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| Martin Shaw as Robert Croft in Coronation Street |
Coronation
Street "doesn't reflect life anymore" and suffers from the speed with
which it has to be made, actor Martin Shaw has said.
The Inspector George Gently star said "the joy" of the long running soap "at the beginning and in the great days of Coronation Street was that "it did reflect the life of those people who lived there".
Martin Shaw, who appeared in the soap for six weeks as a "hippy" friend of character Lucille Hewitt in the 1960's, said the soap was then more respected by actors and has become a victim of the speed at which it has to be made, "It's not a derogatory opinion of it as a drama or of the actors or anything in it," he said.
"If you have to produce something at that sort of rate then the quality inevitably suffers."
Watch Martin Shaw as Robert Croft the hippy in Coronation Street
Listen to Martin Shaw's BBC Radio 5 interview here.
Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook The Inspector George Gently star said "the joy" of the long running soap "at the beginning and in the great days of Coronation Street was that "it did reflect the life of those people who lived there".
Martin Shaw, who appeared in the soap for six weeks as a "hippy" friend of character Lucille Hewitt in the 1960's, said the soap was then more respected by actors and has become a victim of the speed at which it has to be made, "It's not a derogatory opinion of it as a drama or of the actors or anything in it," he said.
"If you have to produce something at that sort of rate then the quality inevitably suffers."
Watch Martin Shaw as Robert Croft the hippy in Coronation Street
Listen to Martin Shaw's BBC Radio 5 interview here.
All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
7 comments:
I really like Martin Shaw and I agree with him that Corrie does suffer from overexposure, but recent episodes have shown just how good it can still be after all these years. Cut it back to three episodes a week I say! Quality not quantity
Martin's right. It's still watchable and I don't think I'll ever give up tuning into Corrie, but it doesn't feel as "real" as it even a few years ago.
I agree with him. Depends, I guess, on what's real for most viewers. Apparently, ITV believes most viewers believe explosive/sensationalist plots and shallow values are what viewers believe are real today. We see comments here often on this blog that don't reflect that belief, however, but it must be that we're in the minority. Interesting comment from Shaw also, "...said the soap was then more respected by actors and has become a victim of the speed at which it has to be made..." -- we do hear from actors that it's a brutal pace with pangs of discontentment.
I don't know if viewers want realism or escapism. We get both categories requested on this blogsite. I'd be prepared to suspend my disbelief if a storyline was interesting and well acted.
I'm not an actor but it feels like the actors are not directed. I'm guessing there was more time to do that in the old days. Directors orchestrate the big events like the tram crash and probably someone ensures actors don't walk into the furniture. As for the rest of it, Brooke Vincent said that a director told her to be herself so not very good actors just do their best. Witness Sophie's mumbling, Tracy's face-pulling, Michelle's arm-folding. You really notice when good actors deliver eg David N and Julie H. There have been lots of storylines which weren't realistic but worked because the actors performed so well.
Look at the lady who plays Mary. What a good example of someone who can go crazy maniac kidnapping Norris to being a pillar of strength for Dev and the kids. She can do whatever is required of her....too bad the writers do not follow through one way or the other. The character has such potential and yet we see that they do not really know what to do with Mary. Not the actress's fault.
There is such an amazing amount of talent on the show...yet they bring in others to titillate and amaze us with storylines we do not want.... lol
Put your stable horses to use for goodness sake...stop with the one trick ponies.
He's right.
LOL! That's rich coming from someone who's supposed to look like a hippy in that photo! I didn't watch Corrie in those days, so maybe he was more authentic. I hung out in Haight-Ashbury in San Fran back in the day and never saw anything like it! :)
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