Ex-Corrie producer debates LGBT media characters

Ex-Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson is one of the panel members discussing the portrayal of lesbian, gay and transgender people in the media.

The event is part of events to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) on Saturday May 17 2014.

The event will be held at The Lowry, Media City:UK on Wednesday 14 May. The Panel includes former producer for Dr Who and Coronation Street; Phil Collinson and human rights activist; Peter Tatchell.

Forming part of Manchester Pride’s 2014 programme for International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), Discuss with Pride is a  lively debate around the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the media.

We welcome special guest speaker Peter Tatchell to open the discussions and then a number of other key media figures will join the panel and invite questions and comments from the audience.

The talk is free but donations are very welcome. If you’re up for some verbal jousting, you can register your attendance at the event here.

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Do we always have it in for the Corrie producer?

We always get loads of interesting comments posted on this blog. It's really wonderful when something you blog about is well received or generates discussion. One theme seems to run through a lot of discussions though - disliking the Corrie producer.

I don't know if this is a recent phenomenon. We revere producers from the good old days like H.V Kershaw or the legendary BIll Podmore, however more recent incumbents of this role have faired less well. Maybe it's because the entire medium of television and the media has changed during Corrie's long run, who knows? Certainly Corrie producers are much more visible these days.

The current producer, Stuart Blackburn, receives his fair share of criticism from across the board. I've seen plenty of comments warning us that Mr Blackburn will do the same to our favourite show as he did to Emmerdale. As I've never watched Emmerdale, I don't really know what that means.

Stuart Blackburn isn't alone though. His predecessor Phil Collinson was frequently targeted as the villain of the piece with claims that he didn't understand the essence of Coronation Street and was merely interested in filling the show full of his mates. Before Phil came Kim Crowther and she too faced criticism for the storylines she introduced and the castings she made. 

Going back further, I remember the late Jane MacNaught coming in for serious complaints when she introduced more issue-led storylines in the early 2000s. I certainly remember the outrage that came with Toyah's rape storyline and Alma's death due to cervical cancer. Perhaps one of the most controversial Corrie producers of all time was Brian Park, dubbed the "axe man" for killing off Derek Wilton and sacking many favourite, longstanding actors. 


So why do fans always seem to have it in for the Corrie producer? Is it because we think we could do the job better? It's clear to me that whoever does sit in the producer's chair these days needs a thick skin to survive!


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Doctor Who and the Cobbles of Doom - fan review

Ex-Corrie producer Phil Collinson with compere Matthew Charlton aka @fictionstroker

Coronation Street Blog reader Nick Jay attended the recent event Doctor Who and the Cobbles of Doom at Taurus Bar in Manchester.  Nick's done this sterling write-up for the Coronation Street Blog from the event and in Nick's words: "... sorry it's a bit disjointed and I wish with hindsight that I'd had a way to record it and make my notes rather better than this but I was sat in front and trying to take notes as inconspicuously as I could whilst also trying to follow what was going on and being said...."

It's perfect, thanks Nick for doing this for us.  Here we go with Nick's write-up from Doctor Who and the Cobbles of Doom.

"The evening started at the Taurus at 7.45pm. Matthew Charlton, founder of Fiction Stroker (@fictionstroker) started off by welcoming everyone and introducing the evening's guest of honour, Phil Collinson. The first half of the evening looked at Phil's starting career and showed lots of assorted video clips of his work. He had been responsible, amongst other things, for the revival of Doctor Who as series producer and also some great storylines in Coronation Street. He produced the live 50th Corrie episode with the tram crash.

Corrie then had a story meeting as they were introducing a transvestite. He said the public hated it and he went from this great 50th episode to being a national parriah! The Sun devoted a whole page spread all about him and Phil said it was all lies! The Sun said that 3 million viewers had turned off but Andy Murray had been playing his semi-final match at Wimbledon and the end of another programme (can't remember which one now) and used them to say that he had been ramming 'gay' down people's throats but that story still had 6 million viewers!

