Cheering for a Lloyd Storyline

I've always liked Lloyd Mullaney. He's always been a cheerful sort, most of the time,  unless life hurls a zinger at him. He's funny, he's loves music, he is kind, he's a good friend. He's also not had a lot of storylines of his own over the years but always seems to shine in the ones he does get.

Craig Charles really has grown on me as an actor since he started. I never watched Red Dwarf so I really had no previous knowledge of him but as far as I know, that's the main thing he's been known as and nobody really thought he'd work as a Corrie character. I think he's proved them all wrong. He's also shown he can do drama in addition to comedy.

Some of my favourite of those types of scenes/storylines were first when he and Liz broke up and later when he and Cheryl broke up. You don't often see men being reduced to tears over heartbreak. They usually get angry, get drunk, shag someone else. Lloyd barely kept it together, especially after Cheryl left and it was a refreshing take on the situation, for a soap. I don't think he was "wimpy" in the least for showing his emotions though I've heard that accusation from other quarters, usually from men. Lloyd was also wonderful when he was interacting with children, such as Finley Morton and Russ Gray. He's got such a big heart and has always wanted to be a dad and now he's finally got that wish.

Lloyd has discovered that he's got an adult daughter, a result from an affair he had 29  years ago. While I am rather disappointed that he did the dirty on his best friend, it has brought Lloyd to the forefront again. So far, he's only just discovered that Jenna is his daughter. Her mother, Mandy, is enraged that Lloyd pushed and pushed and found out the truth and is upset that Jenna overheard it as well. Jenna, naturally, is horrified and feels she has lived a lie all her life. She wants nothing to do with Lloyd.

We know that will change. It's a soap, come on! There are rumours that Mandy will remain in the show and be the new Rovers' cook and I do hope that's true because in spite of her being a bit mardy and prickly so far.  I think she'll be a great character and I love her wardrobe! Maybe she and Lloyd can rekindle their romance though at the moment she's still grieving for her late husband.

I also really love that Eileen is back in the cab office and is back in Lloyd and Steve's lives as all three were such good  friends and support for each other. They were missing that element while she was elsewhere and she barely had any contact with them at all which isn't realistic.  Even while working elsewhere, you'd think they would have interacted at the pub and helped each other through crises when needed. When Cheryl broke Lloyd's heart, it was mostly Steve that was there for him, as well as Becky but Eileen barely gave him a glance most of the time.

I think Lloyd's character has been well developed over the years and he remains one of my favourite characters.

Lloyd's Heartbreak

Usually when a man gets his heart broken on a soap, he gets drunk, he gets angry and maybe he shags or at least snogs someone else, someone he shouldn't. He might stare off into space moodily. He might snap at his mates. Maybe, just maybe, he might squeeze a little tear out or punch a hole in a wall.

That's why it's refreshing to watch pool Lloyd in bits and pieces. I don't mean that in a smug way. I just mean it's unusual to see a man barely holding his feelings back and it's unusual to see him baring his soul to his male friends and even a female friend without there being any other agenda or mis-placed snogs. You just don't see that side of a male character on a soap.

When it first happened, when he found out about Cheryl and Chris, we saw Lloyd and Steve in the bog of the pub, Lloyd crying in Steve's arms. Have you ever seen that before, one bloke holding another comforting him, in a bog no less? Girlfriends, yes. Absolutely. Then one will help fix the other's runny mascara and shore her up to go face the world again with her brave face on. But two men? Straight men? Never! Most of them are written to be far too macho for that. It's booze and broken knuckles and shattered glass usually.

I also loved the scenes with Lloyd and Becky, who wanted company to drown her sorrows the day she got her final divorce papers. The two of them listened to sad soul music ("What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" comes to mind) and downing shots of tequila while comparing notes. 

I feel so bad for Lloyd! I want to cry every time I see that adorable puppy dog face with tears brimming over. If Lloyd were a woman he'd have had mascara streaks down his cheeks for weeks! It makes it seem so much more real, seeing a man in that much distress over a bimbo that broke his heart. He really loved her, body and northern soul.

I never really believed that Cheryl loved Lloyd genuinely. I believe she liked him but he also rescued her from a bad relationship and I always thought it was more of a rebound than true love on her part. Lloyd was the knight driving a shining taxi. He stood up for her, he loved her kid, he was kind to her and gentle with her. He loved her and she deluded herself into thinking she loved him back.

Nobody suggested that Chris' tumour was to blame for his violence and indeed I don't believe it was. I think that's been going on long before there could have been any inkling of a tumour though medically, I could be wrong. Still, it wasn't brought up as a reason but as he dealt with it, he seemed to be the "old" Chris she fell in love with. In reality, he was milking it, using it for all he was worth to gain her sympathy. Sympathy and the old magic lured her back into his bed but when she found out about the lies, she went crawling back to Lloyd. To me, that's one of the worst things you can do and I'm so glad he didn't take her back.

A man's got to have his pride. He'd never trust her again and he knew it.

Lloyd has always been a really brilliant character and Craig Charles always puts in a hugely impressive performance with dramatic scenes like this. He and Simon Gregson make a superb double act and he pretty much has that sparking chemistry with anyone he's in a scene with. Except Cheryl. I'm sorry to say that I never thought the pair of them had any chemistry but that's also not down to the actress. The writers just created a character that was bland and uninteresting and it all went downhill from there, unfortunately.

Anyway, I digress somewhat.

As much as the whole Lloyd/Cheryl/Chris triangle was dreadful, it did show off Craig Charles' acting chops and gave Lloyd some great scenes, real Classic Coronation Street, I think.