Elsie Tanner appears on new Manchester mural

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

Copyright: Michael J Browne

Coronation Street's Elsie Tanner has turned up on a muriel mural in a new Manchester Italian restaurant called Gusto.

The mural is a five-metre wide Renaissance mural painted by artist Michael J Browne. It includes portraits of pioneering Mancunians and important figures from music and literature.

There’s even Pat Phoenix, better known as Coronation Street's Elsie Tanner, leaning on the door of the Rovers Return.

Talking about the painting, Michael Browne said: “My brief was based around Central Library and the idea of Manchester firsts and achievements. I’ve extended that to famous people, and I’ve picked people who are famous for being rebellious or for their hard work in the city."

You can find out more about the mural at the Manchester Evening News where they have lots of pictures of it too.



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Conversation Street Podcast 164

Gemma and Michael's podcast for the episodes in Canada that aired (up to last night's Canadian Corrie) can be heard here.

This week, Gemma and Michael discuss Carla's ongoing gambling problem, Callum's ability to slither out of paying for his criminal behaviour, Hope's diagnosis and prognosis and Cathy's foray into the art world. Lloyd seems to be torn between two lovers and Jason starts his road to recovery. Listener questions are answered in another segment.




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Doing a Talk on Corrie

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

Sheffield, my hometown, is having a bit of a festival moment. As a result, I’ve been asked to do a talk. The only trouble is I don’t know when, but have been told to be ‘ready to roll’ from about 19^th September.

There are several things that I could talk about but only one that I would really like to talk about –Coronation Street, of course, and our wonderful blog in particular, with  much gratitude to Glenda for starting the whole thing off.

My plan for the talk is essentially this -:

·      Beginnings - Tony Warren - his vision

·      Facts and figures – audience viewings, number of hotpots sold etc.

·      Issues raised in Corrie

·      The women  - in general

·      Characters – Elsie Tanner, Ena Sharples, Hilda Ogden, Emily Bishop, Bet Lynch, Rita Tanner, Deirdre, Carla Connor, Mary Taylor – detailed character analysis and their individual speech styles

·      The men – holding back the women – general theme.

·      Details of men and their secondary role – as envisaged by Tony Warren

·      How the show has changed or not, through the decades.

·      Snobbery surrounding soaps, lighthearted comparison to the great dramatists

·      And then finally, some clips – including-: death of Stan Ogden - Hilda and the glasses, Death of Martha Longhurst, rows between Ena and Elsie. And some modern stuff.  There is SO much, it is difficult to be sure that you have the best bits.

I would be very grateful for your assistance here, my fellow bloggers and our much valued and loyal readers. Is there anything that you think is CRUCIAL in a talk about Corrie that I have not touched on?

Btw did you know that in 1990 Hilda Ogden was the 4^th most recognizable woman in Britain, after the Queen, the Queen Mother and Princess Di?

And this – Blanche Hunt – ‘Good looks are a curse Deirdre. You and Kenneth have been very lucky.’

Very much looking forward to your comments. Thank you.

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Corrie Canada weekly awards Sept. 7 - 11

Xena award: Sally thinks shoulder pads make her feel like a warrior princess going into battle. She gets the fashion award, too. I liked her suit!

Musical ambiance: "Pick up the Pieces" on the juke in the pub when Erica is moaning about losing Nick.

Delusional award: Sally and Sean both for thinking Aidan was flirting with either of them. Actually, he was, but he didn't mean it!

Stag on a Mountaintop award: Robert and Aidan. Which made no sense. Tracy was the rude one, Robert was just trying to keep the peace not make moves on Carla. Contrived much?

Art gone Viral award: An art class was scheduled in a little back street community centre. 24 hours later there were so many people that wanted to take it that they had to turn some away? Really?

Lines of the week:
Gail "I'm standing in me kitchen drinking "cambridge's"(?) talking about gangsters and guns"
Tony "I look after my own" Eileen "When it suits you" (Ow.)
Sally "I like a substantial shoulder. It makes me feel like Boudicca going into battle"
Carla to Nick "You like having a car crash girlfriend?" (yes, actually, I think he does)
Steve "It's like leaving the monkeys in charge of the bananas!" Lloyd "You getting a monkey??"
Liz (about the dog) "How does she cross all them roads?" Steve "Maybe she takes the bus"
Lloyd "I'm funnier than Nick Tilsley" (I agree. Nick is not one i would call a laugh-a-minute)
Gail about Bethany "How can she be so stupid?" Nick "The question is, how can Callum be so smart?"
Lloyd to Steve "If you ever turn up here in a pink dress or a string of pearls, you and me are finished!"
Tony "I don't need people poking their nose into my business" (then don't talk about your business in a pub)

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Take the test: How well do you know Ken Barlow?

