Coronation Street Blog Interview with Tristan Gemmill

On Monday I headed down to Sheffield station, confident that I would be in plenty of time to get to The Lowry Theatre in Media City, for a special screening to which Emma and I had been invited. It soon became evident that my confidence was misplaced after not one, but two trains were cancelled. Panic growing, I was willing train number three to go as fast as it could. Straight onto a tram and to Media City and The Lowry to find Emma right at the front of the screening room with a seat saved for me. Thank you Emma!

The screenings were edge of your seat stuff. So much to look forward to with plots brilliantly crafted along with twists and turns making what might have been considered irrelevancies, being anything but.

After the screening we were allocated tables in readiness to interview the cast involved in the upcoming explosive episodes. The table arrangements made for more intimate, less formal interviews. The cast seemed more relaxed too with this new arrangement and it was all the better for it.

Robert Preston, played by Tristan Gemmill, is the chef at the bistro, and was once a carpet fitter. He plays an integral part in the whole Tracy, Carla, Nick story line, chiefly because in a moment of euphoric madness at the casino, Carla and Robert slept together, to Carla's almost immediate regret. This mistake, which Tracy found out about, set in motion a chain of fear of disclosure, bribery, a hasty sale of Nick's Bistro, a wedding, the possible purchase of a restaurant in Devon, followed by a move down there by Carla and Nick to  begin their new life.

Robert, you will remember, met up again with Tracy, his ex-wife, at his former mother-in-law's funeral. When Deirdre died, Robert was married to Joni, but claimed to Tracy that he was in love with her and always had been. Their relationship rekindled, it seemed that Robert was indeed in love with Tracy and so  he comes to live with Tracy, Ken and Amy.

As Nick and Carla's wedding draws ever nearer, Carla is only too aware that at any moment her nemesis could wreck her life.  The bistro is decked out tastefully ready for the ceremony, and the guests are gathered, when Tracy bursts in to reveal that it was Carla who stumped up the money to give to Tracy to give to Robert, for Robert to go ahead with his ambition to buy the bistro. Carla, keen to proceed with the ceremony sees all too clearly that her attempt to buy Tracy's silence has failed.

Robert is outraged that Tracy could pull a stunt such as this and for him, it is a step too far. This spiteful, malicious attempt to destroy the dream Carla and Nick were beginning to believe would come to fruition, is too much for Robert. Despite Tracy's desperate attempts to hang on to him, Robert packs his bag, apologises to Ken and heads off. Notably, Ken makes no attempt to persuade him to stay. Tristan confirmed that for now, at least, Robert and Tracy are over. Robert has discovered just how conniving and sinister Tracy can be. It is so intriguing though, that he said 'for now' -  but for now, that is as much as I know.

Robert, Tristan said, will throw himself into his work at the bistro and try to make it as successful a business venture as he possibly can.

Tristan said that he is delighted to be on the cobbles and was full of praise for everyone involved. He finds it fascinating to now know the inside track of a show he has only ever known from the outside as a viewer. He stated that he thought that Coronation Street is 'The Rolls Royce of the genre.' and I for one will not be arguing with that assessment. Tristan has no plans to leave and is very much enjoying his time on the cobbles. I asked him if he might enlighten us as to the possibilities of a romance with Leanne. After all, the rumour mill has been churning out this possibility for some time. In return, I was granted a wry smile...

Ruth Owen, twitter @Ruth1722


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The Secret of Soaps: Cast and crew on how Corrie is created

Last night the Royal Television Society hosted 'The Secret of Soaps - The Story Behind the Stories' - a panel discussion and Q&A with Tina O'Brien (Sarah-Lou Platt), scriptwriter Debbie Oates, Producer Stuart Blackburn and MD of Continuing Drama at ITV John Whiston. Also in attendance, secretly sitting behind me was actress Sair Khan (Alya Nazir).

The idea of the event was to pull apart a typical episode of Coronation Street and discuss all the different cogs that make up the big Corrie machine. The cast and crew actually decided on the recent live episode - a not so typical one - as it was one they were particularly proud of, and of course Tina O'Brien's performance received much praise.

