Coronation Street double episode review, Monday 25 February

Whose side are viewers on? Gail is understandably distressed and perhaps the truth will out at some point, so it might be better to tell the truth now. Then again, Kylie deeply regrets having slept with Nick. If  David finds out or is told, it might destroy his and Kylie's marriage and possibly Nick and Leanne's too.

Up to now, Audrey is unaware of the problem and is doing her damnedest to pull the family together despite Gail's huge betrayal with Lewis. 'Whatever you think of Kylie, Gail, she is David's wife.' Then, with abundant good sense, she says: 'It's up to us to help her through it all'.

Kylie does seem to have matured and the enormity of the possible consequences  of her night with Nick seem to have profoundly affected her. She is altogether more sober, in both senses of the word, and now recognises the pricelessness of her family. She's come a long way since we first laid eyes on her when she made even her sister Becky appear stable.

David is enraged with his mother and  demands an apology which Gail cannot give. As she says to Sally, if he knew what she knows it might not be her who he was throwing out. A stay at Sally's can do no harm. Sally asks Gail to think of all the people it will hurt if she reveals the truth. 'If you keep the secret, you keep them,' says Sally  The secret though is out. Sally now knows and the writers surely won't let that go nowhere.

The whole Anna, Owen, Faye and Faye's dad story rolls on but it is becoming rather repetitive. There'll be a development soon hopefully. Might Faye take a train to Leeds where her dad is working?   .

Tracy was in good form tonight as the wicked witch of Weatherfield. Eva is a recent target of Tracy's and tonight she asks Eva if, 'being single makes your ears more sensitive'. Having thrown away her job, Eva arrives at The Rovers declaring that one of these days she's actually going to kill Tracy Barlow.

Eva is down on her luck at the moment, but Eric is trying to give her back a sense of self-worth. A naive view maybe, but it seems that Eric's intentions are honorable and he does feel a connection with Eva, while recognising that Gloria has no love for him, just his bank account. Gloria is one in a long line of gold diggers it seems and Eric is weary of them. Eva puts herself down and Eric tells her to stop, saying, 'That way madness lies', a quotation from King Lear, the first Shakespearean quotation of the evening. When Stella attacks Eva for the possible plan to accompany Eric on his travels, Eva points out that she listens to Eric. 'I don't just hear white noise and use him as a cash point'.

As Eric wanders into the bar, Mandy notices Eric is not looking too good and brings him a brandy. His earlier comment, 'If you're very quiet you'll hear my arteries hardening', comes to mind at this point.  Mary finds Eric commanding and likens him to an octogenarian Mr Darcy. Sylvia decides to regale Eric with her experience of cruises and advises him to take baggy pants as he'll balloon. No baggy pants are necessary for Eric as he has now departed this Earth. We may well soon see human greed at its most vile as Eric's money's destination may not be as clear cut as his own. Mary tells her companions that she is 'very much at home with death', as she had a Saturday job in a funeral parlour.

Lloyd tells Mandy that Flash has died - in fact he tells her that Eric is not the only one who has 'shuffled off this mortal coil' today'- a quotation from Hamlet this time. All human life and death is here.

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Man who put Coronation Street on TV dies aged 95

Sir Denis Forman, the former Granada TV chairman who was responsible for putting Coronation Street on TV in 1960, has died aged 95.

The Guardian carries his obituary detailing a remarkable 50-year career.  Sir Denis, who died on Sunday night in a nursing home in London, was also director of the British Film Institute and deputy chairman of the Royal Opera House but it was his work in television of which he was most proud.

One of the founding executives of Granada TV in the mid 1950s, Forman went on to become is joint managing director and chairman between 1974 and 1987.

He was responsible for a new generation of programmes that helped to redefine British TV, including Coronation Street.  In an interview with The Guardian he once said this about the show:

"I recognised its merit and I supported the move to get it on air, but I was not 100% behind it. I was nervous. Everyone was. Look at those accents. Anyone in broadcasting reading one of those scripts would say: 'It's impossible.'"

Granada made it possible, though initially only as a 13-part series. The Daily Mirror's review of the first episode was scathing. "The programme is doomed from the outset," it intoned, "with its gloomy tune and grim scene of a row of terraced houses and smoking chimneys." But it was a ratings triumph, became a twice-weekly fixture, and within six months was the most-watched programme on British TV.

And here at the Coronation Street Blog we've just checked through Sean Egan's book - 50 Years of Coronation Street, the Unofficial Story. It says Sir Forman gave Tony Warren his first exclusive writing contract at Granada TV.  And as we all know, Tony ended up penning the first episodes of Coronation Street, of which Sir Forman says this:

"If we'd been in London, I don't think we would have made Coronation Street.  I don't think anyone in London would have made Coronation Street".

And his verdict on Tony Warren's first script for Florizel Street, as Corrie was originally known was this: "Good characters, good dialogue."

At the end of the day, I think that's all we really need. 


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Last chance to vote for Corrie - All About Soap Awards 2013

Voting closes toight in this year's All About Soap Awards. Please vote now if you haven't already done so.

The magazine's awards are determined solely by public votes.  The poll closes on Monday, February 25 and the winners will be announced in the magazine next month.

Vote here.

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Samia Ghadie voted off Dancing on Ice

Samia Ghadie, who plays Coronation Street crimper Maria Connor, was last night voted off ITV's Dancing on Ice.

Samia has said she might keep in touch with her skating partner Sylvain Longchambon while  tabloid rumours have sugegsted over the last few weeks that the two of them have become an item.

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