Cosy crimes and gritty sagas by Corrie Blog editor Glenda, published by Headline. Click pic below!

Wednesday 30 April 2008

Coronation Street reggae theme tune for sale

One of the gems I've found online over the years being a Corrie fan is the reggae version of the Coronation Street theme tune, which I love. You can listen to it here. And it's now up for sale on eBay. I might just have to bid for it myself.

To see what else is in the Corrie music box, have a look here.

Which Coronation Street Character Are You?

There's a quiz that'll tell you which Coronation Street character you are. But I'm not sure it's that accurate. Even though I told it was a lay-dee, it still dobbed me as Tyrone Dobbs. Me? Tyrone? Summat's gone wrong somewhere. Anyway, try it for yourself here and let us know what it says.

There's loads more Coronation Street quizzes right here.

Monday 28 April 2008

Coronation Street Weekly Update, April 28 2008

Well, I was going to start off the update in me usual way by welcoming you in, offering you a cuppa and probing you for gossip. But I’ve just found out that Margi Clarke looks set to return to the cobbles and it's knocked me a bit out of shape. Margi Clarke, you’ll recall, played Tyrone’s mum Jackie Dobbs. She was the one who shared a jail cell with Deirdre, perhaps the only woman more shocked to find Margi back on the cobbles than I am. And that’s all I’m going to say, ahem, but those of us at a certain lunch will never forget a certain something. Anyway, without any further ado, here we go with this week’s Coronation Street update.

Kirk’s back from Cyprus and he’s got some big news for Fiz. She’s worried he’s going to suggest he wants to get back together and while it’s true that it’s matters of the heart that he wants to speak to Fiz about, it’s not Fiz he wants. And that’s when, ladies and gentlemen, we meet Julie Carp. Julie’s a divorcee, a lady of a certain age and as thick as two planks. How else could she think Kirkeh is “deep” and “intense”. “Hello Sausage!” she greets him when he walks in the Rovers. A reference, we can only hope, to the fact that Kirk once worked in a butcher’s. “Hello Snugglebum,” he returns before they rub noses together and get sentimental over a shandy. They’d met on holiday in Cyprus and are clearly made for each other being as thick as each other. “She only lives twenty minutes away,” Kirk tells everyone who’ll listen. “She’s lovely”. Actually, she’s great fun so far.

Audrey plucks up the courage to give Ted Paige a call after he’d left a message looking to find her. She didn’t want anyone to know but ends up telling both Rita and Maria, who egg her on to call Ted back and find out what he wants. “Hello Ted,” she breathes into his voicemail. “It’s Audrey here, actualleh, Audrey Potter, as was, obviousleh…” She’s intrigued as to what Gail’s dad could be wanting after 50 years but whatever it is, Audrey’s going to find out. Truth is, he just wanted to catch up after his partner died on him this year. Audrey takes this to mean his girlfriend but there’s more to Ted Paige than first meets Audrey’s eye. She tells Rita later that Ted had a twinkle in his eye that he never had before. Anyway, Audrey tells Ted he’s got a daughter and that he’s a great grand-father too and that brings a tear to Ted Paige’s eye. When he finds out that his granddaughter’s a slapper whose husband is sleeping with the tart from the local cafĂ© and his grandson is in jail for pushing his mother down the stairs, Ted Paige could end up wishing he’d never got in touch.

Gail visits David in the young offenders’ institution and Audrey tells her daughter she needs to take a break, suggesting she goes off to Italy to see Sarah instead of hanging around the Street. But Gail chooses me-laddo over Milan and stays close to David.

For the first time since 1979, Deirdre and Gail find common ground to talk about over Gail’s kitchen table when Deirdre pops round and talk turns to their kids who are banged up in jail. This talk at the tea table was about the only scene this week not accompanied by a track from Duffy’s CD. It’s been played all week – in the factory, the salon, Carla’s flat and the pub. The Coronation Street soundman must be a big fan. Gail got her cast removed from her arm this week. She waved her arm about. “I feel like a million dollars,” she bleated. What, all green and wrinkly?

