I know that sounds harsh, but I hate the character of Tracy Barlow, I do. From pretending to bed Roy to win a bet with Bev for a quid, to the ridiculous self-harm with the iron to make people believe she was being abused by Charlie Stubbs (a story that was criticised by domestic abuse groups when it was shown), she's a messed-up mental nightmare who doesn't belong on the Street. This soap character needs psychiatric care, not more screen time.
And I hate how she turns Deirdre, one of my favourite Corrie characters, to mum-mush, oblivious to her murdering daughter's faults - of which there are many. Even level-headed Ken seems resigned to living with Tracy's deranged mind. I know it's only soap. I know it's only one character in a show full of wonderful women and top-class blokes. But when Tracy Barlow comes on screen, my lip curls and my stomach churns because she well and truly spoils Coronation Street.
If only she'd go up to her room to listen to tapes again. And never return.
38 comments:
I used to like her, but meh...she's not needed anymore, I hope the rumours of her leaving in July were true
It's good to have evil characters to hate.
Chris is handling that situation perfectly well at the moment.
Personal trivia:
Kate Ford was in my class in Primary School!!!
Agree completely FN. Great post...
I thought her exit when she got found guilty was very good, she seemed genuinely remorseful and self-aware.
She's just back to her old ways though now, and her presence doesn't feel right on the Street.
i'm with you her chracter is a complete joke-i felt more sympathy for tony gordon and thats saying something
she just shows no humility and it grates on me
also agree about deidre she cannot see fault even when tracy lied about who bashed her over the head-why would she lie she said to ken and tracy smirked
its not good having her back it doesnt do the show any good
and if she does leave in may-(has it been confirmed yet)-i wont be watching anymore
I couldn't agree more FN. I wish they would hurry and confirm she is leaving, as the character is a complete waste of space. I really don't like the actress either, she doesn't appear to have any acting skills.I can't understand why the producers reckon she is a character we love to hate..... from what I have read on the boards there definately isn't any love!!
AGREE completely! Can't stand the character or the actress.
~JB in Canada
Characters that you can love to hate - yes. Jez Quigley, for me.
But Tracy, just hate. Not only does she make Deirdre a mum-mush she ruins Steve, Becky, ikkle Amy just to name a few. Roy, Haley.....
I wouldn't go as far as saying shes a bad actress because i don't think Corrie would employ someone who couldn't act but i can't stand her character!
I think the more we say we hate Tracey Barlow, the more the producers will say, "fantastic, it just shows you how terrific the actress and the plots are!" But FN, I agree with you completely.
I think it's going to be a 'who shot JR' type thing for Tracy's character...only this time I hope the Tracy thing is gone for good. It's just rehashing the same old same old and it's really getting boring. I hope Tyson and Julie get together..that would be a riot!!
Agreed completely. Corrie seems to think she's a good character who we 'love to hate'. No, most of us just hate her. Get rid please.
Everyone's right. She's not a character we "love to hate" in the way I love to hate Owen the nasty builder, of Jez Quigley or RIchard Hillman. They were watchable. Tracy Barlow is just a waste of screen time.
Tracy is just a pantomime villain. If she is in Corrie much longer, we will end up with the Rovers Regulars booing her and Tracy turning to camera and saying "but I am so misunderstood, boys and girls"
THANK YOU Flaming Nora.. exactly what I was thinking... but expressed much more articulately!
I loved to hate Charlie and Tony, and Carla at times... but with Tracy... I just hate her. And not in an "OMG I must watch to see what happens next" way. More in a "I'll just hit mute and read the paper 'til she's off-screen" way...
Rebecca in TO
I agree she is just evil and destroys the happiness of everyone in her path. She is a mother's worst nightmare
Flaming Nora are you KIDDING, Owen is HORRIBLE. I hate him and I don't love to hate him at all. Not like Tony or Hillman.
I used to like Tracy but now she is back, she has to show she has some nice side or she's just too horrible, and I like Becky so..
Steve, you spineless idiot, why didn't you give her a cab to drive? Tracy's perpetually vile, shallow, selfish, uncreative, a horrible parent, and now we have to watch her pick on Betty, Becky, Tina and Sean as the self proclaimed "Head Barmaid". She's going to send all your regulars to the Weathy Arms.
Tracy confessed her crime to Dierdre, who presumably told Ken. I understand them being happy to have her at home, but they've made Dierdre's parental blinders worse than Gail's. Painful to watch.
I've not seen Tracy before the jail incident with Gail. But I don't mind a resident evil character driven by selfishness and vanity. I think the Tracy character is just as bad as the David character. David pushed his own mother down the stairs, tried to burgle his own grandmother's house. The problem is two-fold...
1)people have a general hardtime with purely evil, self-obsessed female characters
2)the actress may not be up to the task of playing a credible, evil character and her lines seem awkward, unbelievable e.g. her utterance that her homecoming from jail at Christmas could be compared to the return of Nelson Mandela -- even a dolt like her wouldn't compare herself to Mandela...
and her reference to the police behaving "atrociously"... who talks like that even in Soapville about an investigation gone wrong? It's just a "stupid" thing to happen or a "raw deal" or "unfair"....
Well, I don't mind that she's there to poke at things so as long as the writers give her some decent lines and develop an evil but interesting character.
I'm not sure it's a gender issue. Characters like David, Tony and Richard Hillman had moments where they were just trying to fit in to the neighbourhood and/or please someone they loved, while Tracy is full-on scheme/evil/revenge all the time. She's a cartoon.
