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

Wednesday 30 April 2014

Video: Is Coronation Street haunted?

On This Morning's Supernatural Week so far they've had a woman who believes she was abducted by aliens and a lady who thinks she had sex with a ghost.  So, take this walk down "haunted" Coronation Street with as much enthusiasm or scepticism as you can muster, depending on your beliefs.  The video's worth watching for the old clips alone.

Jeff Brazier visited the old set, which was home of the soap from 1982 to 2014, to see if he could capture any scary goings on.   While he was there, he had a look at Fred Elliot and Hayley Cropper's coffins, learned about the ghost of Ivy Tilsley and saw some grisly items belonging to serial killer Richard Hillman.

There was a look back at Hilda Ogden's séance as well as a chat with Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth - the only character to have come back into the soap as a ghost.

She returned in her husband Jack Duckworth's dying moments to have a kiss and a wee waltz.
Liz said: "This is the chair I died in. It were emotional – we never kissed you know, Jack and Vera, until I were dead. There are moments in the programme when you feel it, when you get emotional.
"I think Vera and Jack would walk on the street, not knowing they’re dead, going in the Rovers. Well I hope so..."

Watch the full video here.

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State of the Street - April

April on Coronation Street certainly had its moments, didn't it?

Peter's off the wagon. Phelan's making our skin crawl (and I don't think we've seen the last of him just yet). Everyone's crowding into a gym the size of the Rovers' back room. Carla's up the duff. Maddie and Sophie's relationship continues to baffle me. Maria's going off the rails. Steve is keeping a big secret from Michelle.

All this in more detail at State of the Street.


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Corrie locations and cream tea - guided walk, Friday 9 May

There are monthly Corrie loctaions walking tours with a cream tea treat too.  The next one takes place on Friday May 9, with Manchester Guided Tours.

Visit Weatherfield city centre filming locations and hear Corrie tales, on this fun and informative Manchester city centre walking tour.  It takes place on Friday 9 May and ends with tea at Annie's restaurant in Manchester, owned by Jennie McAlpine, who plays Corrie's Fiz Stape.

Meet at The Castlefield Hotel & Y Club entrance, Liverpool Road, Manchester M3 4JR
(We meet just around the corner from the Coronation Street Set Tour entrance.)

Please bring a paper printout of your ticket on the day, to give to the Tour Guide.

Full details here.

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Bring back the dimpled beer glass to The Rovers Return

The BBC is today heralding the return of the dimpled beer glass.

In an article on their BBC News magazine, it says that the dimpled pint glass, the symbol of the British pub is back. I know I'd love to see it return, I'm a big fan of the dimple.

Surely it's time to get a dimple revival going in the Rovers Return on Coronation Street.  It used to be popular with Jack Duckworth:



And with Eddie Yeats:


And with Kevin, Curly and Terry Duckworth too.


But sadly the dimpled beer glass has been out of favour for some time on Corrie, and nationwide too. Below is just one of many pictures I found showing dimple-less glasses being used on Corrie right now.



It's time to bring back the dimpled beer glass!

Read the full article here.

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Preview of tonight's Coronation Street - Weds 30 April

WEDNESDAY 30TH APRIL 2014
FATE CONSPIRES TO PUSH KAL AND LEANNE TOGETHER Kal apologises to Nick for pushing him too hard in the gym and suggests he finds another trainer. Nick won’t hear of it and insists Kal joins him and Leanne for dinner in the bistro. After an awkward meal Kal decides enough is enough, he doesn’t want to lose Leanne so he later pushes his way into her flat, will she be able to resist him this time?
SOPHIE FEARS FOR A VOLATILE MADDIE Maddie’s devastated when the social worker tells her that her brother Ben is moving to Devon. Feeling helpless, Sophie suggests they visit Ben’s foster parents but is this a suggestion she’ll soon regret?
FIZ’S DOUBTS START TO FESTER An angry Tyrone tells Fiz that he was only out for a few drinks with a mate but when Fiz later sees Tyrone and Maria enter the pub together she’s upset and leaves. Maria calls on her and tells her they are only friends but is Maria lying to herself?
ELSEWHERE Steve lies about the bruise on his face in a bid to stop Lloyd or Jenna finding out that he’s joined the gym, Sinead tells Fiz and Julie about the inappropriate dress which Chesney’s bought her and fed up with Sally banging on about Maddie, Tim stalks out of the pub.

