State of the Street - December 2015

And so we reach the end of another year. Overall, I enjoyed Coronation Street this year. There were some storylines that didn't impress me but there always are a few and on the whole, it was a good year for this fan.


Callum vs. the Platts continues with the latest twist. Sarah Lou discovers she's four months pregnant with Callum's baby! What to do, what to do? She nearly has a termination and in the usual sort of soap plot, someone intervenes at the last minute, this time, Kylie who is the mother of Callum's son, Max. She tries to make Sarah realize that the child could be the only good thing that came of the whole dire situation. She's basically saying not to punish an innocent child and Sarah, who seems to have been doing it more for the sake of the family than what she really wanted anyway, decides to keep the baby. A few weeks later and she's sporting a big baby bump! Mind you, on someone as short as she is, a baby would probably bump out quickly.


It is a bit ridiculous considering she doesn't even have a home of her own or a job (or did she get her part time job back at the pub? I forget.) Bethany got her nose right out of joint and was horrified at the same time but it seems like she'll support her mother anyway. Kylie's being supportive and so is Nick but Gail is exasperated as is Audrey and the whole idea is doing David's head in. David sees it as being cruel to be kind, being cold to keep his family together but what he's doing is pulling them apart. David's attempt to keep Kylie in line by leaving the family backfired when she decided if he's not coming home, she's done with him. That shocked him. Well, what did he expect?

Reminds me of last Christmas when she was doing drugs. He told her to leave and not come back and then was upset when she did exactly that. You'd think he'd have learned. Never mind, Kylie snogged the face off him at Christmas and he's back at home. The body under the bedroom is bound to be discovered at some point because these things always do get found out. Persistent speculation among a lot of fans says that Callum isn't actually dead or that Tony found him before filling in the floor and moved his body elsewhere. If Callum is alive, then Kylie isn't responsible for his death even if it was in defence of Sarah's life. If he is dead, Kylie might still get off for the death but all three of them hid the body so they could be charged for that.

This was one storyline that I enjoyed for the most part, except for the period when Paula Lane was on maternity leave and the endless feud between Callum and David was ongoing. It was absolutely awful, dragging, and ridiculous but when Kylie came back, the storyline got interesting again.

Tracy's shot herself in the stiletto. Rob decided to play a few games. First he wafted the scent of a rumour that his mother told him once when she was drunk, that Johnny Connor was Carla's biological father. He intended on seeing if he could catch a big fish and get a bit of blackmail money along with it. More on that in a minute. While he was at it, he thought he might as well yank Tracy's chain after Johnny told him she was living with her ex husband. She was the one responsible for the police catching him so after all this time, she must pay.

He sucked up, smooth talked and dangled her on a string. He used her emotions and old feelings for him which weren't that far beneath the surface. Rob really was the love of her life (forget Steve, he was a childhood crush she was never able to shed but it wasn't really love). Rob "got" Tracy. He mostly let her nasty side wash over him because he was no angel himself. Robert is entirely too nice to look the other way. Tracy's reformation after her mother died didn't last any longer than you thought it would. No matter how much Robert says he "gets" her, I can tell he doesn't. Her nasty tongue and attitude are starting to wear him down and once he found out she was lying about seeing Rob again, he wasn't able to forgive her. She'd had too many chances, too many times he'd made excuses for her. Rob got his revenge on Tracy, so that's one of the two schemes that worked, at least.

Back to Johnny, though. Johnny admitted to a one night stand with Carla's mother and always suspected the truth so Rob tried to soak him for 10,000 pounds. Johnny got DNA proof and yep, he's the daddy in a classic but cliche soap plot where there's a long lost child or parent. I call it the Darth Vader effect.  And Johnny did the right thing, too and told Carla which ruined Rob's chances. It did throw Carla for a loop but Rob didn't end up with the cash.

The biggest betrayal Carla sees is that Johnny, who was pretty sure he could have been her father, watched her struggle with a miserable childhood and a drunk for a mother. Things might have been better if he had been able to acknowledge her. Carla might have shot herself in the stiletto as well, though, when she and Robert ended up feeling very sorry for themselves in a casino one night over New Year and landed in a hotel bed together. Ooops! Another soap cliche. We're just full of them this month, aren't we?

Carla's also having a bit of a wobbler with the upcoming nuptuals to Nick, after proposing to him rather than the other way around. She always does get a bit unsure when it comes to committment and who can blame her after her history? She's sure she's going to be bad luck and will be the one to ruin the relationship and then proceeds to do something guaranteed to do just that, opening the door for her to run off to L.A. again to lick her wounds. The engagement did provide some fun, though, with Gail's reaction, and forced pleasure for Nick's sake while grimacing behind Carla's back when nobody's looking!

