Coronation Street

Safe to say that the day that ITV confirms the end of Coronation Street will be a momentous day in British television.

Mind you, the day that ITV confirms the end of Emmerdale, and the day that the BBC confirms the end of EastEnders, will be fairly momentous too. And it'll certainly be a momentous day in Welsh television when the end of Pobol y Cwm is confirmed.

I agree with you there. Its far more storyline led than character led. Rana's father having a stroke is a prime example. I just don't care enough about Rana as a character and feel no sympathy for her as I don't connect with the character. Even Gemma losing the pub I didn't feel sorry for her one bit. I hate the way she shouts and has a tantrum when she cant get her own way. I am glad that she isn't going to be landlady of the Rovers though.

Aidan's suicide was very well written and acted and you really felt for Johnny, Kate Carla, Eva etc and what they were going through and also Aidan himself in the run up to the suicide. Same with David and what he went through with Josh. Now the Aidan storyline has been concluded and Eva has also left the show there is very little else of interest in the show now. Josh and David is the only plot im interested in seeing where its going to be honest.

Very true. It's almost as though they write storylines in isolation, then pick a character to wrap them around, without any regard to their back story.


For example, Billy, who was already a complex character as a gay vicar with a manipulative partner and an adopted daughter, suddenly became a drug addicted invalid with a murky past, which is all now forgotten.

If you don't watch for a month, which I am finding myself doing on an increasingly regular basis, you find that many of the characters have had personality transplants and are completely unrecognisable.

I fear that Corrie may be going the same way as Emmerdale, a programme I gave up watching a year ago.

A prime example of how it's changed from character-led to storyline-led in the fact that they suddenly gave Craig OCD one day. I like Craig as a character, but half the problem over the past few months is Kate Oates's quest to create storylines because 'issues need to be tackled'. I'm not saying they don't but you have to warm to the character and the situation beforehand. Corrie used to be great at this but it's lost the plot in that respect and I think partly because they are putting out far too many episodes a week now.

Just writing storylines to tackle an issue with no regards to the character's history is just poor writing in my opinion.

However, having said that, I'm of a generation who likes that style of writing. I think many of the soaps are just written for the moment now to catch the younger demographic regardless of the foundations and that's a shame. That's what killed EastEnders for me. Corrie has always been a character-led soap in it's entirety and doesn't work as anything else.

I’d love to see an episode that satisfies that thread though, it started out as light hearted jokey comments but is now just endless moaning about everything that flips from one side to another - too much drama one week, boring episode the next. Storyline has happened too quickly - Storyline is dragging on too long etc etc.

I think you just need to realise that Corrie isn’t going to be like it was in 1983, as if it was nobody under 50 would watch it. Either adapt your expectations or stop watching.

Hmm, that thread though, it's a bit like nobody has told them the Rovers toilets are actually in Ken Barlow's living room!



Absolutely Andrew and whilst they are great to watch again it annoys me when people say today's episodes are not like the ITV3 repeats which were from a different era and ironically fit right at home being shown in the afternoons alongside Doctors.

But my point still stands. It's not about looking through rose-tinted specs to 1983, it's about maintaining its foundations and focusing on the characters, not the storylines. When you start throwing somebody in prison or hospital every five minutes after yet another issue-tackling storyline, it's not good TV, it's just boring - but ok, perhaps that's just me!

Usually it's the big episodes which culminate storylines like Aidan's suicide that get praised. I don't visit the SOR thread that often but when I did then there wasn't a single gripe other than 'the actors need more rehearsal time'.

The problem with current Corrie, aside from the fact it's issue heavy, is the episodes are becoming more plot driven. Storylines like Sean's homelessness has good intentions but come on, there's no realism attached to it. We know the moment he gets a roof over his head, the torment will be over. Sean as a character might be proud but he wouldn't shut Eileen out from trying to help, or be so insensitive towards his friend.

And in relation to the Aidan storyline it is a shame that ends with Carla back in the factory, though all soaps seem to do that with their businesses ending up back with the character most associated with them. Liz or Steve will surely be back in the Rovers before long too.

I get annoyed by the Classic Corrie thread on DS, and it's happened on the EastEnders one now too, where people keep saying "if this was today"... then come up with some stupidly overblown and over the top scenario. It gets really tiring really fast.

Which is pretty much what happened to Brookside. They boxed themselves into a corner with a constant stream of issues and disasters which had to become more and more far-fetched for the sake of something new, and to outdo what had gone before in a desperate attempt to chase ratings.

Ultimately it killed the programme, and I fear Corrie is currently heading down the same route.