Exclusive interview with Coronation Street Digital Editor

We are delighted to bring you an exclusive Coronation Street Blog interview with Dan Archibald, the man who manages Coronation Street's online presence.  Dan and his colleage Alan Toner at ITV Corrie have recently been nominated as Best Content Team in the Prolific North Awards. And with their achievements recognised in this way, what better way than to ask Dan to tell us all about his job tweeting and writing online about our favourite show!

Dan hard at work on #AskCorrie with Tina O'Brien (Sarah Platt)

Please introduce yourself and tell us your job title and how long you've been in the role.
My name is Dan Archibald and I’ve been the Coronation Street Digital Editor for a little over a year.
Basically, I look after itv.com/coronationstreet as well as the social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. 

What's a typical day like as Digital Editor for Coronation Street?
That’s the joy of this job - there are very few typical days! I watch every episode of Coronation Street to pick out the key moments to highlight on the social platforms. This depends on story beats, funny one-liners etc. but also with half an eye on future storylines and where the characters or plots are heading. To do this, I do a lot of analysis around what people are responding too after every episode. Then, using a combination of sentiment and statistics I try and pre-empt what the fans are going to like or want to talk about!

That’s the fun part of the job, as I then get to sit and watch the episode again with the rest of the country and modify and change our focus, in real-time, as everyone else is watching and talking about it!
Rest assured, we see all your comments (the good and bad) and everything is taken on board.

Away from the socials, my main focus is writing and creating content for itv.com while working closely with the other departments at Corrie (including the cast!) to find little nuggets to share with our fans. The rest of my time is spent delving into statistics and providing feedback to the rest of the company about how we're performing, working up technical ideas such as the voting mechanics on Who Killed Tina? or the multiple endings on What Would Kirk Do? as well as dipping my toes into the commercial world, by helping to activate Online sponsorship deals etc.

Dan hard at work on #AskCorrie with Brooke Vincent

Were you a Corrie fan before you started the job? What was it like to meet some of the icons of the cast? Do you get a bit star struck?
I think the joy of Corrie is that everyone has been a fan at some point or another in their life. For me, Coronation Street always reminds of my Nan coming round for Sunday dinner when I was younger. We’d all sit around and watch it as a family and so I've always feel quite sentimental when I think back.

I haven’t been too starstruck when it comes to meeting the cast - I’ve been working in TV for a few years now and you do get used to it. Saying that I was a massive Red Dwarf fan and I did have to double take when I first saw Craig Charles in the canteen!

One of the fab behind-the-scenes pics of cast members regularly tweeted by @itvcorrie

What do you like most about your job at ITV?
The people. Every single person I’ve worked with has been genuinely lovely. You hear a lot of stories about working in TV before you start, but I’ve been nothing but impressed with everyone’s professionalism - and sense of fun!

And what would you change if you could?
I could do with a few more hours in the day.

What did you do before you started at Coronation Street?
I started off as a runner and researcher working freelance on everything from Big Brother to Blue Peter, but my first digital job was making behind-the-scenes videos and blogs for The One Show.  From there, I worked on shows like Strictly Come Dancing and EastEnders before moving over to ITV nearly 6 years ago.
 
I was initially brought into ITV to look after Emmerdale and the ITV Drama Premiers (Downton Abbey and Primeval were my first websites!) but I then moved into the Online Entertainment Department and produced shows like Saturday Night Takeaway and The X Factor before moving back up north to Manchester.

Is your job full of meetings about meetings or is it quite fun?
So much fun! I get to write and make up silly jokes for a living - plus the meetings are usually quite useful.

Cast members watching the Corrie Challenge online mime-off between Jack P Shepherd and Les Dennis
Watch it here, it's great!

You work closely with Alan Toner, the Corrie Digital Producer. Can you explain a little about what Alan does please?
The Coronation Street Digital Department is a two man team. Digital Producer Alan Toner is the other half of our merry little band. Every single video that you see online has in some way come from Alan's marvellous brain. Whereas my main focus is always on what is coming up in the next few weeks and reflecting what’s going on now, Alan is always looking ahead of time.

Alan works very closely with the writers and storyliners to strategise what our focus should be coming up. He’s the guy that’s out there on set filming behind-the-scenes and interviewing the cast. Alan is also the man who drags our amazing additional mini-dramas to life online. Directing the crew on the likes of Streetcar Stories and What Would Kirk Do?

