Bill Webster to return to Corrie

Bill is set to return to Corrie with Auntie Pam in September, according to The Mirror. The couple's reason for being off screen will be that they have been travelling, and have now returned to marry. Although Pam will apparently ban Kevin from the wedding, which causes Bill to suffer a heart attack.

I'm looking forward to the pair returning, it was a bad decision to axe them in the first place, with Auntie Pam returning, we will have another link back to Molly.

State of the Street - July 2011

This month seemed to be full of Barlows. James turned out to be a bad seed, Tracy went after Steve once Becky was out of the way and thought she caught him. Peter and Leanne had a loss, seemingly of more than just a baby and the cracks are showing again. Leanne is also contending with having her mother back in her life.

In other news, Fiz is nicked due to circumstantial evidence and Gary Windass has broken apart at the seams. It's all there and more over on State of the Street for July.

Corrie weekly awards: July 25 - 29

Deja Vu award: Steve... unhappy because he can't have the one he wants, gets drunk, shags Tracy. Repeat. Along with...

Self Pity Party award: Gold Star: Not only did Steve feel sorry for himself, he comforted himself in exactly the wrong way...with Tracy.

Living in a Dream World award: Gold Star: Tracy thinking she and Steve could ever be a proper couple.
Silver Star: Steve thinking the secret that he slept with Tracy wouldn't get out.

Cheeky monkey award: Gold Star: Dennis flirting with Sylvia and her lapping it up! Love it!

Star of the week: Mikey North and Gary's demons.

New crockery! Looks like the Barlows have a new cheery teapot and cups. Becky must have smashed the old ones.

Lines of the week:
Sean "I'm keeping my powder dry, mainly out of cowardice." Eileen (a few minutes later) "Do you want me to smack him?"
Sylvia about Becky's grammar "My shopping lists are Shakespearean sonnets compared to that"
Steve "I know you're here for me Tracy, that's part of the reason she's (Becky) gone!"
Steve "If anything was going to tip me over the edge, it wouldn't be the sound of Morrissey" (it would for some, mate!)
Steve "There's more chance of me conquering Everest" (Phrase of Doom, anyone?) and "Thought me lawyer was going to give me a loyalty card. One more and the fifth one's free. She calls me Henry VIII!"
Steve "I suppose you stayed in a convent in Crete? The Holy Sisters of Largin' It!"

Pic: Katherine Kelly attends Royal Wedding

Katherine Kelly, who plays Coronation Street's Becky McDonald, attended the Royal Wedding today of Zara Phillips, the Queen's grand-daughter, and Mike Tindall, the England rugby captain. 

Katherine is a friend of the royal couple. 

The wedding was held at Edinburgh's Canongate Kirk.

Does Coronation Street need A Make-Over - Yay Or Nay?

Last week, we asked you the controversial question "Is Phil Collinson a good Corrie producer - Yay Or Nay?" with the response a 60/40 to the Nay side, which was a surprise to me. However user Apple Cobbler put it well: "Nay. Although he's been behind some good storylines, his style of production feels too sensationalist for my liking and a lot of the plots which he's helmed seem to revolve around either controversy or violence."

I'm not sure we will be able to top the huge 58 comments we had last week, but this weeks topic is certainly less controversial anyway "Does The Street Need A Make-Over"?

In the first 30 years of the show, the street saw many changes where the posh side of the street stands now. We had the Raincoat Factory, the Mission, the maisonettes and Mike Baldwin's old Knicker Factory until the the current set-up was erected by Maurice Jones in 1990.

And since then really, nothing has changed much on the exterior of the street, which is a disappointment considering Phil Collinson himself promised "the street would never be the same again" when he announced the Tram Crash. However, apart from a different Corner Shop facade, the street looks exactly the same, which is a big disappointment. There is probably not much that could be done with the street, I mean you can hardly demolish the Posh side, where people live, to expand Carla's factory. But, the highly underused Medical Centre and Bookies could certainly be revamped to fit the 21st century.

So do you think that the Street (or surrounding areas) needs a make-over? Its a YAY from me, I'm getting sick of the current layout. Hopefully the street design is altered a bit when the set moves in 2012. What about you?

