The Darth Vader effect on Coronation Street

In this week's awards, I mentioned the Darth Vader Effect relating to Johnny discovering he is Carla's biological father. She'll find out soon enough. This isn't the first time it's happened on Coronation Street and is a fairly standard soap plot that rears its head every so often.

On Coronation Street, Mike Baldwin is the king of the Darth Vader effect, with all three of his sons discovering who their biological father was and Mike knowing about only one of them. Most often it's the fathers who discover previously unknown children because mothers know they've given birth. It's hard to keep that fact from them though if a baby was switched in the hospital, they may not realise the child they raise is their own. But let's not get into that!

Other typical soap scenarios include an older sister or aunt who is really the biological mother of a younger sibling/nephew/niece, or a close relative who is the biological parent, usually father, of someone. We've had the latter in Fred Elliott with his son Ashley but I'm not sure we've had the former situation.

Curly Watts discovered a daughter, Ken Barlow discovered a son (and grandson), Leanne found her mother. For more detail on all of these, and more, see State of the Street.

Can you think of any others I might have missed?





Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.


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Coronation Street mothers from hell

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog March 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

It's Mother's Day in Canada and our blogger Llifon has done a wonderful blog post paying homage to some of the mums in Coronation Street.

But what about those who are less than loving?  Here's my favourite 'mums from hell', have I missed any of your favourite nasties out?

Cilla Battersby-Brown
Abandoned her kids many times over the years. The woman's so evil she even had the mark of the devil on her head on her wedding day.

Tracy Barlow
Sold her baby to the Croppers after pretending she was pregnant with Roy's child when it was Steve's all along.

Kylie Platt
Ran away with a druggie leaving her two kids.

Jackie Dobbs.
Poor Tyrone. 'nuff said.

Linda Armstrong
Abandons her husband and two children, one of whom is disabled, and runs off without a backwards glance. Turns up decades later, the Sue Ellen of Corrie, to cause torment on the cobbles.



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A homage to Corrie mothers

(This post was originally posted by Llifon on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2015, reposted with permission.)

Happy Mother's Day everyone and let's raise a glass to all those Corrie mothers over the years. They've not been the best but what do you expect when they live on Coronation Street!

First row: Elsie Tanner and son Dennis; Annie Walker and son Billy; Ida Barlow and sons David and Ken; Hilda Ogden and daughter Irma

Second row: Blanche Hunt and daughter Deirdre; Deirdre Barlow and daughter Tracy; Ivy Tilsley and son Brian; Audrey Roberts and daughter Gail

Third row: Gail Tilsley and son Nick and daughter Sarah Lou; Sally Webster and daughters Rosie and Sophie; Gail Platt and son David; Eileen Grimshaw and sons Jason and Todd

Fourth row: Liz McDonald and sons Steve and Andy; Vera Duckworth and son Terry; Maud Grimes and daughter Maureen; Anna Windass and son Gary

Who's been your favourite mum and son/daughter relationship?

For me, Audrey and Gail and Blanche and Deirdre are right at the top!
 

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A homage to Corrie mothers

(This post was originally posted by Llifon on the Coronation Street Blog in February 2013.)

Inspired by Graeme's poll, I thought I'd do a gallery of Corrie mothers over the years. There are some missing I know, but I think I've included the ones who have had a well established mother/son or daughter relationship.

First row: Elsie Tanner and son Dennis; Annie Walker and son Billy; Ida Barlow and sons David and Ken; Hilda Ogden and daughter Irma

Second row: Blanche Hunt and daughter Deirdre; Deirdre Barlow and daughter Tracy; Ivy Tilsley and son Brian; Audrey Roberts and daughter Gail

Third row: Gail Tilsley and son Nick and daughter Sarah Lou; Sally Webster and daughters Rosie and Sophie; Gail Platt and son David; Eileen Grimshaw and sons Jason and Todd

Fourth row: Liz McDonald and sons Steve and Andy; Vera Duckworth and son Terry; Maud Grimes and daughter Maureen; Anna Windass and son Gary

Who's been your favourite mum and son/daughter relationship? For me, Audrey and Gail and Blanche and Deirdre are right at the top!

Happy Mother's Day everyone and let's raise a glass to all those Corrie mothers over the years. They've not been the best but what do you expect when they live on Coronation Street!

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Coronation Street: From here to maternity

(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in March 2013.)

Apart from the debate over who is Corrie's best mum, there has been another interesting theme running through my recent blog posts - those Coronation Street mothers who did not feature in my poll. It seems everyone has an opinion!

So I thought on the eve of Mother's Day itself, I would take a look at some of the other mothers on the Street.

Some of you may have wanted Eileen Grimshaw included on the list. She may not be the best judge when it comes to men, but she has raised two sons well and is a strong source of support to both. She defended Todd to the hilt when he came out - who can forget her wonderful scrap on the cobbles with a dressing gown-clad Gail? One of my favourite Corrie moments ever! And I for one would love to see a rematch in the future.

Then there are young mums like Fiz Stape and Maria Connor. Should they have been included? Fiz has been a great mum so far to baby Hope although perhaps her involvement with John Stape rules her out. She has also acted as a surrogate mum to brother Chesney and was in many ways a better role model than their dreadful mum Cilla! 

Maria is another good young mum, although like Fiz she did get mixed up with a crazed psycho in my fellow countryman, Tony Gordon. 

And what of the other, lower-key mums on the Street? There's Roy's barnstorming mother, Sylvia Goodwin. Their relationship is certainly touching if at times very strained. What about Gloria Price, mum to St Ella of the Back Room. Nah, giving birth to St Ella rules her out straight away in my opinion! 

Kylie Platt has certainly improved as a mother, especially since she tried to sell son Max to her sister Becky. There is also Beth Tinker who gave us the superb Craig; Katy Armstrong who is currently putting us all off kebabs; Sunita Alahan who is soon to go up in smoke and Crazy Kirsty, though I fear even Tracy Barlow might get more votes than her. 

Have I missed anyone out?

I think so. One of the interesting things to come out of this discussion (well I think so anyway) is that sometimes the best Coronation Street mother figures are actually not mothers at all. I'm looking at three lovely ladies in particular. 

Emily Bishop has never been blessed with children but has acted as a wise mentor to many younger Street residents such as Kevin Webster, Curly Watts, Spider Nugent and Sophie Webster. Hayley Cropper is also a character seen as a wonderful mother figure by many. Despite Roy and Hayley's many attempts, their dreams of fostering or adopting never quite worked out. A great shame as I think they would have made terrific parents. Hayley has been like a mother to Fiz and Becky and is the kind of character many Street residents turn to in times of need.

However, I think the best mother figure has to be Rita Tanner. It was always a great sadness to Rita that she had never had children which led to the Faircloughs fostering kids in the early 1980s. There was John Spencer, Sharon Gaskell and finally Jenny Bradley. Sadly Rita didn't have much luck with any of these in the long run. Since then Rita has acted as a friend to many younger characters such as Sally, Leanne, Tina and Tommy. She is always there to  dole out the common sense with the sherbet lemons. Having been there, done that and bought the diamante studded jumper, she always knows exactly what to say.


So do you agree that the best Coronation Street mother figures aren't always mothers in the traditional sense? 


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