See Corrie's Curly in Fat Friends the Musical

Kevin Kennedy, who played Curly Watts in Coronation Street, is now starring live on stage in  “Fat Friends The Musical” at Leeds Grand Theatre.

It is an adaptation of a show which first hit television screens in 2000, following the lives of a group of overweight friends as they struggled with the absurdities of modern dieting. Running for five years on ITV, the show starred Alison Steadman, Gaynor Faye and Lisa Riley, and launched the careers of James Corden and Ruth Jones.

The musical stage version sees Natasha Hamilton (Atomic Kitten) taking on the role of Julia, Kevin Kennedy (Coronation Street) as Fergus, Yorkshire’s own Rachael Wooding (We Will Rock You) as Joanne, alongside Jonathan Halliwell (Let It Shine) as Paul and Chloe Hart (Hairspray) as Val. Yorkshire-born Neil Hurst plays Alan, and he was one of 13 men shortlisted to audition for the role of the overweight ambulance driver. The cast is completed by Jodie Prenger, Sam Bailey, Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff and Natalie Anderson.

Fat Friends was adapted for the stage by the drama’s original creator (and ex-Corrie writer / mother of Corrie actress Gaynor Faye) Kay Mellor.

Produced by Joshua Andrews and Adam Spiegel, with original music and songs composed by Nicholas Lloyd Webber, Fat Friends The Musical is packed full of warmth, life and...er...weight loss.

The show reunites our favourite foodie friends in an original musical bulging with hopes, humour and heart.

It runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday December 2. Visit leedsgrandtheatre.com or call 0844 848 2700 for tickets.

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Former Coronation Street writer criticises soap scripts

Kay Mellor was a Coronation Street scriptwriter in the 1980s. Speaking at a Masterclass session at the Haymarket Theatre in central London on Tuesday, she criticised current Corrie scriptwriting.

The MEN reports Kay said: “I just felt that the writing wasn’t as good as it used to be. I watched [the funeral scenes] and I have not watched Coronation Street for years. When I used to watch Coronation Street it was fantastic, they were just brilliant and I don’t think there is the craft there that there used to be. I did feel as if it was a missed opportunity.

“I did feel they were trying to crank up emotion and it was a false emotion. I should have been in a heap really, there should have been something more and I just felt as if it was engineered. It felt false somehow.”

Kay is mum to former Corrie star Gaynor Faye, who played Judy Mallett.  She slammed the show and described scenes filmed for Deirdre Barlow’s funeral this week as ‘engineered’ and ‘false’.

She added: “When I joined Coronation Street, I was the only female writer in the room, mainly it was men. I used to think I was the token woman.

“Those men were very powerful and knew their characters inside out and loved passionately writing for them and I used to read those scripts and believe you me those scripts used to be brilliant.”

Kay has also written BBC’s Fat Friends, ITVs Strictly Confidential and BBC drama The Syndicate.

While I think Kay brings up some interesting points in her argument, I do take issue with the bit where she says she hasn't watched Coronation Street for years. How then can she feel she can come in after years away from the show to criticise it? 

For this Corrie fans, the Deirdre funeral scenes were done beautifully, just lovely.  But they should have been separate from the other nonsense on the Street - the Callum storyline especially. It was horrible having Deirdre's funeral interrupted by comedy Callum and his Power Rangers pyjamas.

Last night's episode, written by Chris Fewtrell, had the intensity, drama and passion of a classic Corrie episode. The long dark night of the soul at the Barlows is an episode that will live on and be remembered.

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