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Tuesday 29 April 2014

The Peter Principle

They tried to make him go to rehab, he said... well, actually he said, "yeah, fair enough."  Peter Barlow's currently locked up in a sanitarium somewhere, licking the back of the wallpaper in the hope that the ancient paste has fermented and trying not to listen to the big yellow rhinoceros in his ear.  I like to imagine he's at a sort of budget Priory; no A-listers like Pete and Kate and Amy, just a few people from Desperate Scousewives and perhaps a random 1970s DJ hiding away from Yewtree. And Rosie Webster, of course, continuing her plummet into media tart by building up a story for the ninth volume of her autobiography: 2013-2014: The Year Of Living Bralessly.

Poor Peter.  Alcoholism is a terrible affliction of course - I speak as someone who is currently nursing a bottle of Stella Artois like my long lost child - and after his dreadful life, who can blame him for turning to the vodka now and then?  Born in 1965, he found himself thrust into Weatherfield at its most grim and kitchen-sinky.  Albert Finney could've turned up at any minute, complaining about t'factory before knocking up Rita Tushingham; Coronation Street was battered two up two downs filled with doughy matrons and ne'er do wells.  Admittedly, the Barlows were perhaps the best family on the street.  Ken was - hard though it is to believe here in 2014 - a thrusting, focused, exciting young man, while mam Valerie was a young hairdresser with the spirit to set up her own salon in the front parlour.


That same salon was soon moved out for the bassinets; Peter came as a twin, as a disproportionate number of soap babies do, though for ease of casting it was non-identical.  For their early life, Susan and Peter lived pretty much the same life as every other child on the Street.  They were seen and not heard, they got fed a lot of fish fingers, and they were periodically threatened with death (a coal falling out of the hearth nearly put paid to the twins in the Sixties).

By the turn of the decade, Peter was safely in his class at Bessie Street, no doubt surreptitiously drinking the caretaker's floor cleaner when he thought no-one was looking.  Surely nothing could go wrong?  Actually yes; a mooted move to Jamaica - home of Red Stripe Beer - was spoilt when Valerie Barlow electrocuted herself in the maisonette and then set fire to their home.  This traumatising incident will have no doubt deeply affected the Barlow twins, making them scared for the safety of their only remaining parent and wanting to stay close.  Ken immediately stuck them on a train northwards and they went off to Scotland for twenty years.  Apparently he "couldn't cope" with the twins on his own, presumably because it got in the way of him diddling Joanna Lumley.

Peter did make a brief reappearance in the mid-70s, though he looked different now.  Peter has been played by more actors than Hamlet; there's actually a rota going around all the men of the United Kingdom to take a turn - my opportunity to look shifty in a ginnel is pencilled in for June 2031.  In the forty-nine years of his existence, Peter had been played by such luminaries as Christopher Dormer, Linus Roache, Kirsty Soames' Dad, Sir Alec Guinness, Hartley Hare, and five koala bears standing on each other's shoulders under a raincoat.  Linus actually returned in 2010 as a different Barlow; producers were careful to keep him well away from Chris Gascoyne, in case the Blinovitch Limitation Effect shorted out the universe.

Not much was heard from the twins for the rest of the Seventies; they'd occasionally turn up to stop Ken from getting his end away with another lady, and selfishly whine that being brought up in Scotland by a couple of pensioners while their Dad worked his way through Greater Manchester's spinsters had stopped being fun, but they didn't make a permanent return until the Eighties.  Susan had got engaged to her often absent father's mortal enemy, Mike Baldwin, in a development that psychologists have described as "creepy."  The only way it could have got more Oedipal was if she'd popped her eyeballs out on the honeymoon.

Peter showed up at the wedding, probably because he heard there would be free champagne.  By now he had a fiancé, Jessica, a well-meaning drip, and a career in the Navy.  Peter the Sailor Man barked at Ken with a new found strength - it's unknown if spinach was involved - and persuaded him to attend Susan's wedding by careful use of emotional blackmail.  Then he was off again, riding the high seas, until he came back a different man at the turn of the Millennium (this being Peter, he was quite literally a different man).


This time Peter was here to stay, drawn to this little cobbled street that had nothing but horrible memories for him.  By this time Jessica had run off with another man, and Peter had departed the Navy; whether this was related to the abolition of the rum ration, I can't say.  He was soon causing havoc by revealing that Susan had given birth to a Baldwin, all those years ago; when Mike found out, Susan crashed her car and died, proving that no Barlow should ever be allowed to drive.  Another big wodge of self-loathing was added to Peter's Guilt Bank, and his trips to the Rovers became more frequent.

