Corrie weekly updates from 1995
All the wit and warmth of
Weatherfield
None of the waffle
Available from amazon.co.uk or amazon.com
None of the waffle
Available from amazon.co.uk or amazon.com
Please, Corrie, stop making me love you less with every single episode you show.
Elsewhere this week, Fiz finds a condom packet in the sheets and knows that Tyrone has been having ess-ee-ex while she’s been away. At first, she thinks the condom might be from Sean but he denies ever having brought anyone back to their house while he’s been lodging there. Fiz takes out her anger on Gemma and there’s a food fight in the kebab shop, with the only bit of light relief the lettuce that lodges in Rita’s, er, hair. Anyway, Fiz takes Tyrone back and he tells her he’s putting Ruby into therapy as he knows she’s the one behind all the bad things that have been happening. But she’s not... as we find out that it’s Hope who’s the villain of the piece after she almost chucks Jack down the stairs. Well, her father was a serial killer.
A bit of warmth this week came our way when Rosemary the clairvoyant turned up in Audrey’s salon with a message for Aud from her Alfeh. Audrey’s skeptical at first but soon comes around to Rosemary’s messages from beyond when she tells her that she’s receiving messages from Gail’s dead husband… no, her dead husbands! This could be fun and it’ll be interesting to see where it goes. If only it wasn’t the only ray of light in Corrie, but sadly it is.
Meanwhile in the Rovers, Eva is eating for England as her pregnancy belly grows. Leanne is none the wiser as to why her step sister is eating like a pig and putting on a pile of weight.
Adam returned this week, with a haircut, and went straight to the cop shop where Billy’s been arrested. He promises to stand by Billy as his brief. Eileen calls the Bishop who takes Billy off to rehab and we all breathe a sigh of relief.
Mary finds a job in the Weatherfield Gazette that she thinks would be ideal for Jude. It’s a research assistant job in a marine laboratory where Jude would be researching the warty venous clam. Jude is reluctant to go for the interview, but Mary makes him do so. He returns and says he’s got the job, but then we see him on his phone later and it’s clear that all is not as it seems.
And that’s that for this week. Does anyone else feel as disappointed as I do by the workings of Weatherfield of late?
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This week’s writers were Chris Fewtrell (Monday); Joe Turner (Wednesday); Jonathan Harvey (Friday). Find out all about the Coronation Street writing team at Coronation Street Blog: Exclusive: All Current Corrie writers online
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15 comments:
Last year I went back to my home town to look at the house I was brought up in. It was a lovely house - Regency, classic. Now it's been modernised. Plastic windows, new front door in blue, plastic wheelie bins outside, a modern wall light on the front which jar. All designed to make the old house more attractive to modern tastes. Someone will love it but to me it had destroyed those classic lines I loved. It was crass. Watching Corrie now, a show I've loved for over 30 years, it's the same. Characters I loathe and couldn't care less about, stories which are dramatic for dramatic sake, and people in charge who treat me like an idiot. Which UK local paper carries adverts for marine laboratories?
Last night I watched in horror. I know these things happen. I know the rape wasn't shown, only the drugging. I am gay so I have no problem in that regard. I wouldn't object in a drama after 9pm. I do object. I will watch no more. For almost 30 years I've watched the show - when it's been good and bad. I'm extremely sad about saying goodbye but I must.
I'd like to know the demographics of the Corrie audience. It can't be families with children at primary school. There's a reason for the 9pm watershed. That's why disturbing dramas are shown later in the evening. You can't nip in and out of the tv room like a cuckoo clock: in for the good bits, out in the kitchen for the not-so-good bits. I think there will come a time when Corrie will have a spin-off version after 9pm, maybe twice a week. There are enough characters now to link storylines so that viewers don't get confused or watch almost the same scene twice. No, I haven't worked out the details because I don't have KO's team of writers and directors. I do think some of the scenes last night were gratuitous. We didn't need to see David collapsing face down on the bed and Josh undoing his belt. It would have been enough for the scene to end with them getting up from the sofa. David's going to wake up in bed so we could have worked it out for ourselves.
Such a relief to see Billy go off to rehab. No doubt in true Corrie style when he returns it will be like nothing happened to him.
Eva's about six months pregnant now I think, so would not be looking like she just ate a bit too much! Is she supposed to be staying around until the birth? The whole thing is ridiculous.
I've been trying hard to think of what I liked about this week's episodes, and apart from the lettuce, all I could think of was Gail and Audrey's chat, with Gail declaring that they would win gold and silver in the Bad Judge of Character event.
Anon, your house analogy is spot on.
My question is this - what’s next? Presumably Kate Oates is lying in bed dreaming up the next hard-hitting, explosive storyline. Once David’s rape and Phelan are fading memories, what’s going to fill the gap? I know we’ve had Bethany’s grooming story, but I’m guessing we’ll be facing a paedophilia plotline soon, involving one of the younger children. By the end of the year? Britain’s got Talent Week? Nature abhors a vacuum, and those Soap Awards don’t happen by themselves....
It seems Corrie cannot do anything these days that is remotely controversial before we get the usual outrage. My uncle once told me people who watch Corrie are stuck in a timewarp, I' m beginning to think he's right.