Phil said he had been brought up on a normal council estate in Leeds. He said he had always tried to do realism in Corrie episodes and had to find a balance of realism that (90%) viewers could relate to. Richard Hillman had been trying to protect his family. He was a real man who loved his family and wanted to hang on to them and he said he was a joy to work with and that he loved doing this storyline. He said Corrie villains are multi-layered.

We then saw video clips of companions in Doctor Who who had also appeared in Corrie, including Elizabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith). He said Pat Phoenix had always called her Anita. Phil said that Rita is his favourite character and that Barbara Knox is amazing.

Kay Patrick, Phil Collinson and Matthew @fictionstroker

After a short break, Matthew and Phil were joined by Kay Patrick who had acted in Doctor Who and had also directed lots of episodes in Corrie. They talked about John Nathan Turner - Doctor Who was losing viewers but John had tried hard to improve things but it was at a time when the BBC didn't care and were trying hard to run the show down. Kay had worked with William Hartnell, the original Doctor in The Romans as a 20 year old actress just starting out on her acting career. She also said how hard it was sometimes doing live epsisodes and even those they had filmed they had to do in 2 or 3 takes because of the high cost of film and it was why sometimes mistakes had to be 'let in' because they couldn't afford to do qnother take.

We then watched a montage of clips of cliffhangers. Phil said that the internet was the spawn of the devil as far as leaking cliffhangers was concerned but how when they were able to lead fans and viewers down the garden path, it felt great. He said that his last episode was David Tennant's regeneration (episode 12 of series 4) and that they had added 2 million viewers between episodes 12 and 13 when it wasn't David Tennant's actual regeneration but "smoke and mirrors".

Phil said he and Russell T Davis were very good friends and that Russell made every character matter. Matthew asked if anyone knew how many actors who had portrayed the doctor were also in Corrie - nobody did but apparantly Patrick Troughton, the second doctor, had been in 2 episodes of Corrie in 1974.

Phil said his first job in television was as a script editor at Granada in 1997 and was the first time he met Russell. He went on to work on Emmerdale, Peak Practice and other shows.

We then watched some more Corrie clips, including Phil himself when he had acted in 1997 with Sean Lindsay, playing an insurance salesman before Deirdre's eventual downfall.

At 9.30pm there was a brief Q&A session. Phil said he had been responsible for Jack Duckworth's final scenes played by Bill Tarmey. Phil said he drove it through to be done the way it was with Liz coming back to play the ghost of Vera. Phil said he been slightly disappointed at the way Vera's final scenes had been done so with Jack he wanted it to be better. He had begged Bill not to go but Bill was adamant he had had enough and wanted to leave. Going back to the story, Phil said he had to push for it but was delighted to do it for such an iconic character as Jack.

The event finished at 9.40pm to a huge round of applause."

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This week! Live event: Doctor Who and the Cobbles of Doom

As part of the Who at Fifty festival in Manchester, Doctor Who and the Cobbles of Doom will take place on November 20th at Taurus bar in Manchester.   The event celebrates the links between Coronation Street and Doctor Who with an evening of clips and interviews brought to you by the Fiction Stroker and PHIL COLLINSON, the only man to have ever produced both Doctor Who and Coronation Street.

Discussing the programme, Festival co-ordinator Gareth Kavanagh told us:

“Doctor Who at Fifty is something we’ve been building up to for years.  We’ve had so much pleasure from this wonderful show over the years and Who at Fifty is Manchester’s love letter to Doctor Who. With our links to the show being as strong as they are – ‘be it it from the links between Corrie and Doctor Who or merely as home to Russell T Davies and the place he drew his inspiration from as he plotted the show’s triumphant return to our screens in 2005, it just feels right for our City to give something back to the fans!”

Tickets are available on the door (unless sold out) and advance tickets are available for £3 from http://www.wegottickets.com  All profits to be donated to the Alzheimer's Society.

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Is Corrie getting better?

I was never really a fan of Phil Collinson. Too many casting decisions and plot lines just weren't in the true spirit of Corrie for me. Stuart Blackburn has been at the helm for some time now, so I'm wondering, are all things Coronation Street on the road to recovery?

