State of the Street: March 2010

The main story this month was Joe's death and Gail's arrest.

Gail keeps getting herself in deeper and deeper and finally, she got arrested. Lying about sending the texts and getting caught with the fact that Joe was already dead. There was the insurance policy. Did she tell them about that? She said she never saw the document, and she didn't, but Joe did say there was life insurance she could claim in 7 years so she must have realized there was some. And why didn't the police try to confirm her signature was indeed a forgery? Joe hadn't been practicing it for that long, surely an expert could have figured that out.

There was that couple in the Lakes that saw them rowing. More circumstantial evidence. And yet, she still can't help herself. She still continued to lie to keep David out of trouble too regarding the mobile phone he tossed in the water. Gail feels so guilty that i thought she was going to take the blame even though it was an accident. There's nothing she could have done. Thinking if she didn't cover for Joe, he might not be dead but he died probably less than an hour after he sailed away. And thus starts the replay of Deirdre Raschid's I Didn't Do It stretch in prison only this will be more than two weeks and her roomie to start with isn't another Jackie Dobbs. Thank God!

This incarnation of Nick isn't bad at all though he's a smug bastard. But then the last incarnation was as well but only because he couldn't act anything else. At least Ben Price can act! So can Michelle Keegan who's really been playing a blinder as a grieving and angry Tina. And you know, I don't even blame Tina for hurling all that circumstantial evidence at the police which caused Gail to be arrested. She was honest, she told it as she saw it even though we know it to be incorrect.

Jack P. Shepherd is the real acting star in this storyline. He's just gone from strength to strength and he's really enjoyable to watch. Did you ever think you would see David defending his mother? He's gone from hating her guts to being her staunchest defender. I can't get my head around that. All is not lost though, he spends the rest of his time sniping at Golden Boy Nick and trying to coerce witnesses. The old David is still in there but he's doing it for the *gulp* right reasons!

And just a word about that appalling funeral. I know Joe didn't have a lot of mates on the Street but Gail certainly did. Where was Emily? Jack? Sally and Kevin? You'd think they'd have gone for Gail's sake. As usual, staffing for major events like this always seems to be lacking. At least Deirdre said she'd have gone if the Simon crisis hadn't been ongoing. And don't the police usually show up at funerals on soaps when there's a suspect involved?

Was it me or was it a very strange type of eulogy for Gail to talk about Joe's depression. Makes it sound like he killed himself when he didn't. Tina couldn't hold herself and her grief and anger back and it all kicked off. Gail and Tina arguing and everyone else got into it, Jason and David scuffling, Audrey hollering. As Dev said to Norris, and Audrey also said, decorum, people. Decorum.

Becky miscarried and Steve didn't know why she didn't just go to him straight away. But remember, this is Becky, what other reaction did you expect? She shuts down and self destructs. She doesn't think she's good enough and doesn't think she's worthy. But absolutely brilliant scene with Liz and Becky where Liz told her about baby Katy. See? Your mother-in-law isn't so awful after all? And indeed, the advice was good, don't let it split you and Steve apart, hang onto each other. I did have a problem with Becky jumping into the sack with Steve a day or two after losing the baby, medically, I mean.

From a baby unexpected and lost to another one that seems to be here for the long haul (and will they show some scenes with Becky emotionally congratulating Ty and Molly?)

Molly finds out she's four month's gone. That's a long time to have skipped a period and not realized. You're usually even past the morning sickness phase by then so she must not have had any other than that one morning where she almost fainted. Probably, she just put it all down to stress.

But Kevin burning the scan photo and telling her to get rid of the baby was pretty brutal. Molly still thought that a baby would bring him back to her. When she realized it wouldn't, that seems to have turned the corner on her emotions. Even if he backed off a bit, he still doesn't want the baby and after all, it might not be his. Doesn't stop him from obsessing about it and Tyrone talking about it 24/7 isn't helping. She might think odds are in Kevin's favour for Daddy status, and frequency wise, they are, but it doesn't always work that way. After all, how many times have you heard "But we only did it once!"

