Coronation Street double episode review, Friday 11 December 2015

There’s another visit to Rob on the cards for Tracy, but in the meantime, Johnny attends for his. It transpires that Rob has seen a photo of him in the paper connecting him with Underworld, and this, combined with a memory of his drunken mother telling him about a one night stand she had with Johnny in his Vauxhall Cavalier, is enough for Rob to presume Carla is his daughter. Johnny’s reaction is all that remains to convince him that it’s true. Johnny’s weak deflections are not enough to dissuade Rob, and £10,000 is the price to keep him quiet. While Johnny seemed ruffled, his departure was somewhat triumphant, revealing that Tracy is shacked up with someone else, and announcing that he’s off for a pint.

To me, this feels like a storyline that’s been wedged in, with explanations peppered about to justify it. Why haven't we seen so much as a glimmer of this possibility in any scenes between Johnny and Carla? Why did Rob never tell Carla about his mother's confession? Apparently because he never believed her. Why would Rob, who was so traumatised at the prospect of going to jail again and whose sole motivation for keeping his murder of Tina a secret was keeping out of prison, risk adding time to his sentence by engaging in further illegal activity? Who knows. What we do know, is that his deviousness arises from boredom. The insertion of a Bill Clinton-esque line from Rob, “Did or did you not have sexual relations with that woman?” seemed rather odd as he was referring to his own mother, and didn’t appear to be making a joke. I did enjoy what were strong scenes between Johnny and Rob, however, and it’s great to see the return of Marc Baylis.

Johnny later attends Nick and Carla's engagement party at the Bistro. After telling a concerned Carla that Rob merely wanted to know how things were going at Underworld, he looks wistfully on as she asks Roy to give her away. I found this to be a rather awkward scene. Roy saying it would be an honour was lovely, but Carla made some rather strange expressions in response. Considering their friendship, and Carla’s ever confident demeanour, I didn’t think her response to a question she had posed would cause her to feel so uncomfortable.

Elsewhere at the party we had ill-wishing Gail swilling the sauvignon, Sally discussing Tim’s toenails, and a frankly bizarre set of scenes involving Aidan’s missing silk seal-pup-like socks in which emergency phone calls to Spain, thievery and flirtatious sock related one-liners all played a part. In fact, I can’t decide which was the stranger; the socks, or Johnny buying a green shirt on the basis that he heard Liz liked Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood. In any event, she likes the shirt, and almost hears a confession from tipsy Johnny, but Carla interrupts and her parentage remains a secret for another day.

Ever the good friend, Roy is disappointed that Ken doesn’t make it to the ball. After Audrey deliberately gives Nessa the updo from hell, and Amy has a good laugh at her expense, Ken's lady friend swaps her party frock for Tracy’s dressing gown and a takeaway. He can’t say or do anything right, and judging by the disgruntled looks on his face throughout, he appears to be wondering if all this is worth the hassle. He still agrees to her staying a second night, which leaves me wondering, who’s looking after Alex?

Sadie Shimmin is doing a great job at portraying this playful, nosy, coy, yet strangely insecure character. Nessa has a presence about her, and I can see a role for her on the street, but not with Ken. At least the Renshaw twins thought her hair was "chic", and I would pay good money to see David Platt cutting their hair simultaneously.

Sarah Platt seems to be under an unwarranted amount of surveillance with Kylie now getting in on the act by reading her phone and searching her bag. I’m not sure what Kylie ran out of the pub for on finding an address for an abortion clinic in Sarah’s purse, as she didn’t urgently impart the news to anyone, and the next we saw of her she was calmly doing her make-up at the kitchen table. In any event, she squeezes an admission from Sarah and sympathises with her at the news that she has booked in for an abortion.

It’s a bit of a contradiction to find Rita joining in with Norris and mocking Mary and her “crackpot convention” while at the same time showing concern when she realises Brendan is married. While she is coming across as interfering, she seems to have Mary's best interests at heart, and one of my favourite scenes of the two episodes was when she revealed the news to Mary only to learn she is already fully aware.

Mary proceeds with their day out together, and as they talk of their mutual enjoyment of the convention, the pair kiss. There was a point some time back when Mary’s character took an unwelcome turn, but in these scenes, and over the past few weeks, she has been one of the highlights of every episode. From confessing that her favourite part of the convention was the moment when Brendan put his hand on her knee, to bashfully telling him “I’ll be thinking of you”, she was a joy throughout. I never would have had Mary down as a mistress and can see her character being vehemently against infidelity, but I feel the manner in which this has played out justifies a change of heart on this score. She is focussed on what she wants it to be rather than what it is. As Mary continues to reside in the afterglow of her magical day, Rita persists with home truths telling her Brendan doesn’t love her, and won’t leave his wife. “I can’t stand back and say nothing” she tells Mary who replies, “You can and you should" and accuses her of being sanctimonious and bitter. 

