Is Anna Windass channelling Vera Duckworth?

You know how Corrie fans and the media alike tend to refer to various characters as "the new...." whoever? For instance, several characters have been touted as new Elsie Tanners including Denise Osbourne and, currently, Carla Connor. A number of couples have been likened to Stan and Hilda Ogden or Jack and Vera Duckworth, especially if they're scrappy, with gossipy women and feckless fellas.


Eddie and Anna Windass were likened to Jack and Vera, as well, back when they first arrived. With talk of Blanche's ghost haunting the street and watching Anna turn on faithful Roy for his attack on Gary, I'm starting to see a lot of Vera coming out in Anna. Perhaps Vera's ghost is haunting Anna Windass? Seriously, though, Vera was a much loved character but if you think back, Vera could be a right nasty cow, taking against people she's known for years in an instant and thinking her husband, Jack or her son, Terry, could do not wrong, even when, deep down, she knows both of them were a screw up.

Sound familiar? I think the worst of Vera is living in Anna, especially these days. Anna and Vera both had big hearts but they could/can also turn on anyone indiscriminately, at the drop of a hat, especially if they're defending their loved ones, whether they deserve defending or not.  Vera was allowed to castigate poor, feckless Jack or shout at her beloved son but if anyone outside the doors of Number 9 did then it was war. That's what you do, right? Support your family through thick and thin. There might be a harsh word for your loved one that's disappointed you or even worse, betrayed you, but in public, it's us against the world.

I guess in some respects, that's a good thing. You want to know you can count on your family being there when you screw up. It's different if your loved ones are wearing blinders, ignoring the worst things you do, things you really aren't sorry for like many of the things Terry Duckworth has done over the ensuing years. Deirdre Barlow is famous for this where Tracy is concerned. She's calling Tracy on her stuff a bit more these days but if push came to shove, she'd back Tracy all the way. The difference is that Deirdre isn't as likely to turn on a friend, either. Gary isn't a man that does things out of malice, he just has a volatile temper and a very strong impulse gene.

Anna has gotten a vicious and spiteful attitude towards Roy since this whole incident happened. Be angry, but understand where Roy came from. Carla knows. Roy has punished himself far more than any long arm of the law could and Gary himself takes all the blame. What I want to see is Gary call his mother on the carpet for her lousy attitude.

When Anna's life crashes down around her (again), and it will, she'll expect Roy to be there for her as if nothing happened. The sad thing is, he will be because he's decent and Anna's got a very short memory.

The Rovers Landladies - the Runners Up

I, like many others, have not really warmed up to St. Ella of the Back room (aka Stella Price). Graeme blogged on the Coronation Street Blogthat he feels she’s a weak landlady when compared against classics like Bet Lynch and Annie Walker. They were the two most iconic landladies, for sure, but let’s not forget Vera Duckworth’s stint, which was a disaster from the word Go, Natalie Horrocks, the scarlet woman, and, another of my favourite characters, Liz McDonald. 

Vera’s sojourn as landlady was bound to fail. The Duckies were trying to be upwardly mobile, trying to make something of themselves for once, but as usual, they didn’t have the savvy to make it work. Book keeping, VAT, and their tendency to take the profits out of the till led to their downfall. It was fun to watch them but we always knew there was a limited shelf life for Vera as the Queen Bee. Still, even though she lurched from crisis to crisis, she was a wonderful character just the same. 

Natalie Horrocks was the woman that chased Kevin Webster and broke up the happy home of Kevin, Sally and the gurls. She was branded as a homewrecker and, indeed, that’s exactly what she was. She was the chaser, not the chased and let’s not get that mixed up with “chaste” because she most certainly wasn’t. Blonde, as all landladies of the Rovers must be, Natalie was probably one of the lesser landladies but still had the strength and vulnerability to carry it off. You grew to like her but perhaps Natalie was softened up a bit too much after her hard-faced introduction, and she seemed to become a bit too vulnerable for the job. She buckled under the strain and left. The talented Denise Welch played Natalie and was perfect for the character. 

