Here we go with the third of nine guest blog posts from David at Corriepedia as their site celebrates 10 years online!
Hello! Flaming Nora has kindly agreed to host a blog post from me relating to the tenth anniversary of Corriepedia, the Coronation Street Wiki. After some thinking, I've decided to expand on something my friend and fellow admin John brought up in his interview with the wonderful Conversation Street podcast last week.
To help readers understand why these episodes are so special, and why David from Corriepedia rates them as hidden gems, you might want to read his original blog post here which explains all.
Here we go with the third of nine. The remaining six gems will be blogged every morning over the next few days.
Neil Crossley shows his true colours (#280, 19/8/63)
Neil Crossley shows his true colours (#280, 19/8/63)
"Yer not man enough if ye can't tell a girl it's time to chuck it!"
Enter 1963 and Corrie's first proper villain, Neil Crossley. In what is without question the signature storyline of Margaret Morris's tenure as producer, we have Crossley as the lying, self-serving manager of Gamma Garments who steals Sheila Birtles away from poor old Jerry Booth, and a chain of events which leads Sheila to contemplate suicide. The nasty piece of work who can turn on the charm when required may be old hat now but it was fresh for Corrie at the time, and the way Crossley fits into the street is believable with the majority of the neighbours seeing right through him, but none of them able to make naive young Sheila see him for what he is.
This episode sees events come to a head with Emily confronting Crossley about him dipping his hand in the till, and later on Sheila catching him giving her the slip in Gamma Garments after standing her up twice in one day. Sheila totally loses it with Crossley who smacks her across the face in front of Ena and co. This being 1963, this is the culmination of Crossley's villainy who shuffles off once Emily reports him to Head Office and has him fired.
Kniwing that we're heading towards Sheila's attempted suicide, seeing such a well-crafted build-up with an effective villain hammers home what a pity it was to change the story due to the press backlash.
Other points of interest include a couple of monologues by Elsie and Harry Hewitt about their various problems. Elsie's is delivered with the camera pressed right up against Pat Phoenix's face until past the point where it becomes uncomfortable.
See also:
Hidden Gem 1
Hidden Gem 1
Fancy writing a guest blog post for us? All details here!
Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers
Please read our advice for leaving comments on the Coronation Street Blog
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
No comments:
Post a Comment