Cosy crimes and gritty sagas by Corrie Blog editor Glenda, published by Headline. Click pic below!

Saturday 31 March 2018

Five Things We Learned In Corrie This Week


Family reunions are always a joy.  Martin's back!  Yay!  Even if it was only a flying visit, it was great to see Platt Senior back on the Street.  It's especially good because he's also appearing Classic Corrie on ITV3, complaining about having no money while downing fourteen pints a day, so we were able to compare and contrast.  Sean Wilson's aged remarkably well - cheese must do a man good - and seeing him back in number eight was lovely.  Martin thought David coming to live with him in New Zealand was a great idea as he'd "love to see the grandkids growing up."  This came as news to the rest of the family given that he's not bothered visiting them at any point in the last decade.  It should also be noted that after a day with said grandkids he changed his mind and told David to stay in Manchester.  Hopefully Martin will be back for more, though he should probably bring his wife with him next time, as Gail looked distinctly twinkly down the end of the bar.  She's not had a wedding since 2015 and she'll be getting antsy. 


Mess with Carla at your peril.  Half a dozen teenage thugs versus Ms Connor?  They didn't stand a chance, as she batted back their threats with a few well-placed insults.  Simon intervened in the end purely to save his mates from humiliation when she clipped their ears and knocked them off their bikes.  Although given her recent dalliances with Daniel and Ali, perhaps he was just worried the whiff of young flesh might get her in Mrs Robinson mode again.  She rewarded him with a job at the factory after he demonstrated his crack IT knowledge by clicking the mouse a couple of times; with computer skills like that he's clearly the new Steve Jobs.  Simon used to be such a lovely little boy - I'm not sure when he turned into this devil spawn.  I suppose a Satanic period is a rite of passage for all the Street's children, even the ones who seem innocent enough right now.  Summer's probably using her New Scientist subscription to learn how to make biological weapons, and when did we last see Aadi?  Asha will have him trussed up in the attic somewhere, only keeping him alive in case she needs an organ transplant someday.  With any luck Simon will soon be out of this tearaway phase, not least because Corrie is always introducing gangs of teenage thugs and they are always about as threatening as day-old tapioca. 


Kids love a backstreet boozer.  Can you imagine a less child-friendly pub than the Rovers?  It's got no garden, no space to move about, and there's a fight in there at least once a fortnight.  Even flat-roofed pubs on sink estates usually have a car park and a swing.  Plus the family behind the bar are so mixed up they'd leave the producers of Who Do You Think You Are? scratching their head: the landlord's partner is the step-sister of the adoptive mother of his son.  And that's before you add in Eva (half-sister having a baby for the step-sister) and Oliver (whose half-sister is the landlord's niece).  Henry Newton seemed to be under the impression that this crypto-incestuous bag of Battersbys and Barlows were somehow the ideal face for the brewery's push into the yummy mummy market.  Still, they had an ancient copy of Operation and a vegetarian option on the kids menu so bring the little ones along! 


Audrey is taking your requests.  The fragrant Mrs Roberts turned out to be surprisingly adept behind the mixing desk, juggling dedications and engaging in a bit of Top Radio Patter.  She also managed to slip in some light flirtation with Tim's dad, because Audrey just can't help herself; stick her in a room with a middle-aged man and she's soon batting her eyelids and bringing him under her spell.  I was unsurprised to see her play Like a Virgin - she's a long established fan of Madonna, as can be seen in this astonishing video unearthed earlier this week by Twitter user @thecyberdevil:


If you're unable to watch it - or couldn't last more than five seconds before your eyes started bleeding - yes, that is Audrey Roberts and Phyllis Pearce providing backing vocals while Cheryl Baker dances to Material Girl with Curly Watts.  It is quite astonishing, and I've been watching it on a loop for the past twenty four hours.  Hopefully this is the start of a new career in DJ-ing for Audrey, and soon she'll be wrecking the decks at Glastonbury and hosting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show.  She can't be any worse than Grimmy.