While I'm no fan of infidelity, you can't but feel sorry for her, as I do fear things will turn out as Rita predicts. Here's hoping the outcome is that it won't be long before Mary meets someone who deserves her, as being loved and in love certainly becomes her.

By Emma Hynes

www.emmahynes.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ELHynes

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

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A Fond Farewell to the Cobbles of Old

The 2nd of December was far from an average Wednesday. It began with a flight from Dublin to Manchester to meet with my Coronation Street Blog friends, to tour the old set one final time, and enjoy a welcome catch-up over dinner at Annies restaurant, owned by the lovely Jennie McAlpine.

I was very excited at the prospect of seeing my fellow bloggers again, retracing my steps on the Corrie Tour for the last time, and sharing what was sure to be an enjoyable evening together. With such welcome prospects ahead, it’s difficult to contemplate how there could be an inkling of melancholy, and yet there was.

Before Coronation Street The Tour opened in April 2014, I was lucky enough to attend an exclusive preview on behalf of the blog, and the frenzied excitement of getting the whole thing up and running in advance of the first tranche of visitors was palpable. This was my first visit to the cobbles as well as my first Coronation Street Blog mission, and so it has a special place in my heart. I was also there in November 2014, again on behalf of the blog, this time, to preview Christmas on the Cobbles. On that occasion, everyone was working hard to infuse the old set with Christmas cheer. The roof of the Rovers was still in the process of being sprinkled with snow while carolers practiced and lights fresh from the working Media City set were being restrung. 

With now just under 4 weeks left of the tour, I found it rather sad and yet fitting, having witnessed the start of it all, to be there for the very end. And so we gathered in the dark at rush hour on a wet, sodden Manchester evening to say our goodbyes to the old set as rain lashed the greasy pavements and made headlamp and taillight puddles shimmer as cars hissed by.

Martin from the Corrie Tour lit up the entrance with the warmest of welcomes, and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves gathered in the ‘actors only’ room where Corrie stalwarts, past and present, passed their spare time. Not just haunted by their pigeon hole names on this occasion, a number had since autographed the wall.

We were joined by the wonderful Jonny Grimshaw, Coronation Street extra and tour guide extraordinaire, and having him accompany us around the set for such a special visit was the icing on our Corrie cake. He was ably assisted by fellow guide David Owen who was also very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and they made for an entertaining duo.

As we were on a VIP tour, we had full access to the indoor sets, and didn't let the opportunity go to waste. Lolling on Carla's sofa, climbing the Platt's stairs to nowhere, stroking Jack's stuffed pigeon and leafing through copies of Hiya magazine were just some of the advantages, and taking photos for posterity was another bonus.

One of the highlights was having a glass of prosecco and raising a toast in the Rovers as well as gliding through the beads from the back of The Kabin to take up residence behind the counter. This latter set was a welcome surprise as it wasn’t there the last time I visited, and as there wasn’t a tour coming directly behind us, we had plenty of time to take it all in, and that included the street.

As the doors opened, and we beheld this view for the last time, it really was quite something. On my previous visits, it had been day time, but it was pitch dark now and the slick cobbles spotted with puddles sparkled with the reflection of fairylights and cosy windows from the homes we know so well. It had miraculously stopped raining, and all was still and quiet with the exception of Christmas music which wafted through the night like steam from hot mince pies.

As I stopped outside what was the Duckworth’s, Bing Crosby's voice filled the air with the words “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams” and I found I had a lump in my throat for all it signified.

One of my fellow bloggers remarked that it was as if everyone was home for the evening, tucked up inside as we walked the street, and it very much felt like this. These quiet moments when we had the cobbles to ourselves were magical, and I’ll always treasure that memory; indeed, the street never felt more real. 

As we tiptoed down the ginnel, bathed with the gold of the streetlights, we heard past scenes and voices ring out all around us. Our blogger Stevie Dawson captured my husband and I in this moment in a photo I'll now always treasure. Having strolled the length and breadth of the street, a number of us paused at the railings of what was the Medical Centre to take it all in and talk about how truly remarkable a thing it was and how hard it is to believe that soon, it will be no more.