After watching a montage of the past year in Corrie, John Whiston kicked things off by reaffirming the show as one of "strong women and feckless men" (see my blog from Tuesday) and that he at ITV and all the writers remain true to Tony Warren's initial ideas. Stuart Blackburn picked up on a question by the host Paul Jackson on the longevity of Coronation Street and how storylines are concluded. He explained how once a particular story comes to its conclusion that is not necessarily the end of the story. As was seen with the fire at Carla's flat, the repercussions for different characters last far beyond the main event. Stuart also discussed the state the show was in when he took the reins as producer, and how he hopes to leave it when he finally moves on. He claimed despite his dislike of certain characters or storylines, the media speculation of cast 'culls' is always exaggerated and he preferred to work on the basis of evolution not revolution. 

The panel then touched on the beginning and end of a particular character's time on Coronation Street, Stuart and John both referring to the soap 'Gods'. Using David Platt as an example, they discussed his wayward character coming into adolescence and there was concern from some of the team that there was nowhere realistic for his character to go. So the soap Gods dictated that he was headed for either jail or death if he didn't change. Luckily for David, and Jack P Shepherd, they took him down the route of love which allowed him to grow up and change his priorities, and he became the central character we see today.

Debbie Oates then revealed a little secret regarding the demise of another character - Richard Hillman. She reminisced about being a young writer, attending Coronation Street story conferences for the first time. Back then it was more difficult for the younger, more junior writers to get heard around the table and put their ideas across, even more so if you were a woman. One particular conference was discussing the ongoing Hillman storyline and the team were struggling to agree on an end game for him and the Platts. Debbie, hidden among the primarily male writing team piped up with a question - "Is Richard the type of man who would take his own life and take the family with him?". No response. After struggling to get heard, a male colleague repeated the question on her behalf, and the team finally listened. The rest, of course, is history, although Debbie was never credited with the idea.

The panel continued to focus on the Platt 'dynasty', how Sarah-Lou had been born on the show and now had a daughter of her own, something very strange for all concerned and a fact which made most of the room feel very old. Tina O'Brien described her discussions about returning to the show, and how it should have been much sooner, but the small matter of having a baby got in the way. She was asked about what she was expecting on her return in terms of workload and storylines. She didn't know what to expect, but she knew it would either be a very low key, short term thing, or the opposite, and we have seen on our screens that the latter is the case.

Tina also shared with us her experiences during the live episode, describing the adrenaline and pressure as quite enjoyable. She said that having those intense scenes with Callum Logan (Sean Ward) involving high emotion and choreography, was much preferable to having more normal scenes with a series of scripted lines, as the physical strain of the fight scenes allowed them to cover up any nerves they may have had. Once one scene had finished during the live episode, Tina admitted to doing a few star jumps, asking the crew how the rest of the episode was going, and trying to keep her eyes watering for the next scene. She also shared that Paula Lane, who plays Kylie, stood with a real spanner (the murder weapon) held stretched out in front of her between scenes so that her arms were tired when they started filming again, all to add to what was a brilliant series of scenes.

Moving on from the Platts, Stuart and Debbie went back to their thoughts on the future of Corrie and the potential stars of that future. Referring to the recent history of the Barlows, they praised young actress Elle Mulvany, likening Amy to Blanche and pondering what will happen to the character in the years to come. This took Stuart back to the forward planning element of his job, where even though they only work on episodes a few months ahead, he's always thinking in the much longer term.

Debbie also touched on how the past can sometimes dictate future stories even when the old story has come to it's final conclusion. They described how during a story meeting some time ago, the shooting of Ernie Bishop came up in conversation. Debbie realised it was roughly the time for the gunman to be released from prison, and it was decided to make a story out of it, even all those years later. It was also mentioned that this element of such a long running programme can also trip them up, as was highlighted on the Coronation Street blog, when a line in a script suggested it had been forgotten that Kevin Webster had had a baby that had died. The archivists come in useful in these types of situation but there is noone specifically employed to look how new storylines can be linked to old ones. 