It's a mixed picture from what I can see. I know it's easy for us fans to sit in our living rooms and criticise the powers that be because we're not the ones with the power and all the important decision making that comes with it. So here's what I think are the positives and negatives in Corrie at the moment.

One of the biggest improvements as far as I can see is the change in management at the Rovers Return. Liz might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the Rovers just feels so much better now the McDonald's are back behind the bar. The Price family are thankfully being rested following a period which saw them appear in practically every episode. 

Another improvement for me was the decision to split up Sophie and Jenna. Most of us agree this pairing just never worked. The characters didn't gel, there was no spark between them and they had practically no storylines. Jenna can be saved if they concentrate on her relationship with dad Lloyd. As for Sophie, who cares? Getting rid of rancid Ryan was also a smart move; another character who went nowhere.

Roy and Hayley continue to be sublime. I'm not sure how much of that is down to the powers that be though. David Neilson and Julie Hesmondhalgh could entertain and move me reading from the phone book. The bond between Hayley and Carla has also been a highlight for me. Finally, another important change is the transformation in Deirdre Barlow. For a time Deirdre simply existed as a damp dish cloth propping up tedious Tracy. Now Deirdre is funny and random again, she stands up to Tracy and I always look forward to seeing her on screen. Let's just give her a story of her own now, eh Mr Blackburn?

Some things, however, just aren't working for me. Sally and Tim just shouldn't be together. Both Sally the character and Sally the actress deserve so much better. The whole Faye storyline is always a struggle and the addition of evil Grace really hasn't helped things. We know Faye has had a hard life, however we are expected to care for her and see past her unpleasantness, without actually knowing that much about her life before Anna adopted her. Tim is now a wasted character. For a while he was promising, now he's just a flatlining waste of space.

TIna is now being shoehorned into every scene in the style of St Ella of the Back Room. The direction Tina and Peter are going in is repellent. The actress has already announced she is leaving, so why not just let her go? It's unbelievable that Peter would suddenly fall for Ms McIntyre as he is preparing to get married (again). I'm a big fan of Carla and while I might look forward to seeing Mrs Connor show Tina who's boss, I just wish we could have one Weatherfield wedding without this kind of carry on. I don't know what Peter is thinking. Why go out for a hamburger when you can have steak at home?

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Rita and Dennis, but why must Rita continually treat Dennis like a naughty little boy? As a pensioner, why must Dennis always be seeking work? Mary continues to float about in an aimless fashion - let's have her grounded and let's see her softer, human side once again. Todd needs to be less unpleasant and quick - what's the point of bringing him back if all he's going to do is alienate everyone?

Finally, please, please, please give Gail a purpose outside her family! This is not EastEnders! The poor sap spends her day lurching between Nick, Kylie and David. The clock is ticking for Gail. She used to be strong, capable and fearless in the face of Lynne Perrie's erm...face. Now she engages in the battle of the mops with Stella, appears to have no interests other than her sweatily close grown up children and meddles without skill. I long for the days when a feisty Gail battled Alma to keep the cafe's sandwich delivery round. Yes, that's how pathetic Gail has become.

So that's what I think. Over to you: what do you love and loathe about Corrie at the moment?

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Phil Collinson looks back on his Corrie years

In spite of the fact that new Corrie producer, Stuart Blackburn, has been on the job for a few months now, Friday saw the last episode from Phil Collinson's era aired on our screens. Whatever you think of his legacy, he's done some interesting things as well as some decisions that most of the fans seems to disagree with .

On ITV, there's a video of Mr. C. reflecting on his tenure at the helm of Coronation Street. It's over here but for those of you that can't see it, here's a few highlights.

He says he's had the time of his life working on such a great challenge. He calls the 50th anniversary episodes "breathtaking" and is pleased everyone "stepped up to the mark" to give us an "amazing" performance.

Other of his favourite storylines include Kirsty and domestic violence,  Becky's exit, Jack Duckworth's exit, and of course the recent fire. "I got to destroy both ends" he chuckles.