It was fate that he should end up with a pub landlady; Shelley's appeal was probably optics-based, if Peter was completely honest, because it wasn't long before he was getting Twist from Spaced up the duff behind her back.  Oh, the agony!  Two women, one with his baby, one with a pub of her own; he finally did the only sensible thing and married them both.  There was a brief, infinitely tiny moment when it actually worked, but he didn't really have the quick wit to enable him to maintain two relationships at once.  That sort of juggling requires lightning fast reflexes and a clever mind; Peter had to write Shelley on the back of his hand to stop him from calling her by the wrong name.  It all exploded in the Rovers - as things often do - and Peter skulked off to Portsmouth.  There was a brief return in 2007, for Tracy's trial; given that the two of them barely knew each other growing up, it was a kind moment of sort-of brotherly love.  Either that or, like everyone else in the country, he just wanted to make sure the ghastly creature was locked up forever.

He made a more permanent return a year later with his curly haired cherub of a son, Simon; his mum had succumbed to ovarian cancer and left him alone in the world.  Peter accepted the additional responsibility with his usual grace; knocking back a hip flash of Bell's before storming into the nativity and weeing up against the cardboard donkey.  This caused Ken to do a lot of grimacing and hissing "Peter!" through clenched teeth, though frankly when it came to parenting advice, he was about as authoritative as Fred West.  Things came to a head when Peter swallowed an off licence, then set the flat on fire; nobody was really bothered about him, but since this disaster nearly killed Simon and his pet rabbit, the family intervened and he began his long struggle against the booze.


No-one in the Street seems to find it a bad idea that Peter can regularly be found having an orange juice in the Rovers, even though it is a place that is known to serve alcohol.  Similarly, everyone seemed to think it was an absolutely marvellous idea for him to open a wine bar underneath the viaduct, even though that was another place that was known to serve alcohol.  The driving force behind this potential Vesuvius was new fiancé Leanne Battersby, possibly the only person in Weatherfield with a worse track record for addiction than him.  The ex-hooker arsonist and the drunken bookie; it was a match made in heaven.

Nothing in soap land runs smooth, and their stag/hen night was interrupted by an exploding restaurant and a runaway tram.  By this point Leanne was getting extra shifts in the bar with her ex, Nick, though to be honest most of the shifts seemed to end with her skirt left under a table.  Both Leanne's lovers were almost incinerated in the conflagration, but in the end the only person who died was poor guileless Ashley, proving that script editors have a really sick sense of humour.  Leanne married Peter when she thought he was about to die; his subsequent recovery was met with a lot of worried side eyes, but eventually he'd recovered enough to demand a divorce at the altar (it all made sense at the time).


The two reconciled, and everything looked rosy, until Carla Connor staggered into view, hammered on red wine.  She had a drink problem, and Peter graciously went to her aid.  It helped that the person needing an intervention was a saucy brunette in stilettos; one wonders if he'd have been quite so charitable if it had been, say, Sylvia.  The two bonded over pints of fizzy water - though Carla must have gone to a different AA group, one which didn't preach abstinence, but instead said that she looked fabulous with a glass of red, so you go girl.  Carla saw Peter as her hero; Peter saw Carla as a human version of Smirnoff, and they eventually gave in to temptation.  That was the end of his marriage to Leanne, leaving only the question of Simon's custody; following the fine Barlow tradition, Peter thrust his son in Leanne's direction with a shrug, saying, "well, I'd be rubbish, wouldn't I?"

After a hiatus in the USA together, Carla and Peter returned more sober and more in love than before.    The fates, however, were conspiring to push him back on the booze.  First his business failed, because apparently Weatherfield is the only place in Britain where the recession had a negative effect on  bookies; Carla immediately promoted him to her deputy in the factory despite his lack of experience.  (Given that his predecessors in this role were Michelle and Maria, is it any wonder that company is constantly on the brink of bankruptcy?)  Meanwhile, resident sauce pot Tina McIntyre was sending seductive glances in his direction; what Tina (the daughter of an often-absent father with a crippling substance abuse problem) saw in Peter (an often-absent father with a crippling substance abuse problem) is another Greek tragedy waiting happen.

