Cosy crimes and gritty sagas by Corrie Blog editor Glenda, published by Headline. Click pic below!

Tuesday 15 December 2020

Coronation Street Awards 2020

Well. It's been a funny old year. and not funny ha-ha. So, as I have done in previous years, here are my Corrie Awards of the year. Part Inside Soap award, part Smash hits Poll Winners Party.

 

Best Actor: Rob Mallard (Daniel Osborne). Showing that grief isn't easy or straight forward, Daniel bounced between mainlining Sinead's pre-death videos, proposing to Bethany, a weird relationship with naughty Nicki, thievery from Geoff, carrying Carla's secret, being a single dad, dealing with his aunty-in-law-slash-stalker, Beth, and his MA, all the while paying for escort hours on Universal Credit (don't tell the Daily Mail).

Best Actress: Dolly-Rose Campbell (Gemma Winter). Proving that she can do more than be the perma-tanned chav from he estate, Dolly-Rose showed her range this year with the post-partum depression storyline.
Runner Up: Jane Danson. She may regret being able to cry on demand as the Corrie writers seem determined to wring every last one out of her big blue eyes. Please Ian McLeod, give her a holiday, she's starting to get that look that Alison King had around 2012 when she was in pretty much every episode.
 

Best Young Actor: Tanisha Gorey (Asha Alahan). Tanisha is now 18 and is therefore allowed to work adult hours and, as such, has been in more storylines and so Asha has come into her own this year with the skin lightening story, the naked video storyline and the protective dad/contraception storyline. Just dump Cory, Gorey, you know you're too good for him!

Best Newcomer: Mollie Gallagher (Nina Lucas). Victorian Goth (not one of yer modern cybergoths), with a s(n)ideline in snark, Nina has been a breath of fresh air in the cafe with her vegan sausages and general air of hauteur.
 

Best Return: Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney). There's no coming back from trying to destroy the street, so I don't expect we'll be seeing much more of her. A pity because in my mind, I'd already hooked her up with Dev (couple name: Devvie) and had her sort out Cory with a couple of sharp slaps with her clutch bag.
Runner up: Norris at Stillwater.
 

Best Villain: There's no competition is there, really. From Speed Daal thievery to chicken murder, escort usage to ex-wife harassment, coercive control to those back garden pelvic thrusts, Ghastly Geoff had villainy sewn up. I suspect that Geoff was originally meant to be banged up at the cancelled trial but Covid put an end to that and Ian Bartholemew is such a good actor that TPTB decided to renew his contract for another 6 months.

Best Gangster: Beating off stiff competition (missus) from Gangsta Gary and Rotten Ray, gay gangster Mick terrorised Todd for a few episodes with everyone telling him that you don't just steal from Mick, he will hunt you down, until Eileen had a strong word with him and then he disappeared!

Best Exit: Bethany, who went off to do an internship in that London where she could apparently afford a one bed flat in a nice area. You just know that she's really living in a damp bedsit in zone 5. If only she'd stayed, we could've been spared all that sex worker stuff with Daniel.
Runner up: The Meerkats. My god, am I glad to see the back of those critters.
 

Worst Exit: Liz Mc Donald. There's always a lot going on with Liz, and I don't just mean her snazzy outfits. Why, then, was she written out with nary a goodbye episode? Originally, she was supposed to play a part in the Oliver storyline, trying to help, but making things worse and ending up leaving because of that. Covid put paid to that but given that her grandson was dying, you'd think Liz could get an Easyjet flight over from Marbella to see him before he croaked. It can't just have been Corona-related because Bev Callard was happy enough to go off to the jungle of, um, Wales for I'm A Celebrity.

Best New Head: Todd 2.0 
Runner up: Summer
 
 
Best Partnership: Evelyn and Arthur.
Runner up: Evelyn and Cerberus.
 
 
Best hair: Imran's post-lockdown crop.

Worst hair: The dear departed Dr Ali.
Runner Up: Badger boy Adam Barlow. He works pretty much next door to a barbers, there's no excuse.

Most Missed: Audrey, hunkered down in Grassmere drive until the R rate is below one, only turning up to sell the salon or to try to cadge a free V&T at the Rovers.
Runner Up: Vin Weasel at Trim Up North.
 

Best ITV Crossover: Kenneth! It's good to see Tony Maudsley do a very different character but I do want Gorgeous George from the undertakers to turn up to a funeral in a pair of nylon hot-pants and bumbag. In January. Come on, Jonathan Harvey, write this scene.

