Your ideal Coronation Street episode

(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in December 2012.)

Now it might just be the very strong medication I am currently taking or the side-effects of NHS catering, but I did dream/hallucinate about being in charge of Coronation Street the other night. 

As hallucinations go, it wasn't actually a bad one, although it was disappointingly clean. Anyway, I did dream I was in the Corrie hot seat, so in the spirit of Christmas, I thought I would share my experience. 

Or I would if I could actually remember what happened. Knowing me it would probably involve Rita, Audrey and a bottle of gin. 

However all this drug-fuelled thinking did make me ponder what it would be like to be in charge of producing an episode of Coronation Street. We all have our say on what we love/like/dislike/hate about Corrie, but it is easy to do so without the pressure of being in any way responsible. So I thought, what would I do if I was given control of an actual episode? 

Well, it would definitely revolve around the Street's more established, long-serving characters. I think it would also focus on some of Corrie's classic, strong, women.  They have always been the backbone of the show, and rightly so. There would also be frequent references to Corrie's golden past. And there would be no high drama, no violence, no deaths, no hysteria. 

With me so far? 

My idea would be very simple. I'd love some of the more mature Corrie ladies to sit round sharing a few drinks and remembering old times. I think Rita, Emily, Audrey, Gail, Deirdre and Sally would feature. I would want it to be full of comedy but also with a tinge of classic Corrie sadness and pathos. I think it was Betty Driver who said Corrie missed the old scenes where a few characters would stand around the Rovers bar discussing nothing in particular. These scenes may not have advanced the current plots a great deal, however they were full of Corrie magic and always entertaining. The modern Street sometimes moves too quickly for my liking. Anyway that would be my suggestion for a cracking, stand-alone episode.

So if you were in the director's chair at Coronation Street and found yourself in charge of an episode what would you do? Which characters would you want to use? What would the story be? Only a bit of fun, but I'd love to hear your ideas. 


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