Vote for Corrie's best mum - Michelle & Gail

As you will hopefully have seen, yesterday I launched my first poll on the Coronation Street Blog. I hope you've all been voting! In order to help you make up your minds on your favourite Corrie mum, I'm going to post some blogs on the contenders this week, highlighting some of their strengths and weaknesses! I shall try to take an even handed approach (not easy!) 

So moving on from the Barlow duo, we come to our next two contenders:  Michelle Connor and Gail McIntyre!

Michelle & Steve ponder if this really is Ryan

Let's start off with the fragrant, effervescent Michelle Connor. When we first met Michelle in 2006, she was a singer - with two soon to be dead brothers and a moody son who rarely spoke. Now she is knicker factory entrepreneur with two dead brothers and a moody son who says too much. We shouldn't be surprised she hasn't noticed son Ryan has aged, and changed both shape and heads given her track record. Ah yes. I couldn't really discuss Michelle's track record as a mother without mentioning the debacle that was the Ryan/Alex storyline.

Go on Michelle, tell us which is which

For what seemed like twenty years viewers were forced to endure this baby-swap story. Unfortunately, even though it was mercifully brought to an end, it was done so in a completely unsatisfactory manner. It is now never referred to by Michelle, Steve or indeed Ryan himself. And Alex, Michelle's biological son is never ever spoken about. Is this alone enough to rule Michelle out as the best Corrie mum? Let's look at her strengths and weaknesses: 

Strengths:
1. Her survival instinct. Michelle has beaten the curse of death that circles her family (so far). 2. She has always supported her son - recently helping him through a very short lived drug addiction. 3. She provides for her family, having dragged herself up from part time singer to knicker factory mogul without so much as a qualification to her name.

Weaknesses:

What was she thinking?

1. She has completely forgotten the son she is bringing up is actually not hers. 2. She never mentions her real son and has no idea of his whereabouts. 3. She went off on a cruise with a member of Boyzone.

Now we come to Gail. Ah yes. Gail Potter Tilsley Platt Hillman McIntyre. As you can tell it's all about the husbands with our Gail. First there was Brian, father of Nick(y) and Sarah-Lou. She married Brian twice after sleeping with his cousin and getting divorced. Brian was then stabbed to death (not by Gail). Then came toyboy Martin, father of David. Martin had an affair with that Geordie nurse, then had a relationship with a teenager and was last heard of in Liverpool. Then came Serial Killer Richard Hillman, who tried to bump off several old friends,   herself and her entire family. And then came Joe who tried to fake his own death, but unfortunately succeeded, leading to Gail being banged up in a cell with Tracy Barlow.

What was she thinking?

Gail's children have obviously been deeply scarred by all of this. Nick has changed heads and aged ten years. Sarah-Lou was pregnant at 13 and was engaged to a gay man. David, well need I say more? Through it all though, Gail is still there, facing the world with that eternal optimism we've come to love. So what are Gail's strengths and weaknesses as a mum:

Strengths:
1. Her family means the world to her.  2. She always bounces back, no matter what life throws at her. 3. She always supports her children - she stood by Sarah-Lou when she became pregnant with Bethany, and David every time he does something horrible.

What was she thinking?

Weaknesses:
1. She has turned into mother-from-hell, Ivy Tilsley. 2. She inflicts her dreadful taste in men on her family, time and time again. 3. She was very recently prepared to ditch her family and run away with her mother's ex-boyfriend.

So there we go. Let me know what you think about Michelle and Gail by leaving a comment below. 

And don't forget to vote for your favourite Coronation Street Mum before the winner is revealed on Sunday 10 March. Next up will be Stella Price and Audrey Roberts! I can't wait!



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