Want to write a VIP Corrie Blog post for charity?

If you're famous - even just a little bit - and you're a huge Corrie fan with 10 minutes spare to write about your love for our favourite soap, please do get in touch.

All we ask is for you to write a few paragraphs about why you love Corrie so much, your favourite characters and storylines and if you've any snippets you can share from behind the scenes. 

We can't pay, sorry, but we will donate £25 to a charity of your choice - and your work will be read by up to half a million Corrie fans worldwide. Yes, that's half a million Corrie fans reading our Coronation Street fan website every month.  We will of course link to and promote you and any website or links, including your chosen charity, you'd like us to include with your blog post.  

If you're interested, please email a couple of paragraphs and your chosen charity for the donation, to me at glenda.sunderland@gmail.com  Thank you!

Some of our exclusive VIP bloggers and interviews so far include:

• Crime writer Martina Cole
• BBC6 Music DJ Chris Hawkins
• Corrie scriptwriter Debbie Oates
• The Coronation Street Digital Editor
• EXCLUSIVE interview with David Neilson (Roy Cropper) by our bloger Martin. It's in three parts. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 
• Bishop of Jarrow
• TV writer Caroline Corcoran
• Julie Hesmondhalgh (Hayley Cropper)
• TV writer (and husband of Julie Hesmondhalgh) Ian Kershaw
• Edna Walker, the original Head of Wardrobe at Coronation Street. The woman who  dressed the Coronation Street icons.
• Downton Abbey and Titanic creator - Julian Fellowes
• Novelist Maeve Binchy
• TV presenter Jon Connell
• Paddington Bear (yes, really!)
• Writer and Journalist Anne Marie Scanlon
• Comedian Tommy Reckless
• Cllr Fraser McPherson 
• Radio presenter Jonny Mac

Fancy writing a guest blog post for us? All details here!  
 

Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers  

Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook

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Famous Corrie fans wanted in exchange for charity donation

Are you famous? Even just a little bit?  

If you are, and you're a huge Corrie fan with 10 minutes spare to write about your love for our favourite soap, please do get in touch.

All we ask is for a couple of paragraphs about why you love Corrie so much. It could include your favourite characters and storylines and if you've any snippets from behind the scenes. 

In exchange, we will donate £25 to a charity of your choice - and your work will be read by up to half a million Corrie fans worldwide. Yes, that's half a million Corrie fans reading our Coronation Street fan website every month.  We will of course link to and promote you and any website or links, including your chosen charity, you'd like us to include with your blog post.  

If you're interested, please email a couple of paragraphs and your chosen charity for the donation, to me at glenda.sunderland@gmail.com  Thank you!

All details here.

Read more Corrie news, interviews, gossip and spoilers  

Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook 

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All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

Wanted: Celebrity Coronation Street fans

Are you famous? Even just a little bit? 

If you are, and you're a huge Corrie fan with 10 minutes spare to write about your love for our favourite soap, please do get in touch.

In exchange, we will donate £25 to a charity of your choice - and your work will be read by up to half a million Corrie fans worldwide. Yes, that's half a million Corrie fans reading our Coronation Street fan website every month.  We will of course link to and promote you and any website or links, including your chosen charity, you'd like us to include with your blog post. 

All we ask is for a couple of paragraphs about why you love Corrie so much. It could include your favourite characters and storylines and if you've any snippets from behind the scenes.

If you're interested, please email a couple of paragraphs and your chosen charity for the donation, to me at glenda.young@btinternet.com  Thank you!

Some of our exclusive VIP bloggers and interviews so far include:

• Cold Feet actress Lorelei King. Read it here.
• Exclusive interview with Judy Matheson, who played the role of a nurse in Coronation Street's first colour episode from 1969. Read it here.
• Dave Dutton - the man who's played 10 different roles in Coronation Street
• BBC6 Music DJ Chris Hawkins
• Corrie scriptwriter Debbie Oates
• Bishop of Jarrow
• TV writer Caroline Corcoran
• Julie Hesmondhalgh (Hayley Cropper)
• TV writer (and husband of Julie Hesmondhalgh) Ian Kershaw
• Edna Walker, the original Head of Wardrobe at Coronation Street.
  The woman who  dressed the Coronation Street icons.
• Downton Abbey and Titanic creator - Julian Fellowes
• Novelist Maeve Binchy
• TV presenter Jon Connell
• Paddington Bear (yes, really!)
• Writer and Journalist Anne Marie Scanlon
• Comedian Tommy Reckless
• Cllr Fraser McPherson 
• Radio presenter Jonny Mac

Read more Corrie news and spoilers here

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All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

EXCLUSIVE: Cold Feet visits Coronation Street

Photo: Me in my Cold Feet costume standing behind the counter of The Kabin - look out, Rita!
Photographer: Janet Horsfield

Here at the Coronation Street Blog, we know we're read and enjoyed by Corrie fans around the world. We even know that we've got our share of celebrity Corrie fans - and you can read all of our VIP blog posts here.