Shelley Unwin was the bar manager and landlady de-facto for a few years. That was during the trifectorate of Duggie, Mike and Fred. Mike bowed out early on and Duggie played mein host, bringing Shelley in to mind the shop. Shelley was a great manager. She was blonde, of course, pretty, sparky and strong most of the time. She was confident and friendly and knew her way around a bar. She had a confidence knock back, first after new husband Peter Barlow turned out to be a bigamist and then  at the emotional hands of Charlie Stubbs and it was all downhill from there. She got her mojo back and decided a fresh start  away from Weatherfield was in order. 

Fred Elliott continued to run the bar but had so many irons in the fire that he brought in Steve McDonald’s mother, Liz  to manage the pub. Liz had worked at the Rovers several times in the past and fit the part like a glove. She, too, was blonde, this time around anyway, and gave it her all. She loved the Rovers and when Steve bought the pub after Fred died, she finally got her name over the door as licensee due to Steve’s criminal record, "Elizabeth Jane McDonald".

I think Liz is the next best of the classic iconic landladies after Annie Walker and Bet Lynch. Liz had the guts, she had the glory, she had the jubilant highs and crushing lows and still she put on a smile and greeted the punters like a pro. Liz had history in the community. She had friends and family, not just newly made up connections. She had lived in the Street for many years off and on.  She survived, she bounced back, she had terrible dress sense but we loved her anyway!

Liz fought for her family and for her business many a time. When daughter-in-law Becky’s actions threatened her livelihood, she broke out the claws and defended her bricks and mortar chick. But in the end, when her ex-husband Jim’s attempts at buying the pub to bail Steve out of a debt that Becky had instigated failed in a spectacularly botched bank robbery, she left town with tail between her legs in a  classic landlady leaving moment. A darkened room, memories surrounding her, she shut off the lights and got into a cab, doing a moonlit flit. 

In some ways, Liz may even be my favourite, certainly favourite of the post-Bet landladies and landlords. When the trifecta of men owned the pub, even when Fred alone owned it and had a manager in place, it just wasn’t the same without that woman’s name over the door.

There have been other managers and short-lived wannabes (The marvellous Lillian! Fred’s bigamist wife, Eve Sykes.) but they didn’t make the grade in the long haul. Even the 40+ tenure of Betty Turpin Williams (no matter what any rewrite of history may say)  only had her in as temporary manager now and then. None of these women were blondes and therefore not contenders from the start. Liz had the grit and the glamour and the door has been left open for her return. 

I continue to hope.

Is Eileen the new Vera?

After reading some of the comments on this post on t'other blog, I got thinking about Eileen a bit more.

Nurse Florence Ganderpoke remarked that Eileen could be both nasty and nice, which is very true. What suddenly struck me was that there are some similarities between her personality and that of Vera Duckworth. You might not think so initially. After all her life has been very different to Vera's.

Eileen has two sons that she would defend to the death but she also isn't blind to their shortcomings. Vera always seemed to be in denial about Terry's bad side most of the time. But like Vera, Eileen has played housemother to various lodgers, generously opening her home to them. Vera took in Curly and also, later on, Tyrone and Sean has been a mainstay in Eileen's house for years. Eileen has also taken in other waifs and strays, usually girlfriends of Jason's and the occasional boyfriend of Sean's.

Eileen has a generous side, too. But she can also be bitter and grumpy, and yes, nasty. Vera was much the same way. She could insult a friend and neighbour as quickly as blink at them, she could turn on someone she'd previously been close to, and she'd quickly lash out in self defence. Yet Vera had a lot of sympathy in her heart for people that deserved it. I recall when she encountered Steve on the street just after Karen had a miscarraige and then went off the deep end at Tracy and she gathered him in her arms for a hug when he told her.

Vera and Eileen are both very loyal to the ones they love even if they criticise them, too. Eileen has been unlucky in love and Vera might say she was too but we all know she loved Jack, really, but he let her down a lot over the years just the same.

Both women are strong and every time they get knocked back, they get back up and keep on at it. Both are/were pessimistic and tended to have more of a negative outlook on life than a positive one.

Of course there are more differences than similarities, I suppose, but the nasty/nice combination struck me as very much like Vera was.