Ken has been toddling along quite happily with the awful Nessa, the dating version of an ambulance chasing lawyer. I know, I ranted about all this last month. It hasn't got any better. The only bright spot was Amy playing on Nessa's attempts to suck up to Ken's granddaughter, milking it for all she could get and then warning Nessa not to hurt her Granddad or else!

Nessa, naturally, has been making herself over for Ken including pretending to be vegetarian which Amy discovered was a lie when she caught Nessa stuffing her face with turkey and blackmailed her for a tenner. Nessa also dragged Ken out on a bicycle though it was Nessa that hurt her ankle, not that much though, just enough that Audrey had to bring her home in a car but she had no problem standing up at the bar afterwards, leaving Ken to walk the bikes home. I think she just got tired. Nessa talking Ken into having a New Year's Eve party seemed to be pushing him out of his comfort zone too far and this duo is due to crash and burn, sooner than later.  I gotta say, though, I'm enjoying this storyline only because Nessa is so awful and the actress portraying her is very, very good!

Sally's making me laugh with her attemtps to matchmake Sophie and Kate though it's really not very nice since she's fully aware Kate is engaged. If Sophie had tried to fix Sally up with someone else, dismissing her and Tim's engagement, there would have been hell to pay. Never mind that Kate herself seems to be showing signs of cold feet. I do like Kate, though, she seems cheeky and fun. I'd like to see her be a good friend to Sophie rather than a girlfriend, at least for awhile. Sophie could use the cheering up, someone to bring out the side of her that's isn't snarky, snarly and rude which seems to be her norm and has been long before Maddie died. Now that she's going to be part owner of the new section of the garage, she might actually gain some confidence and get a purpose in life.

Sally and Tim continue to be a joy to watch. She might get frustrated with him and he's certainly rubbish at picking out Christmas pressies but then they look at each other and can hardly get back indoors before the passion for each other takes over. That's wonderful to see in a middle aged couple. 

Kevin, Anna, Erica and Liz were all looking for love in other places and started off going to singles' nights. Kevin and Anna both met some people that they dated and both of them weren't all that happy with the results. Kevin's lady friend has the makings of a possible stalker but there's obvious chemistry between Anna and Kevin and you know, they just might be well suited. It's obvious that's what is going to happen so let's run with it and see. Kevin would be a good step-dad or dad figure for Faye and Anna loves little kids so she'd be happy to take on Jack. It seems like a win-win situation.

 Michael went through most of the month running around after a Streetcars client whose house, it turns out, he burgled a few years ago, either before or around the same time he burgled Gail's. I thought Gail's was the first and only time he'd done it, mind you, and he was caught soon after but then he could have just said that to get a lighter sentence. He encounted Dee when she left her shopping in the cab and he returned it, recognizing the address. Do you remember every address of every house you robbed? Maybe you do if you're Michael and didn't do very many of them, I suppose. For doing a few jobs about her house, she nominated him for a Good Samaritan award which strikes me as pretty stupid. Those kinds of awards are usually given to people who jump into lakes to save lives or rush into burning buildings or something.

Never mind, it was contrived so that Michael's guilt drove a crack between he and Eileen who just wanted a night out for herself. She was jealous of the time he spend doing things for Dee but then was all over the awards idea. Yes, of course she was proud of him, but she really did make it all about her and when Dee's friend recognized Michael's picture in the newspaper, Michael was outed at the ceremony. He was mortified! Eileen, again, horrified because *she* was embarassed. Gail, meanwhile, quietly defended Michael and perhaps her words persuaded Dee to drop the matter. Michael isn't ready to leave Eileen but I really hope he and Gail get back together. They're suited much more than he and Eileen. She needs a stronger man.

Tyrone is sinking further and further into debt to give Hope an amazing Christmas, just in case it's her last one. There have been a few heart tugging lines but mostly, it's turning into a story about the financial burden Tyrone is getting himself into. They've been told Hope has an 80% chance of beating the cancer and by New Year's they know her tumour has shrunk and they can operate. That's good enough for me to predict that she'll be ok in the end, even if they end up having to move to the workhouse. Maybe it will be like It's A Wonderful Life and the whole neighbourhood will throw money into a barrel for them! Nah, didn't think so. It's nice that they've gotten engaged but they might have to pawn the ring!

Let's look ahead to 2016. Carla and Robert's fling will have repercussions with she and Nick splitting up and probably her legging it out of town again as she usually does. There seems to be chemistry between Robert and Leanne and that's a better fit, I think. Tyrone has to find a way out of debt. Sarah's pregnancy is going to cause waves. Mary's going to have her heart broken, how can it be otherwise, dating a married man? I reckon Callum's fate will be uncovered and Gail and Michael will get back together. Kevin and Anna will get together and I hope it's a strong relationship. They both deserve it but with the impending return of Phelan, it's going to be rocky.




Tvor (Twitter @tvordlj)