Kylie - One year later

(This post was originally posted by David on the Coronation Street Blog in September 2011.)

So it’s been just over a year since Kylie Tuner (now Platt) arrived on the cobbles and what a year it’s been.

When we first met Kylie it was shortly after Becky and Steve’s dreams for adoption were shattered, due to Kylie’s scathing reference of Becky. Cue a Terminator-esque fight scene before Becky helped Kylie to regain custody of Max and then the two of them moved in at the Rovers.

After making a move on poor old Steve Kylie then threatened to take Max away from Becky, who had grown incredibly attached to Max. Devious Kylie then devised a plan to make a bit of money (well quite a lot of money!) and offered to sell Max to a desperate Becky. After Steve reluctantly agreed to come on board Kylie got her money and then buggered off abroad for a bit. And boy was I happy to see the back of her!

Fast-forward a year or so later and the Kylie we now know is only showing occasional shades of the nasty piece of work she once was. I’m not going to go as far as saying she’s a reformed character, but she’s on the up and I believe that she is genuinely sorry for her past actions regarding her son and to some degree how she ruined her relationship with Becky.

The moment she broke down in tears with Gail a few weeks ago was when I knew Kylie really loved Max. It was easy to assume that she wasn’t bothered about him, she didn’t want the burden of a child or she simply wanted to wind Becky up before then. But after letting out her true feels about Max and how she doesn’t think she is good enough to be his mum, we saw a completely different and raw side to Kylie. She’s knows she’s got a pretty good set-up going for herself now, a marriage, a job (sort of), a home and a family and all that’s missing is Max.

Alright she slipped back into her old ways when she tried to blackmail Audrey over Mark, but Rome wasn’t built in a day was it? She’s still got a long way to go, but unlike some Corrie characters who have a mean streak (and by this I mean Tracy Barlow) Kylie’s is understandable. All her life Kylie has had to survive, Becky left when she was a child leaving Kylie alone with their mother for which Kylie came to resent Becky for, and since then Kylie’s life has been one big struggle. And there’s something wonderful about watching someone who we know has came from such a hopeless background beginning to turn their life around.

I know Kylie isn’t always the most popular character or one everyone sympathises with, but for me Kylie has grown so much into an incredibly fleshed out and deep character and is probably one of the most interesting characters on the show at the moment.

What do you think about Kylie - is she a reformed character or can a leopard never change its spots?