Age UK is partnering with Coronation Street in its loneliness storyline starring Rita this Christmas.
The partnership launches in the first ad break during tonight’s (Wednesday) second episode, which starts at 8.30pm, and continues in later episodes
Kathi Hall, head of content strategy and brand at Age UK, said: "We hope that Rita’s story will get people talking about this important issue and inspire action. We all have a role to play in helping to ensure that no older person feels they are facing the struggles of later life alone."
See also: Don't forget the old folks this Christmas - the Corrie Christmas song
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Glenda Young
Glenda Young
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6 comments:
I hate this storyline. I don't doubt at all that there are many elderly folk who are lonely at Christmas, but this surely shouldn't be applied to Rita, who has helped so many people and has so many friends on the very street she lives on. Rita would have many invites to Christmas dinners!
C in Canada, I totally agree! It feels like they wanted to tackle the issue and just wrote it for the only older person in the show (apart from Ken and Audrey but they have families nearby).
How about letting us viewers watch something to make us happy for a change?
@Louby - absolutely. I hate these issue driven storylines since they adapt the character to match the story instead of the other way around.
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It's one of those 'this could happen to anyone' storylines. While it's possible it could happen to Rita, the story would have had much more impact if it had happened to Evelyn. If Tyrone and family went off to a cottage to sort themselves out, she might decide she'd be in the way and stay home alone.
The message wouldn't be: 'Even your best-loved neighbour and surrogate mother (Rita) can be left for dead' but 'Even your cranky, miserable so-and-so neighbour (Evelyn) needs your compassion'. Maureen Lipman would have been brilliant as the fiercely proud pensioner who becomes vulnerable and dependent.
I think the point in choosing Rita is that she is a single, childless older woman, and as such doesn't have a ready made support network that is always in the background, a permanent part of her life. People tend to give their time to their immediate family, and forget about that there are many of us who don't have such a thing. Yes, a single person can have friends and workmates, but their priority will always be their own families.
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