He thanks the cast and crew and the fans and hands the reins over to the next guy!

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Regurgitation Street

Do you ever feel like you've been somewhere before? I had a strange dream last night that Coronation Street had run out of storylines so the powers that be simply took all the old scripts out of the archives, added a few references to the credit crunch and One Direction, spruced it up with some product placement and trotted it out to the poor viewers. 

What a horrible nightmare. Sadly, though it seems to be coming true. Ah yes, a fire at the Rovers Return! What a great way to celebrate the arrival of Spring. Gail and Sally can sit on the cobbles and toast their marshmallows while St Ella hides under a pile of manmade fibres with that bloke who used to be the totty in Taggart.

I can just see young Philip Collinson sitting in his office, stroking his white cat, sipping his Aqua Libra (ooops, more product placement) and wondering just how he can sign off his triumphant reign at the top of ITV's flagship soap. Perhaps he was watching Celebrity Big Brother at the time and caught a glimpse of Julie Goodyear, poor thing.

 "Get it! Got it! Good!" he cried, and dug out his 1980s Coronation box set. Two and a half minutes later and the episode was written and ready.

One question remained though and that troubled him. Who could star in this Towering Inferno? It would have to be someone who hasn't had enough screen time of late. Suddenly he knew who it had to be. St Ella of the Back Room! But of course. Coronation Street fans' favourite. Young Philip knew it had to be St Ella - it would firm up her rightful position in the Best Actress category at the 2013 British Soap Awards. It was all coming together nicely...

...Oh, how I wish this was far from the truth and just a bit of a laugh, but sadly I'm not so sure. It really does pain me to say it but I'm really disappointed at the prospect of another Rovers fire. If you haven't seen the first one back in 1986, do track it down. It was well written, expertly handled and felt completely real, and a tad scary. It showed a community pulling together. I'll always remember those first few quiet moments as we saw images of a sleepy back street Weatherfield - it was haunting, hard-hitting and it worked. So why the need to rehash it in 2013? 

I'm also annoyed that this is the way we will say goodbye to a lovely character and indeed, a lovely actress in Shobna Gulati. Sunita coming back was probably a mistake - they have mucked about with her character and given her nowhere else to go. I just wish her leaving didn't involve a cheap ratings ploy with her being burnt to a crisp. 

I know television ratings are of paramount importance these days and stunts like this are apparently necessary in making sure Corrie maintains it's share. However as far as I can see  it is all a bit cheap, blatant and unnecessary.

How's that for a legacy, Mr Collinson?

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Well done, Mr Collinson

A few months ago, we asked what you thought Phil Collinson's legacy would be when he left Coronation Street.

I've not really weighed in for or against him in the past but overall, when I weigh out what I've enjoyed vs what I haven't, I have to say I think he's done OK.

No producer is going to give us stories and characters that absolutely all of us are going to love because everyone has different tastes.  For the most part, when we've had new characters brought in, regardless of whether the storylines worked for me, the actors have generally been good at their job.

Some storylines have fallen flat. Some, for me, were dreadful. And some were very enjoyable, or if they weren't always, the fallout from a storyline and the knock on effect, gave us good stuff to watch.

I've written more about my own ups and downs with this producer's tenure and overall I give him a passing score.

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What will Phil Collinson's Corrie legacy be?

So, he's off and this tabloid rumour was true after all.

Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson is leaving Corrie as Emmerdale producer Stuart Blackburn takes over the reins on the Street in January next year.

But what will Phil Collinson's lasting Coronation Street legacy be? What will you remember him most fondly for - and what do you hate that he did to our favourite soap?

In a nutshell, here's just some of the things I can remember that he brought into Corrie - for better or for worse? You decide.

This is my opinion - what's yours?

