Following on from my Connie Hyde feature, this is my report from a recent Corrie press event with the brilliant Joe Duttine.
Having met and interviewed Joe before (in 2014, still available here), I knew that he would give a great interview with interesting and thoughtful responses. Click away to avoid spoilers about Tim’s ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’.
With Sally in prison, Tim will find it difficult to get into the Christmas spirit this year. He will hit the bottle and Gina will offer a shoulder to cry on. However, unfortunately for Tim and Sally fans, she’ll be offering more than just a shoulder.
After a drunken kiss, Tim will wake up on Christmas Eve with a massive hangover. That’s the Street Cars Christmas do for you! Gina will be next to him. She will roll over and look up to see a photo of Tim with Sally on their wedding day. Tim’s memory will be hazy, but he fears he has done something terrible.
According to Joe, Tim “can’t believe it” … it is “devastating for him thinking that he’s cheated on his wife”. It is not clear whether Tim and Gina will actually have ‘done the deed’. Much like Sally’s fraud case, we will have to wait to discover the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Joe Duttine was very honest in saying that he had hoped Tim and Sally’s would be one Corrie relationship that would remain safe: “I wanted to protect it because, as actors, you put a lot of time into your characters and your relationships… you do feel quite protective over them because you get positive feedback, and I think Tim and Sally are a likeable couple”. He’s not wrong.
What Joe enjoys most about Tim and Sally is that “they’re monogamous and they love each other and they’re loyal to each other. They don’t get cheap fixes by going off and having affairs.” However, Joe acknowledges this is the world of soap and so there has to be “some kind of conflict and drama from somewhere”.
Joe was very clear that “it would have been wrong for Tim to play it as though there was any kind of sexual tension” with Gina, saying, “I really didn’t want to play it like that… and I hope that’s how it comes across”. Tim may have been a bit naive, but he thinks Gina is just being nice to him.
Regarding Sally’s court case, Joe thinks a lot of it would have gone over Tim’s head, leaving him “confused and vulnerable, which is probably why this ends up happening”. In Joe’s view, Gina has “got him when he’s weak”.
Tim will soon realise that Gina “is quite calculating and has got a bit of a screw loose”. Tim will set off to ‘confess’ to Sally in prison on Christmas Day. “You’ve got to suspend your disbelief for a minute, laughs Joe, “because I’m not too sure if you’re allowed to do that!” Well, I’ve checked the visiting info for HMP Norcross, Weatherfield and it seems legit…
“He feels as if he owes her the truth”, says Joe … “he can’t keep a lie”. So, Tim “throws caution to the wind and goes to tell her on Christmas Day.” I don't know if he will reveal much, but we can expect “a moment between them”.
Will Sally ever be able to forgive Tim’s possible indiscretion? “I don’t think so”, responds Joe... “it’s pretty unforgiveable.” He reckons the reaction from fans will be mixed. “Some’ll be ‘fair enough, she’s a bit of a nightmare’… and some viewers might completely turn against him”. Joe Duttine is renovating his house in Sheffield and when he goes down the builders’ yard, they tell him to dump Sally and “get one of the other ones”. I disagree with those builders… I’m Team Sally all the way!
The Daily Star is running a campaign to ‘Save Our Sally’. Emulating the ‘Free the Weatherfield One’ campaign of 20 years ago, the paper recently sent a delegation to Downing Street to petition Theresa May. I doubt they got very far, as the Prime Minister is pretty busy trying to save herself right now.
Joe says that Tim has got to get Sally out of prison because “he can’t cope on his own”. When Paula explains that Sally’s only hope is a confession from Duncan, Tim will take matters into his own hands. According to Joe, “he goes to the wire a bit”, although he does not consider Tim to be “a deliberate lawbreaker”. I’m not sure the Police will agree after Tim’s recent violation of the drink-drive limit, not to mention his previous arrest for assaulting Duncan.
I got to ask a few fan questions in this interview. I wanted to know what has happened to Tim’s home brewing, a question that I raised in my blog to mark ‘Beer Day Britain’. “Yeah, bring it back”, enthused Joe… “Bring the window round back, bring all that stuff back… all those interesting vocations… I love all that.” Joe Duttine said that these are “nice little characterful things”, but that “the show is so story driven these days that sometimes the character stuff slightly gets put to one side”.
I also asked about working with Simon Gregson, which Joe thinks is great. He loves the “taxi rank blokey banter” and says, “I’d like to see a bit more of it and I think the viewers would like to see a bit more of that. It’s just light-hearted stuff. There needs to be a bit of light and shade in the show… and [to] just see characters talking nonsense. If you’re invested in the characters, and you like the characters, you’ll sit there watching them talk about the wallpaper.” Agreed!
Christmas dinner will be eventful at number 4. Tim, Gina, Yasmeen and Geoff will be tucking into their meal when Sophie breaks the news that Gina has been meeting up with Duncan. Gina will admit she is in love with Tim. “It’s not the happiest house on Christmas Day”, says Joe.
Joe told us there is “some interesting stuff happening in the New Year”. He can’t see the relationship between Gina and Sally being repaired and feels that the friendship between Tim and Gina will be destroyed. Personally, I hope that Tim does not commit adultery this Christmas and that Sally can forgive a foolish kiss, just as Tim did between her and Kevin.
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