The Darth Vader effect on Coronation Street

In this week's awards, I mentioned the Darth Vader Effect relating to Johnny discovering he is Carla's biological father. She'll find out soon enough. This isn't the first time it's happened on Coronation Street and is a fairly standard soap plot that rears its head every so often.

On Coronation Street, Mike Baldwin is the king of the Darth Vader effect, with all three of his sons discovering who their biological father was and Mike knowing about only one of them. Most often it's the fathers who discover previously unknown children because mothers know they've given birth. It's hard to keep that fact from them though if a baby was switched in the hospital, they may not realise the child they raise is their own. But let's not get into that!

Other typical soap scenarios include an older sister or aunt who is really the biological mother of a younger sibling/nephew/niece, or a close relative who is the biological parent, usually father, of someone. We've had the latter in Fred Elliott with his son Ashley but I'm not sure we've had the former situation.

Curly Watts discovered a daughter, Ken Barlow discovered a son (and grandson), Leanne found her mother. For more detail on all of these, and more, see State of the Street.

Can you think of any others I might have missed?




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

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Ken Barlow's jeans - a blast from Corrie's past

Much has been made of Nessa buying a  pair of jeans for Ken Barlow, and of Ken wearing them, too. 

But as we can see in the pictures below, Ken and his denims are old friends. Here he is in a scene from Coronation Street in 2003 wearing a pair of jeans.

The scene is from the episode in July 2003. It's the morning after Tracy duped Roy into thinking he had slept with her. Roy is trying to make his escape from the Barlows house while a shocked Deirdre and Ken offer him a cup of tea.

You can watch the scene below via the wonders of YouTube.



However groovy and fab and funky Ken looks in his blue jeans, my favourite fashion piece of his has got to be his kimono.

And here's some fashions as modelled by actor William Roache, which Ken most definitely wouldn't be seen in on the Street.

Ken Barlow fan? You just might like this t-shirt!



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

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When Coronation Street makes front page news

When I saw Corrie on the front page of the Daily Mirror yesterday morning in a newsagent shop, my heart skipped a beat with childish joy.

The headline in one of the UK's best loved and best selling tabloid newspapers was of a Coronation Street spoiler.  You'll see it up there, under the red top mast-head, "Corrie Ken in love triangle".  It's a possible spoiler saying that Ken is going to have two women on the cobbles after his company now he's a widower. 

The first one who wants to take up with Ken will be Cathy's sister Nessa. You can read about her here.  And now the Mirror says that Audrey will also want to get cosy with Ken, hence the love triangle. You can read the Mirror story here.

But what I absolutely loved about this Corrie spoiler being on the front page of a tabloid on a Bank Holiday weekend is not so much the subject matter but the characters involved.  Does this front page spoiler scream anything about Carla Connor? No.  Is it about Callum Logan, Aidan Connor, Shayne Ward, Sarah Harding, some young Corrie hunk or gorgeous young girl?

Is it 'eck as like.

It's about Ken and Audrey.

It's a story about pensioners on the cobbles. It's about Corrie classic characters that matter to the nation. Characters we have known and loved for years, for decades. Characters we care about. And for this fan, that's exactly the sort of Corrie story that should be on the front page of the papers. Long may it continue. 

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Cathy's sister arrives - and gives Ken the glad-eye

There's a Coronation Street spoiler in The Sun which says Cathy's sister Nessa will arrive on the show - and she sets her cap at Ken.

Nessa is being described as "a man-eater" and it seems likely that she'll be the mum of Cathy's nephew - played by Down's Syndrome actor Liam Bairstow. Read more on him here.

But while Nessa makes it clear that she fancies Ken and give him the glad-eye, it's not clear whether Ken feels the same.

I do hope not, it's far too soon after Deirdre's death.  What do you think?

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Corrie's Bill Roache: "I don't enjoy live episodes"

Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street, spoke to the Daily Mirror at the weekend about the upcoming live episode of Corrie this September. 

He confirmed he will be in it but said: "I've been in all three. I don't enjoy it. It's a bit too much. You feel as if the viewers are all sadists waiting for something bad to happen.It is stimulating, though. It's a challenge. When we first started in 1960, we used to do the first episode live and record the second one. That happened for the first few months."

He said: "It's great that Corrie still want me. I've got some good stories coming up which I'm excited about. People always ask when I'm going to retire, and I say not any time soon. If you want to keep young, you have to keep going. The fact I have to learn so many lines is good for me. I love the Street and everybody in it. I'm very fortunate to have been in it so long. I still film from 7am to 8pm just like I did when I first started."

Coronation Street's hour-long live episode will be screened on Wednesday, September 23. Read all about it here.

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