FOR BETTER
(Some of the) tram crash story for Corrie's 50th anniversary.
Bringing Dennis Tanner back and marrying Rita
Bringing in Cherylee Houston as Izzy, Mikey North as Gary
Roy and Hayley's wedding, 2nd time around
Getting rid of Molly Dobbs

FOR WORSE
Bringing in his mate Michelle Collins as St Ella of the Back Room.
Carla Connor's rape. Never a good idea for sexual violence to be used to hike ratings. Phil got that very wrong indeed.
Rewriting Coronation Street history at Betty Williams' funeral.
Forgetting the name of Carla's brother was Darran, not Rob.
Marc and Marcia story
His threat to blow up the Rovers Return when he leaves
Killing off Ashley Peacock in the tram crash
Getting rid of Eddie Windass
Getting rid of Graeme Proctor
The Graeme and Xin storyline
Surrogacy storyline
Bringing back Tracy Barlow when we all saw her go down for 15 years for manslaughter
Speaking live on TV to protest against his critics

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Stuart Blackburn to be new Coronation Street producer

Stuart Blackburn has been appointed as the new producer of Coronation Street, succeeding current boss Phil Collinson in the role says the offiicial ITV Corrie site.

Blackburn, who has been working as Emmerdale's series producer since early 2011, will take up the position in January 2013.

Phil Collinson will remain at ITV in a new role working with Kieran Roberts to develop new drama from ITV's base in Manchester.

Speaking of his new post, Blackburn commented: "I'm in the very privileged position of producing Emmerdale's hour-long live episode to celebrate the programme's 40th birthday, and I get to produce Coronation Street too. Life just couldn't get any better. Emmerdale is a very special programme to me, as I was born and brought up in West Yorkshire. I'm in total admiration of the cast and production team as they are all incredibly talented people. They do an amazing job and I'll be sad to leave them. Coronation Street also has a place in my heart, as I believe passionately in storytelling, and although I recognise it's a massive responsibility, I have the best job in the world."

Phil Collinson said: "It's been an honour to produce Coronation Street and I'll be sad to leave. But the drama can only stay at the top of its game if the producer is re-energised every two to three years. By the time I say farewell I'll have been with the programme for nearly three years and produced almost 750 episodes. It's an achievement I'm hugely proud of, but I know I couldn't have done it without the amazing production team, writers, cast and crew who work tirelessly to produce the best drama on television. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. I wish Stuart every success, and look forward now to taking up my new role developing drama and producing brand new drama from our base in Manchester."

Well, well, well. So this tabloid spoiler was true after all.


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Phil Collinson to leave by end of year in ITV shake-up?

Today's Sunday Mirror says that Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson will quit his job by the end of the year - and he'll blow up the Rovers Return as his parting shot.

Our old - and not very accurate friend - a "Corrie insider" tells the paper: “Blowing up the Rovers would be the most dramatic thing to happen on the Street. Phil thinks millions of extra viewers would tune in. But it means everyone on in the show is looking over their shoulder wondering if they’ll be inside when the pub goes up in smoke.”

Collinson revealed in February that he planned to quit by “the middle of next year”. But Corrie sources have told the Sunday Mirror he will move on earlier than planned as part of a shake-up by ITV bosses.
 
A Street spokesman yesterday declined to comment on when ­Collinson would go.

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Corrie news and spoilers from Phil Collinson

Digital Spy has a long inverview with Coronation Street Producer Phil Collinson and he reveals lots of spoilers and hints about the storylines that will take us up to and a little beyond Christmas. In point form:

• Carl and Peter will be back over Christmas. Nick and Leanne have more twists and turns ahead. Someone plans a Christmas wedding. Who? And will it go off?
• More dynamic explored between Carla and Rob.
• Rob's middle name is Darren, thus solving the query about the name we'd heard before. Ok, probably just a cover because they didn't check, I reckon. 
• The domestic abuse storyline won't be over soon. As in real life, it will continue on once the baby is born. 
• Tracy will continue to make trouble for Steve (no surprise there, then)
• It will be hard for Sunita to admit she made a mistake with Karl. 
• Lewis is not getting killed in a car crash. 
• Sylvia will be back (the actress has not been well). 
• Maria and Marcus' storyline will develop. 
• No Sally and Kevin reunion is in the cards for now. 
• There's a big storyline for Kylie and David from Christmas onward. 