When the time came to leave, we walked the length of the street together, turning in front of the bistro to look back at it for one final time, pausing to take it all in, soaking up every detail and immortalising it, and everything associated with it, in our minds.

It’s funny how the end of something, while instilled with a heavy finality, can at the same time feel as if it is never more alive than at that moment before it disappears forever. While each visit had magical memories for different reasons, the street never looked more beautiful to me than on that night, and I’ll never forget it.

We spent the rest of our evening chatting, laughing and sharing stories in the Old Grapes, a pub once owned by Liz Dawn, followed by our much anticipated meal in Annies. Jennie McAlpine was on hand to welcome us to her restaurant and proved to be an excellent host.

While we may have been there to say farewell to an important piece of history which holds such a special place in our hearts, the relationships we have forged because of this brilliant blog should assure writers and readers alike that the past will not be forgotten. It is for this reason, and many more, that I'm both proud and privileged to be a part of it.

By Emma Hynes

www.emmahynes.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ELHynes

Coronation Street The Tour ends on 31 December 2015 to make way for redevelopment of the site. Find out about ticket availability here.

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

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The Beatles on The Street – Streetlemania!

Did anyone see ‘The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One’ the other week? If not, then I would highly recommend streaming it from the newly renamed ITV Hub, where it will remain for another 6 days (link here).

I watched it on the train to Manchester for the Coronation Street Blog Christmas Do. It’s a cracking rock doc and I was particularly pleased to discover that when The Beatles weren’t busy shaking the world, the Fab Four liked nothing more than to watch a bit of telly and, according to former Granada Producer Johnny Hamp, Coronation Street was one of their favourite programmes.

Hamp produced the TV special ‘The Music of Lennon and McCartney’, which was filmed at the former Granada Studios on Quay Street, a site that we bloggers visited earlier this week for the very last time.

The Beatles show went out in December 1965 - when Corrie was just five years old. A lot of it can be seen on YouTube and it really is fascinating footage. During the performance, John Lennon played the harmonium on ‘We Can Work It Out’ (which came in at number 17 in the ITV poll).

But it wasn’t just any harmonium that Lennon used that day at Granada. Oh no - it was the very same instrument that Ena Sharples played in Coronation Street! Have a look at this:

Apparently, when the Granada special was being recorded, the Corrie cast kept on sticking their heads around the door to catch a glimpse of The Beatles. The cast could have got a lot closer to the band, though, according to a wonderful article I stumbled across on a Beatles fansite (available here).

The story goes that there was a proposed plot which would have seen The Beatles’ tour bus break down in Weatherfield while the band were on their way to a gig in Manchester.

Naturally, Beatlemania would soon take over and with the police unable to control the crowds, the band would knock on Ena's door in search of sanctuary (and possibly a harmonium?!!). Ena would take them in and the Fab Four would file in past her, bringing the episode to a close.

In the next episode, Ena would persuade The Beatles to perform at the Over-Sixties club. The gig would be gate-crashed by a load of teenagers and two generations would come together for an amazing concert, after which The Beatles would rush off to their other show in Manchester!

The Beatles were apparently very keen to do it but weren’t able to fit the rehearsal dates into their schedule and so the plans were scrapped. What a shame!

I like to think, though, that in the parallel universe of Coronation Street, The Beatles did in fact play Weatherfield in the 60s. Perhaps that would explain the signed Beatles programme that the Peacocks found in the attic of Number 13 a few years ago!

When I arrived at Manchester Piccadilly to catch my 7am train back to London, everything came full circle when I saw an advert for a new collection of The Beatles’ chart-topping hits.

It made me think about the vital contribution that Coronation Street and The Beatles – two great institutions that emerged from 1960s Northern England – have made to the UK’s cultural history.

And then I thought about the original Cavern Club in Liverpool, which was knocked down. It was a decision that city leaders would soon regret and the Cavern was later rebuilt using many of the original bricks.

I don’t want Manchester to make the same mistake by demolishing the old Corrie set. Wouldn’t it be great if the developers decided to keep at least some of the magic alive? 

Coronation Street is in our ears and in our eyes. It is also in our hearts. There is so much history in those cobbles and it would be a tragedy for it all to be bulldozed for flats and shops.

By Martin Leay

You can follow Martin on Twitter @mpleay

You can listen to Martin on the Happy Sundays show on Croydon Radio

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

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Zeedan to burst soap bubble?