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

How well do you know Ken Barlow? 

With thanks to an old soaps quiz book that Sunny Jim found in a charity shop last week, here we go with a set of questions all about King Ken of Coronation Street.

There's no prizes for winning, so don't ring in. It's just for fun. Mind you, it is rather tricky.

1. What was the name of Ken Barlow's brother and who did he marry?
2. Who was newspaper man Ken's mole on the local council?
3. Why did Ken's parents disapprove of his girlfriend Marion Lund?
4. What subjects did Ken get a second-class BA honours degree in?
5. How did Ken Barlow's mother Ida die?
6. What was Ken's first job after University?
7. In which newspaper did Ken's controversial article 'Life in a Northern Backstreet' appear?
8. What did Ken sell to pay for his wedding to Valerie?
9. Where did Ken and Valerie spend their honeymoon?
10. Why did Ken report butcher William Piggott to the police?
11. What was the demo against that landed Ken Barlow in jail?
12. Which exotic location was Ken going to teach in before his wife Valerie died?
13. Why did Ken's housekeeper Margaret Lacey resign?
14. Who was Ken Barlow matched with when he joined a computer dating agency?
15. How did Ken's estranged wife Janet die?

You'll find the answers here.



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Sunday Comments September 13

Poor Max really is scared of his dad now. David still thinks they should take him to the police but Kylie doesn't think it will do any good, not after Callum wriggled out of it the last time. But hearing Sean and Billy talk about Jason changes her mind. They usher Max along but Callum starts goading them and unfortunately David rises to the bait and tells him that Max saw him kicking Jason. Oh dear. Callum can't intimidate Max, obviously, but he tries to force Bethany into lying that she was with him at the time. Good for her for standing up to him. But now, he's drugged Sarah.

Max did really well at the police station, but it looks like it's breaking Kylie's heart. Max doesn't know why is father did what he saw him doing and is afraid Callum will come after him, too. Callum's plan is two pronged. He's drugged Sarah and Gemma manages to get Bethany's sympathy to get her in the car and persuade her to give them an alibi with a bit of scare tactics, but this time they've got footage of a drugged Sarah, threatening to do "something" to Sarah if she doesn't give him an alibi. Bethany quickly agrees to lie to the police. She's scared now. The thing is, she can lie but they should have experts that deal with kids that should be able to tell if a child is lying and he has no reason for it. That fright is real.

All that optimism was bound to have them all heading for a crash. It's Lilly's second birthday and everyone is happy and hopefull. Bethany is clearly feeling scared and worried. You can tell because she's not wearing makeup. She told her family the lies she told about Callum's alibi even though nobody believes her. She's up against a formidable force. How long can she keep up the pretence? I still don't get how the police believe her over a child who has no reason to lie.

I think Kylie nearly got through to Bethany until Sarah stuck her boots in. Still, she supported her daughter but she went to Tony with her suspicions since he's now an interested party and Tony isn't going to be as circumspect as the police when it comes to Callum's guilt or apparent lack thereof. Tony's really determined and getting angrier by the minute. Lying to the cops that he saw Callum in the area isn't really much help, he still didn't actually see anything.

Eileen and Tony are still sitting vigil at Jason's bedside, alternating between fear, anger, self pity, begging a God they don't believe in. They end up clinging to each other in comfort. That would have been the perfect moment for Jason to wake up! But he's been kept in a coma medically so that won't happen until they're ready to try to bring him around, which they finally do. Good timing, I think Tony was about to charge his vehicle over Callum like a bug on the windshield!

Jason doesn't remember a whole lot, just being jumped, and he recognized Callum's voice, he thinks. That's all Tony needed. I didn't half enjoy seeing Tony scare the bediddles out of Callum!!

I gotta say, even though Todd had all this attitude coming, all that contempt from Sean, I admit to feeling a little bit sorry for Todd this week.

Aidan isn't too impressed by the accounts. Alya's making snide comments and Sally's trying to be upbeat and positive but when Carla's car gets repossessed, it might all be for nothing. Aidan realizes she was gambling way more than MIchelle thought she was. Is he still going to invest? Nick is on her back, Carla is giving up and his horrible to him but he's determined to stick by her. Nick is trying hard to persuade Aidan to invest. I don't think Carla's gambling days are over just yet, though. He's going to do it, for 40%. Will Carla be able to turn herself around? Fresh start?

