As episodes of Coronation Street
While Kate Ford, Chris Gascoyne and William
Roache are consistently outstanding in my eyes, a contributory factor to the quality
of their performances last night was surely the amount of time they had to play out and immerse themselves in the scenes in question. And while Ken, Peter and Tracy thrashed it out in number
one, a small selection of aptly chosen neighbours sat around the Rovers for
hours simply talking, and it was wonderful.
Corrie’s capacity for comedy and drama is
always touted as one of its strongest features, and rightly so. But as I’ve
argued before, this can’t simply mean a few funny one liners are thrown about
while drama takes centre stage. Last night’s episode showed how it should be
done. The drama in the Barlow’s was second to none, and the humour in the
Rovers was sublimely organic as they chatted fondly, tactfully enlightened
Michael as to Ken and Deirdre’s various indiscretions over the years, and tipsy
Emily insisted on drinking the red wine which Liz had poured to toast their friend. Intercutting between these two scenes, from light to shade and back again, made for perfection.
Twitter user Gillian Skerritt made a comment a
month back that has been playing on my mind ever since. While she was referring
to Luke’s ‘designer’ Mule Face t-shirt, her remark that “I fear I’m not Corrie
target audience any more” had me thinking about this notion generally. I
worried that the intention might be to take Corrie in a new direction. However, last night’s
episode proved to me that there is still a desire to retain, celebrate, and
devote time to the characteristics that made this programme an institution in
the first place, and lord knows the capacity for it never went away.
Episodes like last night’s are the reason why people
have been watching almost 55 years later and don’t want to switch off. To my
mind, it was the most fitting tribute possible to the memory of Anne Kirkbride
and Deirdre Barlow.
While you can never make every viewer happy,
the outpouring of praise for this particular episode makes clear that it can
act as a blueprint for what we would all wish to see more of.
There are plenty of programmes on television
that bring us the theatrical, but only Coronation Street
By Emma
Hynes
Twitter: @ELHynes
All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
You're right there. It's perfection like that which keeps us coming back, knowing how good it really can be!
ReplyDeleteIt was outstanding. Along with the Deirdre-Tracy two-hander episode, this one will go into my top 2 episodes, ever.
ReplyDeleteIt was excellent. Much better than the actual funeral episodes in my opinion
ReplyDelete"And while Ken, Peter and Deirdre thrashed it out in number one..." swap 'Deidre'for 'Tracy' maybe?
ReplyDeleteIt was a superb episode and restored my faith in Corrie. The atmosphere wasn't diluted by any other side issues, and the whole episode actually felt like a sensitive and heartfelt tribute to Anne Kirkbride, as well as Deidre. Kate Ford portrayed a bitter, tortured, selfish, but ultimately despairing daughter and mother, and was superb, and I hope that more is made of this side of her because 'Toxic Tracy' has become a bit of an untenable farce. Chris Gascoyne and Bill Roache were wonderful, and as for Emily - sublime!
ReplyDeleteIt was stellar I must admit. And Tracy saying things might change? We'll see. I really loved the Rovers gathering and Liz' little toast to her friend Deidre as a 'one off' was so touching.
ReplyDeleteThe episode was excellent and had the same atmospheric effect that you sometimes get with the live episodes with cameras pointing at characters as though on stage. In fact, I wish this had been the live episode.
ReplyDeleteIf they really want to keep Tracy's character as one of the last Barlow links to the Street, she ought to leave for a while. Apparently, we have yet to learn of Tracy's involvement in the fire at the flats. Even if this goes nowhere in the real justice system, soap law should push Tracy out into the wilderness for maybe a year. She can return as a reformed character and we may forget about her past demeanours. If she stays on the Street, I think it will be hard to believe that she's 'changed'. We have to remember that they pulled out the stops with the last few episodes. That kind of writing and acting can't be sustained with the schedule of episodes they have to cope with.
Completely agree, this was the brilliant episode I had hoped for in vain on Monday. Classic Corrie, and a fitting tribute to Deirdre. Susan.
ReplyDeleteAn absolute joy of an episode. It reminded me why I've stuck with the show for so many years - wonderfully crafted little jewels like this.
ReplyDelete