Baffled! Hysterical! Outraged! What an odd time to be a Corrie fan

Something odd is going on. It's something that I'm finding amusing and finally had to blog about it just to get it off my chest and onto my keyboard.

As news websites become more desperate for content to feed their adverts, their, er, journalists are trawling Twitter more than ever, looking for reaction from TV soap watchers. All they do then is write a few words around a couple of tweets, string them together and hey presto! Content! It's a depressing state of affairs for the future of journalism when one person tapping into their phone makes news.

Anyway, after the journalists trawl Twitter and write up their piece, I guess it's a sub-editor who attaches the headline. These make us Corrie fans appear as if we're hyperventilating at the end of every ad break.

Here's just a few that have made me laugh in the last two weeks

Corrie fans in hysterics...

Corrie fans outraged...

Corrie fans baffled...

Corrie fans furious...

Corrie fans were in bits...

Corrie fans go into meltdown...

And my personal favourite:

Corrie fans face emotional torture...

There's more, much more, all you need to do is go to Google and type in Corrie fans to see what pops up. Anyway, you get the idea. I don't really know why I'm blogging about this, except it's something I'm seeing more of as news sites become ever more desperate for content, any content, to wrap around their ads.

But then I don't suppose...

Corrie fans find storyline entertaining and mildly amusing and congratulate ITV on a superb episode of light and dark, and the strength of female characters

...has got the same ring about it, does it?

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My Coronation Street life

Guest blog post by Alistair Geddes who is on Twitter: @AlistairGedddes

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Hi everyone.  My name is Alistair Geddes and I am a long-time fan of Coronation Street Blog.  I thought that I would share with you a little bit of my history with the programme that we all love.

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of my enjoyment of Coronation Street.  I can remember vividly the moment my obsession started.  It was a January evening and I had just come home from Cubs, which I wasn’t very fond of since all we seemed to do was play British Bulldogs.  The TV was on and my mother was watching avidly as a middle-aged man was counting money in an office.  The door burst open and the man was faced with two thugs, one of whom had a gun.  The door opened again, startling one of the thugs who fired the gun.  It was, of course, the murder of Ernie Bishop.  With that scene, I was hooked instantly.  I couldn’t wait for the next episode, and that evening my involvement with the Scouting movement was, for the time being, finished.

I became an avid fan, even though the high drama of Ernie’s murder soon gave way to more gently amusing stories. I became invested in the characters and read everything that I could on the programme.  If you can get a hold of it, H V Kershaw’s autobiography The Street Where I Live is a goldmine of information on the early days of the show.  Emily Bishop became my favourite character, as it was her story that first had me hooked.

I can even remember what was happening in Coronation Street during key moments of my family life: Our dog died the same day as Renee Roberts, and my brother got circumcised the same day as the lorry load of planks shed its load through the front of The Rovers Return.  His screams as he was being bathed in salt water drowned out those of Deirdre, who feared that Tracy-Luv was trapped beneath the wreckage.  In my teens, I became proficient at playing the bagpipes and was asked to join a local pipe band, which practised on a Monday evening.  I only went with the proviso that my parents got a video recorder.

During the eighties, a cull of cast members due to old age, illness, and sexual impropriety led to new characters to warm to, some more successfully than others.  Chalky Whitely and the Clayton family are barely remembered, but Curly Watts is remembered fondly, and I wish he would return.  I was genuinely sad when Jack Howarth and Bernard Youens died, and when Pat Phoenix decided to move on to pastures new, but as has often been said, there is no character bigger than the Street itself.  

There was also another threat to the programme; a dour show, set in that London, which was edgier and arguably more dramatic than Coronation Street, though it lacked the humour that was Corrie’s strong point at this time.

Coronation Street has moved with the times and is no longer the cosy place, full of warm characters and humorous storylines.  It is now a different creature, led by issues and situations, rather than the character driven programme of the past.  I too have evolved, and my watching of the programme is accompanied by Tweeting allegedly amusing commentary on the action.  But I still love it and hope to be a fan for the remainder of my life.

Alistair Geddes
Twitter: @AlistairGedddes

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Fancy some Coronation Street nail art?

Anna Carruthers has set up a blog all about her nail art, and as you can see in the picture above, she's doing Coronation Street nail art too.

As well as Coronation Street, Anna is also offering Will and Grace nail art and other TV and Film themed nail art too. She also offers nail art based around sport, nature, history, literature and theatre.

Anna describes herself as a nail art geek and says that she loves to spend her free time coming up with new designs.

Check out Anna's nail art blog here. 

