The Ruination of Anna Windass

This was originally posted on State of the Street, reposted here with permission.

Anna Windass has been on our screens since 2008. Right from the start, she and her common law husband, Eddie, were portrayed as people that were a bit or a lot dodgey, from a rough background. They hired Joe McIntyre to build their kitchen then refused to pay for it, leading Joe ultimately to bankruptcy. Anna has always been shown to be a fiercely protective mother though perhaps hasn't always made the best judgements but she'll do anything for those she loves. She'll also turn on anyone she may previously shown friendship and affection for if they so much as look at her or her family sideways.

No, Anna has never really been a sympathetic character overall. Just when you think she's showing signs of improvement, doing kind things for friends, and being generally nice, something will happen and she'll be cold-shouldering, unfairly accusing, shrieking and slapping. The object of her anger will then be her enemy for life,  until of course, she realizes the error of her ways and then butter wouldn't melt. She will apologize but I don't know how anyone can trust her not to lost her temper again and go off on them.

Ah yes, that temper has got her into trouble more than once. She'll regret it but it doesn't matter. She doesn't learn. And she can be vicious with it, even towards her beloved teenage daughter who has been the cause of Anna's temper on more than one occasion. She'll let her mother down and end up being shut out, screamed at, even slapped. It's no wonder Faye thinks Anna hates her. It doesn't take much for Anna to turn her back on Faye on a regular basis. She certainly wasn't too nice to Faye after discovering that surprise pregnancy, calling her names and all sorts. Remember, she coldly turned against Roy, her friend and employer, after he assaulted Gary. She knew Roy had been tested to his limits by teenage bullies and was pushed to the edge. Roy shouldn't have resorted to violence, but Gary shouldn't have broken into the cafe to try to rob it but Anna didn't see it that way, assigning no responsibility to Gary at all.

We know that Phelan used her badly, forced her by blackmail into having sex to let Gary off the legal hook. I'm not making excuses for Phelan over that. She didn't deserve that treatment and did what she did because she didn't think she had a choice. Phelan knew she wouldn't let Gary go to jail. She has told a few people over the years. Some believed her. Some have not. Phelan has groomed everyone into believing he's a nice guy, just misunderstood so Anna looks like a vindictive liar. She's at it again, this time revealing the past to Phelan's newly found daughter, Nicola who seems to believe her, or at least, is smart enough to consider that it's the truth and investigate on her own. She doesn't know Phelan well enough yet to trust him 100% so Anna's story hasn't fallen on stony ground this time.

It doesn't seem to matter that she's been a good and loyal friend, or a caring mother figure. She can flip personalities like a pancake on a griddle, soft and puffy one minute, sizzling the next. This is not a new thing. This isn't a new aspect of her personality since her encounter with Phelan all those years ago. It's one thing to get angry when someone you're trying to help rejects you, it's quite another to be seen screaming vicious insults at that someone in public but that's what Anna does.

Therefore, it annoys me when fans say that The Powers That Be are ruining Anna because the actress is leaving.  This is an accusation you hear often when actors decide to go on to other things. They make you dislike the character so you won't protest so much when they're gone. Lately, we've seen Anna going up against Seb and Faye after trying to help Seb's family. When it all went wrong, she was accused of calling Social Services. She didn't, but nobody involved believes her and because of that, Faye and Seb are in "I hate you" mode. Anna has begged them to believe her and when that doesn't happen, she pushes and pushes until one of them lashes out. What does Anna do? She caterwauld like a banshee, shrieks and insults these children and they both felt the heat of her fingers across their faces (in different scenes). Nice.


Now Anna's also being accused of causing Seb to fall off a ladder and Phelan is manipulating the evidence in that direction. Nicola has uncovered another devastating truth about her mother and Phelan that will reinforce Anna's story and realize that he's not the man he's led her to believe he is. He'll lose the daughter he was so proud to have found, the one for whom  he thought he could redeem himself. If that happens, he'll have nothing to lose.  Anna's been a thorn in his side for a long time and this might be the way to get rid of her. He'll make sure Anna is ruined, a pariah until she's in jail or has to leave town.

