Friday, December 18, 2015

Spot the Corrie prop - December 18th 2015

Congratulations this week go to regular contributor Pod who was the first to spot that last week's pink pussy pencil case belongs to Amy Barlow. Well done.

For this week's prop puzzle all you have to do is tell us whereabouts on the Coronation Street set you would find this festive snowflake decoration.




Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 18

Today we open door 18 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  Because a fight in the Rovers at Christmas is always fun to watch. 



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Coronation Street Christmas song of 1988


Here's Bill Waddington (Coronation Street Percy Sugden’s) 1988 Christmas song Don’t Forget The Old Folks At Christmas.

Have a listen to it here
.

On a more serious note, our blogger Graeme is fundraising for charity The Silverline. He's going 'dry' in January and not touching a drop of the drink.  The Silver Line is the only free confidential helpline providing information, friendship and advice to older people, open 24 hours a day, every day of the year and our blogger Graeme is a volunteer with them. 

If you can, please sponsor Graeme here.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Preview of tonightCorrie - Friday 18 December


Friday 18th December
ROB HAS PLANS FOR ROBERT Tracy thanks Robert for his grand gesture and kissing him, tells him he’s right, it’s time for a change of direction and that a florists is a great idea. In his prison cell, Rob confides in Ian that he intends to introduce himself to Robert.
EILEEN VENTS HER FURY AT MICHAEL Dee rages at Michael. Gail rushes to Michael’s defence telling Dee how he burgled her house too but he’s a good man underneath. Eileen squirms with embarrassment. As Billy announces the winner, Michael Rodwell, Michael flees from the bistro. Dee leaves, telling Michael that if he ever tries to contact her again, she’ll report him to the police. Michael apologises to Eileen for letting her down and causing her so much embarrassment. But will Eileen accept his apology?
THE COST OF CHRISTMAS HITS TYRONE HARD Fiz leads Tyrone into No.9 and reveals the Christmas makeover. Tyrone’s gutted, explaining he was looking forward to decorating the house with the kids. Sinead, Beth and Kirk leave feeling hurt. Fiz berates Tyrone for his ingratitude over the decorations.
ELSEWHERE Kylie tells David she wants him back and the kids need their Dad but if he can’t do it then they should call it quits. David’s stunned. Zeedan watches Robert at work and suggests a way he could improve upon a recipe. Robert offers him a job in the bistro kitchen, will Zeedan accept? Finding Aidan alone, Eva wonders what’s the matter. Aidan confides in her that it’s 22 years since his mother died.



Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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Katy Cavanagh stars on stage in new Jim Cartwright play

Katy Cavanagh is much missed by this fan as Julie Carp on Coronation Street.  The actress will be appearing at the Bolton Octagon theatre in the world premiere of a new Jim Cartwright play called Two 2. 

This is Lancashire reports that Katy is back in Bolton for the Jim Cartwright sequel, set in a northern boozer, which will make its debut at the Octagon Theatre in February, following on from a production of Two. (I've seen this play when it did the rounds many years ago at the Live Theatre in Newcastle and it's fantastic so Two 2 will be ace!)

Katy, who began treading the boards in the town as a youngster, is starring in both plays with Octagon regular Colin Connor as the landlord and landlady of the pub, bringing 14 characters to life between them.

Two debuted at the Octagon in 1989 and follows the lives of a landlord and lady, introducing the many characters who pass through their pub, from early doors to last orders, over the course of one whirlwind evening.

Two 2 seemingly begins at the end of the road for a once-bustling pub — but despite all attempts at quiz nights, karaoke, and pub grub, it could soon be last orders for the struggling landlord and lady themselves.

Two will run from January 21 to February 6, followed by the world premiere of its sequel, Two 2, from February 10 to 27.   Tickets and more information here.


Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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Pics: Sally and Tim as Annie and Albert for Text Santa

Pictures have been released showing some of the Coronation Street cast as classic characters.  It's all in aid of a sketch that will run as part of ITV's Text Santa on Friday 18 December.

Sally Dynevor (Sally Metcalfe) is done up as Annie Walker.  Joe Duttine (Tim Metcalfe) is Uncle Albert Tatlock.  And Debbie Rush (Anna Windass) is dolled up as Elsie Tanner.



And Les Dennis will do his Mavis "I don't really know" Riley!

Sir Richard Branson will also join in the Coronation Street sketch. Read more on that here.

It's not the first time that Corrie cast members have dressed up as blasts from the show's past. Have a look here for some more amazing photos.





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Corrie At Christmas 1972 style



As we are well on the way to Christmas now I thought I would take a look at Christmas in Corrie back in the day. One particular Christmas episode always sticks in my memory (and not because I was around to watch it when it was shown!) The 1972 festive episode is a cracker.

Back in the days before regular murder and mayhem, Coronation Street took a more traditional, community-minded approach to the festive season. The '72 episode is a perfect example and although there are touches of drama in the background, the main event is a talent show in the Rovers Select. 

We can deal with the drama first. The main thread going through part one is Alan Howard's descent in alcoholism. Elsie is obviously concerned, so much so that all she has managed to cook for Christmas dinner is a pan of boiling water. Thankfully Betty's sister Maggie Clegg is on hand to share advice from her own troubled marriage. The scenes between Elsie and Maggie are well written and honestly played. 


The other serious storyline focuses on the arrival of a rather strange Irish woman at the community centre who appears to have had a hand in the previous abduction of Ena's grandson Jason. The young woman is played by a very young Frances Tomelty who went on to have a very successful acting career. The main thing I noticed about all these scenes is the pace, it's so much slower than the Corrie produced today. 

Anyway, back to the main event. Billy Walker is master of ceremonies and many of the Rovers regulars are putting on turns for a bunch of rather dodgy looking extras and one Stanley Ogden (I have no idea where Hilda had disappeared to). The Select always looked to be a massive barn of a place, which was completely disproportionate with the size of the pub from the outside. I think they call that artistic licence...

While most of the acts cover old music hall turns most modern viewers have long since forgotten (or never knew in the first place), the great joy of these scenes is seeing so many classic characters doing something a bit different. It also allows many of the actors to demonstrate their versatility and use skills developed in local theatre and variety, often many years before Granada came calling. Ernest Bishop (the late Stephen Hancock) is at the piano as he often was while the likes of Ray Langton, Alf Roberts and Jerry Booth perform. 

There are two highlights for me. The first is the joyous threesome of Betty, Bet and Norma Ford (anyone remember her and her strange obsession with Ken Barlow?) The ladies perform as the Andrews Sisters and it's great to see Betty Driver actually sing in the show. They are obviously having a whale of a time and Julie Goodyear hams it up as only she could! 

We also get a young Barbara Knox, or Rio Rita as she was known in those days, doing her Marlene Dietrich act complete with trench coat, beret and cigarette holder! It doesn't get any camper than that! Fair play to her though for having a go! 

Sadly we don't get to see Emily's Carmen Miranda routine as she has a mishap with her bananas...Perhaps Eileen Derbyshire can give that a go before she departs on New Year's Day?

Anyway, if you fancy a bit of seventies Corrie nostalgia, some lovely person has uploaded this episode in two parts.

You can check out part one here and part two is available here 


You can follow me on Twitter @GraemeN82 



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