Today we bring you a celebrity blog post from ex-Cold Feet actress Lorelei King.  Lorelei is one of the most successful and accomplished American actresses working in the UK today. She has appeared in numerous film and TV shows, and is a well-known voice on the radio. She is a multi award-winning narrator of audiobooks, a writer, script editor, and co-founder of the digital publishing company, Creative Content Ltd.

In return for Lorelei's blog post we have donated £25 to her charity of choice which is Dementia UK, a charity of which she is an ambassador.

And now, it's over to Lorelei:

"I've lived in this country for thirty-eight years, and I first saw Coronation Street on a little black and white television in the sitting room of a Victorian house in North London. The accents were impenetrable to this American in those days, but something about the human drama kept me coming back - and over the years my ear attuned itself to Lancashire.

Over the years I've loved it all: the romances, the murders, the mayhem - but mostly the heart. Coronation Street, like no other show I've seen, perfectly balances heartbreak and humour. It is a real credit to the cast, crew and writers that the show is peopled with believable, lovable (and sometimes hateable!) characters.

For a few years I was lucky enough to appear in another Manchester-based series - Cold Feet (now enjoying a well-deserved revival).

One day when we were filming nearby, my make-up artist, Janet Horsfield (who worked on both shows), took me over to the Corrie set for a visit and to watch a bit of filming. I walked from one set, where I played a bossy, confident woman (David's boss Natalie), to another set, where I became a bashful, tongue-tied fan. To watch a scene being filmed in the Rovers, to sit in Vera's chair, to stand behind the counter of The Kabin - all thrilling beyond belief.

To this day it is my favourite TV show - and I hope it runs forever!"

Lorelei King - October 2016

Twitter: @LoreleiKing
Website: www.loreleiking.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/loreleiking

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All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

Famous Corrie fans wanted in exchange for charity donation

Are you famous? Even just a little bit? 

If you are, and you're a huge Corrie fan with 10 minutes spare to write about your love for our favourite soap, please do get in touch.

All we ask is for a couple of paragraphs about why you love Corrie so much. It could include your favourite characters and storylines and if you've any snippets from behind the scenes.

In exchange, we will donate £25 to a charity of your choice - and your work will be read by up to half a million Corrie fans worldwide. Yes, that's half a million Corrie fans reading our Coronation Street fan website every month.  We will of course link to and promote you and any website or links, including your chosen charity, you'd like us to include with your blog post. 

If you're interested, please email a couple of paragraphs and your chosen charity for the donation, to me at glenda.sunderland@gmail.com  Thank you!

Some of our exclusive VIP bloggers and interviews so far include:

• Queen of Crime writers, Martina Cole. Read it here.
• Cold Feet actress Lorelei King. Read it here.
• Exclusive interview with Judy Matheson, who played the role of a nurse in Coronation Street's first colour episode from 1969. Read it here.
• Dave Dutton - the man who's played 10 different roles in Coronation Street
• BBC6 Music DJ Chris Hawkins
• Corrie scriptwriter Debbie Oates
• Bishop of Jarrow
• TV writer Caroline Corcoran
• Julie Hesmondhalgh (Hayley Cropper)
• TV writer (and husband of Julie Hesmondhalgh) Ian Kershaw
• Downton Abbey and Titanic creator - Julian Fellowes
• Novelist Maeve Binchy
• TV presenter Jon Connell
• Paddington Bear (yes, really!)
• Writer and Journalist Anne Marie Scanlon
• Comedian Tommy Reckless
• Cllr Fraser McPherson 
• Radio presenter Jonny Mac

Our interviews with some of the Corrie cast, crew and special invited others...

• Edna Walker, the original Head of Wardrobe at Coronation Street. 
  The woman who  dressed the Coronation Street icons.
• The Coronation Street Digital Editor
• Corrie Director Terry Dyddgen-Jones. Read it here.
• EXCLUSIVE interview with David Neilson (Roy Cropper) by our bloger Martin. It's in three parts. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 
• Joe Duttine (Tim Metcalfe). Read it here.
• Scriptwriter Susan Oudot
• Janet Hampson - Coronation Street casting director
• Marc Baylis (Rob Donovan)
• Kevin Kennedy (Curly Watts)
• Furquan Ashtar - Coronation Street story associate
• Corrie writer Jonathan Harvey 
• Behind the scenes with Mark Llewellin
• Q&A with Craig Gazey (Graeme Proctor)
• Rupert Hill aka Jamie Baldwin
• Corrie secrets from Digital Spy
• Jayne Tunnicliffe aka Corrie's Yana
• Corrie secrets from Inside Soap magazine
• Grace Dent's soap secrets
• Ian Wylie's Corrie gossip

Download our free App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook | Visit Corrie.net



All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License

Exclusive! VIP Blog Post - BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Chris Hawkins

 

BBC6 Music DJ,  presenter and Coronation Street fan Chris Hawkins has very kindly taken up our challenge for a celebrity to write about their love of Coronation Street.  Chris recently appeared on Celebrity MasterMind where his specialist subject was Coronation Street from 2005. 