Maybe not. first thing on his first day, Sally threw in a reminder of Maddie and you could see Carla's face fall and she Ran for the Hills. She got more than she bargained for when Nick dragged her to Lily's birthday party which then blew up into a big hot mess (see above). Meanwhile Alya threw Aidan in the deep end though he seemed to handle it just fine.

Aidan got a rental car for Carla, probably charging it to Underworld. A far cry from what she's used to and the minute she gets in it, she's off to the casino again and gambling online. Not cool, Carla.

Aidan didn't get off on the right foot with Robert and that made absolutely no sense. Robert was only trying to keep the peace between Tracy and Carla and neither he nor Aidan knows the history between the two women. Why on earth would they suddenly act like testosterone poisoned stags on the mountain? It's not as if they're fighing over either woman.

Hope is taken to the doctor and Fiz and Tyrone are told that she's got a lump in her abdoment. Things will move quickly, a scan will be ordered as soon as and Hope will be sent to a specialist. They're not taking any chances even though it still might be nothing. Parents' worst fear! Sally's wittering about work gossip doesn't interest Fiz who isn't about to tell people there could be a serious problem just yet.

Fiz called in "sick" to work but didn't say what her emergency was so of course there's now a big to-do and Aiden stuck his foot in it by confronting them on the street. Fiz didn't want anyone to know about Hope until they knew what they were dealing with. It's a tumour but they don't know yet if it's cancerous.

Lloyd is still in a funk over Andrea's departure. Steve, Liz and Erica make valiant attempts to cheer him up. They all share love-war stories. You see, it's the lies that Lloyd really had a hard time with and the women say he'd never be able to trust a word she said. Erica, Liz and Lloyd take the party to the back room with more wine. Lloyd is at least enjoying the women's silliness. They won't let Steve in on the fun because he's happily married. But Lloyd still wants her back.

But Liz thinks Erica and Lloyd would make a nice couple. Lloyd isn't so sure but Erica's hanging around the bar by his side. Steve let it slip that Liz is playing matchmaker and Erica wasn't long figuring it out. I don't think Lloyd's heart was really in it but Andrea came back and spotted him with Erica. Oops. Forget the elephant in the room, there's a big bad soap cliche in the way!

Well, in order to try to cheer up Lloyd, Liz offers up Housewives of Cheshire and a Chinese takeaway and what he took away was a major snog with his old flame and a night of rumpy pumpy! What confused me is why Michelle and Steve thought Liz was hiding Tony when they know that Lloyd spent the evening with her. Anyway it all comes out and Steve is told off by Liz who wonders if reconciling with Lloyd might be just the thing. Only it kind of surprised Lloyd that she thought along those lines once Steve told him.

Cathy and Roy are still not quite on the same page as far as house rules. Toast crumbs in the butter. Far too much soap in the sink for doing the dishes. Bad puns. It's going a bit rough from Roy's point of view but Cathy seems oblivious. Next, though, Mary and Yasmeen practically bully Cathy into teaching art classes when she clearly didn't want to. Craig got bullied into it as well as Emily and Tim. I'm also surprised that there were so many people that wanted to take the art class, which was only scheduled 24 hours before, that they had to turn many away! Cathy got turned away too, she panicked and ran.

Steve needs to rename that dog Boomerang. Now he thinks the dog's owner might not even want the dog. Or at least that the dog isn't happy there.

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Strictly Corrie Dancing

(This post was originally posted by Scott Willison on the Coronation Street Blog in August 2015.)


With the announcement that little Katy Armstrong is about to don twelve inches of fake tan and a diamante thong to appear on Strictly Come Dancing, I thought it would be an ideal time to look back at previous Coronation Street stars who've braved the ballroom.

For the first few years, there were no Corrie stars on the show, and there still haven't been any current cast members shaking their groove thang on the dance floor.  For some reason ITV isn't keen on letting its soap stars have time off to appear on one of the glittering stars in the BBC's firmament; can't think why.  Shame, because who wouldn't want to see Rita or Gail doing a samba to Ooh Stick You? In fact, the first Coronation Street actor to appear on the show hadn't even been on Corrie yet.

Jill Halfpenny - Series Two

AKA: medical strumpet Rebecca Hopkins.

Professional Partner: Darren Bennett

Eliminated: WINNER!

Strictly Journey: I completely forgot that Jill Halfpenny was in Corrie - I remember her mainly from Byker Grove, because I'm ancient - but Strictly blogging legend Chris Rubery (aka the Monkseal) pointed out my error on Twitter so I had to do a quick re-edit of this post mere moments after pressing "publish".  Jill, of course, won the show, and has since gone on to be spoken of in hushed tones as Queen Of All Things Strictly.  Jill Halfpenny is the winner of all winners, a sainted dance legend, and so we'll just forget the fact that she broke up Martin and Gail's marriage, the TART.