There's lots more detail and information and it's a very interesting read. I think the next six months on Corrie are going to be quite watchable.

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Coronation Street spoilers for Summer 2012

For those of you who missed the interview with Coronation Street Producer Phil Collinson on ITV’s This Morning yesterday, here’s a full recap of the spoilers he revealed.

Our blogger Tvor wrote them up yesterday and now we have Phil’s interview in full, especially for those Corrie fans overseas who can’t see these video interviews online.

Goodbye to Betty
Betty’s wake is coming up and there was a wonderful clip shown in the interview showing the moment when Betty’s son Gordon, played by Bill Kenwright, breaks the sad news to Rita, Emily and Dennis that Betty has passed away. Phil said that actor Bill Kenwright returned as Gordon for a week’s worth of episodes. The shock storyline is that documents discovered in Betty’s house clearance shows that Annie Walker left the Rovers Return to Betty in her will. But Betty never took up the bequest and kept it secret. So, who owns the pub now? Phil said it will come as a shock for Stella but will make Betty by rights the longest serving landlady of the Rovers Return.

Sue Johnston joins Corrie 
Phil confirmed that ex-Brookside and Royle Family actress, the fab Sue Johnston is joining Coronation Street as Gloria Price, Stella’s mum, Leanne and Eva’s grandma. She’ll be seen on screen in June and starts filming in two weeks time. Gloria will be feisty and comes into Corrie fresh from running a bar in Spain, She’ll be a very glamorous, perma-tanned, terrifying, domineering, overbearing mother. Sounds great!

Rita’s wedding 
Rita and Dennis are set to get married on Jubilee Day – Monday 4th June – but there is some question as to whether they will end up wed, or not. Will Rita get to the church on time after she gets kidnapped? Kidnapped? There’ll be a great big extravagant street party to celebrate Jubilee Day with characters dressed up as pop stars from the 60 years of the Queen’s reign. This sounds a lot of fun.

Terry Duckworth’s return
Phil talked a little about the return of Nigel Pivaro as Terry Duckworth. Terry returns when Tommy comes into money from Jeff Horton’s death. Phil said it’s “Thrilling to have him back, he’ll be as bad as ever. “ However, when asked a question from a viewer if Terry’s other son Brad Armstrong would be returning to Corrie. Phil replied: “I didn’t know he had another son!” Really? Oh dear.

Peter and Carla 
Phil said there’ll be no happy ever after for this warring couple. He said they were the Burton and Taylor of soap, car-crash television. Carla and Peter (or as we call them on this website, CarPet) will be together for a while, but Phil said there will be no happy ever after for them.

Bill Roache retiring? 
Another viewer questioned a rumour that Bill Roache wanted to retire. Phil said he couldn’t ever see this happening.

Watch the interview online here.

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Corrie boss admits mistakes were made in rape storyline

Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson has admitted that mistakes were made in the portrayal of Carla Connor's rape storyline.

The BBC have the full report after Phil Collinson spoke at the annual conference of St Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Manchester.

Corrie was criticised for portraying rape victim Carla Connor being confronted by her attacker outside the court.

Phil said: "I do agree that there were some procedural things in the court that we did get wrong. In a show like ours, we are constantly balancing the needs of the drama against the needs of accuracy, and I suppose I would have to agree that there were some procedural things in the court that our attention has been drawn to subsequently and I can only apologise for that. I have to stand by the story that we told and I think we did a good thing in the main."

The Rape Crisis helpline said it saw an 800% increase in calls after the attack - by Frank Foster on his girlfriend and business partner Carla, was aired last September.

But scenes showing Frank confronting Carla, played by Alison King, outside court had deterred some real victims from going to court, St Mary's said. The Centre's Bernie Ryan said: "We have to put a lot of reassurance into the fact that it was a dramatisation of a courtroom event and that there are support services to make sure they don't come across the perpetrator and are supported throughout the court process."

Phil Collinson said that Corrie "sent out a very clear message" by unambiguously portraying Frank, played by Andrew Lancel, as a rapist. But he admitted that an earlier assault on Maria Connor, played by Samia Smith, had divided the show's writing team.