I also don't think it's a gender issue. Just caught Friday's catch-up on ITV, and have to say, for me, it's both the character that I really dislike, and, unfortunately, the actor as well. I don't think a "character the fans love to hate" is fair in this case. Hillman, Gordon, Quigley, even Sharples (she could be a nasty woman, too) had both Jekyll and Hyde -- good and evil -- characteristics. Tracy is only evil; adds no entertainment to Coronation Street.
She is awful and they should never have brought her back
Dreadful actress who should have been left languishing in prison, mad idea to bring her back, her OTT one dimensional nastiness to everyone just for the sake of it and with no reason just makes me want to switch channells. If Phil Collinson has one ounce of sense he will get rid of her as soon as her can. Now we are to put up with her picking on Steve'ds bar staff, do the producers think this is funny or entertainment? No wonder Corrie is left behind at Awards time when they give us dross like this with an unpopular actress.
I wish they had kept Dawn Acton as Tracy and had her as a nice, normal young lady, much as you would get in a regular neighbourhood.
Maybe one day Tracy's kidney transplant will throw a wobbly and hopefully kill her off.
I had a 'heart-sink' moment when I first read that 'Traceyluv' was coming back. She couldn't act then and she still can't now.
Previous commenters have it right: she confessed all to Deirdre - who now seems as though all that never happened. As for Ken? You have to pity him that he's got a forgetful wife and possibly, the worlds most ludicrously outrageous stepdaughter.
Lets not forget that Traceyluv tried to sell her daughter - the action of any really caring mother, right? right!!
Charlie Stubbs met his match with Traceyluv and could've done something to protect himself, seeing as how he was comparitively nasty aswell and could've done more to up the ante. It would've been more dramatic and it would've kept that permanently evil woman off our screens too for considerably longer.
As for poor Amy? with a mother like the one she's got, there's a whole world of opportunity out there and I sincerely hope the writers keep Amy on the right side of the law/decency. Two lots of nasty? no ta! It doesn't hold well in soap law if Amy goes bad - she'll probably get into mischief, but she'll never be her mother and it would be a massive crime to portray her as such.
In the meantime, until the writers decide to take away some evil, give Traceyluv something that resembles a spine and a zip for her mouth, I'll watch through sheer gritted teeth. There's only Traceyluv that doesn't know the harm she's doing when everyone else does - otherwise, there wouldn't have been the escape committee for Clare and the kids!!
One day, soapwriters will realise that they can't mess around with 'things that are already known' when it comes to dealing with Traceyluv. Lets hope she does get the writing out she deserves when something comes to light that is a sure-fire one-way ticket to prison/oblivion.
I hate Tracy, and it's not a 'love to hate' kinda hate. Plus i really don't rate KF as an actress. Get rid.
Get rid of her! I can't abide her character. There isn't one redeeming quality about her. Deidre should be smacked up along side her head every time she defends her.
Can only agree. She's dreadful - and NOT in a love to hate her kind of way. She's been given some not bad lines, but the way she delivers them they're ruined - sorry to the actress but that's the way it comes over. Grating.
I absolutely agree with you on this. Fortunately, being in Canada, we've got a way to go before we have to put up with her. When I heard she'd been attacked upon her return I really hoped that would be the end of her. I was very disappointed to learn that she survived!
Like J, I live in Canada and won't see Tracy regularly for a while. But I must say, I'm not looking forward to it. I believe the problem is not just the level of nastiness, but the fact that she appears to have become a one-dimensional character. With her history on the street, it might be more interesting to see the writers add some layers to her personality and generate some sympathy for her, or at least some understanding. There is a rich vein there waiting to be mined.
I remember rooting for Tracey during the secret baby storyline!
It's like the writers decided to make up for lost time by turning Trace up to 11. I do honestly remember a time when she had *some* redeeming qualities whereas now I just fast-forward whenever she's on.
Kate Ford is a very good actress in my opinion, to inspire this much hate she must make Tracey believable enough to provoke us!
After sooooo many years of watching...I am almost 60yrs old.....I really feel I will stop watching becauseof this character...how Granada thinks this type of person would deserve 'story' time...horrid....
It's all gotten a bit much. Yes it is only a television show, but the plots have become so ridiculous they are not even funny any more. Are the script writers really so deluded as to think the average television watcher can't predict the next plot, scene or even line.....how many times can a character attempt murder, marry murderers, have affairs, etc... and expect to remain convincing???
Sorry, if I lived in Manchester I'd be highly insulted to be portrayed in this light, putting my money where my mouth is and turning off...
It would be great to have a baddie in the cast to balance the wonderful drama and comedy, but it takes a quality actor to make the character convincing. She is one-dimensional and totally boring.... I've been watching less since she's been back and if they keep her and get rid of the adorable Becky, I'm gone!!
Tracey is the WORST thing to happen to Corrie in a long, long time. I can't watch at the moment which is a shame as I've heard Stephanie COle is superb. PLEASE ditch Tracey and let us all return to enjoying our (former) favourite soap
Well at first I didn't like her but now I do, don't forget she is only acting her lines, she didn't write the script, I agree sometimes it isn't that good.
Also she doesn't always win an argument, I like it when someone gives her a quick answer that leaves her speechless.
If you were to say to Tracy, 'Don't say anything' you know damn well she will, she can't help but stir it, so I for one don't want to see her go.
thats the thing shes not acting at all-shes badly saying her lines
I cant stand her as an actress she is useless. Makes me want to change the channel. Bad move bring her back.
i have stopped watching coro. because of tracy barlow and all the harm she does.
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