And can you explain a little about the Prolific North Award that you and Alan Toner have been nominated for? When do you find out if you've won it? What will you do to celebrate if you do?
It’s amazing to be shortlist for Best Content Team in the Prolific North Awards. Alan and I really love what we’re doing and for that to be noticed is really very much appreciated. There is a real buzz and excitement around the media and creative industries in the North at the moment and to be included, in our small part, with that resurgence is very flattering.

We won’t find out if we’ve won until they read out the names on the night, but if we win I’m sure there will be some partying involved - it would be very rude not to.

What advice would you give anyone who is reading this who would like to get experience to enter the same type of career as you have?
Be friendly, work hard and don’t set yourself up to do just one thing. The more open (and brave) you can be to saying yes to jobs across all mediums, genres and platforms, the more well rounded you will be when you find the thing you want to do.

Social media didn’t even exist when I started working in TV - I remember working on a report about this new Twitter thing and thinking it would never catch on, and now I spend most of my week Tweeting for a living - it’s bonkers!

With our very best thanks to ITV and to Dan Archiband for this great interview. Cheers and good luck in the Prolific North Awards!
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Bring back Spider to Coronation Street

Am I the only Corrie fan who wishes they'd bring back Spider Nugent to the Street?

He's much missed and could do wonders in a storyline for Norris and Aunty Em.

Even better, bring Spider back with Toyah to set up a juice bar on Rosamund Street.

Want more on Spider? Have a look here and remind yourself just how brilliant Weatherfield's only eco-warrier was.

In praise of the Wonderful Wiki

Polish knicker stitcher Wiki Dankowska has been a part of the cobbles for almost a year since she turned up in February 2007. And what a year it's been. She was racially abused by gob-almighty Janice Battersby and witnessed the death of fellow Polish worker Katya in Underworld.

But this year could be Wiki's year and if the sun is smiling in the right direction on the factory floor, we could find out much more about the wonderful Wiki in the coming months. She keeps hinting at a past and a family in Warsaw and I'm hoping that we might find out more about both pretty soon. There's a lot more to Wiki than stitching and sewing, just you wait and see.

Coronation Street cast cast-offs for sale

Over at the online car boot sale that is eBay.com there's some Coronation Street cast cast-offs for sale as follows:

Sarah Platt's cardigan
Vera Duckworth's scarf
Craig Harris' t-shirt
Leanne Battersby's top
Cilla Battersby-Brown's blouse
Bet Lynch's ear-rings

FAQ: Where can I buy clothes worn on Coronation Street?

Now then, if I had a penny for each time I've been asked this question, I'd have, well, I'd have a lot of pennies. This is by far the most common question I'm asked - where can fans buy clothes like the ones worn on Coronation Street?

Whether it's Maria's frocks, Carla's coats or that black necklace which Liz McDonald wears, it seems there's enough curiosity out there for fans to want to wear the same thing. Anyone want to buy Maria's weddng scarab? Mind you, no one ever emails to ask where the wardrobe department shop for Janice Battersby's clothes. Can't think why.

Anyway, the only thing I can suggest is for fans to contact ITV in Manchester direct. The contact details are here and sometimes cast cast-offs are sold on eBay too.

More answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

Sean Tully - subtle or screaming?

Overjoyed as I was to finally see a gay man represented on national TV in a prime-time slot, I've never really taken to Sean Tully in Corrie. Reading Corrie fan forums online I know I'm not alone in thinking Sean is too OTT, too screaming, too camp, too much Antony Cotton. You might think differently, and if you do, I've love to read your comments.

But lately, Sean is growing on me and I'm sympathising and taking his side in this whole father of Violet's baby story too. When Antony Cotton plays Sean with subtlety and feeling, sharing his concerns with Marcus, there's a wonderful tenderness to Sean Tully that this fan much prefers. I once rated Sean as the new Bet Lynch and I still think Antony Cotton has it within him to make Sean a Street icon. Just as long as he doesn't start wearing leopard print.

NOW Magazine is a fan of this blog

I'm chuffed to bits, me.

Now magazine in Toronto, Canada, is a fan of the Coronation Street weekly updates and of this blog too. I'm over the moon and it's fair made my day.

Thank you very much indeed to the lovely people at Now for their comments about the blog, which read: "Witty and perceptive, it’s a must-read for any Corrie fanatic".

Guest writers on Coronation Street

Much is made - and rightly so - when an actor of repute not usually known for their work in soap turns up and does a guest stint on the Street, like this one did.

But what about having a guest writer for a week or an episode? And if it happened, who would you want to pen dialogue for your favourite Corrie characters? For this Corrie fan, I'd love to have an Alan Bennett episode with a sprinkling of lines for the likes of Rita and Liz.