Will Thorp - Series Three

AKA: Chris Gray, tedious wife batterer.

Professional Partner: Hanna Haarala

Eliminated: Week Six.

Strictly Journey: sadly, Will's appearance pre-dates both my interest in the show and YouTube so I was unable to review his performance.  However, he was eliminated ahead of middle aged BBC Breakfast legend Bill Turnbull so I don't think he was the new Fred Astaire.

Ray Fearon - Series Four

AKA: Nathan Cooper, mechanic and one-time sexual plaything of Tracy Barlow.

Professional Partner: Camilla Dallerup

Eliminated: Week Six.

Strictly Journey: again, YouTube is not our friend, and the only footage I could find was a grainy video of the male contestants doing a group dance.  Ray seemed to be a big fan of the "stand still while the professional twiddles around you" dancing which usually means a duffer.

Claire King - Series Four

AKA: current resident cougar Erica Holroyd.

Professional Partner: Brendan Cole

Eliminated: Week Eight.

Strictly Journey:  Claire danced like a stripper in need of her rent money and had absolutely no compunction about steaming up the camera lens with filth.  Also, she hated Brendan, leading to a prickly relationship on the floor.  Pretty fantastic all round, really.

Brian Capron - Series Five

AKA: Norman Bates with a Briefcase, Richard Hillman

Professional Partner: Karen Hardy

Eliminated: Week One.

Strictly Journey: see above.  I assume Brian was dancing in character as the recently revived zombie corpse of Richard Hillman, and that was why he lumbered around with no sense of rhythm or movement.  It was actually painful watching him clatter round the dance floor.

Stephanie Beacham - Series Five

AKA: canal-based trollop Martha Fraser.

Professional Partner: Vincent Simone

Eliminated: Week Two.

Strictly Journey: A legendary diva like La Beacham insists on looking her best at all times.  Presumably that's why she danced so timorously: she was afraid of messing up her hair.  She was mostly fabulous offscreen, barking her opinions on her fellow dancers on It Takes Two.

Craig Kelly - Series Seven

AKA: forgettable factory manager Luke Strong.

Professional Partner: Flavia Cacace

Eliminated: Week Eight.

Strictly Journey: Blackpool-born Craig (he was from Blackpool) made great mileage out of the fact that he really wanted to perform in the Tower Ballroom during the traditional Blackpool week.  In fact, Blackpool-born Craig couldn't seem to talk about anything else, and the viewers clearly took pity on him, letting him stay on the show far longer than more qualified contestants so they could give him the chance to cha-cha-cha in the home of British ballroom.  Then they promptly voted him out, because the Great British Public will only take so much.

Tina O'Brien - Series Eight 

AKA: pocket sized irritant Sarah-Louise Platt.

Professional Partner: Jared Murillo

Eliminated: Week Five

Strictly Journey: at first it looked like tiny Tina could be a whizz on the dance floor.  Unfortunately, her daughter caught chickenpox during her time on the show, leading (a) to her mind understandably being on other things and (b) Tina herself catching the pox and having to miss out one week.  The following week she was back but she was kind of beat and frankly sending her home was a relief for everyone.

Jimi Mistry - Series Eight

AKA: recently flame grilled gym owner Kal Nazir.

Professional Partner: Flavia Cacace

Eliminated: Week Six

Strictly Journey: back when he was still "Hollywood star Jimi Mistry", he looked like a shoo-in for the final.  He'd shown his dance skills off already in The Guru and he was a charming chap.  It was therefore a SHOCK! BOOT! when he went out in week six, losing out to the frankly bonkers (in a good way) Michelle Williams.  Still, he got a wife and child out of the experience, so he probably couldn't care less.

Debra Stephenson - 2011 Christmas Special

AKA: crypto-incestuous Cockney Frankie Baldwin.

Professional Partner: Ian Waite

Eliminated: it was a Christmas special, so there was nothing as cruel as an elimination; Debra came second in the judges' rankings.

Strictly Journey: Debra insisted on miming along to the lyrics of Baby It's Cold Outside as she danced, which is just annoying, but she acquitted herself admirably and actually got the same number of points (37) as Charlie "Janine from EastEnders" Brooks.  Charlie was declared the winner though.  Was it because the Beeb would rather award the win to one of their own instead of an upstart from the commercial channel?  I couldn't possibly comment.  (Yes).

Natalie Gumede - Series Eleven 

AKA: her who belted Tyrone with the hoover nozzle - Kirsty Soames.