"I was astonished. Even around our conference table, a very fiery debate happened about that night - literally, some of the writers saying that it wasn't an attempted rape. I really believe that we said right from the beginning that it was."

See also: "Shame on you, Corrie" says real-life rape lawyer.

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Phil Collinson to stay at Corrie for at least another year

There's a good interview with Coronation Street Producer Phil Collinson in the Manchester Evening News.  He talks about his job at the helm of our favourite show and reveals how long he's signed up for at Corrie.

He says: “The show is moving to Salford Quays next year. That’s a very big move for us. I’ll see that through as producer. So that takes me into the middle of next year. I can’t see beyond that at the moment. I’m happy to be creatively leading the show and still think I’ve got more stories to tell.”

He responds to criticism that the show, rightly, received last summer and says: “We took a good hard look at what we were doing. Perhaps we were too crime heavy. But, ultimately, you’ve got to trust your instincts and the instincts of the people around you.”

He also talks about Betty Williams' send off on Corrie and speaking at a public event next week about Corrie's use of the Carla Connor rape storyline.  Find out more about that here.

You can read the full interview here.

What do you reckon? Is it time for Phil Collinson to go and let a new producer take control?

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Falling back in love with Coronation Street

Last night I fell back in love with Coronation Street.

It's not that I've fallen out of love with it totally, we've still had a bit of a thing going on but since last summer's silly season of Stape where Corrie was foisted on us every night for a week to wrap around another ITV media product, I switched off my favourite soap for the first time in my life.  And I'll never forgive Phil Collinson for that. 

Once the summer silliness calmed down I switched back on and got back into Corrie only to be truly disappointed by my favourite soap using rape to boost ratings. And I'll never forgive Phil Collinson for that.

And so it's been like that, Corrie and I over the last few months. The programme's been on, I've been watching and blogging. But I've also been watching and despairing, wondering where the humour's gone, the warmth, and most important to this fan - hating what Phil Collinson has done to kill the emotional strength of the women.

But last night something changed. I can't remember loving two episodes of Coronation Street as much as I enjoyed last night's double bill on Friday 20th January. I'm naming that date on my calendar my Corrie watershed. The programmes blew me away with the drama and humour, both written by Corrie writer Chris Fewtrell.

It's mainly to do with knowing that Tracy Barlow will get that twisted smile knocked off her psycho-face for an episode at least, on Monday next week when Becky ruins her big fat McBarlow wedding to Steve by turning up with that piece of paper she printed off in Doctor Carter's surgery, showing Tracy to be telling lies about losing the twins. The tension - and humour - last night when Becky was frantically logging in and printing off Tracy's medical records while Kylie feined a faint on the waiting room floor was just magic. 

And behind all the shenanigans with Gail joining in to help bring Tracy down, was a desperate Eileen laying herself out as a doormat to get closer to Paul, by trying to be a carer for Paul's wife Lesley, who's struck down with early-onset dementia.  Paul's wife should be getting professional care and I love this storyline for showing how important professional adult social care is in situations like this and how not just anyone can, or should, do it.

I'm also loving Kylie and Becky working together as a team and it's such a shame that just as they're working well and getting on, joining forces to become a formidable sisterhood that Becky will be leaving next week. But her spirit and style will live in on Kylie for sure.

Also last night we had some wonderful, powerful scenes between Anna and Owen where she laid down the law over him hitting little Faye. And just as powerful, for this fan, was Owen sitting down in the cafe with his daughters Izzy (a wonderful character played by a fantastic actress) and Katy and being told some home truths about his parenting skills.

There's a lot to look forward to in the coming months on the Street. We've got more of the wonderful Sylvia with the fab Roy and Hayley and of course Sylvia's man Milton arriving from America. We've got charmer Lewis returning and I can't wait to see Audrey's face when he does. There'll be the fall-out from Tracy's lies being exposed although it doesn't seem to matter what that twisted-bitch does, there's a murmur of discontent from Deirdre, a tut-tut from Ken and a couple of episodes move on and everyone's forgotten all about her latest bit of nastiness, even manslaughter.