It was interesting, but not surprising, to hear Zeedan express a wish to move on from the gym on Friday’s Corrie, when we promptly saw the managerial mantle pass to Gary.

Zeedan has fast become one of my favourite characters on the street at the moment. His development from a sullen, almost disdainful young man, into an intelligent, considerate, capable, respectful and responsible individual provides us with a great role model and an interesting character who is infinitely watchable thanks to the talents of Qasim Akhtar.

Like all of us, Zeedan is not perfect, and his momentary lapses ensure his complexity. Look no further than his attempt to vandalise Barlow's Buys on finding out Tracy started the fire which killed his father, and his altercation with Jason when the news broke that he had slept with Alya. The important thing about both instances was that he could be reasoned with and talked out of doing any damage.

The finest example of his positive traits, which far outweigh any negative ones, can be found in the support he continues to offer Leanne and his investment in Simon. In addition, his desire to honour his father’s memory by doing sterling work at the gym, and the manner in which he didn’t allow his initial anger at and disappointment in Alya to prevent him from comforting her, offering his support, and reassessing his initial perceptions of what she had done, showed great strength of character.

The question now is, where does Zeedan go from here?

My personal hope is that he honours his potential while remaining on the street. This would involve him breaking the mould and working or studying elsewhere, but returning home in the evenings and/or weekends. 

To be honest, I can’t understand why this isn’t the case for more characters. I know the various businesses need people behind their counters, but we did have a rare instance where Deirdre worked for the Council, and to my recollection, we never saw any scenes filmed there. Nor was the drama the poorer for it; we barely noticed. If anything, talk of somewhere ‘untelevised’ enhanced the realism; how many of us have any personal knowledge of the workplaces our friends and loved ones speak of, aside from their descriptions of them?

I like the fact that filming restricts itself to the street and its environs, with on-location shoots in the vast minority, but there's no reason why its characters can't temporarily inhabit other places.

The most fitting tribute to a character of Zeedan’s quality would be to see him spend his days elsewhere fulfilling his potential while at the same time enriching the street while he’s home with news of beyond its parameters, and his interactions with neighbours, friends and family. This is not to say he would be deprived of a storyline of his own; in our own lives, we find ourselves negotiating plenty of situations outside of work or university.

I think it would be a great loss to the programme if Zeedan’s desire for more meant he had to leave the street, like so many before him. In the wake of The Guardian asking why there aren’t more graduates on Corrie, and Scott’s excellent 2013 post on how young cobble-based folk attempting to better themselves do so at their peril, let Zeedan be the one who bursts this soap bubble.

By Emma Hynes
www.emmahynes.wordpress.com
Twitter: @ELHynes




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

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Corrie's Mithered Men

Coronation Street has a well established history of strong women whose talk, camaraderie and resilience springs from its very foundation. An organic offshoot of such female representation has proven to be the beleaguered male; never too far from a telling off, apparently unable to get anything right despite his best efforts, getting away with what he can when he can, and usually to comic effect.
Names such as Stan Ogden and Jack Duckworth immediately spring to mind, but what of the current men of Coronation Street?

Courtesy of a recent set of Friday episodes, we were presented with a window on how men are perceived by some contemporary Corrie women. The double episode of the 9^th of August opened with Sally and Gail strolling along the street, the former complaining about Tim putting fun ahead of work, and the latter offering the following observation:

“The problem is that most men are on the laziness spectrum. Top end’s lying on the settee all day watching re-runs of Bullseye and eating last night’s kebab, and well, the bottom end is just leaving the lid off the coffee jar, that sort of thing. I think it’s just inherent in men, laziness.”

It wasn’t necessarily laziness that saw the men of that Friday’s Corrie fall foul of its women, but nevertheless, they were undoubtedly playing second fiddle.

Nick learned that Robert was the new chef at the Bistro by finding him behind the bar, already working. Hired by Leanne, Nick had no say in the matter, and tried to exert some belated authority by introducing a trial period which all three knew held no weight. Nor did Nick offer much in the way of advice or encouragement during Carla’s intervention. In a subsequent episode it took Erica to break up with him even though he’d slept with Carla.
We had Michael at the behest of Eileen and Gail, flitting between them like a pawed mouse as he attempted, failed and was caught breaking into Barlow’s Buys. As if his situation couldn’t have been any more dismal, his tool of choice was a spatula.
And while Tony has proven himself worthy of anyone's fear, there was little he could do as an undaunted Liz stamped his flowers into the concrete outside Roy’s with a determined stiletto. We also later saw Tracy move Robert into number one with no regard for Ken who was powerless to intervene.
Perhaps the most hen-pecked of all is Tyrone who appears to be getting it from all angles of late. If Fiz isn’t berating him or fighting his battles for him, he’s under pressure from Kevin at the garage despite having an equal share, and the recent camping holiday saw him completely emasculated by alpha-male Dougie. He wasn’t the only one, but appeared to be particularly singled out for ridicule as he attempted to assert his manhood, and failed miserably.

