The Family Affair

I can't have been the only one who thought introducing William Roache's real-life sons to Corrie was a brilliant 50th anniversary idea.  Linus as his long-lost son?  James as his grandson? Brilliant.

In reality, I've been very disappointed.  The whole storyline's been executed really badly.

Firstly, let's deal with the revelation that Ken had another son. This is mind-blowing stuff, for parent and child. Lawrence has never met his father, never known who he was even. There should have been fireworks, recriminations, anger, tears.  Instead, Ken said, "I've worked out I'm your father." Lawrence's response?  "Oh, really?"

And that was it.  No resentment or yearning.  Barely any emotions at all.  In fact, the best responses came from Peter Barlow, who treated it all with amused disdain.

Then came the second part of the plot: Lawrence's estrangement from his own son due to his sexuality.  Again, a potentially good idea, in that it meant born-liberal Ken would be torn between his desire to know his new son and his support for his grandson's rights.  And again, it's been fudged.  Are we really meant to accept that an educated university lecturer like Lawrence, a man brought up by a left-wing firebrand and single mother, would be homophobic?  It seems completely out of character.

It's also too big a plot to be over and done with in a couple of weeks.  Linus will never commit to more than a handful of episodes - the episodes should be concentrating on Lawrence and Ken's relationship, without this distraction of James in the mix.  That could have been powerful, dramatic, and heartbreaking, and given Bill Roache a real storyline to get his teeth into.

I've been very let down by the whole thing.  Especially as by the looks of it, Lawrence is simply going to vanish to the same Barlow purgatory that Daniel lives in, never to be mentioned again...