This has made my day. As reported by Joe at Digital Spy, a
dedicated Coronation Street fan has launched a petition in protest at the
schedule being taken over by the football during the Euro 2020 qualifier
matches.
Between the 9th and 16th October
Corrie will be off-air and viewers aren’t happy. The petition reads:
“ITV
cancelling Corrie for football will ruin many people’s evenings and routines of
years and is unfair. Show earlier or later or on ITV2 is the better answer.
Sign this so ITV see the loyal fans are outraged”.
Oooh
they are. I hadn’t actually seen this snippet of news so I have to admit I’m
pretty miffed myself now. Let’s see if the powers that be take any notice of
the petition. You can sign it HERE.
After a tough few days on the cobbles, we get a rest tonight because of the football: England’s first Euro 2020 qualifier at home to the Czech Republic.
With next year's European Championship coming 30 years after the 1990 World Cup (the first major tournament I can remember), I’ve been getting nostalgic about football recently. It’s been a welcome distraction from the British political system collapsing in on itself like the roof of a Weatherfield knicker factory.
My reminiscing has also been driven by this week’s brilliant ITV two-parter, ‘Harry's Heroes: The Full English’ which featured some absolute football legends from the ’90s, but unfortunately no David Platt (62 caps, 1989–1996).
Nevertheless, I have often wondered if Weatherfield’s hipster hairdresser and/or England’s magic midfielder have ever stopped to think about ‘the other David Platt’.
Here are both David Platts in their England kits, back in the day:
Corrie’s David was born in December 1990, a few months after England’s heroic performance in Italia ’90. David was initially registered a Tilsley (I still don’t get that) but Martin Platt may have been playing the long game. In hospital, Martin joked to Gail that they should call him Gazza, so football was clearly on his mind.
Anyway, I enjoyed this scene on ITV3 the other week. It was originally broadcast on 1 November 1991, when Nicky was mad on football and Martin had arranged a trial with Ferndale Street under-11s. There is a nice David Platt reference:
Nicky was right – it wasn’t a header that the other David Platt scored in extra time against Belgium to clinch England’s place in the quarter-finals. It was a volley and what a fantastic goal it was:
David Platt (the footballer) was as clinical in front of goal as David Platt (the stylist) is with a pair of scissors. Happy memories and all thanks to Classic Coronation Street!
We don’t get many real life footy references in Corrie these days but it is nice to see some Weatherfield County supporters on the street and Kirk as the club mascot, Buzzer the Bee.
And perhaps it was Nick’s playing career at Ferndale Street that secured Tommy Orpington's attendance at the ‘Trim Up North’ launch earlier this month.
The launch went OK in the end. But now that the roof has caved in, I can’t see Tommy O agreeing to be Brand Ambassador for that new range of Underworld pants. I reckon it’ll be a ‘Tommy NO!’ for Nick.
I hope England are better on the pitch tonight than Nick Tilsley is at table football. When will Tommy Orpington be called up to the squad? All together now... “He's fast! He's mean! He likes a fruit machine! He's Tommy O! He's Tommy O!”
SAVE THE DATE COME AND JOIN ITV STUDIOS IN THE NORTH THURS 7th FEBRUARY 2019 @ 4 PM Do you want to come and work at the home of some of the UK’s best loved shows? ITV in the North makes some of the biggest programmes on TV including Cold Feet, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, 24 Hours in A&E, Judge Rinder, The Voice Kids, Tonight and University Challenge. This February we are holding a unique networking event for those with experience in senior editorial roles who are interested in joining our ITV family. The rapidly growing volume of commissions across ITV’s regional labels (Continuing Drama, Big Talk, Man Possessed, Shiver and Entertainment) means we are on the lookout for talented people to help join and develop the next generation of writers and senior programme makers. This event is your chance to say hello and tell us just why you want to jump on board. There will be sessions with our senior editorial executives, the chance to network with our creative, HR, Resourcing and Talent Teams and chance to make sure you’re on our radar for work opportunities with us throughout 2019. The session has limited availability so, if you’re interested in attending please submit your CV (including industry experience) by 7th January 2019. If your application is successful you will be contacted by one of the team offering you a place by 15th January 2019. We look forward to seeing you in February. Please note this evening is for senior level entry only, for entry levels roles such as Runners and Researchers we offer other avenues to showcase your talent. www.itvjobs.com or ITV Entry Level Careers http://www.itvjobs.com/workinghere/entry-careers All details at www.itvjobs.com See also: Christmas present ideas for Coronation Street fans Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
With thanks to Inside Soap magazine for this tantalising titbit this week. A special ITV show will see Coronation Street stars have their DNA tested. Then, members of the public who share a link will be invited to the Rovers Return on the Corrie set to meet their famous long-lost relatives. Stay tuned and we'll bring you more when we have it! Fancy writing a guest blog post for us? All details here! Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers
The article to the left was written recently by the TV presenter and longstanding Corrie fan Fern Britton. I wanted to share it here because her views chime with those expressed widely on this Blog over the past few months and especially this week. In my view, Fern hits the nail right on the head; Corrie just isn’t Corrie anymore. If you click on the image to enlarge it and then zoom in, the article should be legible. It's worth a read.
