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Friday 8 January 2016

No strong female lead and no battleaxe - what next for Corrie?

I'm shocked and saddened to read today that Alison King won't be returning to Coronation Street as Carla Connor.  I'm not Carla's greatest fan - and you can read more on that here if you like - but I'll be saddened indeed to see her go.

She's Corrie's only strong female lead. She's the strongest they've got. Without her, who will take up the mantle? 

There's Liz of course and she's wonderful, as is Sally.  There's Erica who might yet come into her own. Gail has long been portrayed as little more than a comedy fool and the Platt clan are being guided by Audrey's steady hand.

Corrie has suffered for too long, I feel, without the soap staple of a battle axe. I've written about that already. It's now going to lose another of its soap staples when Carla Connor says goodbye. 

Please Corrie, pull yourself together - before it's too late.

See who else is leaving, taking a break or joining Coronation Street.

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18 comments:

Sarah Heaton said...

I see Phelan's making a comeback, so perhaps this will give Anna a chance to show us what she's really made of. Maybe she could be the new strong woman on the Street.

Stevie said...

Devastated. But good luck to her.

We need more serious storylines for Liz, she's the matriarch of the Street now really and does the hard hitting stuff just as well as the comedy. The old guard such as Rita, Ken and Audrey will hopefully be prominent and give us a bit of old Corrie for a good time to come, but you are right, we need some strong female leads now. I do wish Roy would bring his mum back with him.

All eyes on Kate Oates now...

Humpty Dumpty said...

A battleaxe has to be the moral compass in the community even if they themselves are far from perfect. Many of the strong women on Corrie are just plain nasty or are only concerned with their immediate families. So I vote for Liz. She's in the right place at the heart of the community and could also be thinking it's time she settled. I'd like to see her with a permanent partner behind the bar. They should make a good double act and Liz's stories would stop being about useless blokes.

Anonymous said...

Huge loss but at least a return hasn't been ruled out completely.
Irreplaceable character and actress - all the best to Alison King, though. Her portrayal of Carla and her work over the years has been nothing short of outstanding. I respect her decision to spend more time with her little girl, and I hope to see her in other roles.

At least Kate Oates will be taking over Corrie soon. She will undoubtedly have some fresh ideas to improve things and if her work on Corrie is anything like her work on Emmerdale, it'll be great stuff!

Anonymous said...

For a battleaxe character, how about if they cast Mary's much mentioned but never seen mother. Other than that, I could hold out hope they bring back Roy's mother one day.

And while I'm sure they could work on one of the existing ladies on the show and develop them into a stronger leading lady, I have little doubt that Kate Oates won't bring on her own diva.

Anonymous said...

er, I mean Kate Oates WILL bring on her own diva.

Anonymous said...

I was disappointed when they turned Gail into the village idiot instead of the battle-axe I thought she was turning into. Carla has been reduced to a whimper...why do they have to keep pairing her up?
IMO the chemistry she had with Peter hasn't been matched yet.

Anonymous said...

so all the characters were taking "a break" from Corrie but would definitely come back - Ali King (Carla) is the first one to take the big first step and finally admit she isn't coming back. Sorry, second, Jason. Anyone up for taking bets on the rest that will follow??? Let's be honest starting way back when Haley & Sylvia left, Tina, followed by Gloria, Stella, Sunita, Karl, Dennis, Marcus, Dev for a long time, Maria (no loss) Kal, Maddie, Michael, Andy, Roy, Sophie (no loss) can't think of anyone else, but it just seems that it is a pattern with all the actors. I can't help thinking that TPTB think they are way more important than the actors, which is rubbish. I have a feeling that it's "our way or the highway". These actors devote a lot of themselves in developing the character only to be shussed aside for the producer,writer,director. What gives????

Anonymous said...

I predicted weeks ago that Alison King wouldn't be back.

Laura said...

Could Leanne take on the mantle of strong woman? She's certainly been through her fair share (and more) of struggles, lurching from one to the next and managing to keep her head above water when many others would have given up.

Of all the characters that have left in recent years, I've only really missed and noticed gaping holes from Blanche, Hayley and Dierdre. Blanche was the Rover Return's version of the Dowager Countess from Downton, and the character that made me laugh the most. If she was still around, we would definitely see "the oldies" on screen more. Could you imagine her take downs of Norris and Mary? If they could insert another character like her, it would be greatly welcomed by me.

Adam said...

Sylvia needs to return. :(

Anonymous said...

well I guess we all know what the exit story for Carla will be - death. For some reason when actors dare decide to leave Corrie they are usually bumped off with no chance of return: Tina, Kal, Maddie, Sunita spring to mind. They went easy on Peter and Lloyd.

Anonymous said...

When you read Alison King's interview, you realize Corrie has only itself to blame for her departure. Even though King is just acting the part, imagine how emotionally draining it would be to play out, year after year, the traumas Carla has suffered. King says it's a miracle Carla wasn't sectioned...it's probably a miracle she (King) wasn't sectioned either! I've watched a lot of soaps, and I've never seen a character endure the sort of intense, unrelenting and on-going trauma that Carla has survived-close to abusive of the actress. Now it turns out she's going to be attacked and beaten, too? Geez, enough is enough! If Corrie had given her other storylines over the years--become a mother, be an actual factory owner (like Baldwin) running the factory on a day to day basis, become a respected business owner in the community, genuinely work to repair the relationship with her brother, deal with her anger towards her mother etc. etc. etc. she might have stayed.

abbyk said...

I know she isn't popular but I could see Leanne stepping up to the strong female lead role. She's smart and pretty, with roots, and Jane Danson has chips. Not silly like Sally and Gail, she can run a business. She can't stay second banana to Nick forever. Maybe she won't take over the faktry (although she could if, say, Les would keel over and leave her his lottery winnings, and she had a partner who understood the manufacturing side) but I could see her running her own business. Perhaps she should buy out Lloyds share of Streetcars; Auntie Rita could help out/invest. Just my 2¢.

abbyk said...

JD has CHOPS.

Cobblestone said...

I've long been a big Leanne fan; as abbyk says, she has the chops to step up (although like most of the rest of the characters, she's had her fair share of chips too!). To be honest, I think she was one of the shows leading strong women before being sidelined by the irresistible rise of Carla. Her Tramcrash Week performance was honoured by the rest of the cast by being voted Best Live Actor. I'd love to see them return her front and centre, although the Simon saga needs some resolution.

Rapunzel said...

Having listened to Sally-Ann Matthews describe the filming schedule on Conversation Street podcast a few months ago, I''m in awe of all the actors who carry a heavy workload. They can be simultaneously working with multiple directors and crews because different episodes are being filmed at the same time (even stretching out over different weeks). Scenes are shot out of sequence, meaning there is little continuity and their characters will not necessarily be in the same emotional state from scene to scene.

It's surprising that that there isn't more burn-out. It could also explain why we don't see as much of some characters as others - the actors may be technically able but simply don't have the necessary stamina or flexibility.

The solution is to cut the number of episodes per week, but that is probably unlikely.

Shells said...

I vote for Leanne. I would rather see Leanne instead of constantly seeing Carla. They over used Carla.


Kylie also has a big personality and could grow into a force to be reckoned with.

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