I comment (moan) quite frequently about many aspects of modern day Corrie, quite often using examples from the past to highlight a decline in standards however I'm starting to wonder if I'm right.
I watch a lot of old Corrie episodes mainly due to a lack of other decent telly these days. My box sets and the glories of Youtube often keep me entertained. However, I realise it would be rash to make such a blanket statement about Corrie "then" versus Corrie "now".
For every Stan and Hilda there's a Chalkie and Craig Whitely, although they did give us the wonderful Phyllis Pearce. For every Eddie Yeats there's a Brian Tilsley and for every Suzie Birchall there's a Susan Barlow (you know the one I mean).
The sixties, seventies and eighties had as many mistakes and dodgy storylines as we've all suffered through in more recent times. How many of us reminisce over the likes of Lionel Petty, Granny Hopkins or any of the Clayton family? Yes recent times have given us the awful Mortons and those bookies (I can't even remember their names), but we've also had Graeme Proctor, Beth Tinker and Kylie Platt. For me there have been two periods when Corrie seemed to go from strength to strength. The show certainly seemed to be firing on all cylinders between 1976 and 1983. It had strong characters, brilliant writing and a seamless blend of moving, poignant drama and wonderful, beautifully played comedy.
Much later, I think the period from 2003 to 2007 was also a delight. The nature of any long running show is that it will have peaks and troughs. I think we're somewhere in the middle at the moment. The Roy and Hayley story showed that the writers and actors can still raise their game when it matters. However the weeks following Hayley's sad demise seemed like a different show in many respects.
I'm not sure Corrie will ever see the likes of Pat Phoenix, Doris Speed or Jean Alexander again, but that doesn't mean it won't go on entertaining us for years to come.
So what was your favourite period in Coronation Street history and why? And how do you think it compares to the Corrie of 2014?Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook
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I have recently been watching old episodes via auntiecorrie on youtube and love the late seventies and early eighties. I also love the early nineties though and the mid noughties! I find my favourite period depends on my mood!- Micky
ReplyDeleteLike Elsie once said: "Ah, now there's a question".
ReplyDeleteThroughout Corrie's history you get the good mixed with the bad as you say. Character-wise, my favourite period is 1977-1984 - you got fab characters wherever you went. And then you got the mediocre ones. You see in 1985 that the spark had gone in many characters. Hilda was without Stan (or Annie, Eddie and Elsie); Rita had lost Len; and Bet and Betty had lost Annie and Fred.
I think in the past, characters dominated over plotlines and I think that's where they've gone wrong.
And I agree Graeme, the period of 2002-2006 was also golden. It was when I fell in love with Corrie. It was when it had a strong senior cast (Blanche, Betty, Fred, Rita, Mike, Norris, Duckies) and so it was great. And the stories were good as well.
We're going through a blip, like we've done before many times. Remember when we were trounced by EastEnders in 2001 but then we got the biggest storyline to date in Hillmania? Keep the faith!
Brilliant post once again! :)
Thank you Llifon!
ReplyDeleteI think there have always been times that certain characters rubbed me the wrong way, and some storylines I chose to fastforward over. But I think it is like life in general. When you look back you tend to remember the better times. So the past takes on a skewed appearance of having been better.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Nortons. I thought there was potential with the father son bookies. Aside from the Spider Nugent and Emily in the tree I think Emily is well past her sell by date.
I cannot control Corrie (it irks me how the writers do not know what to do with Mary - whom I love!)
So I watch, and ff over some scenes...rewind to enjoy a few times scenes....and truly appreciate when the writers live up to the Corrie legend.
Interesting piece Graeme. However,I'm inclined to disagree that there were always as many bad characters as today. True,you would get the odd character that didn't work,but they were almost dispatched fairly quickly. In the days when the core cast was about 20 characters,you had to be a decent character to merit a permanent contract. Nowadays,the likes of Maria,Dev,Chesney et al. seem to have a job for life,despite offering little to the show.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested that you chose 2003-07. I find it quite hard to distinguish individual periods since 2002 when the programme emerged from the worst period in it's history. Since then it seems to be of a similar quality. It has good and not so good characters,stories and periods.But it's never sunk to the levels of pre 2002.
I strongly agree about 1976-83 being a real golden age,although I'd also include 1984. Although it was losing many core characters,84 maintained a very high standard. It was only in 1985 that the standard dipped significantly
1976-84 is a period of consistent excellence in terms of characters and stories and I think this period really disproves that there were always dodgy characters and stories. I struggle to find any area where the show put a foot wrong during this glittering period.
I do love the 60s episodes also,but not having seen them all it's hard to judge,although I think the 1960-64 period is probably the strongest era. The early 70s is also interesting. Not as consistent,pacy or as polished as post 75,but still an era with most of the legendary characters who are alwats so watchable.
I think you are right, if there were less characters the quality would need to be there otherwise it would be glaringly obvious. Thanks for your comments :)
ReplyDeleteI would also nominate 1989-93 as one of the great eras. This was the point where the cast started to really gel again after the losses of 1983/4, and the blend of comedy and drama was very much in the spirit of the golden period of 1976-84.
ReplyDeleteYes David, I remember the 89-93 period too and I loved it . The end of the Alan Bradley saga and the arrival of the McDonald's and Alma were all highlights
ReplyDeleteI love the 60s, 70s, 80s best, looking back and watching old episodes on youtube, I even find the characters such as Chalkie & Craig Whitely etc more entertaining than some on the present cast
ReplyDeleteI think the period 1978 to 1983 was the programme at its best. 1984 to 1986 was good too but not quite as strong as this earlier period due to loge programme losing a number of mainstay characters in 1983.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the 1990s was Corrie at its lowest ever ebb.
More recently, the programme was also firing on all cylinders with Alma's sad death and the subsequent Richard Hillman storyline so, this would be around 2001 to 2003 - my next favourite era of the show.