Barbara Knox to be on Paul O'Grady show

I was excited to see in my What's On TV mag that the fabulous Rita (Barbara Knox) is to appear on the Paul O'Grady show just after Corrie on ITV1 at 9pm this Friday, 5th November. See the listings in the online version here.

Apparently, "Coronation Street star Barbara Knox will talk about her time on the soap as it celebrates its 50th birthday".

I don't think I've ever seen an interview with "Rita", so I can't wait. I'm sure Paul O'Grady will be thrilled as well, as I believe he is a big Corrie fan. Rita is one of my all-time favourites, a true Corrie star and a proper queen of the cobbles as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not missing this one.

Winner announced for Corrie DVD A Knight's Tale competition

Congratulations go to Coronation Street blog reader Chris Baldwin who's the latest winner in A Knight's Tale DVD competition.  Chris successfully answered the two questions we set in our competition here and was drawn at random from all the very many entries we had in this competition.

The answers to the competition we posed are as follows:

Q1: In Coronation Street, what was the first name of the woman who walked out on Reg Holdsworth and turned to Curly Watts for comfort?
A: Maureen

Q2: Which Knight of the Realm appeared on Coronation Street as Mel Hutchwright?
A: Sir Ian McKellen

A Knight's Tale - a fan review

After Romanian Holiday, I had high expectations for this DVD, but this time around, it feels as though something is missing. Out of Africa and Romanian Holiday were mildly believeable, but A Knight's Tale throws realism out of the window.

There are two main plotlines in the DVD - Rosie and Jason's adventure; and Mary, Norris and Reg's story. Suprisingly, I actually enjoyed Rosie and Jason's side of the story more, as it takes an unexpected twist in the later scenes, though there didn't seem to be a proper conclusion to the action.

Reg, Norris and Mary's story just didn't sit right, and seemed to drag on, and climaxes with scenes such as Norris and Reg bouncing along on spacehoppers in a tournament.

Curly was something of a spare part throughout, though he was enjoyable to watch and it was good seeing him being successful. There are several side characters who gave me a few laughs, such as an old lady, who seemed to keep getting caught up in all the action.

Highlights
Dickie the boatman, with various references to Richard Hillman from Norris, and from the character himself.
Curly, it was good seeing him around again.
Rita making an unexpected cameo.
Brilliant scenery.

Lowlights
The plots seemed to drag on for too long.
The 'tournament' seemed too silly.
Reg Holdsworth, need I say more?

The unrealistic plot points.

Rating:
3/5  
Final verdict:
Buy Romanian Holiday instead

Winner announced for Corrie dress competition

Congratulations go to an American blog reader called Kathleen Cain Nastrom, who has won the Corrie-inspired Julie Carp-style dress competition. 

In our competition here on the blog we asked two questions and Kathleen was chosen at random by the lovely people of Vivien of Hollway to win this fantastic dress. 

The answers to the questions posed in the competition are:
Q1: On Coronation Street, which country was Kirk on holiday in when he first met Julie Carp?
A: Cyprus

Q2: On the Vivien of Holloway website, what size figure will fit the following measurement: Bust 38 in, Waist 30 in, Hip 42 in?
A: Size 16

You can view the dress design which Julie Carp wore on Coronation Street at the Vivien of Holloway website and check out their fantastic range of gorgeous frocks.