Tommy O Rejoins Corrie On Christmas Day : From Subs Bench To The First Team!

It may have been a bit sad to see Peter leave, but amongst all of the Barlow Christmas Day drama, we did get a re-appearance from Tommy O, who we saw buying flowers from Tracy Mcdonald (nee Barlow, at Preston's Petals, but I digress). 

Back in October, the blog had a chat with Corrie producer, Iain Macleod, who gave us a teaser of what's to come for the former 'Wethy' Weatherfield County footballer, as the character is about to become something of a more permanent fixture on the street!

On Tommy O returning to the cobbles, Iain said, "Basically a story evolves where this attractive successful (historically) man arrives into one of our female character's lives and upsets the apple cart spectacularly!’’  

Matt Milburn (who plays Tommy O) has been in and out of the show these past few years. How is he feeling about returning, albeit in a full-time position?

"I spoke with Matt the other day. I said he’s (Tommy O) often been an unseen and a kind of untouchable character on a pedestal for our (male) characters to kind of hero worship. It's the first time we've done anything significant with him, he's absolutely over the moon to be involved. It is funny, quite sad, and triggers something significant for our characters over these next 12 months!" 

Cheers, Iain 

  

Although I am bereft at Peter's sad departure, it seems he's been (very quickly) substituted by a younger handsome model. Is this Carla's new man, or will Tommy O be looking to play the field... in Weatherfield? 

Let us know your thoughts! 

@rybazoxo Corrie Blog Blogger & Cobbles Connoissiuer   

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I Won't Miss The Footy, But I Will Miss Corrie Anytime On The Hub!

It's Coming Home, Ingerland, Sweet Caroline, etc etc...

During the last 3-weeks, I have made no bones about my distaste for the national sport. The machismo, beer-swilling, lazy tabloid press, and the repetitive awful strains of 1996 novelty song ' Three Lions' makes me want to vomit nationalism out of my eyes. Aside from that, and whatever happens tonight (good luck lads!) there is one thing I will miss about these past 3-weeks of European football - current Corrie episodes available anytime on the ITV Hub!

What a treat that has been for me. I know spoilers are a polarising subject amongst us soap fans, but personally, I love them. I devour any I can find online ( mainly on this blog, of course). Because I do the occasional press day, I tend to find juicy gossip weeks in advance! (embargoed, of course, I don't tell a soul) so you can imagine my delight at being able to watch the show ahead of traditional TV screening!

Here is how I've watched the show, over the past 21 days; 

Week One - I immediately thought about missing the live-tweeting, following the Corrie fans tweeting out during the show, so I watched it live on TV only. 

Week Two - I'm at a loose end at the minute and reviewing Wednesday episodes, so I decided to take a sneaky look at the week's action on the hub. I'd watched the whole week by Wednesday morning! 

At this point, I’d got into Classic Corrie on the hub as well, ( I started religiously watching the show in 1997) which brought back a flush of memories and the early days of my Corrie romance. Happy honeymoon period memories of my late teenage Corrie crushes; Fiona Middleton, Toyah Battersby, Maxine, and laughing at Jack, Vera, and Alec at The Rovers! The classics have now reached late 1998 when Kev and Sally have an acrimonious split, and Hayley's secret is about to be exposed - brilliant stuff! 

Week Three - In light of that, and as we got into last week, I devoured all of the current episodes in about 2 days so I could catch up on the classics. 

How have you found it? Would you like it to become a permanent thing or do you prefer watching it live and following the social media buzz, as it happens? I wonder whether we've witnessed Corrie history in how the show's viewed in future? 

I've also signed up on ITV HUB for £4 a month so I don't have to watch the adverts. A goal for ITV, surely! 

Let us know your thoughts! 

@rybazoxo your Corrie pundit 

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Coronation Street Episode Review; Weds 2nd of May 2018 7.30pm

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of the Coronation Street Blog and the first of tonight's two episode reviews!. 

Toyah's torrid web of lies continues to spin, and her plan to claim Eva's baby looks to be coming to fruition. Eva's baby girl leaves the hospital and her birth is registered but Eva looks fraught with worry, her maternal instincts are clear to see. 

Mary 'fishy' plans to save Jude's lies are also in place. The hired actors pre-performance preparation in Preston Petals fools Ken, yet he recognises a vague familiarity in their faces.

Following his false fire alarm fiasco though, it seems they needn't have bothered as Jude is fired from the Marine Life Centre.

