Sadly, these days Lynne Perrie is mainly remembered for events off screen rather than her performances as Ivy Tilsley in Coronation Street over a period of more than twenty years.I confess that Ivy used to scare me whenever she appeared when I was a child. She was normally mid-rant by that stage so that explains it. As an adult though, I do actually look back on her performances fairly fondly. Whether it was her role as the militant factory worker alongside cronies Vera and Ida or as the Tilsley matriarch, defending Brian and suspecting and disapproving of Gail, Ivy was always an intensely believable character.
While Ivy was a Corrie baddie, she was never a pantomime villain, bumping people off or setting fire to factories (she left that to second husband, Don). While she could be extremely annoying, difficult and troublesome, I think the main strength that came with the character was that everyone watching knew an Ivy, whether as a family member, a colleague or a neighbour.
Ivy's early years were mainly based in Baldwin's Casuals, taking on Mike Baldwin and conspiring with life long friend Vera Duckworth. However it was once Ivy's family had been introduced in 1979 that the character really came of age. I was never a fan of Brian, the Corrie equivalent of a week's worth of hypocritical wet washing, however I did love her relationship with first husband Bert. Bert was the everyman of Weatherfield, providing a much needed antidote to Ivy's more abrasive behaviour. From the off, Ivy was the archetypical pushy, protective mother. Nothing would ever be good enough for her Brian.Some of my favourite Ivy moments involved her relationship with daughter in law Gail. Gail brought out the worst in Ivy and Ivy often brought out the best in Gail. Gail was stronger in those days, standing up for herself and battling Ivy's old fashioned ideas. After the deaths of both Bert and Brian, Ivy clung more and more to her religious faith. She caused endless ructions over Gail's relationship with toy boy Martin Platt, the birth of their son David and their subsequent marriage and Martin's adoption of the children. Brilliant stuff and as always, very believable.
For years every Christmas Ivy and Don and Alf and Audrey would bicker over their family festive plans. Audrey, always at her most flighty and toffee-nosed, looked down (literally) on Ivy. The pair provided a great contrast. Sadly, Ivy's last years in Corrie were relentlessly depressing. Her marriage to Don broke down, she turned to the booze and became increasingly delusional. I'd much rather remember Ivy in her meddling, mother in law from hell prime. I wonder what Ivy would make of her family today? Gail, the widow of a serial killer, shacked up with a man who broke into her house. Sarah-Louise, pregnant at thirteen. Nick, ten years older than he's meant to be with a new head and David, married to a former cage dancer with a drug habit. Almost makes you wish she was still resident at 5 Coronation Street, doesn't it?
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6 comments:
Ivy was a brilliant character, and Lynne Perrie always portrayed her with passion and intensity. True, her last couple of years on screen are best forgotten, but she'll always be a classic Corrie matriarch/battleaxe as far as I'm concerned...
A favourite character of mine for many years due to excellent storytelling and brilliant acting by Lynne Perrie.
Ivy remains one of my favourite ever characters and played brilliantly by the late Lynne Perrie. Just a shame she seems to have been largely forgotten by the Corrie archivists. She doesn't even appear on the cover of the 35th anniversary book. Which isn't surprising really considering she left under a cloud around that time.
I also recommend her auutobiography, Secrets of The Street. A great read!
What I think is ironic and a little creepy is that Gail has become like her former mother in law especially where Nick is concerned.He's her golden boy who can do no wrong in her eyes and thinks no one is good enough for him just Ivy once thought she wasn't good enough for Brian.
Excellent post! Ivy was always my favourite, played to perfection by Lynne Perrie, who also played a blinder in the film ''Kes'', and in a BBC play called ''Leeds United''.
I think it's a shame that Lynne's face wasn't on the 35th anniversary book, I know that she left the Street on bad terms (and her later appearances on 'The Word', 'Television X' and 'Shooting Stars' are now infamous), but she deserved to be on the sleeve of 'The Woman of Coronation Street' book.
RIP Lynne x
Lynne Perrie went through a serious phase of poor judgement calls. I recall she had some significant cosmetic surgery done which could never be reconciled with puritanical Ivy. It just looked incongruous. she left soon afterwards.
Interestingly, some of the actors today get obvious work done (Michelle Collins' Stella could barely register an expression due to the botex and fillers and Sunita had almost a Renee Zellweger transformation by the end) but as viewers we're expected to ignore these unscripted changes and simply accept, perhaps, that the characters they play can afford extreme make overs.
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