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Thursday 22 March 2018

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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6 comments:

Humpty Dumpty said...

Yes, I'm sure someone's listening to the grumblings. You'd expect KO to stand her ground and, of course, publicly her management will support her. But suddenly and all at the same time, we're getting lighter characters: Moira, Lewis, Claudia, Rosemary the psychic, and who knows what Tim's father(?) will be like. Not all of them will work but it's restoring a balance.

Stevie said...

Exactly - I'm getting that feeling too, although I think this was always planned it's just that we've been through such a dark period!

Lily Bigfield said...

I agree, for the first time this week I felt there was a feel of the old Corrie about the episodes. It kept me watching and enjoying, rather than enduring them. And I will admit, the David trauma is being handled well, with some excellent acting. Josh is a new type of Corrie villain, a deeply unsettling, manipulative character.

dhvinyl said...

The other thing I’m really enjoying at the moment is all the children starting to speak and become characters. Hope and particularly Ruby are already being given good speaking parts and I can see Ruby becoming a real little star.. I do hope Tim’s dad turns out to be as droll as him and that a ‘thing’ with Audrey brings her back into the mainstream. Roy’s struggling at the moment but I still hope Carla, who’s made the speediest recovery on the planet from major surgery, builds their relationship. And let’s hope the real life Norris recovers speedily; Sean, Mary and Kirk, among others, are missing him badly.

Anonymous said...

For once this week there was more of a balance of ages within the characters. I have been fed up recently of seeing the Rovers full of everyone under 30 which is so unrealistic as it's hardly an 'on trend' bar and would be full of older characters in reality. It's been like tuning into Hollyoaks these last few weeks. One thing I would like is for some of the characters who add nothing to the show to be written out. What is the point of Mary's son and daughter in law? - Micky

Anonymous said...

The bulk of the population is over 50. And still likely watches the show on broadcast television. Not sure why we shouldn't be catered to.

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