As before, Peter couldn't simply stop a wedding when it appeared on his horizon; I'm not really sure where he got this idea that weddings are like tsunamis, and that the only thing you can do when you're involved in one is to strap yourself to a piece of furniture and hope you don't drown.  Despite ensnaring the witty, sexy Carla, he still felt the need to feel up Tina by a plate of mini kievs.  The net result has been six months of the two most desirable women on the street begging for sexual intercourse with a porky beardo who's pushing fifty.  The stress of having it away with both women at the same time lead Peter back to the booze in a strange pub, probably because he wanted to go somewhere he could boast very loudly.

What will happen to Peter when he finally emerges from rehab?  Will he have decided which woman to go for?  Will he finally decide to be the decent father he never had himself?  Will he have an entirely unexplained tan, almost as if Chris Gascoyne has in reality been on holiday in the Maldives all this time?  Who knows.  Even if he's not much longer for the show, we needn't worry; Peter Barlow is like Doctor Who.  He'll always come back, probably with a completely different head.  Plus his trusty companion: Jack Daniels.


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Watch: Samia Smith and Jennie McAlpine on the Paul O'Grady show

Samia Smith and Jennie McAlpine, who play Maria Connor and Fiz Stape, were on the Paul O'Grady show on ITV today.

They talked about the "love triangle" their characters are currently in with Tyrone.  Jennie says that the storyline gets a lot worse as Maria descends into madness over her fight with Fiz for Tyrone.

And The Renshaw Twins even get a mention too! 

They also talk about the new set, the new canteen and how much they're enjoying it there.

Watch the interview here.


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Legendary TV producer Jane Macnaught has died

From Prolific North:

Jane Macnaught, who produced Coronation Street has died suddenly at her home in Cheshire.

While producing Coronation Street, the show was regularly pulling in more than 18m viewers, with one programme in 1999 becoming the year’s most watched show with 19.82m.

Macnaught would also introduce some headline-grabbing plot twists, such as the return of Raquel Watts (Sarah Lancashire), Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) and Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley). As well as the arrival of Dev, Sunita and Fiz.

Promoted in 2000 she’d exec produce a further 229 episodes of the soap, before taking on responsibility for ITV’s drama department in Manchester.

However, the final years at Coronation Street were seen as difficult. Its 40th anniversary, live episode didn’t have the impact the channel was expecting and there was reported friction between Macnaught and the cast with the introduction of a new pay regime.

In a statement, ITV said: “Colleagues at ITV are extremely saddened to hear of the death of former executive producer, Jane MacNaught.

“Jane started her career at Granada Television in 1977, initially as a production assistant, before moving in to the entertainment department where she produced Stars in Their Eyes, University Challenge and the first ever series of You’ve Been Framed.

“Jane became producer and later executive producer of Coronation Street. From 1999 to 2002 Jane produced more than 500 episodes and oversaw the show’s 40th anniversary, including the hugely successful live episode in 2000. Following her time in Coronation Street Jane moved in to drama and was the first producer of Blue Murder. She left ITV in 2003.”

Executive producer Kieran Roberts, who worked with Jane in the late 80s and 90s before following her to Coronation Street, added: “Jane was a hugely successful producer, a Granada stalwart and someone who touched many people’s lives and careers in her time with ITV. She will be remembered fondly by us all.”

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Coronation Street locations walking tour, Friday 2 May

New Manchester Walks have a Coronation Street walking tour on Friday 2 May.  

The guide is Ed Glinert, the only Manchester tour guide who has recently guided on the live set.

Meet: Friday 2 May at 11am, outside Annie’s Restaurant (owned by Jenni McAlpine who plays Corrie's Fiz), Royal Exchange Arcade.

Some of the locations visited:
* The pub where Coronation Street got its name.
* The grand Manchester building where Sopheh and Maddeh slept rough.
* The Old Grapes (formerly Liz Dawn’s pub).
* Cropper Corner in Castlefield (where Tony Gordon tried to drown the redoubtable Roy).
* The block from which that lowlife John Stape tried to commit suicide.
* The ornate location where Alf wed Audrey.
…and more.

On the coach tour we go to Portland Basin (where Richard Hillman drove the Platts into the depths; St Christopher’s wedding venue, Weatherfield Registry Office; the original Coronation Street…

Price of walking tour (in old money): £7 (£6).

Bring: Albert Tatlock’s glasses.

