So Steve went and got Owen to build a wall in the front hall of Number 13, and not only was Owen the fastest builder in the West, he managed to plaster and paper the wall as well! All before Tracy had cottoned on and returned home, all thoughts of reconciliation forgotten once she clocked the home improvements and realised she and Amy were banished to the upstairs. It was a welcome respite from the awful trial, Carla's upset, Leanne leaving, that terrible story about Sylvia and Norris battling each other, and the myriad other dreary things happening in Weatherfield this week. It was an inspired bit of comedy - inspired possibly by the famous Steptoe & Son episode where they fall out over redecorating the house, so Harold builds a wall down the middle, leading to hilarious consequences where, for example, he can't see half of the football match or indeed turn the TV on as Albert has the buttons on his side of the wall.
But, it didn't seem to make much sense on a few levels. Firstly, where was Steve going to go to the loo? Wee in the kitchen sink? The yard? Run up to the Rovers each time? I hope he's got an old tin bath stored somewhere because he'll need it in front of the fire when he needs a bath. Tracy and Amy are alright - they've got the bathroom, although they did need to borrow some plates for their chips. But why didn't Steve get Owen to put a doorway in the wall so that they could have both used the door off the street, rather than Steve having to use the door off the yard as his front door?
This whole thing also got me thinking - you never see the front rooms in a lot of houses on Coronation Street. They're traditional two-up-two-down terraced houses, only a lot have been extended with kitchens and sometimes even bathrooms on the back. Traditionally (and probably when Corrie first started) the back room would have had the range and would have been the family room, with the front room being used only on special occasions. My mother-in-law still keeps her front room for best: At Christmas we were invited in, only for my husband's stepfather to remark "You can't go in there, man! No one's died!" (My husband's family are from Durham...)
In some houses it makes sense that we don't see this room, because it must be a bedroom. For instance at No. 1, it was Blanche's room. In Eileen's house, it must be someone's bedroom, although confusingly everyone always seems to come from upstairs in the mornings. This is the same in Tyrone's house, although I think sometimes it seems like Tina comes from here so maybe it's hers?
In some, the entire downstairs seems to have been made into one room. I hope they got a decent RSJ in to keep the upstairs up. For example, in Fiz's house, we come straight off the street into a fairly big room. In Maria's old house, where I think the Alahan's are currently living, it seems the same - the room comes straight off the street and the stairs come down into it. This house always seemed to have more delineated spaces for living and dining, too.
But in Emily and Norris', and where Steve and Tracy are currently living, there's clearly a front room that no one ever goes in. Well, not that I can remember the last time we saw into No. 3, and where is Emily anyway? I do hope Eileen Derbyshire is okay. I'm guessing that Steve's wall means that he gets this room - but he'll probably still never use it.
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11 comments:
We did see the front room of No.13 not too long back :P it was used a lot when the Websters lived there too
This whole storyline is silly. Steve has access to the cab office apartment. He should sell up and then petition the court for custody of Amy because Tracy is homeless. Now THAT would be funny!
We see Emily's sitting room sometimes, in the front room. Her dining room table is in the back room i think (or it's reversed). In number 7, it was built with a large main room and just a bit of an area where the door is, not big enough to be a "room", more of a foyer or porch. Mike Baldwin owned Number 5 when he first came in the 70s and had the wall knocked down to make it one big room.
I'm pretty sure Eileen's front room is used for Sean and Marcus's bedroom.
I would like to congratulate the camera operator for Thursday 2nd February as the photography had to be the best ever that I have ever seen used on any Corrie episodes. Every episode normally affects my viewing due to the camera(s) wandering about instead of keeping still, and that just did not happen for once, as the cameraman kept almost perfectly still. I would have said that whoever filmed it on Thursday is the best photographer used on Corrie, but then on Friday 3rd, I found the photography was just as bad as normal and only to realise later that it was the same camera operator for both Thursday and Friday's Corrie.
The no 13 house business is so unfunny. Yeah, the bathroom thing - how does that work then? I like Steve MacDonald very much but this story is doing nothing for him. But I do like the references to Tracy 'going upstairs' - perhaps she could do that and disappear for several years like she did when she was younger and then come back down as an entirely new person!
No& was rebuilt in 1982 by Len Fairclough after it had collapsed in 1965 (I think there was a bench in the gap for ages). The inside is slightly different and had one big front room which was initially divided by big double doors (very 1980s!)
BTW, talking of odd rooming arrangements, what has happened to the luxury upstairs sitting room (parlour!) and kitchen in t'Rovers that we used to see so much of?!
Ooops, soz for the trypo - that should be Number 7!
That last time I can recall seeing the front room of No.3 was when Ian McKellan was in the show. I can't ever remember seeing the front room of No. 9
They used the front room of No. 3 when Emily was mourning Ramsay back in 2009. Emily was in Tracy's wedding only a few weeks back so it's not that long ago.
Would Steve still have the outside loo? Yes no bath or shower, but he could do that at the flat at Streetcars. Which then leaves you thinking why didn't he just change the locks and give Tracy those keys. I suppose you could argue it's the principle, and he never thought of moving Tracy in there.
And we saw Steve sitting in the front room, the kitchen hatch was behind him as Tracy shouted down to him.
I am getting really fed up of Steve McDonald and Tracy and Amy Barlow, I think its time for all of them to go! Hate that stupid voice Steve does when talking to his daughter !!! anyone else noticed it? I use to like Steve as a character, not any more though!
Like all the houses on that side of the street there is an outside loo, so he uses that!
We've seen the front room of all the houses at some stage apart from Tyrone's.
Eileen's front room used to be Todd's room, its now Sean/Marcus' room.
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