There’s bad news for Leanne when lovestruck Paul dobs himself into the cops and admits he torched the pizza place in the precinct. This scuppers Leanne and Dan’s plans to turn the burnt out shell into a posh bar and they’re worried the men in blue will be after them soon too. Paul comes clean to Jack about what he’s done and it fair breaks Jack’s heart. “You are your father’s son, all right,” he tells him, shocked. “I can’t even look at yer, get out.” Paul leaves and Jack gets stuck into the whisky bottle with Tyrone and Molly only too happy to help. The scouse copper comes to caution Leanne and Dan. “We’ve got nothing to hide,” says Dan. “That’s what Crippen said,” butts in Blanche.

The whisky bottle got well and truly trashed this week as the Connors hit the bottle when Carla cooked dinner. Tony flew off on a business trip to China leaving Carla and Liam alone in the flat when Maria waddled home, tired out. The next morning, Maria’s beside herself with grief wondering what went on between Liam and Carla but she’s got worse things to worry about when she tells Marcus that she hasn’t felt the baby kick for a while. He marches her to the maternity ward where a scan reveals the worst and the baby is dead. A stunned Maria goes back to the Street looking for Liam but can’t tell him what’s happened. He’s all loved up and promising undying love to his missus and his child, without the baby in his life then Maria knows she means less to him, so she hides her grief for now and it fair brought a tear to my eye and I’m not easily moved by such things.

Over in the bookies, Vernon’s spending an increasing amount of time and money there betting on horses that never seem to win. Even Dan the bookie man tells him not to waste his money but there’s no stopping Vernon who keeps losing his cash. He tells Liz he’s been offered three months on a cruise ship, drumming in a band and asks her to go with him. She’s not keen, you can tell. As Vernon practised his drumming in the back room of the pub, Liz has to leave him alone to get away from the noise. “Had a little paradiddle in your ear, did he?” asked Lloyd to which Liz didn’t answer but it could explain why her hair looks such a mess.

And there’s more loved-up malarkey for Jason and Becky as the two of them enjoy another night in the pub. Fuelled up on cider and with cans of cheap lager to take back to Eileen’s, Becky gives the relationship a moment’s thought “Right, I’ve thought about it. Get your keks off, gorgeous,” before she starts ripping Jason’s clothes off at the foot of Eileen’s stairs. What an excellent link to a picture of Jason Grimshaw sans shirt.


Best line of the week went to Roy Cropper. “Guess what I never get?” asked Becky in the caff. “The London Review of Books?” asked Roy, quick as a flash. Thankyou Jan McVerry, for the laugh.

And that’s just about that for this week.

Coronation Street writers this week were Martin Allen, Chris Fewtrell, Damon Rochefort, Jan McVerry and Debbie Oates.

Glenda
--
Blogging away merrily at http://flamingnora.blogspot.com/

Margi Clarke back in Coronation Street

Am I the only one more than a tad surprised with this snippet of news? Margi Clarke looks set to return to Coronation Street as Tyrone's mum, jailbird Jackie Dobbs.

A Coronation Street source told Digital Spy: “Margi’s return is heavily penciled in but she’s not signed her contract yet. We really do hope she does make a comeback as it ties in perfectly with the development of Tyrone and Molly. We also meet Molly’s Auntie Pam at the same time too."

Blinkin' eck, Margi Clarke back in Corrie. Who'd have thought it?

Sunday 27 April 2008

Vote for Corrie in the British Soap Awards

From Monday 28 April to Friday 2 May, voting will reopen in the British Soap Awards for one category only - that of Best Soap.

Get your clicking fingers at the ready and your mouse poised for action, and vote for Coronation Street at the website right here. The awards show will be on TV in May.

You can see some of the pictures from Coronation Street's recent win at the Irish TV Now Awards here.

Saturday 26 April 2008

Buy your own Maxine's Bench

Anyone want to buy a bench just like the one dedicated to Maxine Peacock on Coronation Street?

Well, you can, it's here.

Carla Connor washes whiter

Before she turned up in Coronation Street as Carla Connor, actress Alison King did a spot of advertising for Daz washing powder. Want to see it? Just click here.

Want to see Corrie's Becky advertising cheese?