Over dinner, the actor's performances descend into a true farce when Brian brings the council job description around for Jude, blowing their cover!. As the dinner descends into drunken innuendo and literal amateur dramatics, it's clear to Angie that something isn't right. When the guests leave, Jude unwittingly admits his career faux par and marital deceit to his wife.

Round at Sally & Tim's, Sally is keen on getting to know her father-in-law Geoff with another Monday night dinner party!. In true Corrie style, it isn't long before Gina & Dev are also invited and Geoff brings Yasmeen, which ruffles Sally's mayoral feathers.


In other news, Jenny postpones the leaving party, Summer asks Aidan a favour, Kirks dog walking business blooms and we discover Weatherfield County's chant!.

Anyway, that's me done for another week. Keep an eye out for tonight's 8.30pm episode review written by @glenn_writer.

TARA!

You can follow me @rybazoxo on twitter-your self-styled 'Cobbles Connoisseur'

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Match report: Weatherfield County vs Oakhill Athletic

In the first of what I hope may be regular reports, sports journalist Nathan Spafford gives us a very special report from today's Weatherfield County game.  

Find out more about Weatherfield County FC here.

Weatherfield County began the season in stellar fashion, defeating local rivals Oakhill Athletic 3-2 thanks to a late winner from star striker Tommy Orpington.

For Orpington, it was a welcome return to first team action having endured an injury hit campaign last season following an incident with two local fans and he marked his return in style, netting the decisive fifth goal of the game with seconds left on the clock.

With the start of the Greater Manchester season having been delayed by the ‘summer weather’, the nerves of the 284 fans in attendance were palpable but any fears were soon laid to rest by a stunning opener from Keith Johnson just five minutes into the contest.

Having held possession for the majority of the opening period, a lay off from Jake Webster (no relation) found Johnson on the edge of the box and he hit a shot sweeter than a bag of confectionary from The Kabin.

Oakhill were not about to lay down though, and two goals for the opposition came quicker than Steve McDonald can say ‘Will you marry me?’, leading to distressing groans from the Weatherfield faithful whose luminous replica kits looked a much healthier shade of green than the bobbly playing surface which surely had a part to play in the equaliser as goal keeper Tom Hastings let a weak effort from the edge of the area bounce over his outstretched arms before an own goal allowed the visitors the lead at the break.

The second half was a much more pleasant one for the home crowd, and in particular one Oliver McDonald who was in attendance for his first ever match sporting a slightly oversized strip to match that of his father’s rather tight attire.

Having levelled on the hour mark thanks largely to a stunning dribble from Orpington past no fewer than four of the opposition, affording Webster the easiest of tap ins, the winner came in injury time as Orpington headed in at the back post to send the home support, and mascot Ronnie the Rooster, into raptures with the eight foot bird joining in the team celebrations at the end of a smash and grab Jim McDonald would have been proud of.

Nathan Spafford

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Nathan Spafford - Journalist

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The return of Weatherfield County FC

Was I the only Coronation Street fan cheering on Friday night when the Weatherfield County football top made its re-appearance?  We haven't seen one for years! 

Tim wore his Weatherfield County footy top to Hayley's funeral as his "splash of colour".  Or was it Kev's shirt he found in the back of Sally's wardrobe?

Weatherfield County FC is Weatherfield's principal football team, referred to as playing in the Nationwide Conference in the English non-league. The team has appeared in Coronation Street scripts since 1961 when David Barlow was a player.

Cockney bookie and Weatherfield bad lad Dave Smith owned the football club in the 70s and he also had a bit of a thing for Blanche Hunt.  Ken Barlow's brother David used to play for the team in the 60s until he was injured and couldn't play any more.

Warren Baldwin was signed for the team in 2004. The picture above shows Sarah-Lou and Candice heading off to watch Warren play a match. Sarah-Lou is sporting the green and white Weatherfield County football hat. Warren's girlfriend Candice Stowe becoming the Street's first WAG before she swapped WAGs for wigs and went off on tour as a hairdresser to Status Quo.

In the 90s, Racquel Wolstenhulme went out with Weatherfield County press secretary Gordon Blinkhorn and then through him she met and started dating striker Wayne Farrell.

And in 2005 Martin Platt became the football club mascot, dressing up as a rooster. He got himself into a race against a rival team's mascot, dressed as a fox and they raced against each other. The fox pulled Martin’s tail feathers and he stumbled and fell, leaving the cheating fox to win the race.  However, once Martin found out who was in the fox fancy dress, a woman called Robyn, romance blossomed and he ran off to Liverpool to live with her.

See also: Here's Stan and Hilda Ogden ready for action in a football game against the Flying Horse. 
See also: Carlos Tevez learns English watching Coronation Street


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