I've never been a fan of Anna all that much. She's had her good moments when she's been loyal but then she's also had so many moments when she's been disloyal or unnecessarily harsh. She didn't call Social Services, but if she hadn't badgered him trying to convince him of it, Seb wouldn't have lost his temper and shouted at her. When Seb insulted her in the cafe, his heart broken after losing his siblings into Care, his mother back on drugs and assumed she called Social Services causing it all, Anna changed from begging him to believe it wasn't her in one breath to screaming at him and slapping him in the next. A 16 year old kid who needed support, not abuse. And she wouldn't leave it alone, she practically chased him out of the cafe trying to drag him back inside. It's no wonder he was so distracted he was careless on the ladder and fell. You could lay that blame at her door even if she didn't actually push the ladder.

Has Anna been ruined? I don't think so. I think she's just been revealed. She might have a good and kind side to her but she's also got a streak of nasty inside like Blackpool Rock. Always has had.

I rest my case.

(Kudos to Debbie Rush. She's done a great job as Anna, I think.)

Tvor (Twitter @tvordlj)

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The abandoned Barlow Brothers

(Reposted from State of the Street with permission)

Peter Barlow lost his mother to an electrical appliance when he was only a small boy. That's going to affect any child but then his father gave up trying to look after twin children and gave them over to their grandparents who raised them in Scotland. If you watched Corrie through the 70s and early 80s, you will know that Ken rarely visited them and rarely had them back home to visit him. They were mentioned from time to time and I'm sure he sent them birthday cards and Christmas gifts even if it wasn't shown on screen.

Daniel Osbourne's father, Ken Barlow, barely had a look in when he was growing up and his mother went walkabout 6 years ago, with no further sight nor sound. These two men certainly have a lot in common and I think they've kind of bonded over that.

Peter, especially in his Chris Gascoyne incarnation, has shown all the signs of having abandonment issues which have manifested themselves in a fondness for the drink. He's also got his father's "any woman any time" gene and finds it difficult to make a long standing commitment.  He regularly berates his father for dumping him and blames a lot of his failings on his father's non-participation in his life yet has always craved approval from his one remaining parent and yet resented the hell out of him at the same time.

Daniel is very secretive born from having to pretend his mother was not gone while he was too young, really, to be living on his own. Should the authorities have found out, he'd have been taken into care. He obviously had no contact or relationship with his mother's sister (she whose husband Denise had an affair with back in the day) and no other family it seems. He's been on his own for a long time. We don't know if he's got abandonment issues as such but he's bound to when you think of it. We just haven't seen how they've manifested themselves yet.

Children take on so much and learn what they see.  Neither of them ever had a father figure that was ever present in their lives. Peter certainly didn't grow up learning how to be a good father and so has never found it easy being one himself, often at a loss when things get difficult. He grew up seeing or knowing that his father flitted from woman to woman and he mirrored that behaviour. We don't know why his first marriage broke up though he has been known to blame his absences due to being in the navy but I think there's a pretty good chance he had a welcoming bed in every port.


Peter's been a lifelong screw up, or at least as long as he's been an adult from what we know and what we've seen. Just maybe, though, he's starting to take responsibility and grow up. A bit. His father's sudden illness seems to have affected him deeply. It seems like Daniel's reaction has been to  take refuge in books and in his schoolwork and keep his head down.

Daniel was an unplanned child but Ken in his middle age was anxious to do things right this time around. He and Denise were not love's young dream nor were they soul mates in any form. In fact, in the cold harsh reality of the aftermath of the affair, Denise realized she was most definitely unsuited to life with Ken and a baby so she left the baby with Ken initially and walked. Ken tried, he really did but he was a single middle aged man who had no clue how to deal with an infant. He hired a nanny and that helped but he never had the chance to see if he could make a go of this parenting thing. Denise returned and took baby Daniel away, to Scotland because her sister's husband happened to be from that country.


Ken tried to make an effort  at first but gave it up as a lost cause and thus, Daniel really had no memory of him.  Yet another of Ken's children was lost and cut loose from a paternal influence. We next saw Daniel when he was a boy of about 10. Ken and Deirdre were having difficulties and Ken began to think he'd like to make an effort with his son. His son resented Ken's efforts as too little too late and Ken soon gave up again. We would hear Daniel's name on occasion over the intervening years, usually when Tracy or Peter wanted to call Ken's parenting into question.

But Ken apparently had a contact number for Denise in his address book. After he had the stroke, Peter went through the book to contact family and left a message with Denise, or so the dialogue went. Daniel got the message eventually and came to see his father. Before you think this was a plot hole, it's very possible that telephone number was the landline in the flat where Daniel was living. Since he didn't want people to know he was living alone under aged, he would have left the answering machine message on there that his mother recorded.

