Corrie spoilers: Less is more?

(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in February 2015.)

I can never resist reading ahead to find out what is going to happen in Corrie. My partner constantly despairs that I seem to know everything that is going on with my favourite characters rather than waiting for the odd surprise. However, when thinking about this I realised that we don't often get surprises from Coronation Street these days.

I've been to several ITV press events as part of my role as a blogger for this site and they are always terrific. It's a great privilege and a pleasure to get sneak peeks behind the scenes and meet some of those involved. It is something that Coronation Street and ITV do very well indeed. I'm wondering though whether we, the viewers, are exposed to too much in advance in the hope of securing high viewing figures?

Take the mini bus crash. From the clips I've seen it looks brilliantly executed and yes, very dramatic (that much overused word). The trouble is that most Corrie fans and the viewing public at large have been keenly aware for months that this is coming. It has featured in many publications, newspapers, on television and the internet. Every member of the cast involved has been interviewed about their role in the big stunt and possible consequences for their characters. My worry is that this strips the storyline clean and leaves us with little that is unknown and surprising to look forward to. We will all still tune in tonight to watch the trauma unfold but will it, I wonder, have lost a bit of its edge?

Every so often the Corrie producer will appear on television or in the press to discuss upcoming storylines. Always an interesting interview which sparks many comments both here and elsewhere. But do we need to know it all? I hate to bring EastEnders into this, and I don't watch it at all, however I am aware of a new tactic that has been deployed in Albert Square. Every so often the producers will hit the viewers with a complete surprise. They have apparently very successfully brought back characters from the past for brief, but unexpected stints. This could be said to give the programme greater continuity and believability while also hooking viewers in who are waiting for the next unexpected twist. Is this something Coronation Street should explore?

We all love to gossip about Corrie and attempt to predict what will happen in the weeks and months ahead, but is it better left at that? Do we need all of Corrie's storylines to be discussed and previewed repeatedly leaving nothing left to the imagination? You can understand the need to stoke the publicity furnace on an ongoing basis but are we now at saturation point? I'll probably never stop reading ahead and pouncing on the latest bit of news, but what do you think?

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