Tonight's Corrie in 140 characters or less: 29/7/11 8:30pm

Audrey stands up to Marc's hecklers. Tracy leaves with Amy to go to London. Owen & Anna grow closer and Amber goes on a date with Tommy.

Ken Barlow on my wall

This is a poster sized print of a charcoal portrait of William Roache aka Ken Barlow. The original print is one of a series that were done by Corrie actor Steve Huison who played Eddie Windass. We've blogged about his art before. Steve is a very talented artist and he put on a show with the portraits and is now auctioning limited edition prints on eBay to raise money for his favourite charity, the Shoestring Theatre project in aid of mental health.

A few weeks ago he had some on eBay and I bid on several but the first two I tried for, I didn't get (Sue Nicholls/Audrey and Katy Cavanagh/Julie). This one was still ongoing so I put in a bid. I was outbid but only by a little and I was now determined to have it. Uhoh, I hear you say! Never fear, I sat and waited and watched and nobody else bid so with 20 seconds left on the clock, I entered my winning bid, just a little over the one that was the top bid and held my breath. The thing is, you don't know if the other bidder had put in a higher "max" bid that would automatically outbid your higher bid.

But it seems they didn't do that, and I won the auction and the print. I received it about 2 weeks later which wasn't bad for Canada Post and Steve also included one of his cast cards with a note on the back assuring me the money would go to the charity and thanking me. Result!

He doesn't have anything on the auctions at the moment, but hopefully, this link to his items will work for when he does. You can also buy his portraits from this site. They go for about £50 there. I paid less via eBay but your mileage may vary. Some of them on eBay were going for a lot more.

Here's a link to another blog post showing Steve holding this portrait!

Tonight's Corrie in 140 characters or less: 29/7/11 7:30pm

Becky finds out about Steve's night with Tracyt! Audrey attends an event with Marcia & Amber tells Sophie she's been kicked out of Uni!

Help! I'm warming to Tracy Barlow

Oh, how fickle I am. Just a few months ago I was blogging about how much I hate Tracy Barlow and today, well, kick me, go on, but now I fear I'm warming towards her. 

While I still stand by my original hate-filled rant that the woman is damaged goods and needs psychiatric care, there's a chink in her armour now she's let her guard down as Tracy tries to get Steve back: "I don't want you back in my bed, I want you back in my life." 

And whose heart didn't melt just a little with that scene last week when Tracy playing her tapes in the Barlow living room. It was Bros singing When Will I, Will I Be Famous?  When yer thwump yer good-for-nothing builder boyfriend over the head with an ornmanent and get set down for 15 years Tracy-luv, that's when.

Come on, let's face it, she'll never be Tracy McDonald (or will she, what do you think - that just might be the Coronation Street wedding to end all Coronation Street weddings!) but she might be up the stick with Steve's baby for the second time around.

Anyone else warming towards Tracy the tapes Barlow?  It can't just be me, can it? Hmm... if so then maybe I should take more medication. Nurse!

Spot the Corrie prop - July 29th 2011

Well done to everyone who spotted that last week's prop was Uncle Albert's old cabinet. It's the only prop on the current set that has survived from the original set over 50 years ago.
Back to present times this week. Where on the Coronation Street set would you find these place mats?

Tonight's Corrie in 140 characters or less: 28/7/11

Becky says she has moved on, pushing Steve into the arms of Tracy. Julie is reunited with Brian. Gary finally admits he needs help.

Antony Cotton staying on Corrie

Antony Cotton has signed a new deal to remain on Corrie.

He announced the news on Twitter, saying: “I have just signed my 9th contract with the show and I couldn't be prouder to be in the show. Thank you Coronation Street, you are amazing!”

Carla Connor in suicide bid

The Sun reveals today that Coronation Street's Carla Connor will attempt suicide days after she's raped by Frank Foster. 

The paper says that Carla, downs a bottle of sleeping pills with red wine. Frank will be arrested for raping Carla but she can't come to terms with her horrific ordeal. When close pal Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) visits her, teary Carla declares her love for him and begs him to leave his wife Leanne again.  But he knocks her back - completing her humiliation and sparking the overdose.

