Coronation Street Blog: Gary Windass breaks down

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

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.

13 comments:

abbyk said...: They were both incredible. As paranoid as he was, she went from annoyed to terrified convincingly. It was a totally gripping story, but one which I'm glad came to a head fairly quickly; I don't think I could have stomached Izzy's fear or Gary's desperation all summer.; 27 July 2011 at 01:58
Kiwifruit & Cheese said...: Just watched it and it brought a tear to my eye, it was very moving. Loved that Owen didn't just barge in and thump him, am liking Owen at the moment, will review that opinion however if he turns into a toe rag again.; 27 July 2011 at 04:22
Frosty the Snowman said...: Some great acting by Mikey North and its good to see this story is to be done sensitively. See Corrie CAN get it right, then they do stupid things like renewing the gormless character Maria's contract for another year - dah!; 27 July 2011 at 08:08
Dolly Tubb said...: Mikey North was just amazing, he left me an emotional husk on Monday night. I know he has put a lot of work into researching this story and boy, did it show. His acting makes you realise some other Corrie actors should be left out in the ginnel to be taken away by the rag and bone man.

Incidentally, full marks to the Corrie team too - great writing and it's nice to see something not 'forgotten' for once. Fantastic writing and a credible storyline for an actor who can handle it - at last!!!!; 27 July 2011 at 08:43
Naitch said...: I have to join in the chorus of praise for Gary and Izzy on Monday night. Some powerful and emotionally effecting acting, coupled with the action developing over a reasonable time frame, made their storyline seem immediate and startling. It makes for compelling evidence that Corrie can do great drama sometimes.; 27 July 2011 at 10:56
Adam Rekitt said...: Every now and again, Corrie provides a little glimmer of how good it was and could be. This was a story done right. Both the main protagonists stayed in character - Izzy didn't suddenly come over all girly and start wittering about how she really liked protective men.

The story has built up subtlely for a while. Gary did not wake up one morning and lock Izzy in a cupboard because she poured too much milk on his cornflakes. Plus, it wasn't dragged out for weeks with neither appearing to need the bathroom ala Stape kidnapping, nor was every detail leaked to the tabloids. Plus it was well written and acted.

Why can't we have more of this quality and fewer bank robberies or actors who make a lampost look animated?; 27 July 2011 at 12:01
zz said...: I was just to post something like this. Mikey North was absoloutley incredible. His best ever scenes.
They were the best scenes since the Tram Crash I think, the three actors did a terrific job. And Gary at the end realising what he had done was just so sad. I can't wait for the rest of this.; 27 July 2011 at 13:09
KittyKat said...: Well done Mikey North. You brought tears to my eyes asking Owen to help you, fantastic performance.; 27 July 2011 at 17:22
Anonymous said...: I really enjoyed the script and acting on Monday 25th July, but I did not enjoy the way the camera was going all over the place. Simon Cleobury the camera operator was following people all over the place, and he started moving around when people were standing still which in my opinion, is really bad photography. Just before the very end where Garry is at the window, the camera goes all wobbly and I mean wobbly (take a look at the omnibus and you will see what I mean folks if you don't believe me). When I say wobbly, I actually mean a) the cameraman is tending to move unsteadily from side to side quite often, and b) weak, and unsteady from illness, tiredness, or anxiety. I think its time that we had better camera operators because they are all alike and spoiling Corrie.; 28 July 2011 at 02:10
Beth said...: Wow, Mikey North was terrific. I had a lump in my throat and really felt for both characters by the end of the episode. When he reached out to Owen and cried "help me.." Wonderful stuff! This was classic Corrie. And good to see that this story wasn't just left and forgotten like so many of late.

(Although I have to comment on the scene when Gary was hiding under the table, the camera man was inches from his face, the shot was so wobbly and his shadow so plain to see on the side he was almost a third character, - bad bad directing, straight from Acorn Antiques- Shame on them when the actors were putting on such a fabulous performance!!!); 28 July 2011 at 06:21
Anonymous said...: we should go back to three nights a week since going to five everything seems rushed and the production quality has gone downhill !! then they can open the set once again to the public and make revenue from that rather than charging us to view episodes !!; 28 July 2011 at 16:58
Anonymous said...: Couldn't watch Tracy and Steve with Amy on the bench the other night with the camera panning back and forth..had to go take a dramamine and lay down...If viewers can't watch because of shoddy camera-work, they won't. What's the point anyway?; 29 July 2011 at 15:01
Anonymous said...: Stop disrupting Corrie with shoddy camera work. This is Corrie and not any other film, programme or soap. Just film without walking around ... please!; 29 July 2011 at 17:59