Mind you, my favourite picture of Carla Connor is still the one at the end of this weekly update.

Behind the scenes pictures from the Corrie set

If you like looking at behind-the-scenes pictures from the Coronation Street set (I know I do) then you might like to look at these from a visit by radio station Heart 106.2.

There are also some pictures here from Chris Moyles' and the BBC Breakfast Crew's visit to the Street set and plenty more behind-the-scenes shots right here too.

What do you think of Kirk's new girlfriend, Julie?

What do you make of the latest addition to Coronation Street in the shape of Kirk's girlfriend, Julie Carp?

Meet the man who provides the pets for Corrie

Kevin Horkin's website is a gem. He first started providing advice on specs to the Coronation Street cast and ended up providing the pets!

Kevin's site shows some of the animals he's provided for Corrie, including Theresa the Turkey (pictured here), which the lovely Spider tried to save before it was killed on screen when Les Battersby ran it down.


Kevin also wrote the book Pets and Personalities on Coronation Street.

Go on, have a browse of Kevin's website, it's really nice.

Will you miss the Mortons?

The entire Morton clan have been given their marching orders from Coronation Street, screams today's Sun newspaper. Ian Wylie's blog at the MEN confirms the news too.

It's no surprise as the Mortons have never gone down well with the viewers and as a huge Brookside fan, I'm afraid Jerry Morton will always be Sinbad to me. However, I'll miss Darryl as I thought he was brilliant with bags of potential as a character.

I'm also sad to read that feckless Vernon has been given the chop and that the dad and lad bookies have been booted out too.

Corrie Picture Puzzle: Whose Hat is That?

Following on from previous Coronation Street picture puzzles:

Whose Toes are Those?

and

Whose Knees are These?

...can you guess Whose Hat is That?


Jack and Vera t-shirt

Get your Jack and Vera t-shirt right here, only £12 each.

Want more Coronation Street related t-shirts?

Have a look here.

Jack Duckworth's vest

Last night on Coronation Street, Jack Duckworth sat at the kitchen table in his vest. Nowt wrong with that, he's been doing it for years. But then he slipped his anorak on over his vest and went out without a shirt on. Is that the male equivalent of popping to the shop in your slippers when you're a Corrie woman?

Anyway, talking about Jack Duckworth's vest, Jacko comes in at Number 6 on a poll of the nation's top vest wearers.

Friday 25 April 2008

Hope Not Hate visits Corrie set

There's a good little YouTube of the Daily Mirror's Hope Not Hate bus on its travels this week. Not only did it take in the Emmerdale set this week, it also visited the Coronation Street set too. You can watch the clip on YouTube right here. The whole video's worth watching for its worthy message and the Corrie bit clicks in towards the end, around 3:35.

Watch Sally Whittaker's Indian adventure

Sally Whittaker, who plays Coronation Street's Sally Webster, visited India at the end of last year with her daughter Phoebe to meet the child they have been sponsoring for the past eight years. Sally and Phoebe were in India for the charity Action Aid and you can find out more and watch Sally's vist about the visit here.

Thursday 24 April 2008

Kirk Sutherland loves brown sauce

Kirk Sutherland might have a new love in his life in the shape of his Julie but there's summat else he loves just as much.

Can his Julie compete with brown sauce for Kirk's attention in Coronation Street? Click here to watch Kirk claim his undying love for brown sauce.

Is Darryl Morton the new Curly-Kirkeh?

Corrie Picture Puzzle: Whose Toes Are Those?

Which ex-Coronation Street hunky chunk do these toes belong to?


You'll have to click here to find out and see the full picture. And if you enjoyed doing that, why not try your hand at guessing Whose Knees Are These?

Should Becky stop smoking?

She's Coronation Street's drag queen but do you think Becky should give up the fags? Inhale, breathe out and vote. Go on, you know you want to.

Funny Face Photo of the Week


With thanks to Tarty Doris, here's the Coronation Street funny face photo of the week.

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Coronation Street Weekly Update, April 21 2008

Come in, sit down, relax and take the weight off your face. The kettle’s on and there’s cake in the shop so if you want some you’ll have to nip round there and fetch ‘us a loaf on the way back. And so, without any further ado, here we go with this week’s Coronation Street update.