Hats are so last season.  Pat Phelan's downfall had everything: drama, action, passionate soliloquys in front of a lighthouse, evocative timelapse photography, and Weatherfield Police once again arresting the wrong person for the wrong crime.  Unfortunately I couldn't really give it my full attention because I spent the whole time wondering what the hell that thing on Eileen's head was.  It's a kind of large furry sweatband, and I can't see the point of it at all.  Hats (a) keep your head warm and (b) protect you from the rain; this does neither of those things.  It'll just make you sweat and leave you with an itchy forehead.  I suppose it keeps your hair in place, but Eileen is hardly Jane Seymour; she hasn't got lustrous locks that need to be tamed.  Perhaps I'm just not fashion-forward, but I can't help thinking Eileen would have been a lot warmer on that ice cold Cumbrian waterfront in an ushanka or perhaps a cosy balaclava.

If you have any ideas for other classic characters who deserve to be brought back into the show, please let the author know via Twitter @merseytart.  I've got my fingers crossed for Harry Flagg.



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Conversation Street Episode 301



Happy Easter, everyone! Glenda has kindly allowed us to blog about our Corrie podcast here every weekend now, so you'll be hearing from us every Saturday morning. If you haven't listened to Conversation Street yet, you can subscribe to us via iTunes, or download our latest episode at our own website, here.

This week's podcast starts with a short tribute to long-time listener Tvor, who passed away a few days ago. She was the first person to give us feedback on the podcast, way back in Episode 4, and her presence will be greatly missed on the show and across the Coronation Street fan community as a whole. We then move onto discussing the episodes of Corrie broadcast in the UK between the 26th and the 30th March. As the police uncover concrete evidence of Pat's murderous ways, the barbaric builder does a runner to North Lighthouse (just Voggle it - it'll take you right there!), intent on sailing across to Ireland. Will he be able to convince Eileen to go with him, or will she finally see him for the murderer he really is? Meanwhile, Martin makes a flying visit to the Street, Audrey switches from styling hair to freestyling on air, and, in what we can only assume is an attempt to curry favour with his Mafia boss grandfather, Simon turns to a life of crime. After Street Talk, we welcome Brooke Vincent back onto the podcast for a quick chat about all things Dancing On Ice, Kana and Chapter 1: Liv, her new short film that's recently been put online (if you haven't seen it yet, we definitely recommend checking it out!). Next up, we move onto a quick news section, including more evidence that tours of the Corrie set are looking more and more likely, and then head into our usual feedback section. Finally, in a quick, spoilery Kabin Extra at the end of the show, we discusss news of another cast member departure, announced this week.


00:07:14 - Street Talk
01:45:52 - Brooke Vincent interview
01:56:10 - The Kabin
02:03:25 - Feedback
02:21:09 - Kabin Extra





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Audrey and Tim's dad - Yay or Nay?


Well, it was good to have our theory confirmed last night that DJ Geoff of Hospital Radio is indeed Tim's dad.  Missed our theory? You can catch up with it here.

So now that we know who Geoff is, and what his relation to the Street is, will this mean we'll see more of him - and more importantly, will Audrey see more of him too?  I certainly hope so. It's been a long time since she's had a bit of fun in her life and Geoff seems like a man with a sense of humour.

So what do you say to Audrey and Tim's dad - Yay or Nay?

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Friday 30 March 2018

Video: Phelan and Eileen behind the scenes at Corrie's lighthouse shoot


Go behind the scenes in Coronation Street's lighthouse shoot which saw Pat Phelan fall to the foamy seas of Whitehaven in tonight's show.

ITV Corrie have an exclusive video which you can watch below. 

I LOVED Pat Phelan's speech written by Owen Lloyd-Fox: "I am the darkness and the light, Eileen that's me. I'm a creator. I'm a destroyer. I'm the accuser and the prosecutor. I am the lord of hope and the layer in wait."

