Coronation Street - to OB or not to OB?

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog October 2013, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Coronation Street has a long tradition of outside broadcasting, or OB.

I'm thinking particularly of filming locations outside of Weatherfield and away from the set, places like Freshco and Bettabuys, that were woven into the lives of regulars of the Street.

Even places that we knew were sets but, importantly, appeared to be away from Coronation Street itself were important to the storyline and a regular part of it - places like Mike Baldwin's favourite restaurants The Clock, Delphine's and Valandro's.

Maybe it's because we're in a recession and we don't have characters like Mike Baldwin any more  to splash the cash, but there's a distinct lack these days of any outside filming at all.

When did we last see the inside of the Weatherfield Arms or the Flying Horse?  Come to think of it, even nearer to home, when was the last time we saw inside the chippy? We know it still exists because characters go out to buy a chippy tea. But we never see inside it, not any more.

All we see these days for a bit of excitement is the Bistro - over and over again.  We see the Red Rec now and then and we saw Salford Quays a couple of years ago, likewise the canal.  We might see churches for hatches, matches and dispatches, but not much more, any more. That's why when Corrie does do OB, as in Roy and Hayley's recent trip to Blackpool, we lap it up a lot.  But nothing seems to be woven regularly into the lives of the characters any more, like the pubs and the supermarket used to be.

Even Audrey's house in leafy Grasmere Drive seemed an exotic diversion away from the cobbles but we haven't been inside her hallowed hall for, ooh, yonks.  Speaking of which, wasn't there a storyline brewing about a damp patch that Owen was quoting for mending for the fragrant Mrs Roberts? And didn't Audrey move out of her des-res into flat-share with Marcus, Maria, little Liam and Ozzy?  What's going on there, then?  Mind you, when Owen had his run-in with Pat Phelan, we did see Pat's house, which has been used before for filming on Corrie.

I wonder if the Street's set move to the new site at Media City will mean more, or less, outside broadcasts for Coronation Street?  For now it looks like all we'll get are yet more scenes shot in The Bistro and the medical centre (which appears to double for Weatherfield General Hospital too).  

Will we ever see the likes of The Clock again? Will the Wethy Arms be shown on screen or just be talked about and never seen, much like Fat Brenda and Big Garth? And what'll happen to Terry Duckworth's unfinished and abandoned club, 7eventh Heaven? 

Which Corrie set that we no longer see, would you like to make a come-back?

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