Thw scenes will be screened  in September.

Rovers Return to suffer plague of rats

There's a bizarre Coronation Street spoiler in today's Daily Star. The paper reckons that Corrie's Rovers Return is facing a plague of monster rats that will terrorise locals in the pub, Roy's Rolls and Nick Tilsley’s bistro.

Bosses at the ITV1 soap came up with the storyline after seeing a news report last year in which real-life residents of a Bradford council estate shot and killed a 3ft rat.

Norris takes it upon himself to get tid of the rodents and tells Rita: “They may have beaten amateurs like Roy Cropper and Nick Tilsley but they’ll find me quite a different adversary altogether. Let’s see them get past the Pied Piper of Weatherfield!”   In hilarious scenes, Norris will be seen carrying out daily inspections of the Street’s gardens and back alleys so he can capture and kill the rats. But they prove more than a match for his traps and poison, and the problem goes from bad to worse in the heat of the Weatherfield summer.  Soon most of the area’s houses are over-run with the beasts.

“This storyline will be a brilliant mix of the scary and the hilarious,” said an insider. Any viewers scared of rats will be hiding behind their sofas. But Norris’s attempt to bring them under control and lead them out of Weatherfield is going to be a comedy classic.”

The Corrie Years - tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1

Don't forget that the second episode of The Corrie Years is on TV tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1.  Tonight's programme concentrates on "first" and how Corrie has consistently broken new ground in TV drama. 

The programme looks at the first live episode for nearly  40 years, the first specially written hour-long episode  and the Street’s first (and only) transsexual character, Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh).

ITV to charge fans to watch Coronation Street online

If you watch Coronation Street online at the official ITV website, then you're going to have to start paying for the pleasure.  Today's Guardian reports that ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said the network will start charging for its online catchup service in January.

Do you watch Corrie online and will you pay to continue to do so?  Comments much appreciated below, as always.

 

Post-blog note from ITV Press via twitter: "To clarify. Catch up on ITV Player will remain free. @ITV will be introducing a pay mechanism next year to trial other pay content. "

We Love You, Rosie Webster

What's that tap-tap-tapping noise?  Why, it's the sound of Rosie Webster's stilettos clattering down the cobbles as she makes a triumphant return to the Street.  Our favourite model-slash-promo girl has been off our screens for a while - apparently holed up in Jason's bedroom, or something - but now she's back, with a kicky new haircut and an online-only spin off.  

Who knew that Rosie would rise to such meteoric heights, given her lowly beginnings?  Like most soap opera children, she was born at Christmas, popping into the world on the 24th December 1990.  She was so keen to make her debut, she didn't even make it to the hospital, being born in a taxi.  It was a portent of the financial traumas she was going to cause her parents for the rest of her life, because Don Brennan immediately slapped Sally with a fifty pound bill to clean the placenta off the back seat.  Sally named the child Rosie, as she was born on Rosamund Street; if she'd hung on a few more minutes we'd presumably be following the misadventures of a model called Crimea Terrace Webster.

Her early years were spent in the usual Coronation Street way: a lot of being sent to her room and a lot of fish fingers.  And when we say a lot of fish fingers, we're talking a ridiculous amount: the start of the depletion of the North Sea cod stocks has been dated to the time Sally gave birth to a second child.  Rosie herself named Sophie, because she kept confusing the baby with her favourite doll.  A storyline where Rosie then pulled off the baby's head and painted her with crayons to make her look "pretty" before leaving her in the ginnel to be picked up as a chew toy by a passing Alsation was thankfully abandoned.

Kevin's affair with Natalie Horrocks tore the family apart, leading to a messy divorce for Kevin and Sally.  Sally took to her new found singledom like a duck to water, and was soon spooning with half the available men on the Street.  This didn't really affect Rosie until she was threatened by Sally's new boyfriend, Les Battersby's genetically unlikely son, Greg Kelly.  Being attacked by a step-parent is a rite of passage in Coronation Street: it means you've arrived, and story lines soon followed in abundance.

