"No you're not, Tracy!" I shouted at the screen. "You're the same age as me!" Then I realised that I am, in fact, nearly forty, and I went a bit quiet.
I've always felt a strange kinship with Tracy Barlow. She was born less than two weeks after me, on January 24th 1977, so she's sort of been my sister by another mother. Corrie was a constant in my childhood - every Monday and Wednesday, without fail - so as I grew up, so did this little girl on screen. Admittedly, Tracy Lynette Langton/Barlow had a rather more exciting life than I did. I was never kidnapped by a creepy stalker just before a lorry crashed into my pram; I never ran away to Newcastle because I couldn't get a dog. I've also managed to keep the same head for 37 years, unlike Tracy, who swaps them more often than that witch in Return to Oz. On the other hand, we both owned tapes by Brother Beyond, so it's swings and roundabouts.
It meant that when Tracy returned from That London looking like Kate Ford and being a massive bitch, I had a bit of a problem. I'd always felt that Tracy was, at heart, a good person, because she and I were so alike. Even when she was knocking back dodgy ecstasy and stealing Samir's kidney, I felt sorry for her. "Poor Tracy!" I thought. "She only wants a bit of escape from her incredibly tedious father and the sight of her mother necking with a 21 year old Moroccan waiter over the breakfast table; who wouldn't turn to illegal stimulants in those circumstances?"
But the returned Tracy was, let's face it, irredeemable. NuTracy was just horrible. Anyone who drives Roy Cropper to contemplate suicide is clearly pure evil, and that was even before she pretended to be a battered wife so that she could club her lover to death with a statuette from the Katie Price Home Style Collection.
I felt betrayed. That wasn't my Tracy. That was an imposter. I didn't really accept this new Tracy Barlow. I looked forward to the storyline where it was revealed that the real Tracy - Dawn Acton version - turned up on the doorstep of number 1, furious that her identity had been stolen by this imposter. "I was listening to my tapes with my headphones on, and when I took them off, someone had nicked my passport and my purse!"
It didn't happen. Tracy was locked up for murdering Charlie - leaving him free to toddle off to Emmerdale - and I resigned myself to my TV sister being an amoral nutcase.
Her release from prison - though about as realistic as Bagpuss - was a second chance for her and me. The Tracy who came back was... ok, nice is pushing it. She was more human though. Her callousness had been curbed, and she inherited the sharp tongue of her grandmother. I forgave her. Tracy Barlow was back, a bit damaged, a bit amoral. Aren't we all? Haven't we all come up with devastatingly cruel put downs in our head, but only Tracy is brave enough to say them?
(Actually, that all makes me sound a bit mad, doesn't it? Like those old ladies who beat David Platt with their umbrellas in Tesco for being so mean to Gail. I do know the difference between fiction and reality, I promise. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to write all my Christmas cards for the Street's residents, and you know what the post is like this time of year).
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10 comments:
Sounds like you've got a love/hate relationship with Tracy, Scott. I'm afraid mine is more of a 'is she still here?' They're trying too late in the day to give Tracy more depth. We should have seen Rob and Tracy in their own home, playing some kid's game with Amy. I would have liked to see the side of her that Rob told Carla about. All we actually saw on screen was the wicked witch and now we've got a self-pitying aging teenager. The character's fine with some (very recent) decent lines but where will she go after this story line? Really, she ought to leave as I couldn't bear the hateful version of Tracy again.
I had the same reaction about the age thing, as I was born 2 weeks after her in February 1977.
She's definitely more watchable in the past year since she's been with Rob. I hope they don't revert her to cold, hard, bitch again.
I am old enough to remember when Dreary went into labour with Tracy and Blanche had a go at Ray Langton as he had gone off to the pub - at Dierdre's insistence. Was it really forty long years ago. Tracy is now getting too old to play the "femme falale" and what people would probably tolerate from a young girl they woudlnt from an older woman. They need to rethink Tracy or just get rid.
Great stuff!
Brilliant!
I can't imagine anyone other than Kate Ford in the role now...
Tracy is very whiny, isn't she? In the past she has, at times, seemed more like a pantomime villain to me and as far as I can see she is still the same Tracy Barlow (twisted, nasty, hypocritical, vengeful, self-absorbed etc.) but somehow the writers have managed to make her more human. Admittedly, I think the wailing is a bit much, though.
Carla is a fantastic character and I was/am almost disappointed that she has been lumbered with Tracy now that her brother and Peter have gone. But their scenes at the factory the other week were good and if they have to go with this revenge storyline then I hope it completely backfires on Tracy. It would be great to watch and a nice change from watching Tracy get her own way.
She's a nasty cow but I still like her. Ken is very annoying, so is Dreary
With all that's happened this year to Tracy, I am hoping the writers give Kate Ford a break and find some depth for her to draw out of this character. Let her realize that Carla is a great mentor for her business endeavors and the value of her relationship with Amy; and hope that she doesn't want to see Amy turn out like she did!
Hilarious commentary, Scott. This has made my day!
I think turning Tracy evil was a real misstep it meant the producers were left with no other option than to send her down. Which meant bringing her back would require a storyline that stretched credulity to breaking point.
In my view there were two options
The first was introduce her as a recurring villainess e.g. Terry Duckworth coming back and causing no end of trouble
The second was to turn Tracy into an anti-heroine turning her into a sort of female Ray Langton.
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