I've been writing for the Coronation Street Blog for four years now and I have always tried to apply the principle that if I can't blog something nice, then I shouldn't blog anything at all. That probably explains why I haven't written much recently!
However, watching Weatherfield’s vicar turn up at Church on Monday evening - not to take communion, but to take heroin - was the final straw for me and I had to speak out about the direction of travel my favourite soap is going in. It's the wrong direction.
It's not that I’m squeamish about a smack storyline - I’ve read a lot of Irvine Welsh! It’s just that this kind of thing doesn’t belong in Coronation Street. I'm also OK with dark drama but not six times a week after a hard day at work.
I have always said that I love Corrie because it is gripping drama juxtaposed by the very best of Northern wit. Sadly, that genuine warmth and humour that Coronation Street has always done so well is currently in short supply.
What a contrast to the Classic Coronation Street episodes being broadcast on ITV3. The episodes on at the moment date from 1987/88 and are an absolute joy to watch. They also bring into sharp focus just how far Corrie has strayed from its original charm and everything that we love about the show - the believable human relationships, the humour, and the reflection of real life that Fern Britton talks about in her article.
On Wednesday, ITV3 showed the episode in which Hilda Ogden left the street. I was only five when Mrs O departed and so it's been fantastic to see her on screen, albeit at the end of her run. The scriptwriters certainly don't make 'em like Hilda anymore.
A few hours later, over on ITV1, we saw Billy the Vicar score some more horse and throw up in his kitchen. Oh, and Bethany glassed some bloke with a beer bottle. Nevermind 'Eastenders' - both are scenes lifted directly from 'Trainspotting'. In a couple of weeks' time, we're going to have the David Platt storyline and that's hardly going to lift the mood!
Fern Britton mentions Mary Taylor, Roy Cropper and Ken Barlow as examples of characters with "that heart we love". Mary hasn't been seen much of late, Roy has disappeared and Ken is little more than a bit-part player these days. It's all looking a bit bleak. If he were still with us today, I'm not sure that Tony Warren would recognise what his beloved Corrie has become.
What do we reckon guys - is there a way out of the darkness? There must be, right?!! I hope so.
I'm a bit confused to be honest. As with many fans I was overjoyed to hear that ITV3 were to begin airing classic episodes of our beloved soap from 1986 onwards - this was the first time since the closure of the Granada Plus channel that we'd been treated to old eps and for fans like myself who weren't even born in 1986, this was going to be a real treat.
However, I do feel that the vast majority of Coronation Street fans probably won't even know that the episodes are airing following a multitude of faults on ITV's behalf when publicising (or rather not publicising).
Back when Granada Plus began repeating episodes back in 1996, it was with a blaze of promotion. Thelma Barlow fronted a special programme called Coronation Street: They're Back, introducing viewers to the characters and storylines of 1976 (see above video). Jean Alexander appeared in adverts on the channel, and within print posters too. The episodes were also cross promoted on ITV at the time.
On weekends, Granada Plus aired an omnibus of all of the classic episodes from this week, and frequently hosted themed weekends featuring just Christmas or Elsie Tanner centred episodes.
Fast forward to 2017, and what do we have? Classic episodes brushed off into a poor time-slot, a mid afternoon when most people are still at work, picking up kids from school or at university in my case. The repeats are the next morning - at 6am! When lazy uni students like me are asleep and everyone else is rushing about before their morning commute.
If it wasn't for me looking at TV listings a few weeks in advance, not even blog readers would have known that the episodes were going to be repeated. We broke the news on Twitter and soon enough the press picked up on it - but even then ITV didn't issue a proper press release. The official Coronation Street social media accounts haven't mentioned it either.
Thankfully for me, the classic episodes were being uploaded to the ITV Hub. They may have been listed alongside the 2017 episodes and confusing to find, but they were there, ready to watch whenever I could. Until they suddenly disappeared due to a supposed 'technical issue', and no more have been added since. I tweeted ITV Hub and apparently there are now no plans to upload them.
I'm finding this so disappointing because there will be many fans missing out for a number of reasons. Many won't be aware that they're even airing, whilst the rest of us are missing most of them due to the ridiculous time-slots and lack of online catch-up. I feel like this is ITV's way of saying "we gave you what you wanted, and it didn't work".
Us fans have waited so long for this, and now it feels like the repeats are written off before they've even really began. What a shame.