Ongoing (and on and on) Storyline: I don't usually want a child to die, not even the ones who scream on public transport or run around under people's feet in pubs, but by the time the life support machine was finally turned off, I was quite relieved: I didn't think I could face another episode of Leanne's patented stomping off, everyone crying around a doll at Kate Oates Memorial Hospital, or shouting at each other and the doctor and no-one bing able to do anything in case it upset Leanne. Having said that, I did find it interesting in terms of emotions vs logic, gut instinct vs the science, parental love vs the experts. Leanne was so deep in denial that she found - to her - logical reasons why people weren't doing what she wanted them to, even if those assumptions were completely wrong. She's always been a battling Battersby, so to give up was unconscionable to her, even thought it would have brought peace to Oliver sooner and not alienated everyone around her.


Written Themselves Into A Corner Storyline: The quads. On Corrie, there are unresolvable problems that suddenly go away: Nick's brain damage, Izzy's pain and marijuana use, what to do with Moira, but the quads aren't going to go away (unless Dolly-Rose Campbells leaves and takes them all). How is it ever going to get any better for Gemma and Chesney? Four ten year olds have different needs to four babies, but still, it's four times the problems, and that's before you get onto the casting. Perhaps three of them will always be upstairs playing their tapes Spotify come 2030.

Worst Storyline: The sinkhole.
Runner Up: Tianna not being Grace's child after all. I kind of felt that the writers realised that there was no conclusion to the Michael and Grace storyline, so decided to end it in a sledgehammer/nut kind of way.
Runner Up 2: Shona's brain damage. Being shot at Christmas does not mean that you're doing the school run in a slinky red dress the following November.

Most Confusing Day: It's Wednesday, announced the residents on a Friday, but it was really the second half of Mondays episode. It was Easter in May and not the Eastern Orthodox version. In the end, we had to roll with it, just as we accept that there are no weekends in Weatherfield.

Issue Of The yYear: We've had it all this year: postnatal depression, skin lightening, online bullying, being a gay footballer, mitochondria, coercive control and of course the bad racism. What's been your favourite issue of the year? 

Rachel Stevenson - on twitter







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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with most of your choices with the exception of Best Actress.
hands down,Shelley King[Yasmeen]was the best actress of the year for me with the harrowing emotionally draining control abuse storyline.
The abuse that Yasmeen suffered at the hands of Geoff was constant and cruel and through it all I think ,Shelley King gave one of the most powerful performances,I've seen on Coronation Street.

Humpty Dumpty said...

Yes, I agree that Shelley King should get the title of Best Actress. Dolly Rose Campbell could get the title of Best Actor Doing Their Best With A Stupid Storyline. All the things that Gemma has been going through eg: post-natal depression, child with a disability, no money, could have been demonstrated with twins. Perhaps the writers thought Corrie was over-run with twins and wanted to do something different. Triplets then but quads. Just too unlikely: "twins occur in about one in 250 pregnancies, triplets in about one in 10,000 pregnancies, and quadruplets in about one in 700,000" says the internet. There ought to be Awards for Best Partnership That Never Happened. The writers missed several tricks with Peter & Tim or even Peter, Steve & Tim. Great comedic potential which didn't get explored.

popcorn said...

Agree, anonymous - Shelley King was by far the best actress this past year. And Jane Danson was the runner up. Yes, I am glad that Dolly Rose Campbell had the chance to show more skills, but that does not make her best actress.

Anonymous said...

Best Actress Dolly Rose Campbell??? It’s probably not appropriate to comment on her acting skills on this blog. So I won’t . The award should have gone to either Shelley King or Jane Danson.

70sStreetFan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
70sStreetFan said...

I assume the Best Actress winner is some kind of joke!!! It’s probably not appropriate to comment on the acting skills of said actress so I won’t. Obviously Shelley King and Jsne Danson are in a completely different lesgue

70sStreetFan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Best Actor: Ian Bartholemew (Geoff Metcalfe): By far has had the biggest impact on the show and no other character comes close
Runners Up: Rob Mallard (Daniel Osbourne), Ben Price (Nick Tilsley)

Best Actress: Could go to either Shelley King (Yasmeen Metcalfe) or Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby): Both committed to their characters and the emotions needed for their storylines

With the respect to Dolly Rose Campbell, while her performances were good, it was no where near the level of Shelley and Jane, especially due to her horrible storylines

Best Young Actor: Tanisha Gorey (Asha Alahan)
Runner Up: Jude Riordan (Sam Blakeman)

Best Newcomer: Mollie Gallagher (Nina Lucas)
Runner Up: Jude Riordan (Sam Blakeman)

Best Return: Sue Devaney (Debbie Webster)
Runner up: Malcolm Hebden (Norris Cole)

Best Villain: Ian Bartholemew (Geoff Metcalfe)

