A Blast from Coronation Street's past

Coronation Street has so many memorable storylines. I'm not likely to forget the current one with John Stape, and I think the forthcoming one involving the Windass's soldiering son Gary, played by the excellent Mikey North, is going to be really good. Anyone else have a favourite, or memorable for whatever reason, storyline?

Sometimes it isn't the really big ones that stick in your mind. I'm probably not going to remember the Underworld fire (though it was good!) but I will remember Stape standing next to that concreted-over sump hole. (By the way, what IS a sump hole?) And I'll always remember Eddie Windass in his dressing gown, recycling his rubbish (sigh!).

One cracker I'd clean forgotten about was mentioned in a comment recently. It involved the late lamented Fred Elliott, and fake Thai bride "Orchid"/Stacey Hilton, played by Casey Lee Jolleys. It wasn't that long ago, either - 2004 and 2006, and Casey Lee won a Heritage Award for best comedy performance in a soap opera. As far as I can gather, Casey Lee is now running a dance academy in Bolton.

New interactive soap from Manchester

Ok, this isn't strictly Coronation Street-related although it does contain an ex-Corrie actresss but a new online soap launched today at Spinning Jenny.

The producers have emailed to tell me: "We hope Spinning Jenny will be as ground-breaking as Manchester's classic was in the 1950s, and we even have a connection with the Street. One of our main actors, Casey-Lee Jolleys, played Fred Elliot's Thai bride. Spinning Jenny also has a daily blog at http://spinningjennytv.blogspot.com/ and producers are looking for fans to interact - even act! - with the characters in a way never before seen, or attempted in a broadcast drama, whether online or on television. They will help create the story line, or even appear on screen as part of the plot!"

So there you have it. If the sound of it grabs you, have a look at it online.