Watch it all below:

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Corrie weekly update - The Darkness and the Light

Corrie weekly updates from 1995
All the wit and warmth of Weatherfield
None of the waffle

Available from amazon.co.uk or amazon.com 


The big story this week has been the death of Pat Phelan. Yes, the Corrie villain’s gone at last. It starts when Phelan takes Eileen away from Weatherfield after he finds out that the concrete pillars on the building site where he’s working need to come out as he’s not done them properly. The problem is, that’s where Phelan buried Vinny and Andy’s bodies. (I thought they were in a lake or somewhere but maybe I’ve missed something?) Anyway, the cops find the bodies, Gary’s arrested because he was on site at the time looking for the gun that Phelan killed Luke with. Meanwhile, Phelan and Eileen are miles away from it all by the sea. Eileen thinks that Phelan is treating her to a seaside break in Whitehaven but Pat has plans, he’s packed his passport ready to scarper to Ireland. Back at the building site, Phelan’s got a mole who’s keeping him up to date with what the cops are doing there. And when he hears that things have turned nasty he determines to sail away to sea in a boat from the harbour. But his plans are thwarted by Eileen who follows him and demands to come with him as she thinks he’s going fishing. They argue at the boat and Eileen loses her picnic hamper, cuts her finger and hurts her foot. Phelan’s concern for his wife stops him from leaving and so he gets off the boat and follows Eileen to the shore. 

Meanwhile, back at Weatherfield’s cop shop, Gary calls in Adam Barlow as his brief. Once Adam knows about the cop finding the dead bodies, he rings Tim to tell him to warn Eileen about Pat, wherever she is. Eileen picks up the message and horror strikes her heart. She tries to pretend everything’s ok and lets Pat go back to his boat, but he knows something’s up and follows her as she tries to escape – all the way along a pier that leads nowhere but the sea. Now, I’m no Miss Marple but I think Eileen made a mistake there.  Phelan rips the phone from her hand, hears Tim telling her that Pat’s a killer and he chucks the phone into the sea. They argue and under the beam of the lighthouse they circle each other where Phelan reveals all to Eileen, that he’s killed not two but four people (Michael, Andy, Vinny, Luke), he boasts, he smiles, he tells her he loves her. She cries, walks backwards to the railings that are rusty, threatening to throw his keys into the sea. He lunges for the keys in Eileen’s hand but she’s too quick for him and he hurtles through the railways to the sea below, but he’s not gone, not yet. He hangs on for dear life to a rope over the side of the pier and begs Eileen, begs her to help him up. Instead she stamps on his hand, over and over, so that he loses his grip and falls to the foaming seas below.  Tim and Liz arrive along with the cops and Eileen’s in bits, in shock, but she can’t tell them what’s really happened to Pat, not yet.
Martin Platt’s brief return to Corrie ended this week when he left son David and headed off to his new life in New Zealand. David puts his plans on hold to emigrate with his dad after he finds out that he needs a visa and things aren’t as straightforward as he might have thought.  There was a lovely little scene in the Rovers when Gail and Brian shared a drink and a chat. I’d love to see him back permanently, it would have bene great to see him interacting with the likes of Kevin, Sally and Gina, his mates from back in the day.

In the hair salon, Audrey gets Rosemary the Clairvoyant to return because Roy and Brian want to out her as a charlatan. However, when Rosemary gest wind of what Roy and Brian are up to, she refuses to perform and walks out. 

Audrey ends up in hospital this week after she gets caught up with a gang of kids on the cobbles, one of whom is Simon, who mugs Audrey for her handbag. She’s in a bad way with a fracture in the Tony Wilson ward (nice touch, ITV) but falls for the hospital’s radio DJ, a really nice fella called Geoff.  He asks her what her favourite song is so that he can dedicate it to her. But instead of Patsy Cline’s Crazy he plays her Shaddap You Face …. which was very funny indeed. It continues in a light-hearted way when Audrey gets locked inside the DJ booth with Geoff locked outside and she has to take over the radio show, dedicating a song to Pauline Urology. Wonderful stuff indeed, even if it was yet another hospital scene.  Anyway, the good news is that Geoff the hospital DJ turns out to be Tim’s dad and turns up at Sally’s house for tea, so it looks as if we’ll be seeing much more of him, which pleases this fan and no doubt will please the fragrant Mrs. Roberts too.

