Coronation Street spoilers from new producer Stuart Blackburn

Coronation Street's new producer Stuart Blackburn has revealed a few spoilers, or at least teasers, about upcoming Street storylines.

In an interview with TV Times, via Digital Spy, Stuart reveals the following about our favourite soap:

On Hayley Cropper leaving -  "We're a long way off that storyline. Obviously Roy and Hayley are now going to be central to the show for the next 10 or 11 months. All I can say is that we're working on the most beautiful, moving story we can find."

On Stella and Karl - "There's a long way to go for Stella, Karl and the pub - we've got some really strong, powerful stuff coming up for them."

On David and Kylie - "I love that young couple and their relationship with the rest of their family."

On Peter and Carla - "There's a big storyline ahead for Peter and Carla, we're going to be moving them on apace."

On Tracy Barlow - "Tracy's been relatively quiet of late - she'll come back to the fore."

On the Rovers Return fire - Blackburn promises that the look of The Rovers Return will not change and that "rumours it's going to get bigger and become a B&B are nonsense". He added: "The story at the moment is that Stella is the landlady, and when the pub's burnt down, we'll see her battle to get it back to where it was."

On new families - Blackburn said there are no immediate plans to introduce new families to Weatherfield, as he will be concentrating on making sure existing characters are working "as best they can".

On his vision for the show, he commented: "It's about going back to basics, to the very first episode of Corrie in 1960. Right from the start, it was witty and warm but it wasn't nostalgic, it wasn't whimsical, it was an act of rebellion.

"It was the first time a popular TV drama had tackled the lives and loves of the working classes. That, for me, is what Coronation Street is, and what I want it to be while I'm here - 21st century stories about real, believable working class people."

Amen to all that, apart from more St Ella, news of which made this fan's heart sink.

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Karl to take a villainous turn

Karl is set to take a villainous turn in the coming weeks, as he begins terrorising Jason and Stella, in his twisted campaign to win back Stella's heart.

ITV.com has a great interview with actor John Michie, who plays the increasingly creepy Karl Munro.

In upcoming scenes, Karl will kidnap Stella, and burn Jason's van, but it seems that there is a method behind the madness.

"Jason’s a builder so without a van he won’t be able to do a great deal. He wants Jason to fail as the boyfriend so it’s vindictive and nasty, there’s a definite plan,"  Michie tells ITV.

This seems to be an interesting direction to take Karl's character in, since he broke up with Sunita, there seems to have been no real direction for his character to take. The real question is, does this mean that Karl will be the Rovers Return arsonist, or is this just a red herring?

"Initially he has a plan and a calculation" Michie explains, "but it all goes horribly wrong, and then he has to catch up with the events. It’s the events themselves that turn him bad; deep down he himself isn’t a bad person he’s just obsessed and in love. The best thing for Karl would be to leave Stella alone and not be with her."

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Spoilers for next week's Coronation Street, Mar 4 - Mar 8

Without any piffle, here's the storyline for the week ahead on Coronation Street, all wrapped up nicely in 50 words or less.

Week of Monday 4 - Friday 8 March

Karl stalks Stella and is jealous of Jason, Kirsty’s mum returns,  Katy wants Ryan, Dev and Sunita get friendly and Paul proposes to Eileen.

The full weekly preview, with loads of pictures is right here on Corrie.net

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Catch up with the Coronation Street Weekly Updates   

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Gin and tonic please, luvey!

God bless Dame Audrey Roberts, that's what I say. Amidst all the chaos in the Platt/McIntyre family with David all shouty, Kylie all pale and Gail all, well Gail, Audrey's first reaction was to request a large gin and tonic. Such class.

This made me think, what does a Corrie character's alcoholic drink of choice say about them? 

Now Audrey is a classy lady. Old Aud and Alma used to boost the Rovers takings no end as they put the world to rights over countless gins. The classiest, most glamorous characters in Corrie always drink gin, Elsie Tanner always did after all. It is also normally the preferred drink of any posh outsiders. And being this Blogger's own favourite tipple, of course it is the best.

Rita is normally a vodka and tonic gal. Now I don't mind a VAT but in my eyes it is a low grade equivalent of gin. This befits Rita's status as seller of sherbet lemons, Sugar Girl magazines and wearer of chunky diamante knits. I imagine she got a taste for vodka back in her days as t'Gatsby's resident turn and all round good time girl!  

In complete contrast, Emily will only occasionally sip a sweet sherry, particularly if Norris has driven her to it. I would imagine St Ella of the Back Room only keeps schooners in the Rovers bar for Emily these days. I hope, once Emily departs the cobbles, we don't discover she was a secret hoarder of sherry glasses as apparently the much-missed Betty was with pint pots. (Seriously though, what a stupid idea that was. As if Betty would do that).

Mary demonstrated the other night that she had missed her calling as a cocktail maker. When I first glimpsed her behind the bar at the Bistro I thought Tom Cruise had arrived in Weatherfield and changed sex. I was impressed by Mary's cocktail repertoire and it acted as a good distraction from the budding flirtation between beige Ryan and pointless Katy. 


As for the younger characters, if they are not knocking back pints of Newton and Ridley they will be, woe betide them, necking fizzy lager straight from the bottle. Gone are the days of classy drinkers like Becky "Pint of Snakebite" McDonald. I've gone all misty-eyed at the thought. Fair play to her though, she made a litre of cider the must have wedding day accessory. 

Spare a thought for poor old Gail, Sally and Deirdre though. Their drinking habits don't stretch to anything more exotic than a bottle of Freshco's red. I wonder if they pop it in the fridge like Abigail? Bless her heart. At least Gail's still got plenty of olives.


So what of the other Coronation Street residents? What do you think should be their tipple of choice? Would you like to see Eileen enjoy a Slippery Nipple? Would Norris benefit from Sex on the Beach? Although maybe not at this time of year. And I'm sure many of you out there would love to see Tommy Duckworth's Woo Woo. 

Right, I'm off for a quick Snakebite before bed.

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