Which is odd considering they are both about the same age and have both been residents in Coronation Street for roughly the same time. You might think given all the shared history involved - memories of past street residents, high times and low times, they might have a rather unique bond. Yes, I know there was that incident with the cream cake, which will always stand up to repeat viewing, but they have more in common than a bit of flying cream slice.
Both Deirdre and Gail have a rather chequered history when it comes to men. Deirdre ended up banged up thanks to con-man, pilot-cum-tie-seller Jon Lindsay, while Gail was taken in by serial killer Richard Hillman. Both Deirdre and Gail have also married the same man twice - Deirdre of course married Ken in 1981 and again in 2005, while Gail wed Brian Tilsley in 1979 and again in 1988.
And the pattern continues with their offspring. Neither Deirdre nor Gail have children to be proud of. Deirdre gave birth (spawned) Tracy-Luv, who's high point onscreen so far has been calling her mam a "rotten cowy tart" in the days when she listened to Bros and sported a different face. Gail meanwhile clings on to a family comprising Nick(y), Sarah-Lou (I will always hate that name) and Demon David. If I listed all their misdemeanours this wouldn't be a blog, it'd be a thesis.
Anyway, given the remarkable similarities between the two Corrie stalwarts, why do they rarely appear together and never seem to have been friends? Would you like to see a Gail/Deirdre storyline?
Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook
All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
This is mystery oft discussed by my boyfriend & I. Baffling. They'd make a GREAT pairing and could bring some much needed humour back to the Street.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's not just me! :)
I don't think it would work. The psychological term that I think explains why is "projection" -on both their parts! Also, Gail still worries about what other people think and Deirdre is pretty much past caring.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Deirdre take Tracey's side when she tried to say that Gail had killed Joe with the rolling pin at the cottage? This was when they shared a cell and Tracey was trying g to do a deal with the Police.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I've often pondered too. Their stories seem to overlap so rarely, it's quite odd. So glad you remember that "rotten cowy tart" scene Graeme - it's an all-time favourite of mine! That was when we had the 'real' Tracy - not the one-dimensional robot we have now:(
ReplyDeleteTracy was the one who lied and said tht Gail confessed to killing Joe to get time off her own sentence.
ReplyDeleteWhen Tracy got out of prison she had sex with both Nick and David within a day or two of each other....then she rubbed it in Gail's face at the Rovers.
At the time all of this was going on Deirdre still had blinders on concerning Tracy-Luv.
Plus remember when Blanche fell for Archie the undertaker....Audrey won him over in the end and left Blanche heartbroken.
Maybe they could both try out as meerkats in the pre-opening credits sequence.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, would anybody spot them?
Didn't Deirdre have a little kissy kissy with Lewis? He was dating Audrey at the time, but she and Gail were tight. And when Gail's probing into Natasha's medical records got her fired, Deirdre got her job at the clinic. That's enough for them not to be friends.
ReplyDeleteGood point Abbyk. I had forgotten the fact that Deirdre got Gail's job....that is enough right there for Gail! lol
ReplyDeleteI bet there are other tidbits along the way too if someone's memory was long enough. :-)
Didn't they fall out back in the 70s when Deirdre disapproved of Gail going out with an older married man?!
ReplyDeleteHeard ages ago when this was mentioned that the two actresses dont get on.
ReplyDeleteGail's friend, Trish Hopkins had a crush on Deirdre's husband, Ray. Didn't Deirdre even slap her? Gail and Deirdre probably fell out then.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the bigger question is why they're not more obviously antagonistic to each other a la Gail and Eileen?
That's true actually. I'd also love to see another Gail/Eileen cat fight
ReplyDeleteI think at this phase of their lives...it would be interesting to see the two women build up a friendship. I bet there would be quite a few ideas the writers could come up with.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of my mum and a couple of neighbours on the street where I grew up. We all moved into brand new council houses in about 1977 and in our row of four each had a child the same age as me (and some of us had siblings the same ages as each other too) so we all grew up together and four of us were in the same class at school. Two boys and two girls, all best friends.
ReplyDeleteThe woman next door (our right) had been a teenage friend of mum (all the grandparents were on the adjoining streets) and they'd even been on holiday together as single young women. Yet, mum never really had a decent friendship with any of them as we all grew up. A falling out with the woman two doors to the left in the mid-80s (my mum told my best friend off for some wrong-doing, her mother came round and had a go at mine) seemed to lead to a decade or so of festering resentment.
After we all grew up and mum moved houses there were (I gather) some strained attempts at getting together for a cuppa but led nowhere (I think she was invited round a few times but she doesn't reciprocate). I know the woman from two doors down is still very good mates with the woman in between us (our left), but really what should have become long-standing friendships of almost four decades have come to nothing.
I put it down to my mum and the right-next-door-neighbour who she knew as a teen, being Gail-type-characters - both socialised more with their own mothers (when they were alive) than other women of the same age, and now they are more involved with their kids' & grandkids and don't really have any friends of their own.
The left-next-door-neighbour and the woman two doors down who are still friends are more like Deidre and Eileen, more sociable.
I'm in Australia and still facebook friends with most of the kids I grew up with as well as some of their parents. Mum visited recently and despite living only a suburb away from most of the other women, it took me showing her stuff on Facebook for her to know what's going on with them. She was genuinely interested, but not enough to get off her bum and arrange to catch up with them herself.
So for me, that Deirdre and Gail aren't friends rings very true.
I believe that Deidre and Gail were just very different people. Yeah they came Into the show around the same time but in those days Deirdre was quite mature and got hitched to Ray where is Gail acted her age, was quite girly and hypo plus could never really find a man till Bryan came along.
ReplyDeleteThey shared quite a few scenes together back in the 70s, were definitely on good terms, from a few episodes I watched recently from the 70s I saw an episode where Gail seemed to ask Deirdre for advise and they got on well.
During the 80s though you see less of them together as I believe they were just two quite different people and with Deidre marrying Ken she fended to hang around the older crowd such as Rita Emily and even Audrey, she had her besties also Liz and Eileen. Gail didn’t get on well with Eileen for years, followed by all the Gail and Tracy stuff in early 2010 that is when I believe they decided they’d start adding more of a relationship in with a bit of edge.
To sum up my novel lol I don’t think they ever had a issue with each other they just were so different and until both Gail and Deirdre’s family started causing grief they just naturally sided with their own families and had to go head a few times. They never actually ever had an issue with each other really it was always caused by other people.
Thank you for reading ��