Can we get into the set? The old Granada set opens in April. Please contact them for access. Our tour does not include a tour of the old set, but it will add so much to your day to do our locations tours before or after.

Find out more here.

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Craig Charles on Corrie's Lloyd: "He'll get his heart broken again"

Craig Charles, who plays Coronation Street's Lloyd Mullaney, was interviewed on ITV's Lorraine yesterday.  He talks about Lloyd's upcoming heart attack storyline and there's a wonderful montage of clips of some of Lloyd's best bits, including his fling with Liz McDonald. a storyline I loved.

There are clips from next week's Corrie when Lloyd has his heart attack on the fun run, which has been arranged in memory of Hayley Cropper.    Craig says that after the heart attack, Lloyd has to change his life and cut out the fags and drink and start going to the gym and eating healthily.  He talks about the rivalry between Jenna and Andrea as they look after Lloyd on his route to recovery.

He says that Lloyd will get his heart broken again, there's a big story coming up soon.

He also talks about his Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show on BBC Radio 6.  "Playing records and talking nonsense, I can't believe I get paid for it!" he laughs.

He says there's a few things towards the end of the year that he's filming to do with life away from Corrie but he can't talk about any of them yet.

Watch the interview here.


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Spoilers for next week's Coronation Street, May 5 - 9

Without any piffle, here's the storyline for the week ahead on Coronation Street, all wrapped up nicely in 50 words or less.

Week of Monday 5 May to Friday 9 May


Lloyd fights for his life, Anna confides to Roy about Owen, Izzy nicks from charity cash, Peter returns from rehab, Tim and Sally reunite, Rita threatens to chuck Dennis out.

The full weekly preview, with loads of pictures is right here on Corrie.net

Missed last week's Corrie?
Catch up with the Coronation Street Weekly Updates    

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Monday 28 April 2014

Coronation Street double episode review, Monday 28 April

Beth seems set on her plastic surgery in Latvia. Should alarm bells be ringing? Beth gives Chesney some money to take Sinead out and to buy her something nice to wear. Beth concludes that she was the gobby one at school, because she wasn't the pretty one or the boring, brainy one.  She has a theory, which probably isn't far wrong, that we fall in and fit. Chesney tells Sinead that she's beautiful and Sinead replies, 'I'm a lot of things but beautiful isn't one of them.'

Maddie continues to aggravate people, including Sophie, who seems determined to stick with this annoying girl. If someone steals from you it is human nature to believe that they will steal from you again and so it is with Dev who, quite understandably, feels concern at her being in the shop. She yells at Dev telling him that he suspects she has marmite down her jeans and Shreddies up her top. Sally sees that Sophie is cross with Maddie and says, 'Even she's had enough of you,' with a degree of relish. Sally then calls after Maddie and says, 'Try not to have a fight with yourself on the way home.' - which is a rather amusing comment.

Kevin has shot off to Germany, his dad having broken his leg. Before leaving though, he gave Maddie a job. Naturally Sally thinks Kevin has lost his mind and says as much to Tim, who rather impressively sticks up for Kevin's actions, pointing out to an aggrieved Sally that what Kevin is doing is really for Sophie. It's clear that Sophie is not going to give up on Maddie, so Kevin plays an astute game - in some ways it's a keep your friends close and your enemies closer plan that Kevin has designed. Wise man.

Every scene Steph, played by Tisha Merry, is in, works brilliantly. Her acting is excellent and her character is lively, kind and witty. Not quite sure how she puts up with Tina as a flatmate, but that won't be for much longer as anyone who hasn't been holidaying in a different solar system will know. On seeing the first dress that Chesney has bought for Sinead, Steph tells him that it it like something her granny would have worn before she had had her cataracts done. She adds, 'I don't usually do pity but your need is greater than mine.' What she chooses for Sinead isn't as it turns out Sinead's cup of tea, but Steph's intentions were good.

Maria has got herself in deep by making out that the texts she sent were actually from Kirstie. But what exactly is Maria's aim? Yes she's after Tyrone but does she really want to break up Fiz and Tyrone's relationship? Really? It seems more likely that she wants a man around, someone to comfort her after what she sees as Marcus' betrayal. Tyrone is familiar, kind-hearted and someone who would not turn his back on someone in a crisis. In The Rovers, it seems Maria suddenly realises this when Fiz sees them mid- hug. He is cross with Fiz though and when she tells him he should be more sensitive he rounds on her and tells her that she is being most unfair. An observation about David tonight was that he became a moraliser telling Maria that what she was attempting to do, that is take Tyrone from Fiz was wrong. Well, thank you David!

