There's a long, nice article at the ATV website which remembers Maud Grimes. It says that Maud was Coronation Street's first character to appear in a wheelchair - but does anyone know if that's true? It's well worth a read.
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17 comments:
It is and it isn't. She was the first one to be in a wheelchair full time but Ray Langton was in one for a short time after that bus crash in the late 60s or very early 70s.
With the Izzy announcement, Corrie were focussing on the fact that Cherylee Houston is the first disabled actress to play a disabled character - even though the wording probably wasn't explicitly clear at the time...
Elizabeth Bradley (Maud) wasn't disabled, nor was Neville Buswell (Ray) - as far as I'm aware - so Cherylee Houston will become the first regular disabled character in Corrie.
Apart from that, I checked the Maud comparison out with Corrie and it doesn't look like Maud wasn't actually a 'regular' character. Although we don't know what her contract said, the number of episodes she was in over the years indicates that she was a semi-regular, therefore not Corrie's first regular disabled character.
Also, I think there's a distinct difference between a 'regular character' a 'long-term' one - even though most of the time, the wording's synonymous. In the case of Maud, she was it Corrie for six years but was (according to Corrie) only a semi-reg...
I think calling Maud a semi regular is Corrie splitting hairs really. Every fan would consider Maud a regular character but you're right, she wasn't disabled. The wording doesn't really specify that the actor is disabled. Though he wasn't a regular character, Ryan's friend Phil i believe was a disabled lad?
Elizabeth Bradley certainly wasn't disabled. I remember her walking onto the stage in Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van, playing the author's mother. I hadn't realised she was in it and to see 'Maud' walk, totally out of the blue, I almost cried out with delight! Sadly she passed away not very long afterwards. I always loved her character; she was a sort of a precursor to Blanche: Ena, Maud and Blanche, the Corrie's trinity of Uber-battleaxes. I certainly regard her as a regular character.
So this thing about 'semi-regular' characters - how does that apply to today's cast? Is Minnie a semi? Ted? Len Windass (is he even still in it?) Connie? How about Jack Duckworth himself, after his move?
I think i'd consider Ted a semi regular at this point. Connie as well. Jack is but i am sure he's on a permanent contract.
It's all down to semantics really, but if Corrie say that they've cast their first regular disabled character (and none of the past disabled characters were regulars) surely their claim is valid?
They haven't been at all right with the PR on this new 'Character' - as the ITV.com Corrie and other copying it have said. They say Character.
They need to be saying actress, the actress is disabled, Elizabeth wasn't, but the character was.
Obviously there have been incidents where people are short term, but Maud NEVER walked and being in near on 500 episodes is rightly as ATV say an insult to the lovely Elizabeth.
I've just been working it out, the episodes airing three times a week when she was in it, so she starred in around half of them. I agree with the earlier post, how do they count who is regular and who isn't? With such a big cast many are not seen for long spells. Betty they usually say has been a 'regular' since the 1960s, same for Emily - but how often do they actually appear?
I have a Corrie book that seems to suggest that Maud was indeed a regular character. She gets a big section in 1993 with a big photo. She's also on the front of the book. Do 'part time' get that? I think not. So Granada are arguing with Daran Little now because he wrote the book.
ATV are right to flag up this error. Corrie may be hiring their first regular disabled actor but it's not their first regular disabled character as DS and other sources suggest. And better research would have proven this. ITV are to blame and should have worded the PR differently.
I wonder if the people who work in Corrie press in 2010 even watched the show back when Maud was in it? And the fact they need to be relied upon for info speaks volumes in my view.
Yes she is on the front of The Coronation Street Story book by Darran Little along with other regular-cast.
I also noticed the BBC comment on ATV too from the news report in 2000: "Maud - who was confined to a wheelchair… became a permanent fixture in Coronation Street's corner grocery shop, working alongside her daughter Maureen."
ITV and the copy-and-paste news sites have used the word character incorrectly and now are trying to back track. ATV state 'long term' and 'main' character. The Corrie books and press of the 1990s seem to fly in the face of what they're saying now, but then again Granada has never been one to admit mistakes.
Just because it says something in a ITV press release it doesn't mean it should be copied with the incorrect info in tact. Kris and anyone else who has published the story should have corrected it. That's if Kris knew about Maud I guess. I'm thinking his soap knowledge might be limited if he had to ask Corrie who she was.
It'd be like the BBC releasing a press release saying Den was married to Pauline and they had an adopted daughter Sharon at the start of EastEnders. Would you publish that because the BBC said it so must be true or would you correct such an obviously wrong 'fact'?
The BBC stated once Lou Beale died in 1998. It was of course 1988. It happens, ATV being formerly part of ITV and Carlton must have an archive or database with such info in. The article is so well researched its more than just Wiki re-worded. So ITV are disagreeing with the BBC and former ITV company ATV... interesting!
Even the ATV terms 'longterm' & 'main' are fraught with difficulties; what if the new Izzy character should prove another Loren, or the Masons, not chiming with the viewers and only last 6 months. To have accorded her 'main' cast status - in adavnace! - while denying it to Elizabeth Bradley's six year run is insulting.
> Len Windass (is he even still in it?
I hope not. He was a terrible character.
Just remembered Jim McDonald was in a wheelchair for a while as well.
I think, having read the ATV article again (They also do one on other soaps) it says at the top Elizabeth could walk in real life as they comment on her 1977 stint.
But I just don't buy this 'semi-regular' that makes Betty and Emily 'guest stars' then. And although Barbara Windsor only does six-months a year in 'Enders the BBC class her as a main regular character.
Reading the other article, they have discounted 'short-term' chair use, such as Diane Keen in Crossroads, Ray Langton and the many in General Hospital/Emergency Ward 10 as they were either guest spots or the people eventually walked again.
I don't think the fact the new actress is really disabled is much of a ground breaker anymore but as stated Corrie said character not actress that is where the issue rests.
I am amazed they want to go to being the last soap from the 3rd if they discount Maud. Sandy Crossroads 1972, Vanessa Eldorado 1992, Maud Corrie 1993, Chris Tate Emmerdale 1994 and then Hollyoaks and EastEnders in 2009. [Again not couting those who walked again/guests]
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