Coronation Street’s PR team have been making a big deal of
Corrie’s men in recent weeks, particularly some of the new arrivals. You may
have seen this Rat Pack style photo shoot which helped viewers get to know some of the easier-on-the-eye
male cast members a little better.
It reminded me of a tweet posted by Charlie
Lawson not long ago about filming his final scenes as Jim McDonald (again) with
Chris Gascoyne who plays troubled Peter Barlow. Here’s the tweet:
On reading the tweet you might think some of Charlie’s
Corrie colleagues would take offence to this slightly bitchy remark. But he
does have a point. It’s certainly not a bad thing to see young, hot, virile
hunks wandering across the cobbles, but in a place like Coronation Street you’d
expect there to be a few more rough and ready blokes than there currently are.
Peter Barlow certainly fits the bill. As does Liz’s new
squeeze and Eileen's ex Tony, who you wouldn’t want to meet down a dark alley. Or perhaps you
would. And then there are a plethora of baby faces making up the rest of the
male cast – Todd, Luke, Tyrone, Jason and David etc, not forgetting others like Norris
and Ken, who can hardly be described as ‘blokes’. Corrie is famous for its
strong, dominant women, and back in the day despite being severely henpecked there would be strong, troubled husbands and boyfriends opposite them; Alan Bradley, Des
Barnes, Kevin Webster, good old Mike Baldwin and Jack Duckworth, more recently Charlie Stubbs and of course violent ex-soldier
Jim. The Corrie ‘bloke’ existed in its best form before the days of the
metrosexual.
In any case the men in Coronation Street will always play
second fiddle to its women, that’s the way it has always been and that is what
Corrie is all about. However don’t Corrie’s women prove what stuff they are
made of when tested by the opposite sex? Rather than the clean shaven, preened
hunks we see so many of today, perhaps they’d be better served by manning up a
bit and forgetting the idea of style over substance…
In terms of Charlie’s tweet, love him as we do, get over
yourself mate. You play Jim McDonald not James Bond.
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12 comments:
Not sure if the reference to 'MEN' means males over 40 who like a drink. Their in-joke, perhaps.
It was great to see Jim back on our screens. He's a mix of many good and bad qualities, and Charlie Lawson has been brilliant in making his character so compelling. That's the mark of a good actor and I hope we see more of him in the future. I don't approve of Jim but he's very entertaining to watch.
Agreed. I'm always willing him to be nice, but it wouldn't be Jim without the dark side!
Stevie
Never could stand Jim; he has absolutely no redeeming qualities. I'd be quite happy if he never, ever returned to plague us again.
Disagree totally, Anon @ 16:57!!
I love Jim, I wish he was out of prison and back permanently on the Street.
The character may be smarmy, but I totally get why Elizabeth swoons when he walks into the room. And when he talks...I'm done!
As a woman of a certain age and a Corrie fan since I was a girl, I have to admit there is NO male totty on the cobbles for straight women over 45 to fancy. Dev? Michael Rodwell? Come on Corrie, give us something nice to look at.
I'm sorry, but when I review the list of the men on that street, whatever their age, the word that keeps coming to mind is "pathetic", both personally and professionally (not that many of them have anything remotely resembling a profession). To be fair, the women aren't much better, but that wasn't the question of the day.
Charlie Lawson has said this kind of thing before...I think in a special 'Where Are They Now" Corrie doco a few years ago. He said something like Corrie was a programme which traditionally hadn't really contained (in his words) 'men'.
He has a point..but Corrie has always been about its strong, alpha women.
I'm wondering if Kylie's ex - although part of this rat pack - might be one of these men as well. But yeah you're right, there does seem to be a lack of real men, as it were.
Excuse me, y'all seem to be forgetting the one real man on the show: Rob. I'm over 45 and he's the only one I fancy. Have fancied since he came on the show. He is everything all rolled up in an amazing package. Business man, successful, tried to live a clean life but alas, crappy writing turned him into a killer. He killed Tina and for that alone he should get pardoned.
Good point!
Nothing to do with drinking or strong women on the show. Think about it and it will come to you, and I agree with him.
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