Now there probably aren't that many of us who remember the halcyon days of early 1960s Corrie when a strike robbed the programme of most of its actors. It's the stuff that legends are made of. Plucky old Granada carried on with a handful of characters, all shown huddled together in close shot. If any crowd scenes were called for then kids were dressed as postmen and Ida Barlow was played by an Action Man in a wig. Or something. Corrie carried on, regardless.
Fast forward over half a century and the show finds itself at the other end of the spectrum. Every week we seem to be bombarded with another set of clamouring new faces. The cobbles are getting dangerous. Take the Faktry. There are now almost as many managers as machinists. Into that nasty little office cram the House of Connor. If Carla whips her hair she'll take someone's eye out. Add to that Aidan's bosom bursting forth at every opportunity and old crumple-face Johnny slumped in any available chair and before long there's no room for feisty box-packer Kate and 'a coffee, two sugars love' Alya.
The need to jam folk up to the rafters seems endemic. Over at number five - and while we are there, exactly who does own that place? The council? Is it Chesney's name on the rent book? Anyway, there he resides with Sinead, Kirk, Beth and Craig. Presumably one of them is sharing a cage with the rat or is nesting in the Les Battersby memorial whirlpool.
It also seems to take a cast of thousands to pour wine and serve pasta at the Bistro. Who else has suppressed as chuckle as a character is shown to their table, all of two feet away? Never mind, here's Steph to wave a menu at you and Andy to whisk it away. Nick's hovering with the olives, Leanne's offering you one of her Munch's 'Scream' faces, craggy old Robert's tossing your salad and Gail will clean around your table as you eat. The place is a madhouse, soon to edge into meltdown status as the many Connors arrive to be 'shown to their table'. Form an orderly queue.
So in the last few months, Connors aside, we've been served up Cathy, Robert, Cathy's nephew, Luke's weird mate and now, if you wouldn't mind, please create a little space for Cathy's sister Nessa and Ted Robbins. Sorry guys, we don't have any rooms as such for you but if you'd just like to lift that manhole cover and budge up next to the corpse. That is, of course, if it's still there . . .
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12 comments:
Great post!
Very true! If they're not careful, the Connors themselves will soo be outnumbering the original cast! ;)
I would like to add the Platt house in which family members seem to outnumber bedrooms and Roy's Rolls' which like the Bistro seems to have more employees now that customers[Why is Cathy working there?].
Brilliant David, as always
here, here, I agree 100% - I get the feeling that in trying to stem the falling & miserable ratings they just keep adding new actors into the mix - don't the TPTB listen to their viewers - it's just NOT WORKING - give us some good storylines involving the characters that we all love and want to see more of. Don't bring in new characters that we haven't or don't want to warm up to. It doesn't work. Now we have the never ending Platt family saga with Sara suddenly realizing that she is pregnant with Callum's baby, even though probably the last time she slept with him was ages ago, you would think that she would have realized the possibility by now, but no, she just goes to pieces and they cart her off to Italy for 2 weeks. Then the have the BIG preview where Carla's life will be changed forever, I presume by Rob suddenly coming clean about something with the Connor clan. Tony is leaving, Jason in leaving, Maria is on maternity leave - hopefully for longer than a couple of months, Michael is leaving. What's next?? Either they do a complete overhaul of everything going on in the street or they just keep throwing bits and bobs at us to no avail. Doesn't help the ratings.
Spot on!
Having Kate in the faktry as well is stupid, what was her job before and why couldn't she continue with that?!
I absolutely agree, far too many cast crammed into that tiny two up two down street especially when there are other streets close by. In all the years I have been watching(from the start) I have never ever seen anyone in the ginnel from the houses in Inkerman Street. Surely someone lives there. Why not some of the charactors.
Thank you! I agree with the comment about Roy's Rolls too. I know Roy can be a very accommodating guy but there are limits! Or maybe not!
Beautifully put. I finally gave up watching (after rarely missing an episode) at the start of the year. This isn't Coronation Street anymore, it's Hollyoaks with a "heritage" branding.
Ancient Corriener made a good point about neighbouring streets. One can only assume the drinkers in the Rovers who stand outside the main action live round various corners because all the Coronation Street houses are accounted for. The Corrie world has shrunk in recent years. When Vera and Ivy chatted on the doorstep, they often greeted passers-by whom they presumably knew from the factory or the pub. I wish we could expand Corrie horizons, not with yet more characters but by having existing characters move into nearby properties.
I agree with everything you said and all of the commenters, it's getting very out of hand. I laughed out loud at the Carla hair statement!
Ancient corrienr - I absolutely agree about the ginnel (except the parallel street is Mawdsley St, not Inkerman. Inkerman St joins Mawdsley St at a right angle about halfway down). Strange how many of the residents bed-hop the length & breadth of Coronation Street but seem prevented by some mysterious force field from crossing the funnel. Perhaps it's some ancient tribal loyalty?
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