Or maybe there should be a guest director once in a while. Could Corrie tempt Quentin Tarantino to direct Blanche in her very own Kill Ken routine wearing a yellow catsuit, one of Uncle Albert's old eye-patches and a samurai sword off the market?

Coronation Street Weekly Update, February 11 2008

Greetings and welcome to a heart-shaped update that’s ready and waiting for its Valentine’s bunch of flowers. But not the ones from the bucket outside the petrol shop, please no, not again. And so, without any further ado, here we go with this week’s Coronation Street update.

I trust you’re sitting reading this with your best titfer on and your buttonhole erect for we’re going straight to the wedding of Liam and Maria, or LiaMaria as I like to call them. Shame they didn’t serve TiaMaria at the reception, but you can’t have everything, so on we go.

It’s the day before the wedding and the factory girls are in party mood. Liam sends Vicky out with a tenner and tells her to buy cakes all round. Does that mean they had doughnuts? After cakes had been eaten and the sugar rush kicked in, Sean and the factory girls sprinkled Liam with rose petals and sent him home to prepare for his big day.

On the night before the wedding Maria heads off for a sleepover at Audrey’s, leaving the coast clear for Carla to slip round and give Liam something to think on. At Grasmere Terrace, Maria realises she hasn’t got something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. As Betty’s at home with her varicose veins, that’s taken the old, borrowed and blue out of the equation so she’s desperate to find summat else instead. Emily comes up trumps with the borrowed and the blue bit by offering Maria a blue scarab which her wonderful nephew, the gorgeous Spider Nugent, sent to her from abroad. What a lovely man he is, who could wish for a better nephew and isn’t it time he came back to Corrie? But I digress, as always when Spider’s name gets a mention.

Maria nips back to the Street to secure the scarab and spies Carla kissing Liam on the cheek. Maria had already had her suspicions fuelled that Cruella DiVorce was after her Liam when she found Carla with Liam in nowt but his pants and a hat after the lads tied him semi-naked to the Weatherfield Wayfarer bus stop on his stag night. It was a stag night that saw Kirk wearing a blue quiff hairdo wig and Steve McDonald sported a black and white hat. Hats, as you will see, are forming a theme in this week’s update and I’m keeping the very best hat for last. It’s even worse than that purple one of Deirdre’s she once wore for a wedding, but not the one that had the fascinator on the top. And that’s not something I’ve ever said in an update before.

The day of the wedding dawns and Maria’s in tears, she tells Liam she can’t go through wi’it because of Carla’s plotting and kissing and texting and snogging. Well, you can see why a girl could get upset. Audrey does her best with her “ooh, now, come on Maria my love” but Maria wants to speak to her groom. The guests fidget as they wait while the conflab takes place. Steve checks his watch and Kelly picks her teeth. Sally says she knew summat bad was going to happen because she’d seen a single magpie on the way to the church. And that’s never a good sign. Outside, while Maria’s having a heart to heart with Liam, his phone gets a message from Carla herself, telling Liam not to marry Maria when he can have her instead. You can’t blame the girl for trying, but Liam makes his choice and marries Maria. He, Liam Barrington Connor married her, Maria Jane Sutherland and did solemnly declare something about no lawful impediment to become joined in matrimony. Kirk did his bit and proudly walked his sister down th’aisle after telling her he was “in loco parentis”, a new phrase that he’d learned from Roy. Carla was in tears and stormed out of the reception in her hat. Yes, this is the very hat I mentioned earlier. It takes a special face to pull off a look like that and Carla managed it well. Think four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a hat and piled up on top of Carla’s head. And when the girls gathered to catch Maria’s bouquet, it was Sean’s arms it ended up in - a wonderful touch.


Elsewhere this week and away from the marital moans, Jason returned from Italy with a split lip after Sarah belted him one round the chops. He told Gail that their marriage had ended and went to the café to say sorry to Becky for doing a runner. He got another slap around the chops for that too, and although Roy has never been one to condone physical violence, even he admitted that it could have been deserved.

And finally, over at the Barlows’, it was Amy’s 4th birthday and there was cake, cards and some little friends at a party - but where was Michelle? She was out meeting her other son, Alex, neglecting Steve and Ryan. It’s time someone had a stern talk to that woman before she loses everyone she loves back at the ranch.

Coronation Street writers this week were Stephen Bennett, Jayne Hollinson, Debbie Oates and Julie Jones.

And that’s just about that for this week.

Glenda
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Blogging away merrily at http://flamingnora.blogspot.com/

Coronation Street podcast

I have now cast my latest pod (or have I podded my lastest cast, I'm never sure) at The Soap Show website.