Best Gangster: Ray Crosby (Mark Frost): He has the charm, swagger and presence Coronation Street wanted Gary Windass to have. He deserved to have the amount of material and spotlight over the terrible villain, Gary

Best Exit: Emmanuel and Jeremiah Cheetham (Oliver Battersby): A very sad death due to the grief he leaves for his family and a young child being taken away the chance of a full life. Quite frankly all the other exits this year were forgettable to terrible, so Oliver’s death wins
Runner up: The Meerkats: A fun sponsor for Coronation Street

Worst Exit: Liz McDonald

Best New Head: Gareth Pierce (Todd Grimshaw)
Runner up: Adam Hussain (Aadi Alahan): Made Aadi more of a character than just someone in the background, and he already has great chemistry with the Alahan family

We haven’t seen much of new Summer yet and quite frankly what we have seen right now is a recast that has made an unique and interesting character into a generic teenager

Best Partnership: Joe Duttine and Sally Dynevor (Tim Metcalfe and Sally Metcalfe): Both had big roles and brilliant performances in the Geoff and Yasmeen storyline, particularly Joe Duttine as Tim. This involvement in the storyline strengthen their relationship as well
Runner up: Jane Danson and Ben Price (Leanne Battersby and Nick Tilsley): Both are giving brilliant performances in the Oliver storyline as well as showing how much Nick loves Leanne, helping her the best he can

Ongoing (and on and on) Storyline: Gary’s villainy storyline. The most disappointing and dragged storyline in Iain Macleod’s era. Gary was the wrong character for this storyline and each episode he is in keeps proving that more and more. I passed caring about this storyline last year. It needs to end now!

Written Themselves Into A Corner Storyline: The quads.

Worst Storyline: All of Gemma’s storylines
Runner Up: Gary’s villainy storyline
Runner Up 2: Shona's brain damage

Didn’t do some of the other categories as I don’t have as much as an opinion on them

Anonymous said...

Best Actor: Ian Bartholemew (Geoff Metcalfe): By far has had the biggest impact on the show and no other character comes close
Runners Up: Rob Mallard (Daniel Osbourne), Ben Price (Nick Tilsley)

Best Actress: Could go to either Shelley King (Yasmeen Metcalfe) or Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby): Both committed to their characters and the emotions needed for their storylines

With the respect to Dolly Rose Campbell, while her performances were good, it was no where near the level of Shelley and Jane, especially due to her horrible storylines

Best Young Actor: Tanisha Gorey (Asha Alahan)
Runner Up: Jude Riordan (Sam Blakeman)

Best Newcomer: Mollie Gallagher (Nina Lucas)
Runner Up: Jude Riordan (Sam Blakeman)

Best Return: Sue Devaney (Debbie Webster)
Runner up: Malcolm Hebden (Norris Cole)

Best Villain: Ian Bartholemew (Geoff Metcalfe)

Best Gangster: Ray Crosby (Mark Frost): He has the charm, swagger and presence Coronation Street wanted Gary Windass to have. He deserved to have the amount of material and spotlight over the terrible villain, Gary

Best Exit: Emmanuel and Jeremiah Cheetham (Oliver Battersby): A very sad death due to the grief he leaves for his family and a young child being taken away the chance of a full life. Quite frankly all the other exits this year were forgettable to terrible, so Oliver’s death wins
Runner up: The Meerkats: A fun sponsor for Coronation Street

Worst Exit: Liz McDonald

Best New Head: Gareth Pierce (Todd Grimshaw)
Runner up: Adam Hussain (Aadi Alahan): Made Aadi more of a character than just someone in the background, and he already has great chemistry with the Alahan family

We haven’t seen much of new Summer yet and quite frankly what we have seen right now is a recast that has made an unique and interesting character into a generic teenager

Best Partnership: Joe Duttine and Sally Dynevor (Tim Metcalfe and Sally Metcalfe): Both had big roles and brilliant performances in the Geoff and Yasmeen storyline, particularly Joe Duttine as Tim. This involvement in the storyline strengthen their relationship as well
Runner up: Jane Danson and Ben Price (Leanne Battersby and Nick Tilsley): Both are giving brilliant performances in the Oliver storyline as well as showing how much Nick loves Leanne, helping her the best he can

Ongoing (and on and on) Storyline: Gary’s villainy storyline. The most disappointing and dragged storyline in Iain Macleod’s era. Gary was the wrong character for this storyline and each episode he is in keeps proving that more and more. I passed caring about this storyline last year. It needs to end now!

Written Themselves Into A Corner Storyline: The quads.

Worst Storyline: All of Gemma’s storylines
Runner Up: Gary’s villainy storyline
Runner Up 2: Shona's brain damage

Didn’t do some of the other categories as I don’t have as much as an opinion on them

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

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