BE KIND

I really enjoyed Wednesday’s Coronation Street. There was that classic Corrie mix of comedy and drama, with much of the latter focused on Fiz and Tyrone’s parenting problems. My heart broke for little Ruby after Tyrone lost his tempter and smacked her as she ran away denying SHE’D been naughty for the umpteenth time. Sitting on those stairs, with tears streaming down her face was both upsetting and brilliant to watch – what a performance from little Macy Alabi. 

Innocent.

Fiz had finally been given a taste of her own medicine after blaming Ruby for all the recent incidents in the Stape / Dobbs household, letting Hope off the hook. Now the truth was out Fiz had learned an important lesson but perhaps a little too late. As she tried to deal with the aftermath over at Chesney’s she forcefully told her daughter to be kind as Hope went off to play with Joseph. I don’t know why, but that line really stood out for me. She didn’t say “behave” or “play nice” – she said “be kind” and I liked that. Perhaps she was reminding herself to do the same. 

Feature wall 

Sally & Tim’s wallpaper / fresco fiasco turned success made me laugh. I sometimes get the impression Sally is turning into a more pretentious version of Hilda Ogden – even more so now she’s got a feature wall. The couple bickered at home and in the Rovers before inevitably Tim caved in to Sally’s domestic demands. When Tim made the big reveal after paying Kirk to put the knock-off paper up, I suspected Sally would go mad. She did not. She loved it. Or at least the thought she should give the impression she loved it because the kind of person she would aspire to be would love it. She thinks. It also made me think of Jack and Vera in the episode where they install bar-like drinks optics into the dining room. “It’s a touch o’ class that. A real touch o’ class.”

Sally explodes as Tim arrives home drunk again

Sean’s bedroom tales 

More insignificant but enjoyable scenes came in Sean’s haircut anecdotes from his previous night of passion. His camp enthusiasm and unwillingness to let Maria in on the conversation made for hilarious watching – even if poor David was within earshot of the conversation. 

I see dead people

What a coup to get Sophie Thomson in Coronation Street. With her she’s brought a great opportunity to reminisce about loved characters long dead. And some very much unloved characters long dead too. We all know she’s not talking to the dead – even if it would be wonderful to hear from ‘Our Alfie’ after all these years. So of course 'something’s' coming – will it be connected to the return of Lewis and Claudia? We’ll soon find out. In any case we’ve been given more scenes with Audrey, which is always welcome, especially when she’s sharing a bottle or two of vino with her daughter. Corrie perfection. 

RTS award

The Boss

It’s been a bit of a fractious few weeks between Corrie, its fans and the media. Kate Oates has come under some heavy criticism for months now about the show’s dark and more dramatic scenes involving murder, sexual assault and addiction. There’s more of that to come soon with Pat Phelan’s leaving storyline, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Even if in recent interviews Kate has stubbornly held her ground on how she wishes to run Corrie, I think the powers that be are listening. The UK tabloid The Daily Star recently took my interview with writer Martina Cole and exacerbated the issue by putting a negative twist of our chat on its front page. We can really do without that. And this week Corrie won a prestigious RTS award (best soap and continuing drama) so now it’s onwards an upwards for our favourite show. 

Let’s hope writers remember the words “be kind” when putting pen to paper over the coming months.

@StevieDawson

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