Professional Partner: Artem Chigvintsev

Eliminated: Finalist (so let's say she came second, because let's face it she was better than Susannah Reid)

Strictly Journey: a long-limbed dance icon, Natalie strode her way across the dance floor with aplomb, and probably should have won.  A week off due to illness and the public's lingering unwillingness to vote for a psychopath who'd beaten up poor Tyrone meant that she was unfairly denied the glitterball.  Also, in the final, she claimed to have "touched the divine" on the dance floor, which is the greatest way to describe fannying about to a C-grade version of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going I have ever heard.  SHE WAS ROBBED, is what I'm saying.

BONUS: Tupele Dorgu - Strictly African Dancing

AKA: mouthy Underworld legend Kelly Crabtree

Strictly Journey: part of the BBC's Africa season in 2005, Tupele was roped into performing traditional dances with an African troupe.  She lost the crown to footballer Robbie Earle, but has since parlayed her dance experience into various touring musical theatre productions so she's doing fine.

Will Georgia May Foote manage to go one better than Natalie Gumede and snatch the Strictly crown?  She claims to have had a little bit of dance training as a child, which usually means she spent most of her infancy in a tutu doing the splits and she'll blow us all away with her skills (see West End star Denise Van Outen claiming that all she'd done in Chicago was sit on a chair).  It also means that the public, while appreciating her talent, won't vote for her because she didn't have a journey.  We shall see when Strictly returns in September.  In the meantime, keeeeeep dancing!

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Why gob-almighty Gemma must stay on the Street

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

When Callum's deeds catch up with him, as well they must as this is soap and that's what happens to baddies, I do hope Gemma will stay on Coronation Street.

She's Callum's sidekick right now, but there's got to be hope that the girl can be redeemed when Callum gets what's coming to him. With Callum out of her life, Gemma and Macca can then get together, take over the nail concession at Audrey's salon and live happily ever after on the cobbles.

Dolly-Rose Campbell, who plays Gemma Winter, is on twitter here.

And in real life she looks nothing like Gemma the chav.

Dolly-Rose (what a great name!) has acted on stage in a variety plays. From Waiting for Godot to Around the World in 80 days, she's one versatile lady. You can check out her Spotlight CV here.

Interestingly, her CV states that she's a professional chef!


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One last toddle on the cobbles

I'm visiting the UK at present and since the Coronation Street tour at the old Granada Studios is ending at the finish of 2015, I wanted to have one more chance to walk the cobbles. I've been very lucky over the years to have had several visits to the studios when it was a working concern, private tours through several means and lovely, generous people. I also went on the tour just after it opened last year in April. It might seem a bit redundant to go on it again, but when you love the show, the magic of walking down that street is still there.

I knew that a friend was taking part in a two week bus tour via Kemptville Travel out of Ontario and their group would be at the tour on Wednesday this week. I decided to time our tickets so that we might cross paths after our tours finished. I was lucky, her group reached the studio and were assigned the same tour time we had booked. Several of her group had been pleased to meet her because she's the chair of the Downeast Streeters Non Profit Society out of Halifax. The DES group (On Facebook, here) has brought Corrie stars to Halifax and organizes the quarterly "pings" (Corrie fan club get togethers at a local pub). What was even more ace is that a man asked me if I was the same person that blogged here. This fan, I believe his name was Wayne, enjoys the blog! Great to meet him!

The tour itself hasn't really changed. The inside part went from the green room, past the dressing rooms and into the studio proper where there was a five minute film filled with funny, and emotional moments. I did notice that it's been updated with some more recent scenes that aired since the last time I saw it. The costume and makeup area had some newer items as well including Beth, Kirk and Sinead's 80s theme wedding gear and Tracy Barlow's wedding dress from the ill-fated Rob Donovan wedding, complete with ripped shoulder (after the fight with Carla). There were two other identical dresses as well.

We saw Underworld with some rather cheesy voiceovers courtesy of Mike Baldwin, the Platt, Dobbs, and Carla's first flat. The barge was there and of course the Rovers and we got a few more minutes to look at the exhibit cases which we didn't have last time. They only walked us through the production section rather than stop and discuss it. I think on the whole, that's a better balance. The artifacts and props are more interesting for most fans.

The outside set of course, is the main attraction because you can take photos to your heart's content. There's a little cafe truck to the side of the Bistro which was not there last year but which is well appreciated when you are footsore and want a place to sit with a drink and write your postcards. Oh yes, I did buy some postcards at the shop and got them stamped with the Weatherfield postmark.