After Kevin and Sally reunited Rosie had her first glimpse of the high life, auditioning for a girl band.  Unfortunately for her this coincided with one of Sally's periodic moments of ennui, and, sensing a project, she was soon manipulating her daughter into tap shoes and forcing her to sing The Good Ship Lollipop before every meal.  Rosie put up with it for a while, but soon she'd been to cut down to size by one low budget Simon Cowell too many; no more, she cried.  The fall out from her decision to stop taking acting lessons can still be seen today.

It didn't matter, anyway, because Sally decided little Rosie was too good for the boards; she was a genius, and needed to be enrolled at Oakhill School.  Oakhill, in case you weren't aware, is the leafy part of Weatherfield; Audrey Roberts lives there.  Yes, it's that posh.  Rosie loved the idea of going to public school, as you can see:

She was running out of ways to rebel.  With Sally as a parental heat seeking missile, forcing poor Rosie into her Mallory Towers fantasies, Rosie needed an escape.  She found it in the form of Craig, the only interesting member of the Harris family across the road.  Rosie and Craig were united in pain: Craig had to spend his days listening to Katie Harris bleating on about her diabetes, while Rosie had a cro-magnon father and a mother who thought Kit Culkin was a suitable role model.  Not to mention the fact that she had to share a bedroom with Sophie, who played Melissa Etheridge records all day and plastered her side of the room with posters of Angelina Jolie and Hufty from  The Word.

They took the only route available to nice middle-class children who don't want to actually do anything too dangerous; they became Goths.  While their peers were joy riding and necking Diamond White on the Red Rec, Craig and Rosie sat on the bench outside Audrey's salon and compared make up tips.  Kevin took to this as well as you'd expect, shouting and blustering his way around the Street like an impotent tornado.  Rosie naturally took this as further proof of the damning pressures of society on a fragile tormented soul like hers, and went up to her room to play some Fields of the Nephilim and self-harm.  Things only got worse when Rosie and Craig lost their virginity together.  For the first and last time in her life, Rosie did the sensible thing, using protection and not doing it until she was ready.  This is in marked contrast to her later years when she views sex as a way to pass the time while you wait for the kettle to boil.

Strangely, Craig and Rosie gave up the whole Goth thing round about the time that his sister murdered her father, committed suicide and let her mum take the heat in prison.  You'd think all this genuine personal torment would drive them further into the arms of Marilyn Manson, but instead they started dressing like normal people and holding hands.  I'm sure this had nothing to do with the producers noticing that Richard Fleeshman and Helen Flanagan had actually turned out to be rather foxy.  Craig tried to persuade her to run away with him to Berlin, where he could release a low-selling album before appearing in a West End production of Ghost; Rosie wisely realised that she'd get more tabloid inches staying at home and returned to Weatherfield.

Sally had Rosie's future mapped out for her: A-levels, university, world domination.  Rosie, on the other hand, saw Carla Connor's Louboutins and decided that was for her.  She threw out her text books and began work as a P.A at Underworld, P.A in this case standing for "pretty awful".  As her career developed, her brain stagnated - not surprising, when her job basically consisted of making Carla coffee and watching Janice pick Eccles cake out of her teeth.  Her heels rose, and her necklines plunged.

She wasn't completely selfish.  Across the street was John Stape, trapped in a relationship with Fiz, who looks like a rejected Muppet prototype.  Out of the goodness of her heart, Rosie decided to offer him her vagina, and soon they were bunking up in lay-bys and Days Inns across the North-West.  This decision would come back to haunt her when John lost his job and his fiance and decided to punish Rosie by locking her in an attic.  Uniquely, the nation sympathised with John rather than his kidnap victim; in fact, there was a large proportion of people calling for him to bash her round the head and bury her in the herbaceous border.

With that trauma out of the way, Rosie capitalised on her new-found notoriety to pose half-naked on the pages of the Weatherfield Gazette, an organ not previously known for its soft core content (though Ken Barlow did run a photo feature on Linzi Drew in the mid 80s).  Model agencies came knocking and Rosie found her true calling: as a barely dressed pool of inane vapidity, a role she has filled remarkably well.  When she isn't squirting vodka down the gullets of willing punters (not a euphemism), she's falling out of the top of a bustier to promote a chain of exhaust fitters.  It's a tough life being a sexual dynamo - there's the boob jobs, the hairdressing appointments, the difficulties of walking on cobbles in nine inch heels.