At the end of the discussion, the audience were given the opportunity to ask the panel some questions. They revealed some interesting thought processes and unknown facts regarding certain storylines and characters:

- Carla Connor (Ali King) has always been a popular character according to polling, but she was failing to reach that iconic recognition and Corrie bosses were curious as to why this was. After much discussion, it was decided that even with the most gripping storylines, Carla was missing a more human, emotional side, and this is why it was decided that she would gravitate toward Roy and Hayley - partly to give Carla another dimension. They felt the character deserved that progression.

- "If the scene is about what the scene is about, you've written a crap scene" - a quote from Debbie Oates. We had watched a clip from the live episode where Roy and Carla were discussing his fears on 'moving on' from Hayley's death. They discuss trains, paddling, journeys. It's beautiful and shows the intricacies of not being to too blatant with the text. Here's that scene.

- Tina talked us through her live scene with Callum and how the fight itself, where they should stand, how it would play out, was not written with stage directions. A choreographer came in and talked through the scene with the actors, and they choroeographed it all themselves. Debbie added that she never likes to write stage directions for things like fights. In fact she likes to write 'they all fight' in the script then go to the pub, hilariously adding that she wished she'd written the script for Titanic - 'The Titanic sinks...' - pub time.

- In the original script for the end of the live episode, written by Debbie, a camera on a large crane was planned to rise above the whole of the street revealing each of the live scenes across the set. It was wishful thinking for Debbie, the idea was too difficult to put into practice and the shot would have revealed half of Salford's Media City in the background.

- Stuart Blackburn took issue with the idea (as stated on the RTS website) that 'Corrie is the richest training ground for budding writers, directors, designers and producers'. Stuart said this is rubbish and that all the great talent goes to Corrie once it has been established. He stressed how difficult it is to become a Corrie writer and suggested anybody who wants to send in their CV, better have a pretty hefty list of credits to their name.

Our blogger Stevie Dawson at the event!

I believe the event was filmed so I will try and get hold of a link to the video soon. You can also see a Twitter feed of quotes and updates from the event here.

The RTS have a review and article about the event - you can read it here.

@StevieDawson 

Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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First scenes filmed on new Coronation Street set

The move's made been and the new Coronation Street set at Media City is open for business this week.

Cast and crew at Corrie have been tweeting and posting pics online this week after our favourite show starts filming from its new location.

Here are a couple of "firsts" tweets:

Georgia May Foote ‏@georgiafoote 

First day back filming at @itvcorrie and im doing the first ever scene on the new street! How exciting is that! #proud #stillgetbutterflys x

Cameraman Andrew ‏@CameramanAndrew
Did some camera tests today on the new cobbles. I am pleased to announce 'I' did the first soft shot there!

And a smashing pic from David Roden ‏@DRoden 

View of the new set from the offices 

See also: Our visit to the new Coronation Street set
See also: Coronation Street set may be reopened to fans

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New Coronation Street set - close-up and personal pic

If you saw our post which went live at midnight last night with the first official picture of the new Coronation Street site, you might have been impressed with the progress on site. I know I was. I found it quite exciting in a very Corrie anorak type of way.

So exciting did I find it (I need to get out more, I know) that I've cropped the Street set from the main picture and upload it here for your viewing pleasure. After all, it's the bit of the picture that we're all really interested in, isn't it?

Are there any building experts who can talk us through any aspects of the new Street set that they've spotted anything noteworthy about?  It's going to be bigger, that we already know.   In an interview with Radio 2 in December last year, Corrie actor Antony Cotton, who plays Sean Tully, revealed some things about the new set. Read all about that here.

View the full picture here and click on the pic above to enlarge the cropped area shown.

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FIRST OFFICIAL PIC! Coronation Street's new set

Here it is in all its glory - the very FIRST official picture of Coronation Street's new set in Manchester's Media City.

19 different types of brick, seven different types of mortar and a whole heap of cobbles required.

This is the first official shot of the new 7.7 acre Coronation Street site, currently under construction at MediaCityUK.

The build of the new lot continues apace and you can clearly identify Corrie's new footprint. Whilst replicating the current set the new set is bigger allowing greater production flexibility.