As I have a lot of photos from the set over the years, I concentrated my photo efforts in places I hadn't had a good look at before, like the back gardens of the new side and of some details like the windows or carvings on the tree outside the salon. Maxine's bench is looking a bit worn, I must say. You can see into the Garage now and go inside the kebab shop for photos which I did. The spot where the gym is now is still a Victoria Court signed door though it's not the main building of flats.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I saw a group of women in the middle of the street and they all had Corrie character masks. Some of them had them on and a couple were trying to arrange them. I called over and told them they looked awesome and asked if I could take their picture. They agreed (see below! What good sports!) and posed for me. One of the ladies was American she said, but I don't think they all were. As I turned to leave I heard one say "Now just let me put Fred in me 'andbag". I walked away, smiling.

For a Corrie fan, it's worth paying the ticket money. The guides are all very well informed and entertaining. You spent an hour inside and in our case, the guide also spent another 10 minutes with the group outside by the houses. I'm not sure if they all do that. You can spend as much time as you like outside, looking around.

The tour is only open until the end of December. If you can get there, I'd highly recommended. I even enjoyed it the second time around!

By: Tvor. Follow me on Twitter @tvordlj



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Who will be the next Coronation Street producer?

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

Coronation Street producers, on average, last a couple of years.  If that trend is still current, then it's just about time for a change at the top.

There's a list on Wikipedia of all of the Coronation Street producers and their length of tenure in the post. There's also a good write-up of Stuart Blackburn's time at the top on Corriepedia too.

Stuart Blackburn took on the role of producer of our favourite soap in April 2013. He's had more than two years in the hot seat now and I wonder if Corrie are casting the net yet for someone new?

When it was announced in October 2012 that Mr Blackburn was taking over at Coronation Street after his stint on Emmerdale, I posted a question over at Digital Spy. I asked Emmerdale fans what we could expect.  Their replies make interesting reading.

Who would you - yes, you reading this - like to see take over as Coronation Street Producer? Is there anyone who's already been in the role that you would welcome back?  Whose name would make your heart sing if you saw it in a news report as the new Corrie producer?



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Corrie fan has Deirdre Barlow tattooed on his leg

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

Coronation Street fan Martyn Hett is the creator of The Audrey Roberts Noise.  He's now having this iconic image of Deirdre Barlow tattoed on his leg.

Martyn will be featured in the E4 telly show The Tattoo Fixers which starts on Tuesday 23rd June at 10pm. You can follow him on twitter @MartynHett

The Tattoo Fixers is a new series which will open E4 viewer’s doors to a pop-up tattoo parlour with a difference. With three of the most talented tattoo artists in the UK at its helm, this parlour specialises in fixing and transforming the most extreme tattoo disasters into walking works of art.

Tune into E4 @ 10pm on Tuesday 23rd June to see me getting this iconic photo tattooed to my leg. IT'S A MASTERPIECE pic.twitter.com/ml6wF0gPGB

— Martyn Hett (@MartynHett) June 9, 2015

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Corrie Canada Sneak Previews for Sept. 14 - 18

Without further ado here is a brief sneak preview of what you'll see on  next week's Corrie in Canada.

Cathy teaches an art class, encouraged by Roy.  Lloyd's torn between Liz and Andrea. Tony leans on Callum. Todd offers to make a sacrifice which impresses Eileen. Carla continues to struggle with guilt, booze and gambling.  Robert gets the truth out of Tracy and issues an ultimatum. Fiz and Tyrone find out that Hope is seriously ill. Sally has a wedding dress accident and Kevin turns 50. Leanne and Simon clash again.


For more details and photos, visit the Moosejaw Mercury at Corrie.net


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Coronation Street actresses together in stage play

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

Wendi Peters, who played Cilla Battersby-Brown, along with Vicky Binns, who played Molly Dobbs in Coronation Street, have been cast in a new stage play in London.

The play is called Hatched ‘n’ Dispatched. It is set in 1959 and you are invited to a party. The Needham family have buried Uncle Arthur and christened Baby Clifford in a double booking at the church. As Dorothy-Mavis takes charge of preparations for the after-party, tensions erupt and toxic secrets threaten to destroy her family. But she is not a woman to let family love come between her and social respectability - whatever the cost.

The play opens on September 2nd. If you're in London, this play could just be right up your Street.

Full details here.



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Art appreciation on Coronation Street

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

A guest blog post from Elk in Canada.
Would you like to be a guest blogger? Find out more here.

Has anyone noticed the surge in art appreciation lately on Coronation Street? Not just art appreciation, but actual art-making?

First the mysterious Banksi-like graffiti appeared on Sally's wall. Then we learned that it was part of budding artist Craig's oeuvre, followed by his touching commemoration of the Victoria Court fire victims.

