Corrie A-Z: C is for Controversies

Like any other TV show, Coronation Street has endured much controversy over the years, be it involving characters, actors, producers or storylines. Sometimes the controversy proves to be a good thing but sometimes it brings a lot of negativity and backlash to the soap.

 

For many years now the press has been responsible for bringing a lot of publicity to soaps and they have been responsible for leaking storylines and production decisions that have sometimes led to public outcry and outrage and have forced the powers that be to rehash their ideas. And with them come controversies.

 

It has become a common occurrence for the last 15 years when a new producer arrives on the cobbles, the press go into overdrive wondering which characters will be getting the boot. While it was Brian Park back in 1997 that set the trend, there was a cull of characters back in 1964 when 29 year old Tim Aspinall was at the helm. Amongst the casualties back then were Frank Barlow, Florrie Lindley, Harry and Concepta Hewitt, Jerry and Myra Booth and of course Martha Longhurst. It was Martha’s departure that proved the most controversial: why get rid of such a popular character? There was a public outcry and the Corrie cast were also up in arms as well. Nevertheless, the axe was wielded and Martha died in the snug. The characters of Ken and Valerie Barlow, Albert Tatlock and Lucille Hewitt were also on the hit list but were spared at the last minute.

 

Thirty-three years passed before such a cull happened on the cobbles. Brian Park was appointed the new producer in 1997 and immediately set to clear out the deadwood characters and give the soap a younger vibe. The characters of Derek Wilton, Don Brennan, Andy McDonald, Maureen Elliott, Bill Webster, Billy Williams, Anne Malone and Joyce Smedley were axed to be replaced by the fresh faces of Natalie Horrocks, Chris Collins, Zoe Tattersall, Spider Nugent and a sexier Nick Tilsley. Long-serving writers Julian Roach, Barry Hill and Adele Rose left the show, angry with the changes. But the most controversial additions were the nightmarish family: the Battersbys. The reserved residents of the street were taken aback with the arrivals of Les, Janice, Leanne and Toyah as they wreaked havoc with their loud music and rudeness towards their neighbours. Their elderly next-door neighbour Percy Sugden left the street for pastures new to a retirement home, exasperated by his new neighbours (Bill Waddington, who played him, sensed there was too much sex scenes in the show and quit). Another veteran member of the cast, Thelma Barlow who had played Mavis Wilton since 1971, left the show. The myth has been that Barlow quit the soap after Peter Baldwin, who played her on-screen hubby Derek, was axed. But in a matter of fact, she had quit the role before Park’s axing of Derek. Park believed that without Mavis, Derek would be lost. What I don’t get is why they just didn’t write Derek and Mavis out together? Wouldn’t it have saved a lot of aggro?

 

Another thing that brings controversy is the sudden departure of a certain member of cast. Many have fallen into that category over the years. Jennifer Moss (Lucille Hewitt) was sacked in 1974 for her drink problem; Stephen Hancock (Ernest Bishop) quit the programme in 1977 when he had a dispute with producers over pay; Peter Dudley (Bert Tilsley) was involved in controversy in 1980 and 1983 and when he was summoned for a re-trial for indecent behaviour in 1983, he died of a stroke; Peter Adamson (Len Fairclough) was also involved in a case of indecent behaviour in 1983, but was actually sacked for breaching his contract (he’d also been previously suspended in 1969 for his drink problem); Doris Speed (Annie Walker) left the programme abruptly in 1983 after the press revealed her true age and she suffered a nervous breakdown; Chris Quinten (Brian Tilsley) quit the serial in 1988 when he decided to move to the USA; and Bruce Jones (Les Battersby) was sacked for breach of contract in 2007.

 

As for controversial storylines over the years they include: Valerie Barlow taken hostage by rapist Frank Riley in 1968; the reveal that Betty Turpin was Gordon Clegg’s mother and not his aunt in 1974; Deirdre Langton being attacked under the viaduct in 1977; the introduction of the first transsexual character in 1998 in Hayley Cropper; the case of ‘The Weatherfield One’ with Deirdre Rachid; and an illegal immigrant storyline in 2007 involving Joanne Jackson at the factory. Some storylines have occurred at the same time as a real-life occurrence: toddler Freddie Peacock went missing the same time as Madeline McCann in in 2007; while there was gun siege in Underworld when there was a siege at Cumbria.

 

And of course there’s that taboo of Michelle Collins/St. Ella’s accent!!

 

Do you remember any other controversies?

 

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