CURLY AND REG REUNITED FOR A ONE-OFF CORONATION STREET SPECIALWelcome to Tatlock Towers: a weekend of unrequited love, comical conmen, sinister plastic surgeons and chargrilled swan. It could only be a Coronation Street DVD special out 1st November.
Two of the Britain’s most enduring TV characters – Coronation Street’s Curly Watts and Reg Holdsworth – are reunited for Tatlock Towers (working title), a one off special to be released by ITV STUDIOS Home Entertainment on 1st November. They are joined by Norris Cole, Mary Taylor, Rosie Webster and Jason Grimshaw in a hilarious comedy of errors set at a medieval weekend within a remote stately home.
Curly – now a high flying businessman with a chain of hotels under his Armani belt – is giving Reg a chance to prove himself by hosting a medieval banquet weekend at Tatlock Towers. Things get off to a bumpy start when Reg hires Rosie Webster as a serving wench under false pretences and sets his sights on Mary Taylor, despite her attachment to poor Norris.
Fooling Norris into thinking the weekend is a competition prize, Mary is hoping a romantic break among wandering minstrels and elaborate banquets will succeed in wooing the reluctant object of her affections.
Meanwhile, believing she is set for stardom as ‘the face of Strumpet Ale’, Rosie drags Jason on the weekend to watch her star turn. There she meets a plastic surgeon who is convinced that, with a little work - with or without her consent - she could be perfect...
Kevin Kennedy, who plays Curly Watts, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be back in the fold of Coronation Street, working with a tremendous cast and the best crew in the business, if only for a short while. To be back with Ken Morley is something I think a lot of fans have been waiting for – as a double act, Curly and Reg were very, very funny.”
Ken Morley, who plays Reg Holdsworth, continues: “I can only echo everything Kevin has said except add that both Kevin and I are fatter, older and not necessarily wiser! We look forward to continuing with the mayhem we first dropped on the nation all those years ago.”
Helen Flanagan, who plays Rosie Webster, added: “I’m really excited about taking part in the DVD being released in Coronation Street’s 50th year - it feels like a real privilege. The script looks like loads of fun - you’ll be seeing Rosie at her most outrageous best!”
Tatlock Towers follows the hugely popular Romanian Holiday in 2009, which saw Roy and Hayley Cropper and Becky McDonald marooned with the housemates from hell in rural Romania, and Out of Africa in 2008, which saw Cilla Battersby drag Fiz, Chesney and Kirk out to South Africa for her latest scam.
See, i still just don't see the connections. How Reg would even have found Rosie and why she would bring Jason (please tell me Jason isn't sinking that low as to go out with her!)? Why would Norris even consider going away with Mary again after the last time? None of it makes any sense at all.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or do ITV seem to be trying to make this release as awful as possible?
ReplyDeleteThe new direction and focus from ITV, upon release of their recent annual trading results, is to charge as much as possible, for as many service and merchandising opportunities as possible. The view being taken that advertising revenue alone will not provide sufficient revenue to meet competition from competing formats in the future.
ReplyDeleteAnd as shown by the announcement under that policy to commence pay per view for the HD channels on ITV2 and ITV3.
If these DVD one-off specials make money, expect ITV to encourage the production companies by green lighting them with the go-ahead to make bucket loads for a variety of ITV programmes ie., Summer specials, Easter/Christmas specials etc., etc.,
Since when were the previous DVDs "hugely popular"? I thought the sales had been poor. I personally wouldnt pay out for what sounds like slapstick tripe.
ReplyDeleteI love both Curly and Reg but this is just horrible. Why can't they just come back to the street for a bit instead of a spin off with an absurd plot?
ReplyDeleteI seriously wonder what ITV is thinking when they make creative/casting decisions.
I enjoyed both Out of Africa and Romanian Holiday but this isn't going to be on my Christmas List.
ReplyDeleteI like Curly and Reg as well, but this just sounds like a really bad "Carry on Up the Street" or something, what with wenches and "skirt-chasings". (any chance it could be SO bad, it's good? - clutching at straws!)
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is when you take the characters out of the street and mix in a load of "guest artistes" it just isn't Coronation Street anymore. Even the first special, which had Rita, Mavis and Alec in it, fell apart once the guest stars appeared. Out of Africa was just about OK, because it largely focused on the Street characters (and had the return of Cilla), and as for the Romanian one last year - I waited until I could get it for £2.99 and even then felt ripped off by what was an embarrassingly stupid storyline.
ReplyDeleteThe first Cruise video, though, had pertinence to the storyline, for Curly and Raquel at least. They had got married so suddenly and she'd definitely been on the rebound from Des that their honeymoon troubles ending with her coming to terms with the marraige, at least for the time being, made sense.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit of fun giving Corrie writers the chance to use their comedy writing skills and us the chance for a bit of escapism. If you don't want to watch it then don't !
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