Poor Kirk is also well used to being on the receiving end of a scolding courtesy of Beth, and as he skipped behind her through the woods, attempting to keep up while she relentlessly berated him for getting them lost, he too secured his place in the ever burgeoning Corrie catalogue of mithered men, joining other existing characters such as Steve, Dev and Tim.

While persistently making little of men is no laughing matter, and is not an activity I engage in, I think what makes it work in Corrie is the manner in which the stories are portrayed and performed. While we can sympathise with the women some of the time, these men have often been victims of ladies who aren't always in the right, and we are encouraged to align ourselves with the men, and celebrate and share in their triumphs, enjoying their antics as much as they do. Indeed, you sometimes get the impression that they wouldn't have it any other way.

With the exception of the very serious and aptly portrayed domestic abuse storyline between Tyrone and Kirsty, for the most part, instances of mithering have generally consisted of light hearted additions to storylines, or subplots which have humour at their core. What is essential is that there are plenty more male characters who don't find themselves mithered, and enough women who don't engage in talking them down to redress the balance and counter the erroneous perception that 'all men are the same'. I did feel that Steve's past treatment at the hands of Michelle and Liz overstepped the mark, and was glad to see this remedied.

Another positive element is that the hen-pecked are given the opportunity to assert themselves, as last Friday's Corrie demonstrated in two ways. Firstly, the opening dialogue saw Steve roundly discredit Michelle's arrogant assertion that Aidan wasn't used to intelligent female conversation with the line "Yeah, I often have chats about renaissance art with Beth Tinker”.

Secondly, when Mary declared cut flowers to be "a time honoured pathetic male gesture," Tim taking the bunch home as an apology to Sally affirmed her assertion. But it also interestingly succeeded in diffusing it. Tim may have skipped out on cutting the grass in favour of a lark about at an art class, but he was thinking of Sally nevertheless, and seized an opportunity to soften her anticipated anger with something he knew she would like.

We didn't see the scene, but such is the quality of the characters that we can easily imagine it play out in our heads; an initially furious Sally mildly chides him with a twinkle in her eye at the sight of the bouquet before picking her best designer vase to proudly display her floral surprise while Tim reclines happily on the sofa cracking open a beer and wondering what's for tea.

As above, there are plenty of male characters who aren't actively harangued by women. Kevin, Jason, Sean, Billy, Callum, Lloyd, Gary, Roy and Zeedan, for example, are all well capable of asserting themselves when necessary.

While I enjoy the balanced comedy which arises from beleaguered males and scolding females, I also like to see men strongly represented. I enjoyed Tony avenging his son, I pitied Jason as he experienced the indignity of talking about being beaten up from his hospital bed, I like Kevin's new found entrepreneurship and Lloyd's decision to reject Andrea. Aidan is also shaping up to be a very positive addition to the male cast.

But whatever happens, there is no denying that the poor hen-pecked Corrie male, who is of such long standing and has provided many hours of entertainment, will continue to be found sneaking off to the Rovers for the apocryphal 'swift half' for many years to come.

By Emma Hynes

www.emmahynes.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ELHynes

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Celebs in t'Street- Do Novelty Castings Work?

Do novelty castings work?

Hello and welcome to what is not a Wednesday review and my first non-review article.

Recently, there has been a stream of castings within popular dramas, soaps and animated series in order to boost ratings. The value of star casting is extremely debatable. What begun as an American trend in shows like The Simpsons and Glee, the idea of casting celebrities in order to entice viewers has seeped its way across the pond and flooded the Street, The main focus of this article is the issue of 'stunt casting'. Here is the general definition of that term:

"The practice of casting a famous actor or a celebrity in a role in order to publicise or promote a television programme, film or play"

Many famous faces have graced the cobbles over the years. For example, Sir Ian McKellen played conman Mel Hutchwright/ Lionel Hipkiss in 2005 and Sue Johnston played busybody Gloria Price between 2011 and 2014, albeit whilst wearing an odd grey wig. This is not to suggest that star names should not be cast if they are suited to the role. They have studied, worked hard and learned their craft to achieve their celebrity status.