I've been watching Coronation Street for over forty years now, but I'm so tired of the relentless gloom and misery of it these days.I didn't watch the last few episodes because I knew how unpleasant they would be.Sadly, I think it's time for me to say goodbye too, though I can still watch episodes on YouTube from the times when character development came before controversial storylines.Really good review here, I'm glad there are others out there as disappointed as I am about the direction Corrie is currently taking, but I doubt it will be changing any time soon.I often wonder what Tony Warren would make of it now.
Surely it would have been much more of a test of the calibre of the writers and actors for David to have become good friends with a gay man, and start questioning his feelings, other people’s opinions, regardless of the outcome? Much more complex and intricate than resorting to outright rape, brilliantly acted though I’m sure the fallout will be.
It's sad to see long-time fans quitting Corrie. What I see happening now is a variation of Wag the Dog. Make storylines and lack of balance on the show so unpalatable to us that we complain and leave. Then Oates can say, 'See, our main viewers are young fans so we have to do things differently now to succeed.'
It's how undemocratic entities work. Cut funding to projects that people need and enjoy. Then when those programs fail, just say "See, they were failing anyway, so we are just going to end them and do things our way."
I have had a few good moments watching lately (Audrey/Gail, Tim/Sally, Yasmeen with anyone, Summer in her original form...that sort of thing). But they are fleeting moments. Overpowered by bruised, broken, sunken-eyed stories in high-def close-ups.
The leopard-print photo-op wardrobe of the current show runner fools no one, not me anyway. Throwing us a few crumbs in the form of poorly planned light comedy, or the occasional reference to long-gone characters of late are just a sop aimed at warranted complaints and fans walking away after years of watching Corrie.
The sad thing is that I think the show could easily upgrade, and address current social issues. Just not in such a clumsy, gleeful-for-Goth sort of way. It feels like there's an elephant in a china shop, smashing everything around it. Good acting notwithstanding, stepping back to see the whole, it's a mess.
What a ridiculous comment to make.
I have enjoyed Pat Phelan up until now but found the scene with Billy this week a bridge too far. It was just too OTT. He doesn’t need to be inserted into other storylines and his bullying of Billy just didn’t ring true.
Perhaps we’re all supposed to nod sagely that Pat is obviously acting out his own childhood and oh yes it’s the Catholic Church that must be too blame for turning out the man he is. And other blah blah christianity bashing to add to the deliberately disrespectful, highly-offensive, debasement of the man of the cloth saga.
But it is perhaps more than the dark themes that annoys me. It’s the immaturity and amateurish nature of it all.
I had the almost heretical thought this week that Corrie actually isn’t very good at writing this stuff. And it’s not set up for it, as having several stories on the go at any one time means that threads aren’t followed, subtleties are lost (if they’re even there in the first place), and ludicrous short cuts are taken. If I want gripping drama, I would rather invest my time watching a high quality British thriller, or Breaking Bad or something of a similar ilk. The Pat Phelan story, Connor McIntyre’s acting aside, has been inconsistent, sloppy and required just too much suspension of disbelief from the viewers.
I’m predicting that when they finally find the bodies encased in cement, there will be three of them (shock horror) with the third being Todd (the final straw for Eileen). And we’ll all be expected to congratulate the writers for such a clever twist when we all know that it was never part of a cleverly-crafted game plan, but an irritating loose end forced on them by circumstance.
Rant over.
After Leanne has just had a baby, she doesn't see Eva? Is she blind? Not Moira appears to be pregnant, and it looks like it won't be written into the script!
As for leaving Corrie? I've watched since before school, so 40 almost 50 years...grew up on Corrie.
I've called it the "Americanization" of Corrie. For eg. Shameless, Man About the House, Steptoe and Son...all shows that were British and claimed by the yanks( All in the Family is another)...Now Corrie is doing it backwards and has for a bit.
No smeared makeup, rarely do we see anyone in the a.m crawling out of bed looking like hell( well...Liz with her curlers)
Give up on Corrie...Naw...disappointed as I am, I always live in hope that it'll improve.
Had to laugh about the tattoo shop on the new set, as I watched a Nov.81 episode where Annie Walker states, that ThankGod at least there aren't any of those dreadful tattoo shops...Guess it's the times they are achanging.
We'll see if Corrie stops raising awareness of issues we already know exist and just get back to having a laugh, giving us a glimpse of ordinary lives.(fat chance methinks)...and entertaining us...'cause right now...WE ARE NOT AMUSED
Maggie Muggins....you nailed it on the crumbs...exactly what I was thinking..like throwing a bone and hoping it appeases us...nothing wrong with your comment
Completely agree David.
Is it рossible for a рrotest to be started to rid our favourite рrogramme of 'evil Kate'? I mean 'Free the Weatherfield One was heard in Рarliament, why not 'Free the 8 million viewers from this horrific lady'? We really need to act, or risk the show being cancelled in the not-too-distant future. What do you think? Are you with me, or am I just crazy? (John H)
I agree with you Maggie. I live in America and when I found Coronation Street I loved it because it seemed to depict real people, not the perfectly made up beauties that peel potatoes in a sequin dress.
It was not real but it had the grit of life. Now it is kind of miserable and there is no sense of the community that was. I will keep watching though because I still enjoy bits and like to see what is happening.
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