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NEW!
Coronation Street: The Official Colouring Book
Available now!


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Corrie fans having fun? We want your pictures!

David McLelland is an actor who has appeared on Coronation Street in a couple of roles in the past. The last time he was on the show was as the hospital security guard who told Tyrone off for parking outside the hospital.

Anyway, David regularly goes to the pictures to watch films with his other half.  And each time they go, they give the baristas names to put on their coffee cups, just for fun.  A while ago, they were Tyrone and Fiz, as you can see above.

If you do daft crazy fun things like this, let us know and we'll pop you on the Blog!

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Top 5 types of Coronation Street fans - which one are you?

What kind of Coronation Street fan are you?

Have you been watching for decades or have you just popped in to watch the show because there was nothing on the other side?  Whichever kind of fan you are, can you recognise yourself in my five stereotypes listed below? Please feel free to suggest more in the comments section below.

1. The gatekeepers

These are the fans who hang around at the entry gates at ITV with a notebook in one hand and a camera in the other. These are the autograph hunters, the picture takers, hoping for a wave and smile from members of the cast as they arrive for work or leave after they've done their shift. 

2. The partners

These are the men (or women) who have no choice but to watch Coronation Street because their other half watch it. The partners are fans who pretend they don't like Coronation Street, but secretly enjoy it and know much more about it than they'd ever let on. They receive t-shirts like this for Christmas from their Corrie-watching partners, but never, ever wear them. At least not in public.

3. The non-watchers

These are the people who under no circumstances will ever, ever claim to watch Coronation Street. They say they are loyal to other shows, other soaps.  Yet, just as with the partners listed above, they somehow mysteriously always seem to know what's going in Coronation Street.

4. The anoraks

Ah yes, the Coronation Street anorak. It's an, er, fan category I'm more than a little familiar with. I wear my Corrie anorak with pride although sometimes it does suffocate and I have to take it off. These are the fans who think(*) they know everything there is to know about Corrie (*they don't).  These are the fans who've been watching Corrie since the days of Ena Sharples or have caught up on it from then via the wonders of YouTube and DVD.  These are the fans who set up Coronation Street Blogs. I think you know what I'm saying.

5.  The 1975-ers

These are the people who, when you tell them that you're a Coronation Street fan, will come out: "Eee.. I haven't watched that since 1975!".  So you sit down to watch a current episode with them and they come out with all sorts of nonsense such as: "Is Hilda Ogden still in it?", "Where's Bet Lynch gone?" and other such rubbish.

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Corrie fans wanted for new TV show

Hungry Bear Media are looking for Coronation Street fans to take part in a new Television programme called ‘Watch Out’.

The show is similar to Gogglebox but they will be filming people out and about watching the best online Corrie clips and filming their reactions. It’s a family friendly fun show and they want people with big personalities to become the faces of the show. They are looking for friends, families and work colleagues to be involved.

If you're interested, email watchout@hungrybear.tv or call 020 7471 0533.  Applicants must be 16 or over.
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Coronation Street fan sites to watch

There are a few more new Coronation Street fans online doing their thing with pictures and images and are worth having a look at.

Copyright Paul Lanagan

CorrieArt is a collection of artwork based on Coronation Street.

Check out their website, facebook and twitter.

Classic Coronation Street is a new fan account on facebook. They post lots of gorgeous pictures from the golden olden days of Corrie. Check out their facebook page here.

And don't forget to check out the Coronation Street podcasters at Conversation Street. There's a lot of love goes into those podcasts. Their website is here.

Canadian Corrie fan Christine Warren has the Coronation Street fun pages too. Check them out here.

And as always, for the fonts of all Corrie knowledge, check out Corriepedia and Corrie.net

If you run a Corrie fan site we don't yet know about, let us know please.

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UK's biggest Coronation Street fan wanted for new TV show

Victory Television are looking for the UK’s biggest Coronation Street fan for a new ITV competitive entertainment show.

If you or anyone you know have the passion for and knowledge of all things Corrie – get in touch ASAP with ben_justice@victorytelevision.com with your name, phone number, location and why you are the UK’s biggest fan of Coronation Street.’

If you apply and are picked for this, do please let us know!
 
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Wanted: New Zealand's biggest Coronation Street fan

Are you a huge Coronation Street fan? Are you in New Zealand?

Then the New Zealand Herald in Auckland would like to hear from you.

If you're interested in being interviewed by the New Zealand Herald about your love of our favourite soap, then email Russell.Blackstock@live.com

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Would you visit a Corrie fan convention in the UK?

