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

Saturday 25 July 2015

Coronation Street Weekly Update - why was the girl allowed?

Corrie weekly updates from 1995 - 20 years in 20 e-books
All the wit and warmth of Weatherfield, none of the waffle

Available from
amazon.co.uk or amazon.com


Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street
- 2015 official ITV tie-in book

and Coronation Street unofficial companion books:

Norman Bates with a Briefcase, the Richard Hillman Story

A Perfect Duet, the diary of Roy and Hayley Cropper
 


Greetings and welcome to the Coronation Street Weekly Update. Find out more about the Coronation Street Weekly Updates and why they've been written for th'internet since 1995 at http://www.corrie.net/updates/weekly


Big name signings to Coronation Street have worked well in the past. Maureen Lipman as Rovers temporary landlady Lillian ‘and never, ever Lily’ Spencer was my own particular favourite. Sir Ian McKellen as conman Mel Hutchwright was sublime. And then there was Sarah Harding, a singer from the band Girls Aloud who turned up this week. There are thousands of excellent, capable actresses available for work. And yet ITV chose to cast ‘a name’ in the role of Robert Preston’s wife Joni who turned up this week on our favourite show.  Sinead O’Connor last week declared ‘music is dead’ when Rolling Stone magazine published a picture of Kim Kardashian on its cover. I’m feeling Sinead’s pain. That’s all I’m going to say.

On to much more brighter things this week on Coronation Street, and Roy passed his driving test!

At No. 1 Robert cooked Deirdre’s signature dish of stuffed marrow for Tracy and Ken. He also stayed overnight with Tracy until she found out about you know who (see paragraph one above, I’m not going over Joni Preston’s arrival again, it hurts).

Leanne, Liz and Simon are held captive in Leanne’s flat by Dan, Dan the Brewery Man this week. In a ludicrous scene, a drunken Dan locked two feisty women and a capable lad inside Leanne’s flat. There were any number of pots and pans Liz or Simon could have used to flatten Dan but instead there was panic and pandemonium until Liz managed to flee the flat with Simon.  Dan was carted away in a cop car and there was a lovely bit of bonding between Zeedan and Simon. Zeedan’s a character I’ve not warmed to till now so I do hope we’ll start to see more of this side to him, it works.

Gail tries, and fails, to get Michael back this week.  She pretends she’s got a leak in the kitchen and calls Michael who goes round to fix it. While he’s there she gives him Battenberg cake. He doesn’t eat it all and she wraps the remainder in foil which he takes to the pub so Eileen can bash it all over the table. I thought this was incredibly cruel and has put me right off Eileen, and Battenberg cake. Gail makes a final play to get Michael back but he spends the night with Eileen instead.

Bethany bunks off school and spends the day with Callum in his flat and at the Dog and Gun. She gets drunk on voddy and although she refuses his offer of a spliff, he takes a picture on his phone of her with it in her hand. He also gets her to do some drug running for him and takes photos of her in action there too.  

Tony returns this week but no-one wants to see him – not his son Jason, not his ex-Tracy and not his ex-Liz.  Liz does grant him an audience in the back room of the pub where she ends up pummeling him and slapping him for his dirty dog ways. A brilliant scene - and Bev Callard as Liz has been on fire this week, always a joy to watch.


Over at the garage, Kev gets an offer he can’t refuse when a fella he knows offers to sell him his garage.  Kev’s all suited and booted as he makes his way to business meetings and the bank and Sally’s impressed. It doesn’t take much to turn Sally’s head, unfortunately for Tim, who notices what’s going on. Deciding he doesn’t want to lose Sally to Kev, Tim proposes to Sally and in some style too. Well, I say style. It all depends if you like Take That blaring out of a ghetto blaster and being proposed to by a fella with a bunch of Dev’s flowers in his hand while he’s kneeling on the cobbles in front of a knicker-stitching factory.  But it’s a style Sally likes and she says ‘yes’.

And that's just about that for this week.

Remember, you can sign up to get these Corrie weekly updates by email at http://www.corrie.net/updates/weekly/subscribe.htm

This week’s writers were Julie Jones (Monday double); Susan Oudot (Wednesday); Mark Burt (Thursday); Jayne Hollinson and Ben Tagoe (Friday double).  Find out all about the Coronation Street writing team at http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/2008/11/exclusive-all-current-corrie-writers.html

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



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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

On the whole I enjoyed this weeks lot of episodes. Sally, Tim and Kevin were the highlight and Tracyluv even raised the bar. The less said about Joni the better, lets just hope it was a fleeting visit- good luck to Sarah in future projects as it cant be bad to have Corrie on your CV. I wondered last night why Bethany popped upstairs and played music at Gails? She doesn't live there so whose room was she blasting from?! - Micky

Anonymous said...

Re the Harding issue, I think the question in the headline to this post says it all. How was she ever given the job? I feel sorry for her, the viewers and all the capable actresses who weren't offered a shot.

On the other hand, some of the performances this week were outstanding and I'm enjoying seeing Tony back.

Anonymous said...

Corrie built its reputation on seasoned actors who in many cases had done bit parts for years and years - really paid their dues - and din't get the break they needed until very late in life. It has a fine record for making stars out of the kind of talented people who'd never be leading men or women elsewhere because they're character types who in most shows would only get a walk-on part. To just give a role to someone because she's famous in other fields - and without even auditioning her - stinks. Would the likes of Doris Speed, Violet Carson and Pat Phoenix stand a chance today?

Barrie.T said...

One of the worst performances i've seen from Sarah Harding. Stuart Blackburn is to blame. It is so unfair to all those unemployed actors who have years of rep theatre training etc and then to give it to someone who has never acted before is a joke. It also makes corrie look like a pantomine. We can only hope she hasnt been offered a 12 month contract. That would not surprise me.

Humpty Dumpty said...

I guess the reason Dan was brought in and why the storyline climaxed so quickly was to push Simon over the edge. Otherwise, it didn't make any sense. Not at all interested in Robert/Tracy/Joni. Tracy is OKish when she's opposite very strong actors/characters. Neither Robert or Joni are much cop so pretty bored with that already. How can any actor get a job without being auditioned? Tim and Sally brilliant as always.

Barrie.T said...

I read a comment on another forum that said Sarah Harding made Bethany actress look like Meryl Street

Tvor said...

Harding wasn't that good, it's true, but she wasn't *that* bad. Clearly nervous and overcompensating. There's been a lot of over the top criticism that I think has been a bit unfair. And yes, it's stunt casting and it isn't very fair to all those hard working talented actors trying to get a break. I can think of a lot of Current cast members that were not very good when they started, and turned out fairly well, some more than others.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but she was that bad. You're being too nice, generous and over-protective of your favourite show. That reflects well on you, but she remains awful.

Ruth owen said...

I'm afraid I was really disappointed. I found both Robert and Joni wooden and unconvincing. I've seen better school plays, I'm afraid.

Barrie.T said...

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