Corrie predictions for 2015

I love to speculate on what might happen on Corrie. Some of it is based on standard soap plots but some speculation is based on pure, off the wall predictions. So, just for fun, here's what *could* happen on Coronation Street in 2015:

Nick and Carla get together and surprisingly, it's a really good match. After all, he's not a rapist, he's not a murderer, he's not cheating on anyone else (that is, if Erica is out of the picture. I don't think that's going to be anything long term). I think Nick has enough of both arrogance and sympathy to work well with Carla's personality.

Kylie gets her life back together, perhaps after a rehab stint or a stay with Becky to get her head and body straight. I think someone will find her working in a run down caff or pub somewhere, maybe in Weatherfield or maybe somewhere else like Liverpool or Sheffield or Leeds, perhaps Eva or even David himself. She'll be pregnant with David's child, she'd have left on Christmas Day not realizing she was pregnant so will be about 6 months along, depending on how long Paula Lane's maternity leave is. She will eventually prove to him that she's left the old life behind. David will take her back for the children's sake and the new baby, a boy.

Julie and Dev marry, with Mary's blessing, having gone through a rough patch of adjustment with Julie and Mary at odds. Mary moves into the corner shop flat, finally getting a home and Julie works in the corner shop which puts Sophie's nose out of joint.

Maddy decides to go back to school to make something of her life. Sally approves. Sophie gets jealous and stroppy when Maddy makes new friends and finds out she's really good at her classwork. Sophie spends all her time sulking. No change there, then.

If Sean can keep control of his jealousy and insecurity, he and Billy might just have a chance at happiness but it won't be smooth sailing. Billy's church will have objections and it will be difficult for Sean to accept that Billy's committment to the church will be at least as important as his personal life, probably moreso. Emily will be Billy and Sean's champion in spite of her own personal misgivings because she still believes everyone has a right to love whom they choose. Instead of a tree, Auntie Em climbs the church bell tower in protest, hanging a rainbow banner off the belfry.

The real Gavin is either already dead from the heart ailment or will show up and be a real wrong'un, full of resentment and contempt for his father. The Gavin we have now will admit he pretended at first as a joke but got tangled up in the situation and grew to really like the Platt family, and Michael's heart condition is making it even harder to admit he was an imposter. Either situation causes Gavin to collapse but luckily, he's able to get a heart transplant. He survives and marries Gail. The real Gavin will try to push out the fake one and will treat Michael and Gail badly, perhaps trying to rip them off but the fake Gavin will prove to be the real hero.

Sarah Lou and Bethany will return from Italy. Bethany will be as all the young teens are that are new to the street and be a real handful, spoiled and contemptuous of this little back street neighbourhood after the glamourous life in Milan. She's going to be 15 this year so is just the right age to have the boys drooling. Craig has a crush but she makes a beeline for Zeedan, who, in spite of her not being Muslim, finds himself in the same boat as his father and sister.

Sarah will cut a swath through a lot of men and will be a Tracy Barlow clone. She'll set her sights on Luke, Gavin, Gary (probably just a one night stand), and will be entangled in one love triangle after another. Maria will be yet again dumped after Sarah and Luke have a go.

Tracy will continue to pull Tony's chain and end up in a full affair. When Liz finds out, there will be hell to pay. Deirdre will return and will finally stand up to Tracy and not make excuses for her anymore. Ken will sigh and retreat to the library.

Katy leaves the Street, looking for a life. Alya's knicker designs are a huge hit and she and Carla become very successful partners. Yasmeen becomes a good friend to Roy, offering a supportive shoulder. Roy starts to pick up the pieces of his life and even, finally, gets his driving license as Hayley always wanted.

Fiz returns and we find out that looking after Cilla has driven her to drink. She struggles with booze addiction until one of the children is injured because she was drunk and neglectful. This finally pulls her up and she admits she has a problem.


Mary will meet a rather odd binman, a tall, thin men who keeps muttering about how things keep coming around full circle. He has a particular fondness for hanging around outside Freshcos, looking longingly in through the windows, that is, when he's not looking up at the stars. He and Mary have a connection, based on their eccentric outlook on life and fondness for trivia. She lets him live in her campervan since she's now living in the shop flat. She finally convinces him to come into the pub one night and he's recognized by a number of people. It's Curly!

Steve hits bottom after the van crash and finally starts getting help. Michelle is so ashamed at how she treated Steve that she runs away to Ireland (we can only hope!). Chesney and Sinead die of boredom. So do Lloyd and Andrea. Unless Andrea and Steve have a fling, Andrea being much more fun than Michelle but far less unstable than Becky.