Doctor Who fans have been meeting this weekend in their thousands at an official convention in Cardiff. The weekend event at the Wales Millennium Centre has attracted fans from as far away as the US, Australia and New Zealand. And it included the chance to meet stars of the show, see behind the scenes, get insights into their favourite show and meet some of the staff, including the Producer, who work on the programme.

Billed as the "ultimate Doctor Who fan event", the convention included panel sessions, discussions with key cast members as well as members of the creative team such as directors, scriptwriters and special effects experts.  You can read more on the Doctor Who convention at the BBC website.

Now then, I don't know about you, but I'm dead jealous.  I want one of these for Coronation Street fans and wonder if we've ever had anything like it before in the UK? I know Canada gets their share of visiting current and ex-Corrie actors doing the rounds to promote the show and meet the fans, but as far as I know, we've never had the opportunity to do this as fans in the UK. 

So what do you think, Corrie fans?  Would you attend an official Corrie convention if one were to be arranged, say before ITV moves the show from the present set to the new one at MediaCity? What sort of events would you like to see included and what's the maximum price you'd pay to attend?

We very much welcome your thoughts so please do leave comments below.

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Corriepedia gets a new look

Corrie fan database Corriepedia has gotten a fresh new lick of paint. The new look seems more in line with the general look of the show now - and the content on there is as good as ever.

Like this blog, the wiki is written by fans for fans, and it's well worth a look! It has information on pretty much every episode, spin-off and character in the Coronation Street universe.

Coronation Street fan art

Coronation Street fan Christine Warren runs the wonderful Corrie fun pages. And she's also created this Corrie art work of Tyrone's dog Monica and Maxine's cat, Bella.   Entitled' Coronation Street Co-Stars', the artwork is painted on board in acrylic.

If you've got Corrie art you'd like to share, do please send it in.

Anyone remember what happened to Monica and Maxine's pussy?

More Corrie art online

Inspired by the iconic photograph of Ena Sharples, Coronation Street Blog reader Paul Lanagan has created this wonderful homage set in Houghton-le-Spring up here in the North East.

It's so bad it's fab and was screaming out to be blogged!  If you've created any iconic Corrie scenes, do please email them in for blogging.

Have a look at more of Paul's Corrie art at his website here.

Corrie fan tries to get to grips with Katherine Kelly

Spotted this picture today in the Daily Mail (more pics here) of Katherine Kelly, who plays Coronation Street's Becky McDonald, being, er, lusted after by a fan in the middle of Manchester.  The paper says that Katherine was snapped out shopping with the eager fan pictured behind her. 

Well, it made me laugh, anyway.

If you have any pictures of yourself with a Corrie cast member (and hanging around the ITV studio entrance doesn't count, that's just a bit odd), do please email them in and we'll blog the best.

Look out for lucky Derek on Corrie tonight

Derek Dunn is a very lucky Coronation Street fan. He won a walk-on part in Corrie which will be screened tonight.

Derek beat thousands of entrants in a J W Lees brewery competition to make a guest appearance on the cobbles. Derek’s big moment will be broadcast tonight at 7.30pm.

He said: “I’ll remember my trip to the Street for a long time to come. I’m a huge fan of the show. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but my wife and I had a terrific day. The cast were wonderful, and during a busy filming session, took time to talk to us and make us feel welcome."

Wanted for TV: Are you Corrie's ultimate fan?

Are you Coronation Street's ultimate fan?

ITV's Granada Reports is looking for Corrie's ultimate fan for a TV piece to run before the 50th anniversary. Filming will take place before the end of November and you must live in the North-West. 

They're looking for Corrie fans with a visual story to tell, fans who adorn their homes with Corrie memorabilia or those whose personal style has been influenced by a Corrie character, that sort of thing.

If you're interested, please email me asap at glenda.young@btinternet.com and I'll pass on your details to Granada Reports immediately.

ITV looking for soap super-fans

ITV's This Morning show are looking for soap super-fans to team up with soap icons past and present in a new quiz!

If any Coronation Street fans are interested, email thismorning@itv.com

Corrie fan wanted for 'Come Dine With Me'

The Channel 4 show Come Dine With Me is looking for contestants aged 18 and over to take part in the Manchester episode of their new series.

They're looking for someone who loves cooking, entertaining and the chance to win £1000!

If you're interested, email Come Dine With Me.

Can you help update Coronation Street's fan history?

I've had a nice email from Laura who's started a fan history of Coronation Street online and she's asking Coronation Street fans to help update it.

If you can help to document the history of Coronation Street fandom (UK and overseas), then have a look here: http://fanhistory.com/wiki/Coronation_Street