Coronation Street: Con Men and Cream Cakes

Reprinted with permission from fab TV blog PauseLiveAction

If there is any show capable of adding humour into a heartbreaking situation then it’s Coronation Street when it’s on top form… and top form is the only way to describe last Friday’s double bill.

Despite being the one who is usually spot-on with dodgy guys (despite daughter Gail’s insistence that they are ‘good men’ *blink blink*), the shoe was on the other foot for our Auds and she fell hook line and sinker for ‘more smarm than charm’ Lewis. And let’s be honest, who wouldn’t? I’m a heterosexual male and he often sent my heart fluttering.

Lewis had just scammed the bookies out of £4000 by distracting dozy Deirdre with a kiss but Peter decided to check the CCTV. In front of Ken obviously. I was cringeing for Deirdre as her idiocy and infidelity was played out on screen but that wasn’t the worst of it. The whole sorry escapade was replayed in front of the Platts, Rita and Rula Lenska at Audrey’s goodbye bash.

I’m not sure who I felt more sorry for. Deirdre, as she endured the humiliation of being exposed on screen or Audrey, as her teenage-like dream shattered so publicly.

What was my favourite moment of the episode? It’s really hard to decide. I loved the fact that Lewis turned out to have a conscience at the end of the day. I love Rosie’s transition from tramp into comedy character recently. I love this brilliant Platt versus Barlow war that’s brewing and all the hilarious snidey comments that were supplied. I loved a drunk Rula Lenska twisting the knife wherever possible. I loved the interaction between Ken and Deirdre afterwards as they gloomily repaired their marriage with great bitterness yet again…while inwardly wishing there was something better like a real Lewis or a lady on the barge pulling up again. I love the development of Natasha’s character…she’s very intriguing and I do wish she hadn’t been given the axe. And of course, I loved Gail splattering Deirdre with a Manchester Cream Tart!

Corrie has been a bit dire the past year but it seems, for me anyway, to be very much on the road to recovery. This was classic Coronation Street: laughter, heartbreak and true human dramas rolled into one. Hats off to the writers and cast for this one…long may it continue.
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