Summer of Love?

I don’t know about you but ten minutes out in this heat and I’m a hot sweaty mess and the last thing on my mind is sex. Ok it’s maybe not the LAST thing... Anyway going off recent reports it’s far from the last thing on the minds of some Coronation Street residents as the days grow ever longer and we approach what looks set to be a steamy few months finally out of lockdown.

OK magazine speculated the other day that stepdaughter and thorn in Jenny’s side Daisy could be on the lookout for love this summer. She’s been on the periphery of storylines since she arrived and while I’ve enjoyed her catty comments and troublecausing, she’s yet to really make her mark on the cobbles. Here’s a hoping a summer of mischief gives actress Charlotte Jordan some scenes - and perhaps men - to sink her teeth into.

It’s been hard to portray any real romance or bedroom shenanigans over the past year for obvious reasons. Purposefully walking toward the same door with a raised eyebrow and a smirk is as much as we’ve been offered lately, most recently from Tyrone and Alina, who have been at it like rabbits, and last night Gary and Maria were doing the come-to-bed-eyes routine. Some of these scenes sent Corrie fans reaching for the sick bucket. I quite like it as it balances out the murders, gangsters and other serious stuff quite nicely.

Vera Duckworth was always trying to lure Jack into bed and while he put up a good fight, he often lost the battle and succumbed to his persistent wife's advances. Telly gold. 

Anyway with my own love life about as interesting as a lateral flow test but without the excitement of the gag-reflex kicking in as the swab hits the tonsils, I’m now going to live vicariously through the sex lives of our Weatherfield friends by speculating who might be hopping on top of who this summer...

Dev and Bernie

Some people just don’t look right together. Charles and Diana. Donald and Melania. Kermit and Miss Piggy. The news that Bernie is setto get closer to Dev is no surprise as they’ve been getting friendly for a while now. But I just can’t picture them together long term. That said Bernie has calmed down a lot since her arrival and is now slightly less like a character from Shameless and certainly settling in well. Maybe she is in it for the long haul. Poor Dev.

Speaking of Dev. He had another close shave with Sharon recently. 

No. Just no.

Jenny and Ronnie

Here we'd be going from Jenny and Johnny to Jenny and Ronnie which is of course ridiculous. These two have already done the deed, and again, I didn’t see it at first. But now they definitely have some chemistry between them and I can kind of see it going somewhere. 

If she doesn’t want him I’ll gladly step in.

Peter and Carla

Ok yes he’s just had a new organ inserted but did you see the love between them before he went into surgery? After everything they’ve been through it looks like Corrie’s power couple could be about to put everything behind them and finally be happy. He might be in recovery for a while but surely the romance between Carla and Peter will be something to look forward to later this year. They both deserve it.

Asha and Nina

I have no idea if this would ever happen but Asha getting with Nina, then splitting up, then Nina getting with Seb before Cory killed him all seemed to happen very quickly. They aren’t on good terms right now but there’s definitely more to explore with both their sexualities, and perhaps there’s still love between them. Nina appeared to be asexual at first, then gay, then we found out she’s bisexual. It would definitely be good to see bisexuality explored on Corrie.

Sally and Tim

Corrie’s resident sex pots are usually good for a bit of slap and tickle. When they aren’t falling out they seem to be falling into bed or a hot tub and it’s hilarious, they are a great double act. Last week we saw Sally getting into a bit of role play when Tim arrived home…with his mum. This is just the kind of camp silliness I watch Corrie for.

Debbie and….

After seeing her ex lover and business partner Ray banged up, Debbie is now getting on with her life and by all accounts seems to have been forgiven by those she wronged. I’d love Sue Devaney to stay in Corrie long term, and if she does, surely some love interests are in the pipeline. Operation Find Debbie a Man starts here…

George and Eileen

Just get on with it is all I have to say about this one. George has been a great addition to the cobbles and I can really see the pairing with Eileen Grimshaw, she’s a Corrie stalwart and it’s about time she settled down. Chop chop.

There's a conversation to be had about the love lives of Rita, Ken, Audrey and some of our other more senior favourites. Until things get back to normal and this virus does one there's not much chance of that, but it's definitely never too late to find love and I hope that's the case again for some of these characters at least. 

Stay safe and enjoy your summer Corrie fans.

@StevieDawson

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Corrie & COVID {Part 3 of 3} - 6 things we learnt on Corrie Press Day

After an hour of corrie cast chat, techy talk, and filming secrets, the corrie zoom press call came to an end. I closed my laptop down and had ten minutes of quiet contemplation. Planning these blog posts, I thought I'd split it in three, and save the best until last!