Romantically, Rosie has finally found her match in the form of Jason Grimshaw, another nice but dim mass of sexual charisma.  They bonded during a modelling job when Rosie noticed that he looked almost as good with his shirt off as her.  How I wish we could be a fly on the wall to hear their intellectual discussions!  In depth debates about how 'knife' is a funny word ("it's got a k in it... k-nife... k-niffy") or musing on the hell of life before spray-tans.  Add in Kirk and Mary and you've got the 21st century equivalent of the Algonquin Round Table.

Rosie's honesty, humour, and willingness to remove her clothes for tabloid newspapers have made her one of the Street's stars; she's grown up into a great little character.  It's always good when the children of Corrie's long standing characters become stars in their own right, and manage to do so without being psychopaths (qv Tracy, David).  Let's get Rosie where she belongs - behind the bar of the Rovers in a boob tube.  The campaign starts here!

Gary Windass breaks down

Little by little, Gary's gone closer and closer to the edge. It receded a bit after the tram crash for a few months but lately, he's been careening to the cliff and last night he went over it. If Mikey North doesn't win awards for this storyline, there is no justice. His performance left me breathless and teary eyed. Read more about it here.

Corrie Summer Trail Video

ITV have released a special trail to preview some of the storylines coming up over the summer, and it’s well worth a look if you can view it.

Quite spoiler heavy so be warned!

Take a look here.

Guess what Jack P Shepherd does in the Corrie hair salon...?

There's some lovely interviews today in Inside Soap magazine with members of the Coronation Street cast nominated for an Inside Soap Award this year. 

Paula Lane (Kylie Platt) reveals that Jack P Shepherd (David Platt) is really mischevious on set and he draws naughty pictures in the appointment book in Audrey's salon so that when she flicks through the pages in scene, it'll really make her laugh.  Paula also says that Kylie will become happier in the coming months when she makes mates with Eva Price and becomes her sidekick. Sounds interesting!

Chris Gascoyne (Peter Barlow) says that Peter is going to have a feud with Frank, but not necessarily for the reasons we think. And although their feud will be over Carla, it goes deeper than that. 

Jane Danson (Leanne Barlow) looks back in fondness at Corrie's 50th live episode and says that her memories of the live show will always stay with her. "During rehearsals the director told me to hold back in case I couldn't pull off my scenes during the actual thing but the adrenalin kicked in and it felt amazing."

Patti Claire (Mary Taylor) reckons that Mary and Norris should be given their own spin-off detective series. What a fab idea, I like the sound of that.  Patti reveals that Mary is going to take a serious dislike to Roy's mum Sylvia after Norris has a few accidents and Mary blames Sylvia for them. "I'm not 100 per cent sure where they're going with it, " she says, "But it's going to be funny - and possibly a little bit scary."

Chris Fountain (Tommy Duckworth) says it still hasn't sunk in that he's part of such an iconic show. "It's still nerve wracking after six months," he says.

And Michelle Keegan (Tina McIntyre) reveals she was star-struck the first time Keith Duffy (Ciaran McCarthy) came onto the Corrie set.  She says she used to have Boyzone posters stuck on her bedroom wall when she was a teenager. "I have never been so star-struck in my life as when Keith Duffy came back to the show. He walked into the office and I went numb.  Now I think of him as Keith - otherwise I wouldn't be able to deliver my lines."

Vote for Coronation Street in this year's Inside Soap Awards.

The return of Auntie Pam to Coronation Street

Good news for fans of Auntie Pam – she’s returning to the cobbles later this year.

Pam Hobsworth, played by Kate Anthony, has been missing off-screen since December, last seen attending niece Molly’s funeral.

We’d resigned her to the Weatherfield Missing Persons List, especially after the axing of partner Bill Webster. Fear not though, Inside Soap has revealed she’ll be returning to the Street in September.

She’ll be clashing with another Street regular, and will also have some ‘big news’ to share.

Fantastic news, I’d say!

