Last night's Roy and Carla scene was a turning point for me. I've never been a fan of Carla and Roy together and have often said so on this blog. I know it's not a popular view to have, to dislike two of the best Corrie characters interacting - and now living - together. Separately, I adore Roy and I admire Carla - even with all her faults too.
I even wrote books about both of them - all details at glendayoungbooks.com
But Roy and Carla together? It was never going to work for me. It jarred with this fan. Especially when I found out that their pairing had been done deliberately to soften up Carla with the target audience for the show.
ITV admitted that here.
ITV's drama director John Whiston said about Alison King: 'She is a consummate actress but somehow she was not breaking through in the research. We thought, 'What can we do to show a different side of her? She had a soft spot for Roy Cropper - this strange character we all love. That boosted her image and it showed she must be a nice person to like Roy.'
But last night, for the first time, Roy and Carla's relationship finally began to make sense to me. It was when Roy took the upper hand - and quite rightly too. He even told Carla how disappointed he was in her. I know she was only doing what she did to protect him, but Roy knew - oh he knew, that Carla did it because she was jealous of Peter and Abi. Roy (deep intake of breath here) even said that Carla was obsessed with Peter and she even admitted, finally, that she was still in love with the man.
The upcoming stand alone episode which focusses on Carla's mental health won't be an easy watch. But unlike the issue-led storylines under the last Corrie producer which felt as if we were being hit over the head with the issue-stick every time we tuned in, I think the episode will be done sensitively and right.
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3 comments:
It was an excellent scene. I have never really bought the friendship between Roy and Carla. He was portrayed as a sad puppy who became another rescue mission for Carla, and I've never found her character believable. But that's another story. For the first time, Roy takes on the role of judgemental parent. We see how the chemistry fizzes between Ken & Peter, Rita & Jenny; Audrey & Maria. What has always been missing in Carla's story is the character who speaks the truth, and doesn't care if Carla wants to make up after a disagreement. Johnny's too soft, Michelle does it a bit as a 'sister' but always ends up trying to reconcile. I've said before that Carla needed an Auntie (someone like Elsie) who's known Carla from years back, talking about things that Carla would rather forget. It would have been another layer to the character. Roy took part of the job on yesterday. We know this is a plot device of sorts to lead into Carla's stand-alone episode. Then everyone, I presume, will be all over her, trying to make amends for their harsh words. I hope Roy retains the qualities he showed last night.
I can understand those who find this pairing either contrived or jarring, but I've always loved the two together. For me its genesis was in Carla's trust in Hayley at the factory (above many of the other workers) which grew into her protectiveness over Roy, especially after her death. Without that, their friendship wouldn't make much sense to me either.
I was riveted by Friday's last scenes when Roy rose up louder than ever before, and it's not the first time he's spoken truth to her, but never with such unvarnished truthfulness. I haven't followed closely what's to come for Carla, but I think this episode marks a proper setting up for that.
I agree Maggie. I actually wanted to write a guest blog post about this, as I think the scriptwriters tried to keep Carla as isolated from everyone else on the street as possible. Even when she arrived as Paul's wife, she was left out from the rest of the 'Connors', as she had said to Leanne that it didn't matter that she was married to Paul, "I'm still on the outside looking in."
She always had a friendship with Hayley, back from when she had taken over Paul's shares in the factory. The siege of Underworld brought them closer together and Hayley was a rock for Carla following her rape. But her character just wasn't meshing with certain viewers, and they knew they had to pair her up with a longstanding character to help soften her character towards them (she already had a fanbase, just not the viewers Coronation Street was targeting in that particular group of viewers) as they had done with other characters in the past like Leanne, Becky, Kylie, Jenny, Tyrone, Tina, Gemma etc. But where these characters (for the most part) had children or step children that ended up softening their character, or married someone with an established family on the street, or were taken under the wing of a character like Rita, the Duckworths, the Platts, or the Croppers, Carla did not, until Peter.
Alas, I could go on but I won't... hahaha. I love Roy and Carla's friendship as she became his 'no-nonsense' rock and pushed his boundaries to break some of his 'creature of habit' tendencies after Hayley, and he became the moral compass she should have had since arriving on the street.
Christie
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