Well, we’re only two days into Stella’s reign at the Rovers, and already we’ve seen the first signs of the storyline that will apparently see her revealed as Leanne Barlow’s long-lost mother – probably sooner rather than later, at this rate. It was nicely done, the way she quite subtly pumped Ken and Deirdre for information under the guise of idle chitchat, oh-so casually dropping into the conversation that she remembered reading about Peter and Leanne’s hospital wedding back in December. Oh-so casual, except that no one would have remembered all the details, such as Peter’s name, from a random newspaper article they read six months ago – not unless they had a damn good reason to make a careful note of those details, because it mattered to them. And of course it matters a great deal to Stella, because that newspaper article is evidently how she found out where her long-lost daughter is now living, which makes total sense, and is therefore the reason she has moved to Weatherfield now.
It’s taken her six months to come looking for Leanne, however – she’s evidently been biding her time and it makes sense that she’d have reservations and might be nervous of how she’ll be received by the daughter she lost contact with so long ago, long enough ago that Leanne won’t even recognise her when they finally meet. Maybe she’s been dithering for all those months over whether to come looking for Leanne or not, and then seeing Steve’s advert for a bar manager gave her the push she needed to go for it.
Now that the story is underway, I think it is a real shame that Janice isn’t around anymore. Like her or loathe her, Janice is the only mother-figure Leanne has ever known, and her presence would add a fascinating dynamic to the storyline. Even without her, though, the storyline is bursting with potential. Leanne needs connections outside of the Barlows - she's been pretty isolated since Janice left and her bust-ups with Carla and Cheryl. This storyline is an opportunity to explore her background a little more - to find out why she ended up being raised by her dad, why her mum left her, and how she really feels about it. She almost never talks about her mum - is that because she doesn't care, or because she has buried those feelings of abandonment as deep as possible? Is that sense of having been abandoned by her own mother perhaps part of the reason she latched onto motherless little Simon so very strongly? Plus, by creating this connection between Leanne and Stella, the new family are given instant links to established characters on the show, which should help them bed in.
I’m really fascinated to see how the story unfolds from here.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
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6 comments:
Stella being Leanne's mother means she once slept with Les Battersby. She seems like a woman with such good taste too. I guess everyone makes horrifying mistakes though.
Hm it does seem plausible, Stella is what about 48, and Leanne is about 30, so having her at 18 would be about right. I just dont see why Stella couldnt have been introduced as a lone character, bringing in her pantomime family just makes it less credible in my opinion.
People can change a lot in 30 years! Who can say at this stage what Stella might have been like back then - or Les, for that matter.
Plus, now that we've met Stella's current partner Karl, who is definitely cut from much the same work-shy, layabout cloth as Les, the Stella-Les combination starts to look more plausible...
I'm intrigued to find out what the circumstances were that led to Leanne being raised by Les.
ew les gross-doesnt seem her type at all and how old was she meant to be 15?
Good choice of casting as she and Leanne do have similar looks. As i recall, Leanne's mother was said to have left her when she was a baby. She may not even have photos or very old ones if any.
the truth comes out next week :)
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