Do scroll down to the end where I give you my 6 most important corrie COVID facts I learnt on attending this virtual press day event!

Series producer Iain Macleod was most contemplative and impassioned when asked about how COVID-19 has affected the writing process "The storylines are still the same on the whole with a couple of exceptions. What we have had from people who have read the new script, if you did not know these have been simplified, you’d never know. It doesn’t feel like compromised Corrie but classic Corrie so it was reassuring to hear. We needed to stay true to what it is and not turn it into a soap version of a medical drama or cinematic pandemic film. It will subtly reflect the world we live in now"

Iain also gave us juicy insight into a stunt that is still being filmed (despite COVID 19) using camera trickery "We are embarking on a post-pandemic cast stunt. Two characters will look like they are in close jeopardy and right on top of each other but will be 2 metres apart at all times, we are currently looking into how that will play out"

Iain was also asked about Corrie's 60th celebrations and how they would be affected by the pandemic?

"What we have had to strip out for our 60th is the Hollywood spectacular elements as we didn’t have time to build and install what we had originally planned. What we have discovered beneath the spectacular is a strong community story which has resurged under lockdown. There’s a real sense of street community now. We’ve got a huge human interest story which emerges from something on-screen which has been engaging. A classic soap love triangle is also in there and we still have some unmissable storylines. If we do lockdown again, we will still have those episodes, it will just transmit later. But I'm confident we can have some classic Corrie episodes for the anniversary and Christmas"

My 6 most important Corrie facts I learnt on attending this press day event;

1. Location filming is suspended indefinitely! Corrie bosses have said that if any sets need building - they can build them on-site!

2.COVID-19 shall be first referenced on-screen from July 24th.
It's been promised that this will be a 'light touch' as opposed to anything serious or hard-hitting, and will be reassuringly familiar!

3. Corrie's 60th celebrations are still planned to air in December

4. We shall have 3 episodes a week for some time yet, although 6 episodes a week is the long-term plan, post-pandemic.

5. 'Britain's Got Talent' Final week Corrie spectacular is not happening in 2020. The drama that was planned specifically for that week shall be pushed forward to later this year.

6. Some older cast members will be featured in storylines on-screen via facetime, zoom, and video calls

Huge thanks to our editor Glenda Young for letting me zoom in and join this privileged event! If you enjoyed this, I do write weekly episode reviews of Wednesday's Corrie and the occasional opinion piece. I am @rybazoxo your cobbles connoisseur and budding corrie-ologist!

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Corrie & Corona - the lockdown lowdown! Press Day Interviews {Part 1 of 3}

As a devout Corrie fan (as I imagine you are, reading this), the last 3 years for me, have been peppered with surreal Corrie moments, when writing for this Blog. As I write this, the world is a funny place, and Corrie has (and has always) remained that mainstay and salve, the constant we all cling on to. 

Having attended a few of these press days in the past, I've had to contain childlike excitement when Audrey Roberts paused for a chat (not to me!) at studio reception, Pat Phelan pounced on us on a private set tour, and I once said a cheery ‘good morning’ to David Neilsen who was in full Roy Cropper costume! So many Corrie moments to cherish and this week was no exception! 

Last Wednesday 10th of June I was invited to my most surreal Corrie press day yet! My first ever zoom call (no pressure, then) with about 30 journalists/entertainment writers, John Whiston (JW) (Managing Director of Continuing Drama and Head of ITV, North), series producer Iain MacLeod (IM) and Corrie cast members Ben Price (Nick Tilsley) and Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby). 

An hour of juicy gossip, Corrie COVID chat, storyline secrets and insider knowledge means that this is a three-part blog post (I could have done six but we are getting used to three now, right?), and believe me, you cannot miss this. In this first part, we interview Corrie head honchos Iain Macleod and John Whiston who give us the lowdown on what lockdown has been like in the world of Weatherfield.

How has Corrie been affected by social distancing? 

