Graeme Hawley's charity visit to Manchester children's hospital

Graeme Hawley, who played hapless serial killer John Stape on Coronation Street, recently visited Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to meet patients and also hand out gifts that had kindly been donated by the Disney Store in Manchester Arndale.

He is joined in the picture by Terri Dwyer who appears on Loose Women and is a former Hollyoaks star.  They were joined on the visit by Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Chairman Maurice Watkins and other celebrities including John Thomson.

Find out more about the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital Charity.

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Coronation Street's New Direction

Change, some would argue, is what Corrie doesn't need, in many respects this is perfectly true, but in other ways it has needed to change for a long time, and it finally has. It's a very subtle change, but it is perhaps the most important aspect of the show: Direction - Both behind the camera, and in respects to where the show is heading.

Over this past week, Corrie has been directed by Dr. Who director, Graeme Harper. He's no stranger to the show as he directed episodes in 2005 too. A director is the creative powerhouse who decides what scenes should look like and where characters should be stood and how characters react. All these things are pretty important to how the drama and tension can unfold.

Over the past few years, the show has tended to play it safe on set in respects to how scenes should look; the camera was always in the same position, showing only small sections of the set, it was like looking through a small window into Weatherfield. Now, in 2010, we are being given a bigger window into Weatherfield, we can see more of that little world. For me this is a great thing as I have always wanted to see more and more of the show.

Though here is the thing I really like - Longer scenes. In the past, scenes tended to end as soon as two characters stopped talking. Now, for example - as soon as we see two characters finishing off their conversation, the attention focuses on two more characters in the same location.

It might be just me, but I really appreciate things like this, it makes the show feel more alive, this new outlook of Corrie makes me realise just what Phil Collinson was attempting to show with the new titles. I hope to see more of the same in the years to come!