Coronation Street Weekly Update, July 25 2011

Greetings and welcome to the Coronation Street Weekly Update. Without any further ado, here we go with this week's Coronation Street update.

Find out more about the Coronation Street Weekly Updates and why they've been written for th'internet since 1995 at http://www.corrieweeklyupdates.btinternet.co.uk/

Mikey North, the actor who plays Gary Windass, has played a blinder this week. Gary is still going through post traumatic stress disorder after his short stint in the army and the death of his mate Quinny. Pretending to be ok is a recipe for disaster when he goes into meltdown back on civvy street. He takes his role as protector of Izzy just a little further than she would like after he gets a packing job in the factory as the new man in ladies pants. But when Izzy wants a night out on her own without Gary, she’s mugged at a cashpoint and is thrown from her wheelchair. When Gary finds out, he goes ballistic and thumps Sean by the beer pumps, giving him a black eye, taking his anger out on totes the wrong man. Ooh, I’ve said totes. Get me. Anyway, Izzy’s fine, just shaken, not stirred and determined to get on with her life despite a few bruises from the mugging attack. But Gary’s not having it. He pretends he’s taking her wheelchair in to get fixed but leaves it in his van, making Izzy a prisoner in her own home. He closes the blinds in Izzy’s flat, tells her he’ll protect her from the bad ‘uns outside her front door, turns off the lights and locks her indoors. Izzy is beside herself with worry and after Chesney and Katy come calling at her door, and Gary tells them Izzy’s asleep and doesn’t want to see them, Katy tells dad Owen who goes round to the flat and kicks the door in. Owen finds Izzy cowering in the corner of her bedroom with Gary protecting her, but it’s clear he’s suffering as much as poor Iz is. "Help me," he cries out to Owen. "Help me." And there wasn’t a dry eye in our house, I can tell you.

Over at the Barlows’. Deirdre runs a bath for Ken and puts fresh batteries in his waterproof radio but it’s not enough to get Ken out of his stupor and his dressing gown. He’s been betrayed by grandson James after he found out that James had taken out a loan of £50k on his house. Ken finds the cheque and confronts James who knocked Ken against the wall, battering the Barlow. It’s left to Rita and Dennis to take Ken out to the pub and into the land of the living to cheer him right up.

In the back room of the Rovers, Steve settles himself on the sofa for an afternoon of misery with The Smiths and Scotch. He’s feeling sorry for himself when he finds out that Becky’s gone to Crete with a fella called Clarkey. I know a fella called Clarkey, he’s a painter and decorator, but I digress. Tracy’s straight in there trying to cheer Steve up and invites him for tea chez Barlow. She even irons the tablecloth in readiness for his visit to tea. What she has in store for dessert is anyone’s guess. Actually, it’s everyone’s guess and we’d all guess it right and Steve, as we know, will get it horribly wrong.

And over at Bessie Street Infants, Julie takes little Dylan to a pre-school reading as neither Marcus nor Sean are free. Julie’s loving playing mum to the son she’s never had and so when another mother thinks that Dylan’s her real kid, Julie does nowt to contradict her. However, the teacher giving the reading turns out to be Brian and Julie comes over all peculiar as she stares into his eyes while he reads out The Cat in the Hat. Sadly for Julie, Brian tells her he didn’t realise that she was a mum and that she’d be best off without him. Julie’s too dumbstruck to reply and goes home to Sean for a cry.

And that's just about that for this week.

This week's writers were Martin Allen, Peter Whalley, Simon Crowther, Damon Rochefort and Chris Fewtrell. Find out more about the Coronation Street writing team at: http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/2008/11/exclusive-all-current-corrie-writers.html
--
Glenda Young
Blogging away merrily at http://flamingnora.blogspot.com/

Dr. Carter's love life on Coronation Street

Corrie's Matt Carter is finally about to get a storyline of his own.

Matt Carter has pretty much been a spare part since he started last year but what little we've seen of him has been good so far. He's sacked Gail after Natasha told on her for peeking in her medical records and he later bullied Gail into helping in the medical centre during the tram crash. Other than attending various medical emergencies, most recently after Izzy's mugging, he's had little else to do.

