Coronation Street Review Of The Year 2024

Here it is, my annual virtual award ceremony - part Inside Soap Awards, part Smash Hits Poll Winners' Party (it's a bit shorter than usual as I failed to keep notes throughout the year).

 

Best Actor: Chanique Sterling Brown (Deedee Bailey). Deedee has come into her own this year, going from a bit-part Bailey to a fully fledged main character and Chanique has handled it brilliantly, she can do comedy, tragedy, drama and back again with aplomb at the same time as rocking at least three different hairstyles (for the record, I like the plaits the best).

Best Young Actor: Cait Fitton (Lauren Bolton).

Best Old Actor: David Nielson (Roy Cropper).

Best Villain: Joel Deering (Calum Lill). Rowan gave Joel a run for his evil in the villain stakes but there was only one real contender this year. I disliked him as Deedee's sappy boyfriend who didn’t know what to do with his hands, but as a Poundshop Patrick Bateman, all slicked back hair and tic and twitches, he was fab.

Best New Character: Kit Green (Jacob Roberts). Is he bad? Is he good? It's great to have a character with nuance that you dislike one minute but warm to the next. Also, his manipulation of Tinks (Craig) is funny.

Best Returning Character: Jesse (John Thomson). When it was announced that Martin Platt wasn't coming back and it was the return of Jesse Chadwick instead, I wondered how many people they'd thought of before landing on him, but I've enjoyed his return, particularly his schooling of David: "You still live with your mum? You're almost 40!" and his May to December romance with Gail. I'd've liked some more scenes with him and Ms Potter-Tilsely-Platt-Hillman-Rodwell-Chadwick-to-be, but I'm guessing Helen Worth had actually left by then and they had to ret-con some Jesse scenes instead. Runner Up: Tommy O. 

Best Exit: Paul. The MND storyline was done brilliantly and sympathetically and heartbreakingly,  Peter Ash was at the heart and centre of this.

Gone But Not Forgotten: Gav, Sabrina. I feel that there was a lot more mileage in these two and they made a nice little teen unit with Max and Lauren now that the previous teen gang (Amy, the Alahans, Summer) are all grown up.

Gone But Forgotten: Stu, Simon. Simon was a good child and teen character but since the actor became an adult the writers didn't seem to know what to do with him. I've always found Stu very tedious.

Best Reformation: Mason. He hasn't actually killed someone so I hope he can become a functioning member of Weatherfield. at least until the actor decides he wants to go to Hollyoaks, or wherever.

Will They Won't They Award: Swarla. Runners up (there a lot of these): Steve and Cassie, Mary and Brian, Aadi and Amy, Glenda and Michael.

Best Love Triangle: The Battersby babes and Nick with his rod straight, erm, back.
Runner Up: Daisy and Daniel and Bethany.

Best Storyline: Who "Killed" Lauren. This was an actual mystery that, like the 2023 Stephen Reid rein of stationery-based terror, brought in other storylines and cast members, such as Roy in prison, Bobby’s investigations, and Deedee and Lauren's uneasy friendship.

Worst Storyline: Who Killed Joel. For one thing it was a copy of Anna killing her abuser Phelan, for another it seemed like an unwanted sequel to the who killed Lauren mystery. Also, there's only so much flashbacks a viewer can take. Even the flashbacks were having flashbacks by the end.

Agree? Disagree? Want to rant about Gemma again? The comments are all yours.

Rachel Stevenson: on bluesky.

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