Simon, however, gets a ticking off from Peter and Leanne for his behaviour and he swears he won’t hang around with the gang again, but he does. Meanwhile, Carla takes it on herself to help Simon and after a heart to heart in the factory office, she offers him work experience on their IT systems. I’ve always liked the relationship between Carla and Simon and felt this was done well this week.

Over at the Rovers, there’s a family day to celebrate the pub trying to attract more family custom. It doesn’t really work as holy war breaks out between Fiz, who’s there with her daughter, and Tyrone, who’s there with his. Fiz and Tyrone aren’t speaking. Worse still, they’re at each other’s throats.
Steve gets a surprise in the pub when an old teacher of his, Mile ‘Puddles’ Thornberry turns up. Mike needs a job and gets one quick-sharp working at Streetcars as their new cabbie. Liz likes the cut of his jib and flirts outrageously, which is always good to see. 

Elsewhere, Johnny is too busy with Aidan and Carla to notice that Jenny is getting upset. And getting Jenny upset is not something that Johnny should do. She wants to head off to Spain, to live the life on the Costa that Johnny said he wanted too, but he seems to have forgotten all about it. Jenny asks Liz to have a word with Johnny, which she does, and has to break the news to Johnny that Jenny’s only gone and put down a deposit on a villa in the sun.
And finally this week, no-one seems to have noticed that Eva is seven, yes seven, months pregnant. She can’t feel the baby move and so has a scan at the hospital  (another hospital scene, groan) where all is proved well. Shedding tears of relief, she rings Aidan.

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 Chris Fewtrell (Monday); John Kerr and Mark Wadlow (Wednesday); Cameron McAllister (Thursday) Owen Lloyd-Fox (Friday) Find out all about the Coronation Street writing team at Coronation Street Blog: Exclusive: All Current Corrie writers online

Glenda Young
--
Blogging away merrily at Flaming Nora
Website: glendayoungbooks.com

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Coronation Street Villains: A Talk at Salford Museum and Art Gallery


There's a wonderful talk taking place on Wednesday 23 May 2018, all about Coronation Street villains. It'll take place at Salford Museum and Art Gallery as part of their Tony Warren exhibition.

Join experts in scriptwriting for a discussion of the antagonists that have populated Coronation Street over the years.

The event will look at how these villains have generated conflict and meaning from the earliest days of the programme to the current crop of villains who help make the programme so memorable and dramatic.

Led by Colin Muir, former Programme Leader in MA Film Screenwriting and in MA TV and Radio Scriptwriting at the University of Salford and Sarah Cassidy, MA TV and Radio Scriptwriting and currently part of this year's Liverpool Everyman Theatre Playwright Programme.

A bottle bar will be open from 6.30pm.

Full details and booking form here

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Liz and Mike - Yay or Nay?


Liz McDonald without a man is like Newton without the Ridley.

She's been on her own for too long and it's not suited her at all.  Mind you, neither does it suit her to be working anywhere other than behind the bar at the Rovers Return and having her name above the door, but that's another topic for another blog post.

I'm a big fan of Louis Emerick, who's joined the cast to play Mike Thornberry, or Puddles as he's known to his ex-pupil Steve.  And I'm overjoyed he's joined Coronation Street.

Corrie have brought him in with a bang - he's got a last name, he's been given a job and a back story too. Surely the only thing left for him to do is to get a romance going, and who better than with Liz?

So yes please, Corrie, let's have these two together as soon as you can.

What do you think - Yay or Nay?

See also:
Our blogger Emma's interview with Louis Emerick, who plays Mike

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GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

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