 

Then we saw Cathy and Roy take in an art class at a museum in Manchester, in the course of which both characters made portraits of each other. They went home clutching their respective canvases, holding out the possibility that the products of their DIY fine art exercise might end up at some future date hanging on a wall in Roy's flat.  

Most recently, of course, we saw art and flirtation intertwined, as Craig encouraged Caitlyn to follow her dream of studying art history. She returned the compliment by drawing him in the likeness of Munch's Scream under a campsite shower head. This somewhat awkward and endearing romance  unfolded in the context of Craig's honest admission that he's averse to looking in mirrors or taking selfies. Therefore, trusting Caitlyn enough to reflect him back to himself in the form of a picture was great trust indeed and a sign that he is now strong enough to make himself vulnerable to another person.

Something is clearly happening and, if the trend continues, we should expect a public exhibition of art work by residents, perhaps revealing to us how they see themselves, their neighbours, and the community at large.

I find this development really interesting.  Although this development is not as earth-shaking as a tram crash, it had to be done. Otherwise, the characters risked living in a world too different from ours. At the same time, it's intriguing to ponder why this introduction of mainstream tech to the Street overlaps with a sudden focus on visual art. Well, for one thing, yes, it's an acknowledgement of how visual our culture has become. While the Street has always been plastered over with old posters and torn fliers, as décor they mostly seemed blurry and difficult to make out, a relic of crumbling businesses gone by, such as grunge bars and strip clubs. Now, by contrast, we've got Tracy Barlow standing in front of a glossy poster for the touring production of Wicked.

Another aspect to this is the recognition that visual images have a profound connection to subjectivity, in other words, they can serve as an outward representation of individual points-of-view.
We appreciate when Corrie writers demonstrate their lock on a character's way-of-being through dialogue, in the best instances shedding light on an individual's deep-seated reflexes, their idiosyncratic, even sly, observational powers, as well as sometimes exposing that character's blind spots.

It seems, in this new age of visual saturation, TPTB are exploring how to translate dialogue into pictures – for example, in this most recent storyline, not what Caitlyn would say, but what she would draw. This adds texture to how we learn about a character's inner self, but also what it shows us about how characters are created. To the stable of writers, Corrie has evidently added some visual artists whose responsibility it is to put into pictures how Cathy sees Roy, how Roy sees Cathy, or maybe how they fail to see each other. When the art classes begin at the Community Centre, I suspect we will have predictable outcomes, such as quirky, flamboyant pictures from Mary, art from Sinead in the same genre as her candles and beaded basques. But there might also be some surprises from characters whose inner artist we have not encountered.

As Corrie works to catch up with the influx of technology into everyday life, it would also be timely for the residents' forms of artistic self-expression to expand from drawing, painting, not to mention Deirdre's pottery, to more contemporary forms like video and music production. Amy Barlow, equipped with a digital camera, seems like a natural to shame her family with damning home videos. Faye has a bottled-up inner life that she has shared a bit with Craig, but I would love to see how she might document life on the Street if she acquired a camera from a helpful teacher at school, or, for that matter, what visual prizes Tim could dish up if, in addition to his sharp social literacy, he added a picture-taking hobby.

On the music side, although we have had storylines that included Lloyd dragging friends and family to live music events, as well as Ryan gigging as a DJ, there has been far too little use of musical talent among the cast. When Kim Marsh originally arrived, if I remember correctly, she sang in an audition for Vernon. Why has she not been given a showcase to sing since?  In the early days of the show, the community regularly staged musicals, pantos, talent nights, as well as attending Ena Sharples' singalongs, Rita's sets at the nightclub, and Ernie Bishop's stints as an accompanist. Those scenes allowed the actors to display their considerable musical chops. If TPTB want to hire pop stars to play characters in 2015, why not at least have the characters sing on the show? Craig Charles was quoted in an interview as saying that he was proud to have brought his personal passion for music to the character of Lloyd Mullaney, but shouldn't the skill set of the cast enable much more musical activity in general? Not just the occasional karaoke night in the Rovers? After all, you can find out as much about a character's subjectivity from what they sing as what they say or, indeed, what and how they draw.



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Coronation Street Blog Interview: Shayne Ward

(This post was originally posted by Emma Hynes on the Coronation Street Blog in August 2015.)

With new character Aidan Connor set to arrive on Coronation Street, I caught up with Shayne Ward at ITV in Manchester to hear all about his character, how he feels about joining the street and what we might expect from the arrival of another member of the Connor clan.