Construction is expected to continue until the end of 2013. The programme continues to film at Quay Street until they move to their new home at a date to be agreed in due course.

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New Corrie set update - June 2012

This month we can see that most of Coronation Street has now gone up, with part of Victoria Street also being built. The frames for the facades have now gone up, which will soon make it harder to get a peek of the Street.

More pictures of the set progress are available at Mark Whitfield's MediaCity timeline website, in case you missed it, you can see the set from a different angle in a blog post from earlier this month.

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The new Coronation Street set in all its glory

Well, here it is, the frame of the future Coronation Street, which has gone up really fast over the last month. Thanks to 'manc' from the Skyscraper city forum for the picture.

Click through the link to see a picture of the whole of the new ITV compound.

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Corrie's new set update: May 2012

This month we finally see the Street itself going up, from looking at the picture I have labelled what I think each of the structures is, as you can see here.

There's dozens more pictures of the new set, and MediaCity itself in the sunshine, over here on Mark Whitfield's website.

I'm excited to see how much the Street will progress in the next month or so!

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Corrie's New Set: April Update

Work on the new set seems to be storming along, the new ITV building is looking even more complete this month.

The street itself looks to finally be getting some groundwork, as you can see on Mark Whitfield's monthly gallery of work going on in the Salford Quays area.

I can't wait to see the actual set rising in the next few months, it should be exciting to watch!

To check out our timeline of pictures so far, look here.

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New Corrie Set: March 2012 Update

Big changes this month, the whole site is now starting to take place, the shell of the ITV building now looks complete and you can see the start of the set contruction. As usual the pictures are taken by Mark Whitfield, and there are lots more in depth pictures over on his site.

Click to enlarge

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Is this the fate of the current Coronation Street set?

Manchester Evening News has an article today featuring plans of what will become of the old Granada Studios and Coronation Street set.

The picture to the left shows the Bonded Warehouse, which currently sits behind Rosamund Street Medical Centre among new developments, and a new public square.

It must be noted that the area shown is at the opposite side of the warehouse though, the set from this perspective is behind the large building.

While I am a Corrie fan, I can understand the reasoning for the set to be changed into a public area. I just think it would be a shame to demolish the street though, as it is a big attraction for the Castlefield area of Manchester and is an important part of the city's history.

ITV do appear to have plans for the set though, ITV's property director, Peter Copley is quoted as saying: "ITV is strengthening its commitment to the region through its investment at MediaCityUK but is also keen to leave a strong legacy in Manchester City centre. There's an opportunity at Quay Street for a project that extends the already-successful city centre and draws on the rich history and character of the site."

ITV is strengthening its commitment to the region through its investment at MediaCityUK but is also keen to leave a strong legacy in Manchester city centre.

Read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1488402_first-images-of-new-family-neighbourhood-plans-for-granada-studios-quay-street-si

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New Corrie Set: January 2012 Update

Once again, in this post I must give a massive shoutout to Mark Whitfield and his site, without his monthly updates via the MediaCity UK flickr I would not be able to post this feature (and timeline) of pictures.

There looks to be a lot of ground work going on at the site now, I don't think it will be too long before we see something going up as the foundations are now being laid. Don't forget to click the links for more images, and the picture below for a bigger view.

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What areas would you like to see on the new Corrie set?

The precinct/tram stop set at Granada Studios.

After yesterday's news that the new Coronation Street set would be adding new areas onto the set, which areas would you like to see?

On the current set, there is the police station exterior, the Street set, and a precinct set, which you may not have noticed was a set. Small bit of trivia: the viaduct in the picture was the one used for the 1970s set and also for Davenport's garage in 2004.  And the final set, Weatherfield General Hospital's entrance.

On the new set, I think it would be great to finally introduce Tile Street, after the sheer amount of times it has been mentioned by Coronation Street residents. Also, if I'm not mistaken, Tile Street is also home to its own police station, so that could be introduced. Tile Street is meant to behind Victoria Street, according to old maps, and there is a back street for Victoria Street on the new set.

I would also like for the old Roy's Rolls / Rita's Kabin houses to return, there is apparently room to add things behind the bridge on Rosamund Street, so I'd put the back there. Anyway, enough of my ideas, tell us some of your own!