And where was his mother? Daniel says they weren't getting along, typical teenage stuff and she became more and more agitated and decided to leave. He thought she was coming back but she never did nor did she ever get in contact. It does seem strange. On comment I've seen suggested she could have been bipolar and could have ended up on the streets. That would be an interesting way to take this. Her abandonment had to have been devastating to him.

He's been keeping secrets so long that it's no wonder he's reluctant to open up now. Peter has taken him in hand and has been very supportive. He's a big brother and he's also old enough to be a father figure, really, and Peter seems to really like his little brother. It really seems like there's a weight finally lifting off Daniel's shoulders, relieved to have told the truth and to have someone that he might actually be able to depend on (he doesn't know Peter well yet!) for once in his life.  He was almost in tears when Peter assured him he would be there, as if Peter was a lifeline to a young man near the end of his rope that sorely needed one.

This chemistry between the two brothers who seem to have bonded quickly, able to relate to what the other has been through over their lives is evident. We've long admired Chris Gascoyne's acting abilities and the young man playing Daniel, Rob Mallard, is really showing his acting chops, too.

It will be interesting to see where they take this.

Tvor, twitter: @tvordlj

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Character Study: Nicholas John Tilsley

Amidst all the JulieHes-Hayley-doration this week (and rightly so), there have been little scenes that seem to be the portent of doom for Leanne and Nick's marraige. Nick has been pushing Leanne away out of love, he doesn't want to hurt her and knows she's been under a lot of strain due to him. She was hit hard by Hayley's death and he tried to pamper her but when he moved in for more, she pushed him away.

I thought maybe it was a good time to explore Nick's past in a character study which you can read over here.

Nick featured in one of the first storylines I remember when I started watching Corrie in 1989. Brian Tilsley was just killed and little Nicky made his way to his dad's garage (which wasn't on Coronation Street at the time) to look for him. The lad working with Kevin whose father, Mr. Casey, had bought the garage from Gail, was the one that brought him back home, poor mite.

What has been your favourite Nick moment or storyline over the years?


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Character study: Royston Cropper

Roy Cropper has evolved from a creepy near-stalker to one of the most loved characters on Coronation Street. He and Hayley have what is probably the best relationship on the Street. It's had it's ups and downs but they have always supported each other, even when it's proved difficult and always forgiven each other when needed.

Roy is quirky, shy, unable to show his emotions easily, fiercely loyal, slightly obsessed, highly intelligent, and handles change with a good dollop of anxiety. He had a lonely life before he met Hayley, his soul mate, but he knows who he is and seems content with his lot. With that in mind, I bring you a character study of Royston Cropper.

Corriecature by the talented Jayne Tunnicliff/Bickerton


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Character Study: Leanne Anneke Battersby Tilsley Barlow

Simon is recovering from his own battle with a bottle and Leanne and Peter are continuing to battle over custody. Will this crisis be the one that makes Peter realize how much Simon is suffering? Leanne is fighting ferociously for the lad. One thing you can say about Leanne, she's never been afraid of a fight.

Leanne has been on our Corrie screens on and off since 1997 and she's never been a boring character. In the past, she never quite got the hang of being satisfied with what she's got and she still seems to lurch from pillar to post, looking for stability. She's tough, she's a survivor, and she has the makings of one of the classic Corrie women of steel.

I've written a character study about her over here.

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The life of Tommy Duckworth

Terry Duckworth is back on our screens and hes going to get to know his son Tommy. Worse yet, Tommy is going to get to know his father and we can pretty much tell how that's going to work out, can't we?  Tommy might have a bit of Terry's cheek and charm (well, ok, the cheek and charm Terry had as a young man Tommy's age), but he's got the gentleness of his mother, Lisa too.

With that in mind, lets look back on the life of Tommy Duckworth.

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Meet Gordon Clegg

With Betty's son Gordon Clegg returning to Coronation Street for Betty's farewell, our blogger Tvor takes a look back at the life of Gordon Clegg on Corrie.
Les, Maggie and son Gordon Clegg came to Coronation Street in April, 1968 and moved into the Corner Shop, which was still owned by Irma Barlow at the time. Les was a violent alcoholic and after being hospitalised when teenage son Gordon knocked him flat, he never returned and the marriage was over.

It wasn't long before Gordon, a nice looking 17 year old, fell for young Lucille Hewitt, who was Annie Walker's ward. Lucille only had eyes for Ray Langton who had a girlfriend already. Lucille did get to date Ray but reckoned he was not the gentleman that Gordon was and went to him instead. Ray and Gordon were at odds more than once over the lovely Lucille who dropped Gordon for a soldier but Gordon won out in the end and proposed to her.

