It really has been a rollercoaster of a year that’s disappeared in a flash, but one constant in our lives that remained was Coronation Street. Creating quality content through impossible circumstances is a massive feat which has rightly resulted in numerous awards for Corrie.
As Christmas fast approaches, we chatted with Corrie boss Iain MacLeod who teased what’s to come for the residents of Weatherfield during the festive season, as well as how Corrie has continued to keep us entertained in these strange and dark times.
“Our team have been particularly brilliant this year, working in all the restrictions we’ve had to force them to endure in terms of social distancing, and reduced numbers of staff in studio and characters in scenes.
“Nobody’s able to do their jobs the normal way and to keep producing brilliant episodes of Coronation Street is a heck of an achievement. The quality has just been exceptional. The determination that everyone connected to the show has had to just keep it at the top of its game has been a really humbling thing to see from my point of view.
“Every single person in that building from the canteen staff to the camera operators, to the editors, to the cleaners, everybody has put an extra shift in this year, so all those awards are for them, really. I try and remind them as frequently as I can how brilliant I think they are.”
Moving onto Christmas, Iain promises lots of humour and heart. He said: “This year is maybe more akin to a traditional Coronation Street Christmas.
“It’s very funny in places, it’s very silly, it’s really heartwarming and joyous. There’s a really strong community vibe this year where actually we’re able to film it at a time where there was a window of opportunity to do some stuff where actors didn’t have to be two metres apart all the time.
“It’s very jolly, and very community focused, very family focused. It has one of the silliest fights I’ve ever seen in anything, ever, which involves the immortal line: “Smell my marigold”, which I’ll leave for you to work out what that might refer to.
“It’s a fantastically good hour of television, I have to say. I watched it when I wasn’t feeling very festive and by the end I had a mince pie shaped lump in my throat. It was just really heartwarming. I really hope the audience will like it as much as I did.”
Christmas on Corrie sounds like it’s going to be a good one, however, New Year may not be so jolly for some residents. Keep an eye out for updates from myself and blogger @rybazoxo for more.
Merry Christmas!
Sophie Williams
Find me on Twitter @sophie_writer1
I love that shot of Billy.
ReplyDeleteI feel a tiny bit optimistic that Corrie’s heart may just be starting to beat again.
ReplyDeleteWe all have our favourite or preferred characters and writers. A combination of the two will determine how enjoyable a particular storyline is for us personally. Overall though Corrie is consistently excellent.
ReplyDeleteWhat the team has achieved over the past 2 years is incredible given all the rules & regulations.
Having said that, post-sinkhole there's been a definite shift towards a community feel again with characters at the heart of the show.
Corrie has such strong characterisation with performances rich with nuance and scripts peppered with comedy.
Christmas on the cobbles sounds perfect!