However, this year alone, there have been three very highly publicised incidents of stunt casting. The audience was subjected to the acting styles of popstar Sarah Harding as Robert's vengeful wife, Joni, who tried, and spectacularly failed to be a match for Tracy Barlow. Even more recently, comedian Paddy McGuinness turned up as a wildlife expert, in what was a highly publicised comedy storyline. Only a few episodes later, Michelle's relative Aidan Connor arrived, played by early X Factor winner Shayne Ward. Now, two former reality TV popstars are in the Connor clan and a popular TV presenter/comedian is taking centre stage in a highly anticipated camping storyline.


Fans of Coronation Street are intelligent enough to realise when someone has been shoe-horned in in an ill-conceived idea to win ratings. The recent very brief appearance of Sarah Harding caused a stir amongst viewers. Although she received a negative press, the programme was still discussed at length, which could be considered good publicity. However, had someone else been cast as Joni, the character could have gone a lot further. Given that Ms Harding did not even audition, it was an unfair, unnecessary and ultimately unsuccessful ploy for more viewers.


It was reported at the end last year that Corrie’s viewing figures were at an all-time low, at 4.9m. Many have attributed this to the departure of Tina, who was likely to have brought in a lot of heterosexual male viewers. Michelle Keegan was a complete unknown when she was cast. She has, like Pat Phoenix and many others become famous because of the Street, and has launched a successful career since leaving as herself.

Back in 1987, 26m people tuned in on Christmas Day to watch the bittersweet departure of Street icon, Hilda Ogden. They were tuning in to say goodbye to a character which they, as a nation, had taken into their hearts, lovingly created by Jean Alexander. Of course, this was back in 1987, a long time ago in terms of television, when people had to watch a programme as it aired otherwise they would miss it, but the sentimentality still stands, given that Hilda Ogden was voted the greatest soap character ever in a Radio Times poll in 2004.


Neither Jean Alexander nor Michelle Keegan were stunt castings and they both benefited the show greatly.

All forms of entertainment work on a suspension of disbelief. To enjoy anything, we have to accept what is on screen as real and not a series of moving images. It is hard to admit that Corrie is in fact a work of fiction. It is a reflection of the world we currently live in, It often relies on popular culture references to help the audience relate to it, which is why it is frustrating when, for example, a reference to Girls Aloud is made and then an apparent double of one of the members turns up and nothing is mentioned. Girls Aloud exist in that universe- the factory girls memorably belted out a rendition of 'The Promise'. This makes the suspension of disbelief significantly harder. It could be that the Street has had such a long life because of the characters. The viewers invest in them because they feel like they know them. In 1960, every street had an Ena, an Elsie or an Annie.

The Street probably would not have worked had they cast a superstar such as Elizabeth Taylor as Elsie Tanner. Coronation Street made Pat Phoenix into an icon. She was Elsie and Elsie was Pat. People believed Elsie was real. Fast forward to today and any long-serving character is known largely in real life by their character name to the public. Barbara Knox is known and referred to as Rita, Helen Worth as Gail and Sally Dynevor as Sally (see what I did there?). This re-enforces the aforementioned point that it is the character the public become attached to, not the actor.

Now, reverse that and most Hollywood actors are often known by their real name to the public in any film they star in. Their character names are frequently forgotten. Brad Pitt is often referred to as Brad Pitt by viewers in any film he stars in.

Research for this article has shown that personal opinions are mixed. Some people enjoy seeing familiar faces in the very familiar street but most find it difficult to separate the celebrity from the character, since the celebrity is already well known to them as someone other than their character. Some feel that it takes what is a potentially a very good career opportunity from unknown actors. There are thousands of trained actors out there who are stuck in dead-end jobs, having studied for years only to end up pulling pints in a real pub.

Overall, the general consensus between people of all ages, is that celebrity casting is a negative thing

A celebrity must convincingly separate themselves from their real-life counterparts. Corrie is about down-to-earth, relatable people. That was its original charm. In terms of viewers, Corrie is still the top-rated soap, but still significantly less than it was two decades ago. This, however, begs another question. Has modern technology of catch up and Sky+ got in the way, or have people just lost interest in Soapland?


So- do novelty castings work? No. A celebrity may still be cast but only if they are right for the role, in which case it would not be a novelty casting.


Thank you for reading my non-review post. This is an interesting topic and I look forward to hearing opinions.


Jordan


Twitter- @JordanLloyd39


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