Neither Annie nor Maggie approved of the relationship but the young couple were determined to be together and attempted to elope to Gretna Green. While waiting for a delayed train en route, they both had second thoughts and returned to Weatherfield but continued on as a couple, planning a proper wedding.

It was not meant to be, however, when Gordon got cold feet a week before the wedding, and ran off to London to be an accountant. After he moved out, Maggie's sister Betty moved in!

Gordon made a success in his chosen career and in little more than a year was able to lend his mother enough money to buy the partnership from Irma. He didn't return to Weatherfield until summer, 1974 when his mother married and emigrated to Zaire. He lived with his Auntie Betty until he could sort out the shop and rented it out to a Welsh family, the Hopkins. Lucille was not happy to see him back and left for Ireland where her step-mother, Concepta still lived but Gordon didn't seem to be bothered and had time to get out and date a few willing women.

His world was soon turned upside down when interfering Granny Hopkins discovered Gordon's birth certificate in the flat. It showed that his biological mother was his Aunt, Betty. Gordon knew nothing about this but Maggie told him rather than him hearing it from anyone else. Gordon was pleased that the man he hated was not his father.

After Maggie left, and an argument with Betty over the shop, Mrs. Hopkins let the cat out of the bag, writing Gordon a letter containing the information, thinking blackmailing him would give her family a chance to buy the shop cheaply. No such luck. Gordon chucked them out instead and installed Blanche Hunt in as manager for a while before selling up to Renee Bradshaw.

Betty admitted the truth and told Gordon that his father was a married sailor, Ted Farrell, that she'd met just after the war (Gordon was born in 1950). Maggie and Les agreed to adopt and raise the baby for her.

Gordon and Betty became close but Gordon wasn't planning on making Weatherfield his home. He left again and moved to London. He returned in 1982 to introduce his intended, Caroline to his mother. Caroline was a snob and thoroughly disapproved of Betty, a mere barmaid. Gordon married her anyway and lives in London with her and his son, Peter.

Betty visits regularly and Gordon has made occasional visits home. He was at her wedding to Billy Williams (though played by a different actor) and he came to see Betty on the occasion of her 84th birthday in 2004. He will return in April 2012 for his mother's funeral.

Gordon has mostly been played by Bill Kenwright though that one time was substituted by Geoffrey Leesley. Bill became very close to Betty Driver who played his real mother and sent her cards every year for Mother's Day.

Thanks to Itv.com, corrie.net, and several of Darren Little's Corrie anniversary books for the bio information.

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Rita Littlewood Fairclough Sullivan...Tanner

This week Rita and Dennis are going to realise their feelings have deepened from friendship to love and we'll be celebrating the coming of a new flame haired Mrs. Tanner on Coronation Street.

Elsie was the first in a long line of red haired women and Rita Littlewood has long been one of the mainstays in that category, which has included Irma Ogden Barlow, Claire Peacock, Fiz Stape, and Jenny Bradley, just to name a few.

Rita, also affectionately known in some online communities as the Big Red Wig, has been on Coronation Street since 1964, though not a regular until the early 70s. With that in mind, I've done a character study on our Reet over here.

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Character Study: Gail Potter Tilsley Platt Hillman McIntyre

With Gail and Kylie at war with each other, I thought it might be time to explore Gail's past. How did she come to be an interfering mother-in-law? Was it a personality change or a logical progression over the years? I think that, yes, she grew from an independent and stubborn soul to an Ivy Tilsley clone and it was pretty much inevitable. Read my character study here and find out about the life of Gail (pick a last name).

What about Gail?

I’d been thinking about this for quite some time now.  But, after last Monday’s episodes, I really thought “what about Gail?”  What on earth has happened to this character?  She really has gone through the ringer, of course.  Within the last year alone she’s become a McIntyre, marrying a man indebted with loan sharks and stupid ideas that eventually got him killed.  Gail almost went down for his death and spent enough time in lock-up until she was finally cleared.  Bad turns to worse as she ended up losing her job at the Medical Centre which she’s had for what seems like forever since, well, she’s not too sharp when it comes to patient-doctor confidentiality and seems to think “being a mum” to her adult son trumps that fact. 