Shayne describes the opportunity as a dream come true for him and is particularly happy to be playing the part of a Mancunian-Irish character considering he is one himself. “Aidan was brought up on the same estate as all of the Connors, but myself and my father and that all moved over to Tenerife” he reveals. "Obviously with Carla and everything to do with the factory, she's having a few problems at the minute, so I receive a secret phone call to come back and see what's going on."

Shayne comes across as a genuinely cool customer. Witty, intelligent and passionate, he is clearly excited to be joining Corrie, but at the same time is a man who appears to take everything in his stride, and this combination of traits makes him an endearing person to be in the company of.

It helped that his colleagues on set made him feel relaxed “There was no pressure” he explains, “with the established characters, in my head I'm going, 'Bloody hell, there's Sally, there's Carla, there's Nick', but then they just come and speak to you and everything's really chilled. They say, 'Just take your time, enjoy it'."

Shane revealed that the circulation of his name in the media as a potential new cast member left both himself and his management scratching their heads at the not unwelcome rumour, even thinking there may have been a mix up with Sean Ward who plays Callum. "Then a couple of days later, I received an email saying they wanted to see me for a casting” he explains. “I thought, 'Oh God, okay!' So now they've got Sean Ward and Shayne Ward. It was absolutely crazy how it just came about, but thank God it did."

When asked what type of guy Aidan is, Shayne explains, “I'm a nice guy…he's got charisma, he's got the charm, but at the same time, if you cross a Connor, as a family unit they come together. We can take the mick out of each other and have a go at each other, but don't cross us.”

Shayne already knows Kym Marsh, and, aware of the stereotyping that can occur when a singer makes the transition into the acting world, sees her as an example of a success in this regard. “I know I will be [pigeon holed] as well” he explains, “but you know, I love the challenge and it just shows for Kym what an incredible job she's done to be here for 10 years now. Without a doubt, talent always shines through. She was always destined to be doing this as well, so fair play to her."

Having gone from the X Factor to star in Rock of Ages and War of the Worlds, in his own experience, he uses criticism or any doubts about his ability to his advantage “You're with established actors, but I can deal with it. It's one of those things, I use it as my strength to kind of go, 'Well do you know what, I'll prove you wrong'."

Shayne gave some fascinating insights into his experience of rising to fame from a talent show such as the X Factor, from getting used to someone saying his name who actually didn't know him to being recognised in public. Acknowledging the various effects on himself and his family, he remarks “I always say, complain when they don't come up to you, not when they do', you know? I think it's a blessing” he continues, “it just depends on whether you can deal with it or not. I think you've got to be prepared and I think it's also important to have a strong family or unit behind you of some sort, and honest people because there's too many people feeding an ego and that's what destroys people. They become bitter, they can't handle it, and I don't like to see that. It's a very harsh game and it can be very fickle, but it's how you deal with it, to be honest. But I love what I do and God, I wouldn't change it for the world."

Shayne has no objection to the inevitability that people will be calling him Aidan now. “It's quite funny when you hear certain stories, how people believe certain storylines that go on and sometimes shout abuse at [the actors] or 'How could you do this?!' Bloody hell, I can't wait for that!"

"It's been a while since you've had a Connor boy come in. If you think about it, they had Paul, they had Liam. I think it's about time they had fresh meat.”

And what of a potential love interest? "Probably Rita! I'm going to take her off Norris, because Norris is dying to get in there but he won't admit it! It's doing my head in! I'm like, 'Just say that you love her!'"

Extra brownie points go to Shayne on revealing, "I love Roy. He's just such a great character. I've not said hello to him yet. I reckon Ken and Roy have been two of my favourite characters."

Run-ins with other characters sound like a given, including Carla. I asked Shayne if Alya might be one of them considering her designs on Underworld. "I can't imagine myself falling out with her character, because she's lovely” he tells me.

Shayne shares a dressing room with Colson Smith (Craig) and Andrew Whyment (Kirk), would love to have had a scene with Bet Lynch, and wonders if the leopard print worn on the street to this day is an homage.

He credits his Irish family for bestowing him with his love of both acting and singing and could never say he’d be willing to give up either. Like his character, Shayne is business minded and clever with his money. He manages his own Twitter account, and acknowledges the power of social media to make or break a person.

Shayne sees himself and Corrie as "a match made in heaven. I love the fact that I'm Mancunian in a Mancunian show. It just couldn't be any better."

I can honestly say I would’ve chatted with Shayne for hours. I think he will be a great fit for the Connor family and I very much look forward to seeing him in action when Aidan arrives on our screens on the 21st of August.

By Emma Hynes
http://www.emmahynes.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @ELHynes



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