JW - "We’re maintaining 2m distance, we have poles going around and have divided our filming units into cohorts – they stay in the same studios, using their own equipment. We also have one way systems through the building which are colour coordinated. We were going to do blue and red but someone pointed out there are too many football tribalisms in Manchester! We have brought in minimal crews so keeping numbers low of people on set. Crews used to be 30-40 in size but now we have 12-15 people on set and that includes cast’’

IM - “How on earth do you make a programme about social interactions, romance, someone punching someone in the Rovers adheres to social distancing? It’s been incredibly challenging. We’ve stripped everything back to what soap originated with – brilliant dialogue played brilliantly by an extremely talented cast. We’ve taken out all essential prop interactions, we’ve taken eating and drinking out. We’re losing kissing, hugging, holding hands which provide challenges. We had a scene in a pre-pandemic universe that required a character to try and kiss another which is now not acceptable. So the writer had to craft it and made the come on verbal – it works equally well. It’s a challenging time for everyone who works on the show but everyone has risen to the challenge"

How has filming on location been affected? 

IM - "All location filming is suspended indefinitely. Essentially, we know the measures we put in place are enforceable and safe. We have it all nailed down here where we feel we have minimised risk. It’s much better to keep things here to make sure everyone is safe"

JW - "If there is something we might have done off site – say if we need a courtroom, which we might need to {that’s not a spoiler by the way} we can just build one."

Will we see any time jumps pre/during/post virus scenes and storylines? 

IM - “Yes – it was a tricky conundrum. Much of it was written and shot before the pandemic – so the remaining scenes will be shot strictly adhering to the new measures and guidelines in place. Fictionally it created a world where people were half acknowledging and half not which would have been weird. In episodes on 24 July, they are the first ones where they acknowledge the pandemic there. It’s just like the flip of a switch, a day/night transition. We agonised over it but I think the audience understands and will go with it. The wrapping paper has changed but its still the gift of corrie. We will also see a lot of washing hands, social distancing conspicuously, people talking about older relatives who are being shielded upstairs in bed or out of the way. A lot of our businesses will be operating as takeaways but it’s possible that Roy’s café can open by the time they air but it was safer to bet on people not being able"

So what do we think so far, Corrie fans? Delighted that Corrie will acknowledge this horrendous world event, they've no choice, right? Or, do we close the curtains and imagine none of this is happening, people drinking in the rovers return bar, lovers masquerading in trysts, and nobody acknowledging the real world, at all? For obvious reasons, the latter couldn't happen anyway, so I think we are getting the best of it all, the only other option being it goes off-air and I cannot imagine that to be honest!

To Be Continued... 

I am @rybazoxo your cobbles connoisseur 

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Towards a new Corrie normal

I was planning to write a blog post about how my relationship with Coronation Street has changed since this time last year. It was going to be titled “Corrie is what happens while you're busy making other plans” because although I had started to drift apart from my favourite programme, I never imagined a situation where Corrie might go off air.

But when COVID-19 hit and ITV pulled production, this was suddenly a possibility. Indeed, Corrie fans were facing a Weatherfield-shaped hole in the TV schedule from the end of June. 

It now looks like this scenario will be avoided. If all goes well with the resumption of filming today, Coronation Street will continue with three episodes per week in July. This is good news. I may have partially cut the Corrie apron strings but I really would miss it if it stopped.

Earlier this year, my Mum – the other great constant in my life – sadly passed away. She was diagnosed with cancer a year ago and we lost her in January. So, while all this was going on, Corrie went from being an instrumental part of my life to something much more incidental. It was still there in the background, but I just didn’t fancy escaping my own life to tune in to difficult storylines like Paul’s historic child abuse, Carla’s psychosis and of course Sinead’s battle with cancer. These are all important subjects, but not ones I wanted to distract myself with. So, I switched off.

I associate Coronation Street with my Mum. Watching it now is tinged with sadness because we can’t talk over the storylines and discuss all the spoilers like we used to. But the show must go on and I’m pleased to say I’ve been enjoying Corrie in recent months. Things aren’t much lighter in Weatherfield but there are still plenty of lovely bits in between the relentless issue-based bits.

Over the past few weeks, Evelyn and Arthur’s friendship has provided some sweet exchanges between two terrific actors. Roy and Nina are great too, and the recent Cradle of Filth reference was a nice touch. The band certainly enjoyed it judging by the tweet below, which was picked up by the metal magazine Kerrang!

Tonight, we made a guest appearance on #Corrie 🤣🤘@itvcorrie #CradleofFilth pic.twitter.com/HeXEXl6WfP

— Cradle of Filth (@CradleofFilth) May 20, 2020

And although it’s a horrible storyline, I did enjoy this conversation between Sally and Tim last week: “Your Dad’s been seeing escorts” … “What, is he after a new car?” Classic Corrie!