We've already blogged that it looks as if Tina may have a go-round with him but there are apparently skeletons in his closet which drive them apart again so my guess is she'll end up with Tommy, who's been another spare part on the cobbles. Just as well. Tina and Matt together seems just so wrong to me.

Someone mentioned in a comment on that blog post that Maria would be more age appropriate. That would work, I think, now that we know she's going to be on screen for another year. I always thought Fiz and Matt would be a good couple as well, once she's got John out from under her skin. Matt could help her pick up the pieces and their friendship could blossom.

And just what could those skeletons in his closet be? My first guess is a wife and kid/s somewhere that he's not got round to divorcing yet, always a staple soap plot. Or maybe he's ran away from the shadow of an old malpractice suit. What do you think? Let's come up with some creative bone rattling for Doc Carter!

Samia Smith signs a new contract

Samia Smith has signed a new contract keeping her on the cobbles for another year.

Samia, who plays hairdresser Maria, is looking forward to seeing what the next twelve months holds for her character.

She said: "I've just signed up for another year, which is exciting. I think there's going to be lots of drama for her."

This new contract will keep her onscreen until late 2012.

Her love life will take a new turn shortly when boyfriend Chris leaves her to reunite with ex-wife, Cheryl, following his brain tumour diagnosis.

Sneak Preview of next week's Corrie, August 1 - 5

Without any piffle, here's the storyline for the week ahead on Coronation Street, all wrapped up nicely in 50 words or less.

Week of Monday 1st August to Friday 5th August

Kylie puts Max up for adoption, Audrey asks Marc to move in, Becky starts work at the Bistro and sleeps with Nick, Tina moves in with Tommy and Tyrone, Tommy double dates Amber and Tina and Audrey considers turning the salon over to David and Kylie.

The full weekly preview, with loads of pictures is right here on Corrie.net

Missed last week's Corrie?
Catch up with the Coronation Street weekly updates

Tonight's Corrie in 140 characters or less: 25/7/11 8:30pm

Has Julie ruined her chances with Brian? Gary starts to lose his grip on reality. Dennis & Rita cheer up Ken and has Tracy bagged Steve?

Tonight's Corrie in 140 characters or less: 25/7/11 7:30pm

(Sorry for missing Friday's quick updates! Here is tonight's, in 140 characters or less of course!)

Ken's depressed, Dennis is chirpy, Gary's angry, Izzy's scared, Anna is concerned, Sean's moping, Tracy is scheming, Steve is devastated.

BLOG COMPETITION - WIN! 10 copies of Mystery of Missing Hotpot Recipe game

The Coronation Street Blog has ten copies of the new Corrie computer game to give away in a very special competition.  The Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe is a game for PC on CD-ROM. To win one of these great prizes, all you have to do is answer the two following questions correctly and email you answer to me. The first ten correct entries drawn at random after the closing date will win one of the prizes.

Note: Entries from moneysavingsexpert, Loquax or any other competitions website will not be entered into any of our competitions

The questions are as follows.  Only UK entrants, please.

According to the official ITV Coronation Street recipe for Betty's Hotpot. 

1. How much lamb goes into Betty's hotpot?
2. How many onions goes into Betty's hotpot?

Answers can be in either imperial or metric

Email your answers to me by the deadline of Monday 1st August at 5pm.  Good luck!

You can also buy the game on Amazon.

Ken and Deirdre Barlow waxworks now at Madame Tussauds

Ken and Deirdre Barlow have today been immortalised in wax at Madame Tussauds in Blackpool. Ken is propping up the bar in the specially recreated Rovers Return set while Deirdre is sitting at one of the tables, they join other well-loved Coronation Street characters, Hilda Ogden and Bet Lynch.

Their wax figures took four months to create and will take pride of place at the new Blackpool attraction alongside other figures from the world of TV, music and sport.   Find out more about Madame Tussauds.

See also these two very scary Corrie characters in wax.

Coronation Street cast - my how they've grown!

Here's some of the younger cast of Coronation Street in a 'then and now' blog post.  Weren't they sweet!?

You might also like to see then and now pictures of some of the classic Corrie cast - click here.

