Anyway, one Christmas Fred got a job lot of reindeer meat that he was trying to flog to the customers and made Ashley dress up like an elf to distribute samples. I don't know how Steven Arnold managed to keep a straight face in this scene, part of which went something like this:
Without a Christmas party at Underworld this year, the laughs are sure to come from the Corrie Chrimbo panto. Oh yes they are, etc. And the person I'm looking forward to seeing most in the show is Betty as the Fairy Godmother.
She said: "Mind you, I think my dress was a lot nicer this time around. It was fabulous with a gold bodice, a tiara and a magic wand. Last time I looked a swine. The dress was all white and very virginal. This time I got a throne to sit on too and they threw sparkle all over me – I was finding it in all sorts of peculiar places afterwards. We did it in the Rovers, so it was quite a tight squeeze. But the young ones in the show are such a great bunch and we all have such a good time. We gel as a group and they treat me just like I am their age, which I love.”
There's some wonderful old pictures of Coronation Street pantomines from the past. Have a look at the gallery on the official Corrie site.
What an absolutely fantastic picture this is of Simon Gregson (Steve McDonald) and Craig Charles (Lloyd Mullaney) arriving for the Coronation Street cast Christmas party.
It says here that Northern Costume Hire was approached by Coronation Street to produce the pantomime costumes, having already been involved with ITV in the past. Owner Margaret Greenwood said: "We were asked to make the costumes for the Christmas Eve episode of the programme, when the pantomime Cinderella will be performed in the Rovers Return." Northern Costume Hire have been busy preparing the costumes for the past few weeks but have had to keep the details of their work secret. "We can't say exactly what the costumes will be like, but it was announced in Monday night's episode the pantomime would be Cinderella so there will be a fairy godmother and the usual characters," said Margaret.
Brooke Vincent (Sophie Webster) and Sam Aston (Chesney Battersby-Brown) got to meet the real Father Christmas during a visit to Lapland. The Coronation Stret actors were visiting Lapland with the children's charity When You Wish Upon A Star. I think if Santa's checked his list, these two would definitely be on the nice, not the naughty side.
With many thanks to Corrie fan Martin S. for this wonderful screen shot of one of Coronation Street's past pantomimes. But how many people can you recognise - and do you know the year?
Poor Ken. All he was trying to do was to earn a bit of money to get his little grandson Simon a decent Christmas present. By “decent,” it had to have the equivalent or greater monetary value than the present Simon is due to receive from his other granddad, George, aka Anthony Valentine from Colditz. He’s got a bob or two, has granddad George.
With thanks to the fab Inside Soap magazine, here we go with some of the spoilers for Coronation Street Christmas 2009. Some of these we already know from tabloid rumours in the past but it's good to have them confirmed by the oracle that is Inside Soap.
This week the Coronation Street fab photo isn't a blast from the past, it's a vision of Christmas to come. You can probably guess who's behind the beard but if you're still not sure, have a look at this video on the official Corrie site which reveals all.
Here's your Christmas Corrie schedule, folks!
Unreality TV are one of my favourite blogs and the people who run it are lovely. Anyway, today they've got a history of Coronation Street Christmas. It's well worth a look, there's videos and pictures and all kinds of reminiscenses from Corrie Christmasses past. Have a look here.