So there you have it. I'm falling back in love with Coronation Street. 

And if any of this rings a bell with you too, you might want to think on and if you haven't voted yet, place your vote for Corrie in the National TV Awards. Voting closes on Wednesday this week, 25th January and the show will be live on Wednesday night.  Corrie deserves your vote, for last night's episodes alone. 

VOTE HERE.
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Corrie producer Phil Collinson: "Becky's one of the biggest Corrie characters in the last 20 years"

Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson has been interviewed by David Brown of the Radio Times.

Phil talks about Robert Vaughn's arrival as Milton, Nigel Havers returning as charmer Lewis, Katherine Kelly leaving, Antony Cotton returning and Craig Charles taking a break.

Phil rightly heaps praise on actress Katherine Kelly and talks about her leaving.  However, this fan reckons he undermines most of the current Corrie cast when he says: "Becky's been probably one of the biggest characters in the last 20 years on Coronation Street."

Make of the man what you will and watch the interview here.

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Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson to speak about Carla Connor rape

Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson will lead a debate on sexual assault, at a conference in Manchester after Corrie screened the rape of Carla Connor.

The producer will be one of the key speakers at St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre’s annual two-day conference. He is expected to talk about how Corrie was helped by St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre, which supports thousands of victims of rape and sexual assault each year. The conference will take place at Manchester town hall.

The Manchester Evening News says that "the portrayal of the Coronation Street rape storyline was praised by TV critics for its sensitivity, in contrast to the reception received in 2001, when the soap was blasted by the Independent Television Commission over the handling of a rape scene involving Toyah Battersby."

Well, this storyline wasn't praised by this Corrie fan for its sensitivity. I slammed it as a cheap ploy to get quick ratings, weakening and undermining a strong soap female character in the process. I have always written here on the Coronation Street Blog against using rape in an entertainment show like Coronation Street.  I also wrote and complained to ITV in 2001 when the rape of Toyah was shown too - but all I got in return was a very patronising letter.

St Marys Centre is online here.

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Happy New Year from everyone at the Coronation Street Blog

2011 wasn't a great year for Coronation Street, in my opinion. I even stopped watching it during the summer of Stape for a few days and I've never - ever - deliberately not watched Coronation Street since I was 11 years old. And believe you me, that was a very long time ago.

So, my New Years Wish is that we get another Corrie producer in 2012.

Phil Collinson has had a go and if I was voting for him on Strictly Come Dancing, I'd say he did a passable paso and I'd award him Len's SEVEN!  And while SEVEN's not bad, what I want and hope for in 2012 is a FAB-U-LOUS 10 out of 10 and for Corrie to waltz off with as many soap awards as possible.

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Phil Collinson Interview

There's a long two part inteview with Corrie producer Phil Collinson over on Digital Spy that's worth a read.

Some of it does sound a bit like "spin" but there are some interesting bits, too, about how he sees the immediate future of Coronation Street and his views on things like long term storylines and "issue based" vs "character based". Some stories, he admits, like Carla's upcoming rape storyline (didn't mention anything about the alleged suicide attempt), are hard hitting but are really about how her friends and coworkers support her and how she gets her life back together. He also admits the Websters are one of the nuclear families and breaking them apart has allowed them to tell a lot of good stories. Will Sally and Kevin eventually get back together? He says "They're certainly not getting back together in the near future, but I wouldn't rule it out."

He's looking forward to moving to the new studio next year which will give them more space to keep more of the sets up permanently. By rebuilding the outdoor set just a little bigger, they will have more room and have more flexibility to film things more efficiently.

I can't say I agree with everything he says. I don't see Tommy Duckworth as a "solid character" whom the audience can really identify with. He also says that he really loves Auntie Pam and Bill but if that was the case, why did he let them go?

The thing I agreed with the most was this statement about Jane Danson. "She's the most remarkable actress and quite rightly now is at the very heart of the show."


Part one is here and there's a link at the bottom of that to the second part.