David Platt

Sophie Webster

Tyrone Dobbs

Rosie Webster

Steve McDonald

Maria Connor

Kirk Sutherland

Chesney Battersby-Brown

Fiz Stape

Schmeichel

Guess the mystery Corrie woman

There's no prizes for guessing so don't ring in, it's just for fun.

Can you guess who this actress is and what part she now plays on Coronation Street? 

Rovers Return barmaid's top goes on sale

The blue sparkly top worn by Katherine Kelly as Becky McDonald on Coronation Street has gone up for sale on eBay. The top comes complete with an ITV Certificate of Authenticity. 

Bid to win it here.

Style icon of the week on Corrie

Commenter "Coronation Street Corner" was hoping we could come up with a picture of Deirdre in her bathrobe and head towel, in our weekly awards post here.

Does anyone with hair as short as hers do the towel thing anymore? Do mothers still teach their daughters how to do this?

See also: The truth about Deirdre Barlow's belt

Corrie's Kate Ford camps it up as dominatrix

This absolutely wonderful picture is in today's Mirror magazine to accompany an interview with Kate Ford, who plays Coronation Street's Tracy Barlow.  There's more pics at the website and you must have a look, they're camptastic.

But behind the fun pics, Kate gives a searingly honest interview and reveals that she doesn't actually like being an actress that much. She says: ‘I don’t know if I should say this in an interview but acting doesn’t really suit me. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I’m not confident, I’m not a showy person. I don’t like all the attention. I thought it would suit me, but it doesn’t. I just think you have to be very confident. I mean, all the extra things that people do, like presenting awards and singing at charity events, I can’t do it. I can’t even go on live TV and do interviews any more because it just fills me with horror, I shake. I’m really lucky to have the job, but it doesn’t suit my nervous disposition that well. I love being on Corrie, and I’m very proud to be a part of it, don’t get me wrong, and I love being able to do days like this. I love all the things it’s brought me, but it’s not without its downside, the pressure and stuff like that.’ 

The full interview is well worth a read and it's here.

T-shirt launch: Deirdre Barlow Fine Art Ceramics

Coronation Street's always been full of old crocks and now you can celebrate Deirdre Barlow's potty storyline with this new Deirdre Barlow Fine Art Ceramics t-shirt.

 It's been dreamed up by Snappy Styles, they're available in all kinds of colours and you can buy them online here.

See also: Ken and Deirdre go to pot.

Corrie weekly awards: July 18 - 22

Shifty award: Gold Star: Could James have looked or behaved any more suspiciously, skulking around, withholding news, sneaking around nervously? TGHG (Thank God He's Gone!)

Dodgey Bank Name: "Reflections Finance"? Really? Sounds like it runs out of a canal side warehouse by a bloke named "R. Kray"

Cards on the table award: Gold Star: Carla bared her soul to Peter and he nearly went for it.

Catwalk tantrums award: Gold star: Sean couldn't stand not being at the photo shoot with Marcus and Dylan.

The Walls are Closing In Award: Claustrophobic Star: Gary's bent on spending 24/7 with Izzy to keep her safe. Julie might think it's romantic but it's making Izzy crazy.

Mouths of babes award: Faye can tell Owen fancies Anna and he most certainly does.

Gossip is much better than secrets award: Tracy promised to keep the James business secret and couldn't wait to broadcast it in the pub.

Fashion shout-out of the week: Didn't Anna look lovely all in pink?

Lines of the week:
Carla "Sometimes stuff just happens, Peter"
Peter "I do trust her. I just don't know if I trust meself" (Barlow genes will out!)
Kirk "Did you ever read that book, 'What's that Noise?" by 'Iza-bell Ringing'" (HA!)
Leanne "This isn't a joke is it?" Tracy "Oh Leanne I'm just not that funny" (No, you aren't)
Deirdre to Ken "Fancy relaxing with a nice film? Misery's on!"
Kevin ranting about Ken "He's always thought he was better than everyone else" (he's certainly better than you, you div!)
Sally to Kevin "She's hurt and guilty and all you're doing is going on about your flaming scratch card money" (why is he still living there?)
Audrey on the way "upstairs" "Happy Birthday, me!"