy’s relationship with Hayley, working with Julie Hesmondhalgh, and what the future may bring for Roy Cropper, will be up on the website on Friday 20th March.

So, here is part one of our exclusive interview with David Neilson…

 

Martin Leay (ML): What made you want to become an actor? 

David Neilson (DN): I didn’t want the life that was offered me. I was a gas fitter when I left school - when I was 15.  My brother had tried for drama school. I remember him telling me he’d done this audition and you didn’t need O-Levels - you could just go along. And I thought I’d like to go into the movies. I really like those old movies like ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’,  ‘A Taste of Honey’, ‘Billy Liar’ – those movies were about escape – ‘get out, you don’t have to be in this thing’.

ML: How did you break into acting?

DN: I was dead lucky. I used to go to Technical College in Leicester – a day release thing opposite the Phoenix Theatre and I went to see ‘The Caretaker’. I didn’t know what it was but I went to see it and Anthony Hopkins was in it. It blew me away, the whole thing – I thought, wow, I understand that world. So I did a bit of that for my (drama school) audition and I did a bit of Shakespeare. I did one audition and they offered me a place and it changed my life in one afternoon. I came to London and I did a lot of theatre work but I had unemployment as well and picked my tools up again.

"How's that old boyfriend then, Nat?"
(David Neilson in Life Is Sweet)

ML: You were in two Mike Leigh films. How did that come about?

DN: I did a bit of plumbing for Mike! I’m in ‘Life Is Sweet’ and I’ve got one line. I’m the plumber - I’m working with Claire Skinner and I carry a radiator. Mike rang me up and said there’s this part. So I did it and the next one was ‘Secrets & Lies’. We filmed it on a Saturday in June 1995 and one of the actors in it was saying ‘it’s one of my ambitions to be in a Mike Leigh film’ and he said ‘my other ambition is to be in Coronation Street’. I said ‘that’s really weird because I’m doing both of your ambitions this weekend’. On the Saturday I was in the Mike Leigh film and Sunday was my first day on Coronation Street.

ML: How did you land the part of Roy Cropper?

DN: My friend Stephen Mallatratt was writing for the show… we were at drama school together. He’d written one of the 6 episodes. He got a call from the producers saying ‘this character’s got this facility with language – you’ve written him a bit more downmarket than the others - can you just adjust it?’ He was thinking about this guy and how completely inept he was and he thought of me! He rang casting and it was 5o’clock… and he said ‘have you cast this character?’ and they said ‘no, but we will tomorrow morning’. Now if he’d have been half an hour later it wouldn’t have happened because they’d all have gone home – if I’d have been doing a training film somewhere – or if he’d have written it right in the first place, this chance would never have come up. When I got there for this audition, or just an interview – there were all sorts of shapes and sizes – there were older people, fat ones, little ones and the one thing I realised was they didn’t know what they were looking for. So I got it and that was it.

ML: Were you a fan of Coronation Street before you joined the show?

DN: I liked the humour. There have been some great talents and there still are hugely talented people and I know the care that goes into it.

ML: Are there any characters you would like to do more scenes with?

DN: It depends what the scene is. There are some people you never get to speak to apart from serving them in the café. I enjoy watching other characters. I don’t do anything really with Steve McDonald and for me, he’s the centre of The Street – I think he’s got the spirit of Jack Duckworth. He’s got that humour. I love him – Simon and Craig Charles together – I think they’re great.

ML: So you watch Corrie?

DN: Yeah, you have to.  I go through binges. When you’re not in the episode you can sit back and say ‘this is remarkable really’. Some of the things in it are fantastic. I can watch it and feel very proud to be part of it. And there are some really good people in it and some really good people have gone through it. I think it’s a good show.

ML: What is it that you like about it?

DN: The show is entertainment for people who graft all day. It is something they can switch on and go ‘I know where I am here, I’ll watch them have the problems’. And people are very sophisticated about it. Our viewers know what’s right and wrong. They have an instinct for it.

ML: Can you see yourself doing another 20 years at Corrie or are there other things you would like to try?

DN: I’m very fortunate – it’s been very good to me and I feel very valued by the company.  I’m quite happy – there are things I might want to do, it depends what I’m offered. I’ll always be grateful to it, whatever happens. It’s a great show to be part of. I went in for 6 episodes and I’ve been in for 20 years so that’s quite immense really when I think about it. But I don’t normally think about it!

ML: Is it difficult to keep your day job and your private life separate?

DN: Yes… but you learn what to do. I was a plumber but when I finished work I didn’t go home and sit in the bathroom all night. It’s a job.

ML: Can it be difficult to switch off from certain storylines?

DN: I’ve lost more sleep about being a plumber than I have about being an actor because it really matters to people if there is water pouring through their ceiling. But because you are tapping into emotions and experiences that you’ve had, it must open up certain things within you so that if it’s a depressing storyline you can get depressed. You have to look after yourself.

ML: Do you think Roy could fit a boiler?

DN: I think he could, intellectually… but I wouldn’t let him!

Be sure to log on to the Coronation Street Blog tomorrow (Thursday 19th March) for the second part of our exclusive interview with David Neilson, which will focus on David’s role as Corrie’s Roy Cropper.

Interview by Martin Leay
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Helen Worth is "absolutely delighted" about Tina O'Brien's return

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog October 2014, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Helen Worth, who plays Coronation Street's Gail McIntyre, was interviewed on Good Morning Britain this week.

She talked about celebrating her 40 years on Corrie and the return of Tina O'Brien the show as Gail's daughter Sarah Platt. She said this about the return of Tina O'Brien:  "I'm absolutely delighted. I found out yesterday for absolute sure and I can't wait to welcome her back."

Helen also talked about the Born Free Foundation, which she has supported and has been a patron of for the last 15 years.

Find out more about the Born Free foundation




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