'An Evening with' Corrie Writer Jonathan Harvey at Manchester's Hope Mill Theatre

Whenever I read the words 'An Evening with'.. my TV brain immediately conjures up images of 1980's television and those iconic 'An Audience with...' celebration of Britain's finest talents. From Kenneth Williams to Victoria Wood, they were always a jam-packed affair and with a TV star audience (often 1980s Corrie stars) and were the staple of Saturday night telly. I start this article with that memory as I feel tonight's interview with corrie writer Jonathan Harvey is set in a similar (albeit Covid19) kind of way. This evening's fundraiser in aid of Manchester's Hope Mill theatre (and a writing competition mentored by the man himself) is a ‘This Is Your Life’ special, perhaps, and dives deep into the life and work of this longtime Coronation Street writer. 

Filmed in Covid19 conditions at the theatre, the show was presented by another Corrie legend, actress Denise Welch, aka one time Rovers Return landlady Natalie Horrocks, who is the perfect host for this celebration on the writer's life and most recent works. If you’re unfamiliar with his pre-Corrie catalogue, Liverpool born Jonathan Harvey is probably best known for creating the outrageously camp and downright hilarious 1990’s comedy classic ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ starring national treasure Kathy Burke. This often celebrated work could be considered a pinnacle in any other writer's career but Jonathan Harvey is an accomplished playwright, novelist, and screenwriter who has also written 276 episodes of Coronation Street (including some absolute classics)

the classic 'AA scene' was written by Jonathan Harvey

About 18 months ago I had the pleasure of a one-on-one phone interview with the writer, for this very blog, so covering this ‘Evening With’ special (accessed via Vimeo) seemed like a no brainer, and a great way to raise money for the creative arts industry. Jonathan is (no hyperbole) an absolute writing idol of mine so I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday night! 

Jonathan Harvey (R) with Coronation Street creator Tony Warren (M) and fellow writer Damon Rochefort (L)

Q How did Jonathan Harvey become part of the corrie writing team? 

“I started writing for the show in 2004 after initially being approached by executive producer Carolyn Reynolds and turned it down twice before reluctantly accepting. As a religious corrie watcher, I was nervous and was reluctant to ‘peek behind the curtain’ to work backstage on the show and as a huge fan, to maybe lose some of the magic. As a writer, the camaraderie of Corrie is nice, and being part of 18 writers, feels like a huge team”

Of course, we had to have a few Corrie stars pose a few questions via video link.  First up was actor Antony Cotton (aka Sean Tully) who asked the following question; 

Q - Starting on Corrie you wrote Todd’s coming out story, How important do you think it is to write for the LGBT characters and do you think the representation on Coronation Street is strong? 

“As a writer, I felt, you know, what took you so long? Show creator Tony Warren was gay, the show has LGBT in its blueprint, and there is a natural fluctuation of characters within LGBT on Coronation Street and it must continue”

Q- Do you gravitate towards writing those characters?

“No not now, but to start with yes I thought I was ‘head of gay’ but as you go through life you realise that as a writer you can give any character a voice” he added “I recently helped create the Geoff and Yasmeen coercive storyline- it a writing job that just keeps on going”

Second up was ex-Corrie actress and one of the writers best friends in real life, Catherine Tyldesley (Eva Price) who asked;

Q-I first met you when I was working on the BBC drama ‘Lillies’ and my question is if you could go back to your 18-year-old self when you won your first writing award, what advice would you give you? 

“To be kind and to keep writing. When younger I had acne which blighted my youth and it was awful really but I laugh about it now and life gets better, I’d say that’s important” 

For more details about the playwriting competition, £5K prize, with mentoring from Jonathan Harvey himself, check out the details on the hope mill website

Thanks as always to @CoroStreetBlog editor Glenda 

I am @rybazoxo your (self-appointed) cobbles connoisseur & lifelong Corrie fan 

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