Coronation Street Blog: What Corrie could learn from Peaky Blinders fandom

Monday, 19 August 2019

What Corrie could learn from Peaky Blinders fandom

I have a confession to make. I've never watched Peaky Blinders. And the worst thing of all is that I think I would absolutely love it. I'm going to make amends now that I know there's a second series coming and I'm going to binge watch from the start. It's a show with its own particular style that even for someone like me, who has never seen the show, is aware of.

I know, for instance, even without watching the show, that there's a Peaky Blinders festival on its way in September. I read about this in my newspaper and thought: "What a fantastic thing to do for the fans!"

There's Peaky Blinders music...

Peaky Blinders cider...

... and there's probably more merchandise out there than you can shake a Peaky Blinders stick at.

I was also astonished to recently see a billboard advertising the new series of Peaky Blinders. It was a fantastic advert, eye-catching, stunning, and in the corner of the billboard were the words FAN ART with the fan's name who had created the billboard artwork. The company behind Peaky Blinders ran a competition to find the best billboard artwork.

Now then, all of this is great for Peaky Blinders fans.

But as a Coronation Street fan I feel jealous, that ITV don't do any of this kind of thing any more for us Corrie fans.

ITV have commissioned and sold Coronation Street merchandise in the past. For instance, when it was Corrie's 50th anniversary there were a few items, including beer, flying ducks, all that kind of thing, for Corrie fans to buy. That was nine years ago. Since then, hardly anything but a few notepads, tote bags from a company that no longer produces any Corrie merchandise. There's been three official novels written in the last three years but even these are prequels, not about what's on the show now or relevant to it. There's nothing else for fans apart from the Coronation Street set tour that's run by a private company called Continuum. Mind you, I'm not knocking the set tour, it's amazing and a privilege to be allowed on the Street. But please, Corrie, why isn't there more?

It's Corrie's 60th anniversary in December next year. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be walking down a street and glance up to see a billboard advertising the show with the words FAN ART in the corner of it? Wouldn't a festival or convention in Manchester be wonderful? If all else fails, a bottle of Corrie cider would do. Come on, Corrie. Don't neglect your fan-base. We're the ones watching, supporting, cheering you on and voting in the soap awards for you.

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Glenda Young

Author of historical novels with Headline