All the wit and warmth of Weatherfield, none of the waffle
Available from amazon.co.uk or amazon.com
Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - 2015 official ITV tie-in book
and Coronation Street unofficial companion books:
Norman Bates with a Briefcase, the Richard Hillman Story
A Perfect Duet, the diary of Roy and Hayley Cropper
Greetings and welcome to the Coronation Street Weekly Update. Find out more about the Coronation Street Weekly Updates and why they've been written for th'internet since 1995 at http://www.corrie.net/updates/weekly
Big name signings to Coronation Street have worked well in the past. Maureen Lipman as Rovers temporary landlady Lillian ‘and never, ever Lily’ Spencer was my own particular favourite. Sir Ian McKellen as conman Mel Hutchwright was sublime. And then there was Sarah Harding, a singer from the band Girls Aloud who turned up this week. There are thousands of excellent, capable actresses available for work. And yet ITV chose to cast ‘a name’ in the role of Robert Preston’s wife Joni who turned up this week on our favourite show. Sinead O’Connor last week declared ‘music is dead’ when Rolling Stone magazine published a picture of Kim Kardashian on its cover. I’m feeling Sinead’s pain. That’s all I’m going to say.
On to much more brighter things this week on Coronation Street, and Roy passed his driving test!
Leanne, Liz and Simon are held captive in Leanne’s flat by Dan, Dan the Brewery Man this week. In a ludicrous scene, a drunken Dan locked two feisty women and a capable lad inside Leanne’s flat. There were any number of pots and pans Liz or Simon could have used to flatten Dan but instead there was panic and pandemonium until Liz managed to flee the flat with Simon. Dan was carted away in a cop car and there was a lovely bit of bonding between Zeedan and Simon. Zeedan’s a character I’ve not warmed to till now so I do hope we’ll start to see more of this side to him, it works.
Bethany bunks off school and spends the day with Callum in his flat and at the Dog and Gun. She gets drunk on voddy and although she refuses his offer of a spliff, he takes a picture on his phone of her with it in her hand. He also gets her to do some drug running for him and takes photos of her in action there too.
Tony returns this week but no-one wants to see him – not his son Jason, not his ex-Tracy and not his ex-Liz. Liz does grant him an audience in the back room of the pub where she ends up pummeling him and slapping him for his dirty dog ways. A brilliant scene - and Bev Callard as Liz has been on fire this week, always a joy to watch.
And that's just about that for this week.
Remember, you can sign up to get these Corrie weekly updates by email at http://www.corrie.net/updates/weekly/subscribe.htm
This week’s writers were Julie Jones (Monday double); Susan Oudot (Wednesday); Mark Burt (Thursday); Jayne Hollinson and Ben Tagoe (Friday double). Find out all about the Coronation Street writing team at http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/2008/11/exclusive-all-current-corrie-writers.html
Glenda Young
--
Blogging away merrily at http://flamingnora.blogspot.com
Website: glendayoungbooks.com
Download our free App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook | Visit Corrie.net
All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
10 comments:
On the whole I enjoyed this weeks lot of episodes. Sally, Tim and Kevin were the highlight and Tracyluv even raised the bar. The less said about Joni the better, lets just hope it was a fleeting visit- good luck to Sarah in future projects as it cant be bad to have Corrie on your CV. I wondered last night why Bethany popped upstairs and played music at Gails? She doesn't live there so whose room was she blasting from?! - Micky
Re the Harding issue, I think the question in the headline to this post says it all. How was she ever given the job? I feel sorry for her, the viewers and all the capable actresses who weren't offered a shot.
On the other hand, some of the performances this week were outstanding and I'm enjoying seeing Tony back.
Corrie built its reputation on seasoned actors who in many cases had done bit parts for years and years - really paid their dues - and din't get the break they needed until very late in life. It has a fine record for making stars out of the kind of talented people who'd never be leading men or women elsewhere because they're character types who in most shows would only get a walk-on part. To just give a role to someone because she's famous in other fields - and without even auditioning her - stinks. Would the likes of Doris Speed, Violet Carson and Pat Phoenix stand a chance today?
One of the worst performances i've seen from Sarah Harding. Stuart Blackburn is to blame. It is so unfair to all those unemployed actors who have years of rep theatre training etc and then to give it to someone who has never acted before is a joke. It also makes corrie look like a pantomine. We can only hope she hasnt been offered a 12 month contract. That would not surprise me.
I guess the reason Dan was brought in and why the storyline climaxed so quickly was to push Simon over the edge. Otherwise, it didn't make any sense. Not at all interested in Robert/Tracy/Joni. Tracy is OKish when she's opposite very strong actors/characters. Neither Robert or Joni are much cop so pretty bored with that already. How can any actor get a job without being auditioned? Tim and Sally brilliant as always.
I read a comment on another forum that said Sarah Harding made Bethany actress look like Meryl Street
Harding wasn't that good, it's true, but she wasn't *that* bad. Clearly nervous and overcompensating. There's been a lot of over the top criticism that I think has been a bit unfair. And yes, it's stunt casting and it isn't very fair to all those hard working talented actors trying to get a break. I can think of a lot of Current cast members that were not very good when they started, and turned out fairly well, some more than others.
Sorry, but she was that bad. You're being too nice, generous and over-protective of your favourite show. That reflects well on you, but she remains awful.
I'm afraid I was really disappointed. I found both Robert and Joni wooden and unconvincing. I've seen better school plays, I'm afraid.
Streep
Post a Comment