 Kal is upset, he's frustrated. He was hoping that he and Leanne would get together. Nick though, is keen to restart his relationship with Leanne and suggests a holiday. Leanne cannot bring herself to turn him down and so fosters false hope. It is very difficult for her to tell him straight that they are no longer together, hard enough under any circumstances, but  especially difficult after the horrors that Nick has had to face.

In the gym Kal is training Steve, who has fitness on his mind and is also feeling fiercely competitive with Lloyd. Steve is doing well. Nick arrives but it seems the gym has made a mistake and double booked. Steve though is happy to share the session. Kal pushes Nick to an almost cruel extent and Gail expresses her concern,though Nick tells her in no uncertain terms not to get involved. Nick is clearly exhausted but Kal pushes him even harder to the point where it is no longer fitness training, but punishment for being married to Leanne.

Kal forces Nick to do some punching. After goading and taunting him, a reluctant Nick gets on with it; he punches while Steve takes the punches. Nick is punching so hard that he floors Steve. Steve says that Nick caught him off guard and anyway he could do with the rest!. Gail to the rescue, 'Deep breaths!' and nobody can blame her for telling Kal off.

Leanne is furious with Kal and tells him to stay away from 'both of us.'  So, torturing his love rival in the gym didn't work so he'l have to think of another method.






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Preview of tonight's double Coronation Street - Monday 28 April

MONDAY 28TH APRIL 2014 at 7.30pm
FIZ GROWS JEALOUS OF TYRONE AND MARIA Fiz watches suspiciously as Tyrone quietly tells Maria that he’s had another text from Kirsty. Scrolling through Tyrone’s phone, she’s furious when she discovers the latest message from Kirsty but when she finds out Tyrone’s already shown the text to Maria, how will she react?
KAL’S THROWN INTO DISARRAY BY NICK AND LEANNE Not wanting to hurt Nick’s feelings, Leanne says she’ll think about his suggestion of a family holiday with her and Simon. An excited Nick tells Kal that Leanne has decided to give him another chance but where does that leave Kal?
SOPHIE GIVES MADDIE A REALITY CHECK Sophie’s angry when Maddie kicks off at Dev in the shop and tells her she needs to start behaving better if she wants people to treat her better.
ELSEWHERE Sinead is worried when Beth excitedly tells her and Chesney about her forthcoming operation in Latvia. Steve talks Dev into doing the 5k charity run with him, telling him how much he wants to beat Lloyd in the charity race.

MONDAY 28TH APRIL 2014 at 8.30pm
MARIA COMES TO TYRONE’S RESCUE Maria’s secretly chuffed when Tyrone tells her that Fiz is jealous of their relationship. David warns Maria that she’s playing a dangerous game and realising his right she tells Tyrone it’s time to go home. But as Tyrone goes to hug her, Fiz enters the pub. How will she react seeing Tyrone in Maria’s arms?
KAL AND LEANNE MAKE A HUGE SACRIFICE In the gym, Kal puts Nick and Steve through their paces but when Kal winds Nick up, he loses his temper and knocks Steve to the ground. When Leanne finds out how Kal goaded Nick she’s furious. Has Kal lost Leanne for good?
MADDIE’S THROWN A LIFELINE BY KEVIN Sally’s shocked to learn that Kevin’s dashed off to Germany as Bill’s broken his leg.  She’s furious to learn that not only has he left the girls alone at No.13, he’s offered Maddie a job valeting cars at the garage.
ELSEWHERE Steph persuades Chesney to buy Sinead a figure-hugging, tarty dress with the money Beth gave him but will Sinead be as impressed with this gift?

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Vote for Corrie! Shortlist open in British Soap Awards 2014

Voting for the shortlist in the British Soap Awaeds 2014 opens tonight at midnight.  That's 00.01 hours on Monday 28 April 2014.

Vote for your Coronation Street favourites at http://www.britishsoapawards.tv/

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Sunday 27 April 2014

Katy Armstrong's top 5 moments on Coronation Street

Now that we know that Katy Armstrong is leaving Coronation Street, it's made me wonder what she will be remembered for. 

Here we go with Katy's top 5 moments on Coronation Street, in reverse order.