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Inside scoop on Coronation Street's new Media City set

There's an excellent interview in the Manchester Evening News by Ian Wylie about Coronation Street's move to Media City.   

The article reports that if all goes to plan, filming will switch to the new site in spring 2013.

Executive producer Kieran Roberts told Ian: "The move is full steam ahead. It’s a huge project and incredibly exciting. But we’ve got to arrive when it’s 100 per cent finished because we have to stop one Friday night at Quay Street and start the next week down at Trafford Wharf. So we’re keeping an open mind about an exact date."

The new Corrie exterior set will be an exact replica on the existing one, while increasing the scale of the buildings so they match the size of those in the real world.  Kieran said that said some areas of the new set, such as Victoria Street, will be slightly extended.

Read the full interview here.

Keep up to date with pictures from the construction of the new set here on the Coronation Street Blog with our blogger Chewy.
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New Corrie set to have a new street?

BBC News have a video up on their site, interviewing Tony Warren, Bill Roache and Michelle Keegan. At one point in the video a plan of the new street is shown and I noticed one thing, there was a car parked on the street behind the new houses, and the reflection of a building.

Could this be a brand new street/expansion of Victoria Street? See the picture without the big red arrow here.

Ground-breaking news: Corrie's new home starts being built

Coronation Street cast members William Roache and Michelle Keegan have taken part in a groundbreaking ceremony near Salford's MediaCity, marking the start of construction on the soap's new home. Corrie is due to relocate from central Manchester to a new 7.7-acre studio and production facility.

William Roache and Michelle Keegan, who play Ken Barlow and Tina McIntyre, donned hard hats for the ceremony. The soap's new home is expected to be completed by spring 2013. The new studio and production facility will be based across the water from MediaCity, the planned new home of ITV Studios' production and management teams, regional news and support staff.

William Roache said: "It's over 50 years since I first walked on to a Coronation Street set. Now I'm here with Michelle, starting the build of our new home - the one that will take us well into this century - and it feels fantastic."

See also: Construction work begins on Coronation Street

Coronation Street Blog in today's Guardian

Wow, this has fairly made my day already and it's not even 10am!  The Guardian gives us a mention - and a link - today in an article about Media City and Corrie's new set as blogged here by Chewy.

Thank you, Guardian!  Read their post here.

Construction work begins on Coronation Street's new set

Media City UK's official Flickr has recently added a bunch of pics showing construction work starting on Coronation Street's brand new set. There's nothing much to see just yet, but it's exciting news hearing that the construction has finally started.

I can't help but wonder if there will be a visible difference on screen (aside from the suddenly larger scale of the street).

View online plans for new Coronation Street

ITV have now formally submitted plans to Trafford Council for the new Coronation Street site at Media City.  Here's the science bit: "Full planning application for demolition of existing industrial building and erection of a drama production facility comprising studios, storage buildings, stage buildings, and set structures with development ancillary thereto, including security buildings, car parking, access, boundary treatment and public open space. "

You can view the whole application online at Trafford Council website. (Click on View Documents and Plans at the bottom of that linked page).

See also: What the Granada move means for Coronation Street fans

Corrie's current set - a brief history

Construction of the current Coronation Street set began on 12th November 1981. Doris Speed aka Annie Walker (pictured) gave the thumbs up to the new set, as it marked the end of the old damp Grape Street set. The new set was first seen on-screen on 17th May 1982.

At first the set only incoperated Coronation Street, Viaduct Street and Rosamund Street. The first big change to the set was the demolition of Baldwin's Casuals and the Community Centre and the construction of the new factory, houses and shops which were completed in 1989.

The second change to the set was the addition of Victoria Street, and the Bookies, which now seem quite integral to the street itself. The last big change was the construction of Victoria Court and its redevelopment of the Warehouse behind the Medical Centre.

Now in December 2010, the set nears its last days, as a new era dawns for the cobbles of Coronation Street.

As it prepares to move to its new site in Trafford. Except this time, it's Katy Cavanagh aka Julie Carp giving the thumbs up!