Since September of last year Gail has been unemployed and basically useless.  Not only does she not have a job, she ceases to have a purpose.  She attempted to think about finding another fellow, but that idea was quickly dismissed after Jeff fell for Sally instead of her.  So, nothing in the romance department.  Other than being a miserable back-story to David and mum Audrey, what does Gail have going on?  No one cares to listen to her.  As evidenced by Audrey completely patronizing and dismissing her concerns about David, Kylie and the salon.  Not to mention David ignoring his mum’s concerns to the point of making a joke out of it.

Has Gail been put out to pasture?  What do you think?  Is anyone missing Gail and wishing she had a storyline or are we enjoying her on the sidelines?  Perhaps, we viewers don’t even notice her ourselves!

I have always been on the fence with the character of Gail Potter Tilsley Platt Hillman Platt McIntyre, admittedly.  However, I don’t like the thought of useless characters (queue Kirk Sutherland).  So, if Gail is to be on the show, please give her a refreshingly new storyline?  (writers? please?).  I’d personally like to NOT see Gail hook up with another useless man.  I’d love to see her in a storyline where she gets out of her shell a bit.  Perhaps she’ll have an idea to start a business since she can’t find a job and will start looking for investors/partners.  And guess who is one of the ONLY people on the street right now with a bit of dosh?  Yes, doesn’t Tracy still have some of her Gran’s money?

Any other storylines you’d like for Gail?  Or would you like to just keep her in the corner? 

Character study: Eileen Grimshaw

We've seen Eileen slip a few bank notes into her wallet out of Owen's accounts. There hasn't been much more to do with that but this week, Eileen's expenses shoot up because of a dodgy ceiling in her house and she's about to get into a lot of hot water.

With that in mind, I thought it was a good week to post a character study about Eileen Grimshaw, one of my favourite characters, played by the excellent Sue Cleaver.

Happy Birthday, Sally!

Sally's back on telly tonight and not before time!

We at Coronation Street Blog Towers are all pleased as punch to see Sally Dyvenor back on screen as Sally Webster and boy, does Sally have a long row to hoe now she's recovered her health! She's got to deal with Sophie's new girlfriend and will eventually have to deal with Kevin's infidelity. But what makes Sally tick? Has Sally really changed all that much over the years? I think she's progressed in a logical fashion.

Blog post about it over here!

What made Blanche tick?

With Blanche Hunt's funeral airing next week, it made me wonder why Blanche was such a battleaxe when she used to be so fun and cheerful. It's true, too.

Blanche was an up beat and optimistic woman with a glad-eye for the fellas. Well, that never changed, but she became cranky and pessimistic in her old age.

Have a read and find out some of the reasons why I think that happened.

Character Study: Maria Sutherland Connor

In advance of Maria's world about to be blown to bits, we present a character study of Maria Connor over on State of the Street.

See how Maria has grown from a shy kennel maid to a woman who keeps picking the wrong man time and again. She's pretty much outdone herself this time by choosing the murderous Tony Gordon but in the past she's stolen boyfriends from her friends and jumped into one night stands hoping to find Mr. Right instead of Mr. Right Now.

Character Study: Kevin John Webster

Now that Kevin Webster is "gracing" our screens in a scandalous adultery storyline, it must be time to look back on Kevin's quarter of a century on Coronation Street. From bog standard mechanic to business owner, from newlywed to divorced-widowed-remarried, Kevin has been through the mill. He's had affairs, he's lived through Sally's affairs, he's a dad and has experienced the grief of losing a child and a wife tragically. Through it all, he remains one of the favourites on the Street though this latest affair is tarnishing his halo somewhat. We figure Kevin will survive it, though. To read all about Kevin John Webster, see the long version here.

Character Study: Steven James McDonald

In honour of Steve's upcoming wedding, let's look back on the life and times of Steven James McDonald, what makes him tick and what has contributed to making him the man he is today.

He's changed from a lad who got into one scrape after another to a man that seems to have turned his life around and is now a respected business owner, including being the owner of the venerated Rovers Return. The only area of his life where he still falls down a bit is with his romantic relationships but you can't have it all.

Read all about Steve here.

Character Study: Norman "Curly" Watts

This is the first in an occasional series of character studies where we'll examine the life and times of some of my favourite Corrie characters, and why they are/were the way they are/were.

Today's study is one of my all time faves, Curly Watts, loser in love. Curly always wanted to love and be loved but it took him a long time to find his soul mate. He also had strong principles that sometimes stood him well and other times landed him in hot water.

You can read the full character study over here.