It was Gail Platt’s 50th birthday this week and on the day when she should have been eating cake and drinking binge, she was drowning her sorrows instead. David was sent to the big house for four months in a young offenders’ institution for smashing up the Street and breaking his mum’s heart.

Not one to let a small matter of her grandson being jailed spoil a good party, Audrey invited a cast of thousands to the house, put her best frock on and helped herself to the gin. To the strains of the Stones singing Time Is On My Side (Yes It Is) there were embarrassed mutterings across the Platt living room carpet until Gail’s mates and neighbours slowly left the party, Gail headed up to bed and Audrey got stuck into the drink. Mind you, that Audrey’s going to need to keep a clear head as Gail’s real dad has been trying to get in touch, the only trouble is that he doesn’t know he’s got a child, even if she is now a 50 year old patron saint of suffering.

Over in the big house, David was trying to cope with being banged up and lied to Gail on her visit that he couldn’t phone her as the queue for the phone was too long. The truth was that he called girlfriend Tina instead. But if David was hoping to get an engaged signal from Tina then he’s got his wires crossed as there was no reply. She’d already dumped him when things got too weird. “I need a break,” she told him. “I’ve had enough, I’m getting the bus.” David’s sharing a cell with a bloke who sings his way through the day starting with How Much Is That Doggy In The Window and dispenses hardened words of wisdom: “Don’t sit on any razor blades”.

After Roy’s car caused chaos last week for Tony Gordon’s mega bucks sky scraper, there was a stand-off on the Street and Tony backed down after Roy’s Ghandi-like passive resistance. Tony donated ten thousand pounds to the bat charity of Roy’s choice, but ten thousand pounds is small change to a man like Eyeball Tony the Catalogue Man. Did you know there’s a Facebook group called Tony Gordon’s looking at me funny? Well, there is. Anyway, in the caff, Becky gave Roy a power hug in support, something which upset a sensitive soul like Roy greatly and he longed for the night to fall so he could check his emails from Hayley in th’Africa. Not sure what a power hug is? Steve McDonald demonstrates one here as he comforts Eileen when she realised she'd eaten the last of the chocolate Hob-Nobs.

Meanwhile, Jason and Becky are back together in the Rovers after Bill got them thinking and drinking in the pub. Jason had found out that Becky’s builder boyfriend Rick had a missus and a kid and he warned Becky, who took the news in her stride. She pinned Rick to the floor of the caff and smeared him with cream cake and tea. Atta-girl, Becks!

Elsewhere, Leanne’s hoping she can turn the burnt-out pizza place in the precinct into a late night drinking den and enlists Roger the plumber to give her some advice. She’s keen to get stuck in and feckless Dan the bookie man’s up for the idea too.

Over in the Rovers, Vernon’s got problems when Harry the bookie started chatting up Liz in the pub. He’s a flirt, is that Harry, and Liz is tempted but may have some reservations about a man who wears his glasses round his neck a la Larry Grayson. It’s a look that not many men can, or indeed should, carry off.

And finally this week, we found out that Dev’s a fluffy ditherer, according to his daughter, the wonderful Amber. Perturbed by this news, Dev seeks counsel from the wisest of them all on the Street and had a quiet word with Betty in the bar. “What kind of sweet would you describe me as?” he asked her. “Am I more of a chocolate Ă©clair or a marshmallow?” Betty looked him up and down and gave him the benefit of her wisdom. “I’d say you’re more fruit and nut.” And you can’t argue with Betty.

And that’s just about that for this week.

Coronation Street writers this week were, Stephen Bennett, David Lane, Simon Crowther, Jonathan Harvey and Jayne Hollinson.

Glenda
--
Blogging away merrily at http://flamingnora.blogspot.com/

Coronation Street Monologue

"Chimneys and more chimneys, light spilling from rain spattered windows onto dustbins, backyards and and factories... a pub, a pint of bitter, potato crisps, mine's a small port please... and London's a foreign shore". Poetry via YouTube, Coronation Street style.