Pin your ears back and settle down with your cuppa and listen in to the Coronation Street podcast right here.

Watch Corrie online from overseas

As well as the Corrie weekly updates, I also write a lovely monthly Coronation Street update for The Union Jack. It's the only nationwide British newspaper in the USA.

In this month's Union Jack, there are details of how you can watch Corrie - and loads of other British shows - on your computer. There is a very small fee - for more information visit The Telly.net

If you'd like to watch Corrie online from overseas, you can also try this.

Two more Corrie characters quit

Last week it was announced that Rob James-Collier was quitting Corrie in his role as Liam Connor. This week another two have been given the chop, according to the tabloids as Tom Hudson (Paul Duckworth) and Lucy Evans (Lauren Wilson) are set to leave. Who will be next?

Original Coronation Street plans for sale on eBay

The original drawings and plans for Coronation Street along with the drawings for the back alleys and the Barlows' house along with original scripts have gone up for sale on eBay.

Maria's wedding scarab

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. That's what Maria wanted for her wedding to Liam in the episode shown on Friday 8th Feb, and good old Aunty Em came up with the borrowed and the blue bit. She offered Maria a blue ceramic scarab that her nephew Spider had sent to her from Egypt.

It was a welcome reminder that Spider still exists somewhere out there in the blue (and borrowed) yonder. And if anyone's wondering what a blue ceramic scarab looks like, here it is and you can buy one here.

FAQ: How can I contact the people at Coronation Street?

Here's the answer to another one of the frequently asked questions I'm asked by email a lot. Many Coronation Street fans want to know how they can get in contact with the people at Coronation Street. Whether it's to request a photo of a cast member, to send a comment about a current storyline, to pitch a script or ask about charity link-ups, the only contact details I know about are those on the Granada Media website for the Manchester production offices. The details are on the website right here. However, if anyone knows more relevant contact details, do please email to let me know and I'll update this post to ensure fans are given the correct information.

FAQs: See also - Can I visit the Street set? and What was Corrie's first death?

Look-a-like: Carla Connor - the truth

Is Carla Connor a ladyboy in disguise?

My favourite Carla photo is the one at the bottom of this weekly Corrie update.

Michelle Connor's mum's Corrie connection

In this week's Coronation Street update I wondered where we had seen the actress and actor who have turned up to play Helen and Barry Connor. Well, Michelle Connor's mum, played by Sorcha Cusack has a face familiar to many a Casualty fan and she's got an outstanding acting pedrigee too.

But she's also half-sister to Catherine Cusack, who played Corrie's nanny from hell, Carmel Finnan.

Horronation Street

Spotted on th'web th'is week.

Coronation Street Weekly Update, February 4 2008

Greetings and welcome to another Coronation Street weekly update. This week the update is wearing its big hoopy gold-plated ear-rings from the market, in the hopes it’ll make it look sofistikated like what Becky in the caff does. And so, without any further ado, here we go with this week’s Coronation Street update.

This week Jack learned to cope with his grief on the Street. The widows of the parish who know a thing or two about living alone and getting on wi’it after losing a spouse decided to cheer Jack up and it’s not something he felt he was quite ready for. Emily offered to cook him a casserole and then Rita and Em took Jack to the pizza place where he’d have been a lot happier had they served him a pint instead of poncy plonk. Jack brought Vera’s ashes home and put her in pride of place in their living room. “Welcome home,” he told her, with a tear in his eye.

Elsewhere this week Kev was released from prison. He might have gone in there Neanderthal Man but he’s emerged as a New Man. If Sally’s not careful, he’ll be eating quiche next. Far from giving Rosie the ticking off she deserves over the fling with dull John, he sided with his daughter, gave her advice and said he’s going to be supportive of whatever she does next. He even offered to take her to the flicks once a week. Am I the only person who still calls them flicks? Anyway, Sally and Sophie aren’t best pleased with the attention that the new Kev lavishes on Rosie, and Sally’s well huffed that he’s not seen fit to turn his new fangled manliness in her direction just yet. But when he does try to show his sensitive side to his missus, Sal was not too happy and warned him off with: “Kevin, get touchy-feely in your own time. I’ve got work to do.”

So, with Rosie free to do what she wants next, with the full love and support from her dad, Kev turned a blind eye when Rosie went back to work at Underworld and undermined Sally’s posh school education. Acting as Carla Connor’s mini-me, Rosie threw herself straight back into the bear pit of stitching and bitching while making the tea and keeping Carla sweet.