Review: Rita and Me

Rita and Me is a documentary produced to celebrate 50 years since Barbara Mullaney Knox first appeared on Coronation Street as Rita Littlewood Fairclough Sullivan Tanner. We've already told you that it's scheduled to air on ITV at New Year's but in Canada, fans were lucky to see it on Boxing Day night and it was aired again after the Sunday morning Corrie omnibus this weekend, which is when I caught it.

It's a wonderful celebration of all things Barbara and Rita with some of Barbara's background from her origins in Oldham. There are views of the Tower ballroom in Blackpool where her parents danced and views of the Oldham theatre where Barbara got her start.

There are lots of clips from her years on Coronation Street, plus interviews with cast members old and current including both Sue Nicholls and her husband, Mark Eden who played Alan Bradley. He had lots to say regarding their filming of some memorable scenes. Other really interesting details included recollections on how Barbara/Rita fared against the legendary Pat Phoenix/Elsie Tanner.

There is a surprise guest for Barbara near the beginning, her good friend Paul O'Grady, and they show a group of Canadian tourists that were there in September while the filming was happening. There was a segment on Rita's fellas and her stormy relationships with many of them. We see Rita in the aftermath of Len's death and relive her relationship with Alan Bradley as well.

One of the best segments, though, was a reunion between Barbara and Thelma Barlow who played long time Kabin-ette, Mavis Riley Wilton. The two women sit together and watch footage of themselves from the beginning of their on screen partnership to the last scene when Mavis left Weatherfield. Wonderful stuff!

All in all, the documentary was one of the best ones they have done on long-term characters. Canadians can watch the documentary online at CBC.ca. Rita and Me airs on ITV on New Year's Eve at 8 p.m.

 

 

The Demonization of Gary Windass

Now then. Over the past week or so, I've been getting angry while watching certain scenes on Coronation Street. There have also been several comments on the Coronation Street blog that have echoed my growing dismay. The general tone of all this is the systematic demonization of Gary by his family. Like others have stated, it's not fair!

It all started with Gary being friendly with his ex-girlfriend (remember that. "EX"!) Izzy while persuing Alya Nazir in secret due to the anticipated disapproval of her family. Izzy got the wrong end of the stick and thought they might be getting back together. At no time did Gary give her that impression. There was no serious flirting, no taking her up on her offer of a sofa when the Wind-strongs moved into the betting shop flat. Yet when the big reveal about Gary and Alya hit the cobbles, everyone started acting like Gary was a love rat and had cheated on Izzy.

At first, it seemed like Izzy, though angry, was more moritified than upset. She seemed to realize she'd gotten it all wrong but her uppity sister, Katy and her over protective father, Owen, ratcheted up the hate on Gary and are in the process of winding everyone up, making Gary seem like the spawn of some demon of evil. Izzy totally over reacted when Jake first dropped his hat and later got a little scratch while Gary was defending Roy against a gang of bullies.  Owen is even calling him a waste of space. Mind you, he said it when Anna was gone off to visit her cousin. He wouldn't have the cojones to do it within earshot of her. Owen also blamed the family's complete and utter downfall on him for assaulting their former boss, Phelan after finding out that Phelan was coming on to his mother.

One commenter, ChiaGwen, joins me in pointing out that Owen, in spite of everyone warning him off, went into a deal with said Phelan against everyone's better judgement, including his own because the lure of the almighty pound was just too tempting.

The only person that has any right to have any reason to harbour negativity towards Gary is Kal, Alya's father. Even he's overreacted a bit but he's only got his "little girl's" reputation to consider. From his point of view, you can understand why he'd consider Gary a less than exemplary example of son-in-law material. He knows a lot about Gary's history, his mental health issues, his temper, and he's barely employed. Not really someone you would want for your daughter, who's got a lofty future ahead of her. He sees Gary as a man who would drag her down. The fact that Gary's not Muslim almost seems a secondary issue.

Even so, there's no need for Kal to get all Terminator on Gary like he's been doing, all threats and intimidation. Gary's got a good case for unfair dismissal (building the sauna at the gym) unless he didn't have a contract. Kal's even dating someone that's got a dodgey past herself and is not a Muslim. I guess that's the old "do as I say, not as I do" attitude that fathers sometimes wield. The rest of Alya's family are cold towards Gary, hurling sarcastic insults his way, treating him like something they've trod on but they haven't gone as far as his own family have.

But it's his own family that are pushing Gary to the bottom of the barrel, so much so that, in desperation, he is going to break into the cafe to rob it to buy his son a better Christmas gift and will get battered for his troubles, quite literally by a mild mannered man who'd been bullied and pushed beyond his limits. That's only going to give everyone even more reason to shun Gary instead of realizing that they pushed him over the edge.

Gary might not be a favourite character of mine but I always liked him well enough. He's not got a lot of luck at the best of times, he's a slave to his temper and his impulsive nature makes him his own worst enemy.

As for Gary and Alya's on and off relationship, that's a topic for another blog post, another day.