In return we've donated £25 to Chris' charity of choice which is the Christie Hospital in Manchester

And now, it's over to Chris...

"My parents watched three programmes religiously when I was a kid. My mum loved Dallas, my dad loved Magnum and we all watched Corrie. From the age of five, I was one of the 15 million viewers who regularly tuned into the soap. The big stars back then were Annie Walker, Len Fairclough, Hilda Ogden, Elsie Tanner and Ivy Tilsley. 

 

One of my earliest memories is watching Fred Gee’s Rover 2000 roll into the lake at Tatton Park. I was harrowed by Brian’s stabbing and sad when Phyllis Pearce left to join her beloved Percy at his retirement home. But the beauty of Corrie is that the characters have always been incredibly strong. From Mike Baldwin to David Platt and Norris Cole to Carla Connor, the show has always been a perfect blend of kitchen sink drama, humour and folk you feel like you know.

 

As a devotee of the show, it was a special day when my grandparents took me on the old Granada Studios tour. I remember excitedly getting an autograph from Alf Roberts (Brian Mosley) and there was this thing where you could be superimposed into the Rovers Return. It was green screen technology at it’s most basic but thirty years later I still have a VHS tape, in a blue Granada sleeve, of me asking Betty Turpin for a pint. 

 

In recent years I’ve become a massive fan of Steve McDonald. In fact, I’d sort of like to be him.

In advance of my Celebrity Mastermind appearance my lovely friend Samia Ghadie (who plays Corrie's Maria) helped me swot up. It was an obvious choice of subject for me. Corrie, Shrewsbury Town FC and music have been three constants in my life. Interest in Shrewsbury Town is (sadly) limited and lots of people have done music subjects, so I went for the TV programme I never miss. 

Mastermind is as nerve racking and tense to film as it is to watch. It’s just how you expect it to be. I was first up with my Corrie questions and managed to correctly answer ten out of eleven. Right on the buzzer, what did I fall down on? Despite being able to picture him, I couldn’t for the life of me remember that John Thomson played the part of General Custard. Would you have known that?"

Chris Hawkins is a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music

You can take the Coronation Street MasterMind challenge here.

Are you famous? Even just a little bit? Tell us about your love of Corrie and we'll donate to your favourite charity.  See also: All of our VIP exclusive interviews

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Exclusive! Corrie's Debbie Oates on writing for Rita

Coronation Street scriptwriter Debbie Oates has taken up our charity challenge to write about their love of Coronation Street.

In return we're donating £25 to Debbie's charity of choice which is The Brain Tumour Charity. A good friend of Debbie's, who had a brain tumour last year, is doing a 10k walk – a great sign of her progress as she recovers.  Debbie's friend is a Corrie fan too, and we've donated to her JustGiving page here.  If you can donate too, please do.

If you're famous (even just a little bit) and would like to write about your love of Corrie in exchange for a charity donation, have a look here.

And now, it's over to Debbie...

"It was one of the most surreal moments of my life when Rita Sullivan stood in the Kabin, opened her mouth and out came something I’d typed. I mean, Rita Sullivan.  THE Rita Sullivan.  Actual Barbara Knox.  Said something I had sat at home, in my little office, and typed. 

Corrie has been in the ether pretty much all of my life, part of the weave and weft of the city I love.  When I got chance to do a trial script I was beyond nervous – how do you write characters you’ve watched and heard discussed for what feels like ever?  On a show that is older than me?  

When I’m nervous I forget everything I know, so, after delivering my script I thought I’d best swot up in case I was lucky enough to get an interview.  I bought Daran Little’s fab book of the storylines to take on holiday with me, planning to read it on the flight, only to discover there was a Corrie actor on the same flight… worried I’d look like a scary stalker, I hid the book. But later opened it up and as I turned each page, remembered the way the show had unfolded over the years – even when you hadn’t watched an episode, or several, friends would be talking about it, or relatives, or people in the queue at Safeway’s...  The pictures – full of icons and long remembered events - just made me feel more scared!

And now, after well over a decade writing the show, I still get a buzz when I hear people arguing over the stories, or characters, or issues in the queue at Morrison’s (Safeways now consigned to history like Marathon and Opal Fruits and Jack Duckworth’s string vests).  It’s a privilege, a joy – often a challenge – and, when we’re handling stories that radiate into people’s lives, a responsibility to write for Coronation Street.  But it is by far the least lonely job for a writer – on a team who meet regularly to create, debate, fight, laugh and ultimately make up stories (then go to the pub), and feeling part of the bigger family of passionate, creative and talented folks that make up the cast and crew.  And I even got the chance to tell Barbara Knox about that moment of my very first episode…   Now THAT was surreal!"

Find out more about Corrie scriptwriter Debbie Oates

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All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License