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Friday 26 November 2010

Is John Stape becoming Richard Hillman Mark II?

Desperation makes a man go to extremes. We've already seen John bury the body of Colin Fishwick who dropped dead at his feet. He's been ducking and diving for weeks trying to keep that from Fiz but the reappearance of his partner in mischief, Charlotte, is making that increasingly difficult. According to the Sun, he's going to kill Charlotte (probably in the heat of another argument, I'm assuming) and make it look like she was caught in the upcoming and oh, so convenient for him tram crash. This is what happened with Richard Hillman and his ex-wife Patricia who threatened to expose him. He lashed out with a spade and killed her during the argument. It wasn't pre-planned.

Later, as you will recall, his money worries increased and he did plan to kill Emily Bishop, making it look like a break in and setting up young Aiden Critchley to take the blame. Maxine came home unexpectedly and he bashed the two of them. Emily survived, Maxine didn't. John is apparently set to allegedly kill Colin Fishwick's mother in the new year and make it look like she died of natural causes. It's already been established that she has a heart condition, after all. John is getting more and more desperate that his secret stay hidden, desperate to keep his new family from finding out. When Fiz does find out, and she will because that's Soap Law, will he try to kill her and the baby along with himself? The parallels are already creeping in, I think. What say you all? How will the Stape-gate storyline finish up? Maybe you all can give the writers some inspiration!

19 comments:

Sea Penguin said...

Well, I've been a massive Stape fan from the start, loved the farcical, black comedy aspects, and I thought I could take as much of it as they could throw at me, but to be honest I think I'm just about reaching saturation point! I was disappointed that it was Charlotte who was the stalker - but then I suppose that gives John a "reason" to bump her off. Love that Colin's mum is called "Joy"!! also loved the bursting paper bag behind her line. Oh I don't know -I really like Stape and Fiz, so I hope he doesn't turn into a full-blown Hillman, I'd far rather see him as a bungler, albeit with a dark side.

Anonymous said...

I can see some similarities, but the Hillman saga was one of Corrie's best ever storylines, whereas the Stapewick story is pretty bad IMO, and isn't really holding my interest anymore. It's just dragging on now and feels a bit silly.

Danny-K said...

The lack of 'holding interest', and reaching 'saturation point' in this storyline is indicative of the lack in credibility of the way in which they're handling this character's motivations.

Once again plot takes precedence over character which inevitably leads to a credibility failure. Hence apathy towards the storyline felt by some.

Nothing in his character has shown he is capable of brutal violence for personal gain. For her death to be credible it must not be as a direct result of premeditated murder at the hands of John Stape.

Maybe it's some sort of confusing push-and-pull, David and Gail at the top of the stairs thing - but outright premeditated murder by Stape? Simply unbelievable.

His modus operandi is that of a delusional, weasely Con Man, not that of a murderer - IMO.

Anonymous said...

According to Virgin Media, CHARLOTTE will whack John over the head with a hammer and not the other way round in the anniversary week...could we be saying goodbye to John and not Charlotte?

keith said...

I hope Anonymous is right about Charlotte knocking off John.

Tvor said...

I don't think John is a calculated murderer and even Richard was only really driven to it by desperation. It sent him over the top with the resulting guilt and i can see signs of that happening with John. His nerves are already shattered and if he lashes out and kills Charlotte, it could do him in, emotionally.

Adam said...

This has gone way too far, and I don't believe it is a good enough quality storyline to be taking centre stage at the moment

Anonymous said...

I really really hope.... Charlotte stops the future apocalyptic tram with her head.

The Garden Pixie said...

I agree with seapenguin that we have reached saturation point with this saga dragging on and on and becoming like an unfunny farce with John dashing from place to place like the Keystone cops and Charlotte becoming creepier and creepie and more and more unpleasant. I wish he would just walk away instead of having drinks with her all the time! For the first time in ages, I just didnt bother with the second episode yesterday.

maggie muggins said...

Well, the key here is that Charlotte has the buried body of Colin to hang over Stape's head every time he refuses her warped advances. I too kept saying to the TV - "Just don't meet her or see her, you idiot!". But he can't avoid her & knows it, despite his loud protests.

I think he'll strike in one of those moments, though I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't already thought of killing her off after last night's episodes. Her ruse of the letters, the DVD, the photos of Fiz - it's all in the open & she only has one card left to play.

Hillman was unhinged from the get-go, getting more-so very quickly. Stape is living in a dark world & has been in prison, but he's not deranged by psychosis, He's dark and desperate, with a nice teddy bear outer coating. He'll probably politely ask Charlotte to jump in the canal. Snerk.

Anonymous said...

Tony Gordon was mark II and I agree it would be more interesting if charlotte was the killer as we have had plenty of male killers on the street give the girls a chance.

Martin Rosen said...

What would link Stape to the body if Charlotte goes to the police?

Anonymous said...

Hi again, I posted the comment about Charlotte bumping off John and here's the link-

http://www.virginmedia.com/tvradio/soaps/soapspoilers/coronation-street-week-49-2010.php?ssid=5

Tvor said...

Martin, John is known as Colin Fishwick at the school in Rochdale so there's a connection right there. If he's using Colin's identity, it's a pretty good motive for murder even though that's not what happened. It could be seen as such.

Martin Rosen said...

Thanks for that. It is all too confusing for my little brain !!

Danny-K said...

Just before this disappears off the bottom of the page -

Thanks for the heads-up Anonymous, to the link showing an angry Charlotte attacking John with a hammer. Ahh - begin to see how they can fit John's character in with killing Charlotte.

Maybe during the struggle he pushes her away (in self defence of course - he does look frightened and cowering away in the photo) and as he does so, she bangs her head on the corner of a table/floor/wall??

And we all know what happens when a character in soapland bangs their head in a fall don't we? Yep - they always, ALWAYS, die!

And Anonymous!
- put your name or ID handle on your posts - you're never gonna get yourself a stalker on t'internet posting anonymously that way :)

splunge999 said...

I hate this whole storyline. Does Fizz have no self-respect at all? I mean how important is it to have a man in your life? He is constantly caught in lies one after the other, not to mention the fact that he kidnapped Rosie in the first place. He's obviously deranged. How desperate is she to stay with a guy like that? I find it quite hard to believe and it's annoying me more everyday! I can't wait till they find him out and lock him up for good.

Apple Cobbler said...

Not anonymous anymore am I? According to the TV Times, Sally will find out about the Most Difficult Affair In A Soap Opera To Watch For More Than Two Seconds(Molvin) during the live episode and as for what happens with John & Charlotte, Danny K's hit the nail on the head- pun intended. ITV Press Centre have leaked that Gary and Anna survive (although Gary will be left traumatised because the crash reminds him of Afghanistan) and Steve & Becky survive. BTW Peter will be trapped in The Joinery and Nick will have to save him (oh the irony).

Apple Cobbler said...

This isn't my real name and I don't have Facebook or Twitter.

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

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