It feels normal to be watching Coronation Street again and it has provided me with comfort during the coronavirus pandemic. As noted by many on this site, three episodes a week is much more manageable. I’ve been able to miss a whole week and catch up in my dinner hour! And last night’s unintended two-day cliffhanger over Yasmeen's plea was truly gripping.

Corrie has been part of my lockdown routine in other ways too. It’s been tough balancing working from home with constant childcare, but I have really improved my Play-Doh skills since March. I’ve made many characters from children’s TV for my daughter and the odd politician for colleagues at work. I’ve now branched out into Corrie characters. Look, here’s Bet Lynch!

Another hobby I’ve taken up is colouring. In 2016, ITV published an official Coronation Street colouring book featuring classic scenes from the show’s history. Glenda, the esteemed editor of this Blog, chose the images and wrote the descriptions for the scenes, as well as the introduction to the book. In fact, I bought it for my Mum that year for Christmas and she loved relaxing with her Corrie colouring.

I was also given a copy as a very thoughtful Secret Santa present at work. After nearly four years, I have finally made a start on it with this picture of the Newton and Ridley sign on the side of the Rovers:

I can see why adult colouring is so popular and I look forward to tackling some more complex scenes. I’m going to stick with Coronation Street as I continue to adapt to the new normal in my life. Whatever happens, Corrie will always be a part of who I am, and I hope it will always be there.

My Mum loved hearing about my visits to the Corrie set with this Blog and she was the only person in the world who read all my posts! She’d say lovely but ludicrous things like “I can see you becoming a writer for Corrie one day.” I can’t, but if I were at the story conference in Salford Quays today, I’d support the approach of referencing coronavirus on screen. It can’t be ignored. Nor should it be.

That said, it would be nice if we could have a few things to smile about among the public health reminders and two-metre spaced queues outside Co-op. So, here are my top ten plots to pitch for the new normal in Weatherfield:

• Compulsory face coverings on public transport. Hopefully, the residents of Coronation Street will continue to avoid non-essential travel (most of them work within walking distance of where they live, right?) but key workers such as nurse Aggie Bailey could be seen boarding the Weatherfield Wayfarer or alighting the tram at Weatherfield North in a mask. I’m not sure who the current Mayor of Weatherfield is, but I reckon a policy like this would need to be rolled out across Greater Manchester by Andy Burnham.

• The Government needs to step up its efforts to get track and trace up and running. Perhaps a pilot in Weatherfield might be on the cards. Jenny Connor would be a good volunteer to test out this new technology – she knows a thing or two about tracking apps.

• Talking of Jenny, how about a virtual Rovers pub quiz when the Connors return from France? They’ll have to do 14 days in quarantine first, mind.

• While the Connors are self-isolating, Carla could use her negotiating skills to lead the campaign for a one-metre social distancing rule to safeguard the survival of the Rovers.

• If Sean is currently furloughed from the Rovers and/or Underworld, then maybe he could broadcast a kitchen disco live from Eileen’s, a la Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

• Kirk could stream lockdown gigs from his front room. Who wouldn’t want to tune in to see live acoustic versions of ‘Our Souls’ and ‘A Nice Pair of Puppies’ over Zoom?

• Peter is a Barlow. He has a Barlow soul. I’d like to see him take up poetry but more successfully than his old man. I can picture Peter as a Mancunian punk poet: a cross between Tony Walsh and John Cooper Clarke, with a bit of Barry Kent from the Adrian Mole series circa 1985-87.

• Here’s an idea – how about David stops running to escape from violent situations of his own making and simply runs for pleasure with Craig? While observing social distancing, obviously.

• Let’s see Yasmeen’s trial conclude (via video-link?) with the book finally thrown at Geoff. Hard.

• And please, let’s have some happiness. I’d like to see Evelyn and Arthur meet up at the Red Rec with flasks of tea and fold-up chairs for dates from a distance. That would be nice.

It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how Corrie continues in the Coronavirus Street era. I hope the return to filming is successful and that all cast and crew, and bloggers and commentators here, stay safe and well. Let me know what you’d like to see when Corrie returns. And if you’ve got any requests for Corrie characters sculpted from Play-Doh, please tweet them in my direction @mpleay!

I’d like to dedicate this blog post to the memory of my Mum, Glenys (1949-2020). She was a wonderful woman and although taken from us too soon, we were blessed to have her in our lives. I hope you can still watch Corrie, Mum, wherever you are. 

By Martin Leay

Twitter @mpleay

Corrie Blogs @ bit.ly/corriemartin

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