Meanwhile, Carla’s nose was put out of joint when the Connor clan reunited as Helen and Barry flew in from Ireland. Helen and Barry are the ma and pa to Michelle and Liam, flown in specially for the wedding of their younger son while dishing out the vitriol to the widow of their other. No, there’s no love lost between Helen and Carla and Carla’s, like, “well I don’t care”, and “I never want to be a part of that family anyway” but you can tell she just, so, does. Helen and Barry look familiar, the sort of actor and actress you’ve seen on TV a few times before but you can’t place them right now, but that’s by-the-by. Audrey offered to put the two of them up at her place and got their room ready with her best duvet cover. As the Connors and Maria enjoyed a drink in the Rovers, Ma Connor regaled them with a tale of how a half pint of Guinness daily did her no harm when she was pregnant. She says drinking the black stuff is the reason why her kids all have glossy, black hair. Now, I know that can’t be true because if it was the Guinness, they’d also have a load of white froth on the top.

However, with Michelle’s mum and dad on the scene, this means that Michelle can’t tell them that Ryan’s not their real grandson. Now then, I’m no fan of this storyline but I appreciate that others might be, and so here we go. Michelle offered Ryan the chance to meet up with his real mam and dad but Ryan’s happy as he is and said he doesn’t want to know. But was Michelle happy to stay schtum about being someone else’s real mum? No, she’s flippin’ well not. She accosted young Alex after school, thrust her phone number on him and secreted him away in the back room of the pub when he came to find out just what the ‘eck’s going on. Steve wasn’t impressed by Michelle’s behaviour and do you know what, laydees and gentlemen? I’m not either.

Now then, I like Becky Grainger. I think she’s one of the best things on the Street and she lights up the screen when she’s on. She’s as rough as a badger and I think Corrie missed a trick by not casting her as the younger sister to the wonderful, but no longer seen, Yana Lumb. Becky got lucky with Jason this week and after getting him drunk when she caught him in a bad mood after a phone fight with Sarah, the two of them ended up in bed at Eileen’s. Next morning, Eileen was shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

There was Becky, brazen as brass sitting at Eileen’s breakfast table, smoking a fag and wearing Eileen’s dressing gown. But Eileen wasn’t as shocked as Audrey who spotted her grand-daughter’s new husband snogging Becky from the caff by the welcome mat first thing in the morning. And Audrey wasn’t as shocked as Gail was when she found out the news. And then, oh, then, a wonderful fight ensued on the cobbles as Gail and Eileen tore into each other verbally over Jason being unfaithful to Sarah. It took fat Jerry the kebab man to separate the two women and he led Gail into her house and out of harm’s way after Eileen called her “Janette Krankie”. Eileen took out her revenge on Gail’s hanging basket, smashing it to the ground. Oh, you should have seen what she did to those winter flowering pansies. When Jason came to his senses (aka sobered up) he took a guilt trip to Italy to see his Sarah. Back at the café, Becky was loved up and had fallen head over heels for Jase. She tarted herself up and bought a new top, the sort with no back, hardly any front and two tiny straps. “What do you think?” she asked Roy as she held the top against her chest in the caff. “Two poached eggs on toast,” said Roy, with his mind on bacon butties, not breasts. “Blimey Roy, where do you keep the rest of the Pussycat Dolls?” asked Fiz in disbelief when she saw Becky all tarted up with her new top on. I suspect this cultural reference to popular music bypassed Roy completely. Of course, Becky found out that Jason had gone looking for his broad aboard and then she sat at the bus stop waiting for the bus into town, all on her own, smoking a fag and wearing her new top. This got me thinking that if I was ever lucky enough to be an extra on Corrie, all I’d want to be is a passenger on the Weatherfield Wayfarer and smile out of the window as it trundled by on its way into town.

Elsewhere this week, Darryl tried to woo Lauren and loaned her fifty quid but got nothing in return, apart from thirty seven pounds fifty and a shifty look as she dumped him in the chip shop. Mel turned out nice in her police uniform and there was a wonderful shot of a digital camera taking a photo of Jerry, Darryl and Mel. If I knew anything about film making techniques, I’d have been dead impressed by that bit.

And in a scene that went nowhere but left a million things unsaid, Sean served Norris at the bar in the Rovers. “What’ll it be, love?” Sean asked Mr Cole. “Did you just call me love?” asked Norris, all miffed and confused. It was a wonderful scene. Is it time that Norris came out of the closet?

And that’s just about that for this week.

Coronation Street writers this week were David Lane, Jonathan Harvey, Jan McVerry, Carmel Morgan and Damon Rochefort.

Glenda

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Blogging away merrily at http://flamingnora.blogspot.com/

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