Guest blog post by Dolly O'Donnell
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As a kid I loved visiting my urban cousins and the exciting times we had in the ginnels around their streets of terraced housing.
It was always a bit of a mystery to me why Coronation Street didn’t make more of its ginnel, and why, when they built the new set and are now expanding it- why no more ginnels? You can't just have one ginnel you need to connect them to others.
Ok, so in the early days it was easier to film indoors but there seemed so little reference to the ginnel running the back of the Street. I seem to recall in real life, thank to the ginnels, people used the back door much more than we ever see in Coronation Street. The front door was locked but the back door was unlocked and all you need to to do was knock as you opened the door, shouted “Oo-Oo!” and walked in.
When I visited the old Coronation Street set I loved walking down the ginnel and looking into the houses’ back yards. I seem to recall some fantastic graffiti in the yard then occupied by the Battersby family but the ginnel was too short and unconnected - a cul de sac, not a thoroughfare. And what is above that strange arch that we see now leading to/at the end of the ginnel ?
Ginnels were fantastic short cuts, but also great places to hang out when we were young- hidden, away from sight. I had my first (sort of) snog in a ginnel.
What should we see Coronation Street character doing in the ginnel, because at the moment it's mainly nefarious stuff ?
Dolly O’Donnell
Guest blog post by Dolly O'Donnell
Fancy writing a guest blog post for us? All details here!
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Even modern kids with their smart phones might use the ginnel. Amy and Summer could meet up for secret chats. Also Max and his friends might play some kind of ball game. Deirdre used to stand in the ginnel to have a fag. These days, you might expect to see someone vaping. It's remarkably tidy with no bin bags waiting for collection.
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