Stella Price - and why I like her

(This post was originally posted by Rebecca on the Coronation Street Blog in January 2012.)
Unpopular opinion time: I like Stella.

I wasn't sure about the casting or the character when it was first announced, because I all-too-vividly remember Michelle Collins as the shrieking harpy that was Cindy Beale, one of about a zillion women who have for some unfathomable reason married Ian Beale. She cheated on him, obviously, and ended up dying in childbirth, which is appropriate, as I mostly remember Cindy shrieking while heavily pregnant. Anyway! This blog is not about the sarf, but the north, so to Coronation Street we must go.

I do think it was a good move to bring in more family for Leanne, as with Janice gone she's a little bit out on a limb with only Peter's family for company - and obviously since that might go belly up because of Peter and Carla, that would have left Leanne with no ties to Weatherfield. She might have even had to go to That London to see Are Toyah. Bringing her estranged mother in made complete sense, as did that mother having another child and a partner.

They're a good family unit I think, and I like Karl a lot, and the chemistry he and Stella have. Karl seems like a typical Corrie fella - a bit feckless, a bit reckless, and a bit soft for his woman. Eva I could do without, because she's one-dimensional, but I do love the actress and I think they will redeem the character somehow. I like her and Nick together because they're both dreadful people - it will end in tears in a vein similar to Steve and Karen!

I was convinced that Michelle Collins was not the right choice to play Stella, and she did (rightly) get a lot of flack for her accent. But it's obvious that she's worked on it a lot, and there are only a few niggles that remain for me - mostly the way she says her 'U's - they're not flat enough and can have traces of a Southern 'uh' instead of a Northern 'u'. It could be explained away I think, by saying that Stella had lived in the south for a while, perhaps. She's grown on me, has Michelle, and I'm hoping that Stella stays a while.

I've seen criticisms, on here and elsewhere, that Stella has been crowbarred into every storyline going. I don't see it that way. With Leanne, of course she's going to be protective, she hasn't seen the girl in about 30 years. I'm loving all these people who are suspicious about Peter and Carla, and can't wait to see where it goes. It's natural for her to be interested in the people (the Barlows) who have been her daughter's family for a long while.

As for the other storylines that she's got into - she's the landlady in the Rovers. Every good landlady knows every movement up and down her little street. It's partly why they did need a woman there since Becky left. The frightening alternative is Tracy, and no one would want that, would they? Landladies are always involved, because everyone tells them everything, and everything happens in their pub. It's natural.

Definitely, for me, Stella and Michelle are positives for Corrie. The only remaining question is - what the heck did Stella ever see in Les Battersby?!

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