No. 5. Um.... 



No. 4. Er...



No. 3. Snogs Ryan in kebab shop shocker



No. 2. Deflowers Chesney on the soft furnishings



No. 1.  Gives birth in a stable to baby Joseph during the nativity play.



See also: Taxi for Armstrong

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Taxi for Armstrong


So all of a sudden, out of the blue, we hear the news that actress Georgia May Foote is to leave Coronation Street before the end of the year.

While I'll not shed any tears when Katy Armstrong leaves Weatherfield, it does seem a bit odd given that a long-term future for the character was suggested not that long ago.


Young Katy has been one of my least favourite characters for quite some time. While not being quite as surly as the increasingly irritating, dour Sophie or quite as gobby as the increasingly unpleasant Michelle, Katy has been a quiet, background source of annoyance for a while.

The character has been a spare part since her split with Chesney. The arrival of sweet, kindly, soap making Sinead has left Ms Armstrong redundant. Seeing nice but dull Chesney with Sinead makes you realise what a poor match Chesney and Katy were in the first place. To my mind the character was ruined as soon as the pair were saddled with their hasty relationship and parenthood. This aged them overnight and neither character has been able to come back from that abyss of old before their time responsibility. 

What made things worse was the further about turn which saw devoted young mum Katy turn trampy overnight with the deeply unsuitable, beige, characterless Ryan Connor. That entire storyline was the ultimate in filler tedium and it was an immense relief when Ryan was packed off somewhere or other for some deeply vacuous, spurious reason. At the time my only complaint was that he didn't take Katy with him.

In recent times Katy has been a background presence in the seemingly never-ending spiral of gloom that is the Armstrong-Windass family. Every so often she would chirrup up to pass on some lame piece of advice to someone who wasn't listening or compliment Valerie "gob on a stick" Phelan on her décolletage. 

While I'm a fan of Debbie Rush (Anna) and Mikey North (Gary), the over-abundance of the Armstrong-Windass clan has been quite overpowering of late, so as far as I'm concerned one less is no bad thing. Out of them all, Katy is the easiest to dispense with. Steph has come along with bags of personality and we are soon to meet Kal Nazir's daughter, Alya, so there will be no shortage of younger female characters.  

Despite my feelings towards Katy, I do wish Georgia May Foote all the best for the future.

So what do you think about the decision to wave goodbye to Katy Armstrong? Will you miss her? What would you like her exit storyline to be?


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Corrie Weekly Awards: April 21 - 25

Action Man award: Tony's advice to Dennis, actions speak louder than words... What's a man got to do to win back the hand of the fair maiden?

Last Chance Saloon: Peter is, as we used to say for last chances, "Playing on his face card"

Sensitivity award: Tracy slagging off Peter in front of Simon.

Cat's out of the bag award: David knows Maria's secret. Steve knows Tina's secret.

British Justice award: Gail's burglar only got 12 months and will only do half of it.

Wordplay award: Stef thought "consummate professionals" were something to do with wedding nights. Well, they are the same word, just different meanings.

Running Man award: Steve and Lloyd... are they past it? Or are they up to a 5K run.

Cake Boss Fail: Steve did try, but the cake wasn't a success.

Lines of the week:

Carla "If the booze don't kill him, I will"
Tracy "I can't imagine anyone less WAG-like than Mam"
Carla "I'm like the black flamin' widow"
Carla about Peter "He can't love anyone enough to break the cycle. Not his wife, not his son. Not anyone" (got that, Tina?)
David to Maria "I've pulled some daft things in my time but this is really up there"
Deirdre "I still miss me perm sometimes"
Kal "I'm a big boy, Dad, in case you hadn't noticed" (Do they ever really think of you as all grown up?)
Rob "We buy dodgy stuff and sell it to dodgy people"
Deirdre "Clearly money makes you romantic"
Steve "That's how moral I am. Anything for an easy life"
Gail "I've seen that face before. It's got Leanne Battersby written all over it" (and she's right)
Lloyd "How many miles are in 5 kilometers?" (Steve's right. you're a cabbie, right? 3 miles)
David about the cops "You know what we call that? A whole load of toothpaste" (that won't get put back in the tube)
Deirdre about Tracy "I see RTracy like I see asparagus. An aquired taste" and "You don't just marry a bum. Take it from one who's tried. Several times. Samir's was like two space hoppers in a hold all"


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