Saturday 4 October 2014

Should a Corrie home keep its character?

(This post was originally posted by Llifon on the Coronation Street Blog in September 2014.)

A new poll by Opinion Matters (on behalf of homewares brand Heart of House) has ranked Ken and Deirdre's living room in third place as the most outdated home in soaps. Not far behind are Roy Cropper's living room (5th place), Fiz and Tyrone's living room (7th place), the Rovers' back room (9th place) and Emily's living room (10th place).

As for the most updated and modern abodes, there is Carla's flat (which I think is also Peter's?) at 2nd place, Nick Tilsley's flat (6th place) and the Websters (not sure if it's No. 4 or No. 13!).

To see the full results, check them out on Digital Spy

This got me thinking about the homes of Coronation Street, and I asked myself a question: what's most important - fashion or character?

For many years, the interior sets of the street, bar the Rovers, lacked a lot of imagination. The floors were carpet-less and grey and the walls were brown or grey. Since the 1980s, they've been spruced up and a little colour and character has been introduced. Some of the props have been there for decades. The Barlows still have Albert Tatlock's sideboard and table and chairs while Emily's cabinet and table and chairs have been there since the 1970s. Although in real life, they probably would've faced the skip, in Corrie nostalgia is important and so they are kept. 

Following the studies of Darwin and Freud about people's links with their environment, playwrights began to include subtle hints about the personalities of characters through the pictures on the walls,the wallpaper, or the furniture. And Corrie is no different.

Hilda Ogden's 'muriel' and flying ducks symbolized both her quirkiness and her social aspirations; the Duckies' living room symbolized their lives - all over the place; while Mike Baldwin's flat represented his suaveness. It wasn't until 1982 when No. 7 was rebuilt that modern houses were seen and portrayed on screen and it wasn't until the new houses were built that Corrie began modernising.

So, should a Corrie home keep its character? Or should they go with the flow where fashion is concerned?


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1 comment:

Sheila said...

They can keep a few significant pieces that have sentimental appeal, just as real people do but they should also update the furniture and wall decor just as real people do also! It makes no sense that Deidre would be content with that space and Fiz and Tyrone are young! I don't believe they wouldn't have freshened things up a bit. As you can tell, the incredibly outdated interiors really bug me! :)

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