And if you want more of this sort of stuff, there's the Coronation Street chorus. But you'll need a sweet sherry at the ready for the sing-a-long.

Streetcars for sale

There's a taxi license plate from Coronation Street's Streetcars up for sale on eBay. By 'eck.

Shilpa Shetty to join Corrie?

There's a rumour that Bollywood beauty Shilpa Shetty might be joining Coronation Street. Shush, you didn't read it here.

If it's true - it could be good news and a storyline for Dev.

More Coronation Street top tunes

Canadian Corrie fan Steven has emailed with suggestions of more Coronation Street tunes to add to the blog. Cheers Steven! Some of the Corrie tunes already blogged are here and Steven suggests adding the following two to the pop pickers' pile.

Now then, we know her better as the fragrant Audrey Roberts but in real life she's the honourable Susan Francis Harmar-Nicholls, daughter of Lord and Lady Harmar-Nicholls. Sue Nicholls had chart success with the song Where Will You Be. The tune hit the charts in 1968 for 7 weeks and was produced by Tony Hatch. And if you get in quick enough, you can bid for the 7" single on eBay right now along with another of Sue's hits, Every Day.

And as if that wasn't enough Corrie choons for today, does anyone have the download link for Albert Tatlock by The Skids?

Saturday 19 April 2008

Should Steve McDonald go on a diet?

He might have the gift of the gab when it comes to chatting up the ladies, but lordy-lordy, the boy's getting lardy. Should Steve McDonald go on a diet? Ooh, just how will Coronation Street fans vote on this one?



Is Madonna going through her Liz McDonald phase?


Further proof that Madonna is going through her Liz McDonald phase comes via this new pic of Madonna from ITV's Headcases. Or with her new hair-do, is Liz McDonald going through her mid-life Madonna moment? There's even more proof of the McMadonna merge here.

Do the Coronation Street Hustle

After bringing you Corrie musical delights such as Bet Lynch's Legs, the Sunny Jim sing-a-along and the Lucille Hewitt song too, here's another one to get your tunes around.

It's the Coronation Street Hustle by punk band The Notsensibles. Find out more and download the choon right here. And if you want the lyrics to sing along with the record, here they are!

Thursday 17 April 2008

Coronation Street goes batty

If you enjoyed this week's Corrie story about Roy Cropper and the bats, you might like to know that Natural England really does exist, it's not just a made-up batty thing for soaploand.

And their website explains how the organisation advised Coronation Street on the recent bats story. It's quite interesting, in a batty sort of way.

Want to unleash your inner Roy Cropper? Click here.

Behind the scenes pictures from Coronation Street

The team from Your Home magazine were invited on a very special behind-the-scenes trip to Coronation Street and you can see more of these wonderful pictures on their website.

Mind you, the best behind-the-scenes pics I've ever seen are these ones from tvor.

Wednesday 16 April 2008

David Platt's Das Diotts T-shirt

If you watched Coronation Street tonight and wondered to yourself what on earth David Platt was wearing (I know I did) then wonder no more.

David Platt's Das Diotts t-shirt is on sale in Top Man.

For more on buying clothes seen on Corrie, have a look here.

Gail Platt's 50th birthday

Ladies and gentlemen, raise your glasses to Gail Platt as she turns 50 this week. Oh yes, indeed. Our favourite Coronation Street put-upon mum reaches the big five-uh-oh. Where did it all go wrong?


Want to see more of Gail including her hair-do horrors? Click here.

Coronation Street Haiku

The Hairybloke blogger has written a Coronation Street haiku over on his blog. It's a good 'un even though I'm not really sure what a haslet is.

So that's Corrie poetry sorted - want some Corrie tunes?

Bet Lynch's legs



















Who wants to listen to the sound of Bet Lynch's legs? Well, my fellow bloggers over at Boot Sale Sounds have the noises you can hear.

Bet Lynch's Legs were a band and you can listen to two of their songs over at their blog right here.

And if you like the sound of that, you might like to listen to these other Coronation Street sing-songs too. There's the Sunny Jim sing-a-long and the Lucille Hewitt one too.

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

You might also like...

Coronation Street Books for Fans

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!