Kevin has no intention of leaving Sally. He knows where his heart is and it's not guilt, like Molly thinks...he never stopped loving Sally. It was infatuation with Molly. Full stop. In the end, Molly goes back to Tyrone because it's safe and she doesn't want to be alone with a baby and maybe it's a little bit for revenge having Kevin watching them bring up a baby that might be his. You just know the secret will come out at some point and Tyrone's heart will crack in two. I hope the baby is his and he kicks out Molly and raises the baby himself.



From there, we go to another "baby" lost but found again.

All along, i didn't trust George. I really wondered if he had plans to take Simon away from Peter. For a short while there, i thought it was just concern when Peter went back to booze but that didn't last long and George was back to getting temporary custody orders and whisking Simon away, not just to Spain but to Blackpool, too, but that backfired when Simon ran off, every parent's nightmare.

But before that, when George wasn't letting Peter have Simon back, they kept talking about getting Social Services involved, but where were they? Once the police had been called, surely the Social would have been alerted that there was a child custody issue brewing. George had valid concerns but only once Peter started drinking again and he had no right to handle it the way he did, not with a responsible Leanne also in the picture to look after Simon and certainly not without consulting his wife. I don't know if we're going to see any more of George and Eve now they've been banished but I'd be interested to find out if Eve makes George's life hell for what he did behind her back.

And in summary...

John Stape...lying always comes back to bite you in the ass. Binman Trevor. Carla's got him but Janice wants him. Lucky Carla. He *is* very good looking and so nice and tall! Rita's back, yay! Mary's starting to show (even more) cracks in her veneer. Kelly's gone after a blatant set up. Carla was a bit harsh calling her a self deluded slapper, even if that's the truth. She wasn't a nice person but I liked her for being all high heels, cheap plastic jewelry, short skirts. Highly inappropriate for a factory and always amusing to see what she was going to turn up in.

Dev and Sunita are back together. Love them or hate them, i do like them as a couple. He's really been at loose ends since they split up before, he's getting too old to play the playboy and it made him look like a buffoon. He's at his best with Sunita. Jesse and Eileen are not back together even though she made the attempt. But all those longing looks at Julie's backside finally spurred him to try it on with her and she couldn't keep it quiet, not in all good conscience and rightly so! Jesse was run out of Dodge City, plastic props being flung at his back.

Here's to the young and the not so young cast members!

First of all, I'm posting an excerpt from a comment made by "John" to a post on this post in Glenda's Corrie Blog:

"According to one article I read yesterday, the new producer, Phil Collinson, thinks that Corrie has gone too far the way of Hollyoaks with so many young actors, and would prefer to concentrate on more of the older characters. Personally I am all for that, albeit mindful that the older characters just aren't willing to work quite as hard as they used to."

First of all, I wonder if he was referring to "older" with regards to age or "older" with regards to seniority. The two are not necessarily the same thing. I would certainly consider characters with a history going back 15 years or more "older" characters. Those characters have been around a long time, long enough for us to "know" who they are and become part of the fabric of the Street. I would count in that number characters like Leanne, Tyrone, Janice, Ashley and Eileen in addition to age-wise older characters like Emily, Rita, Norris and Ken. Even David and the Webster girls fit in there as their characters have been on the show since birth even if not played by the current actors.

I have found over the past year or two that the older characters, age-wise, are actually being featured more often. With a cast this large, it's a juggling act but we've seen a lot more actual storylines with these cast members. There was several storylines, some still ongoing, with Norris, Emily, and Rita, regarding the arrival in Norris' life of both Mary Taylor and his half-brother, Ramsay Clegg who also had a blooming friendship, and possible romance with Emily. In fact, Norris seems to have been featured in major and minor stories for well over a year or more. In addition to the aforementioned, there's also his mini-feud with Graeme, his attempts to find a replacement for Rita in the shop and upcoming stalking storyline with a returned Mary.

We saw Rita find a late-in-life romance only to have it dashed on the rocks of scandal and death (Colin Grimshaw). Ken seems to get a proper storyline every year. Last year, he had an affair and is now embroiled in his son Peter's alcoholism storyline as well as in the recent involvement with George Wilson, Simon's other grandfather. Deirdre has featured in this as well albeit as a supporting character though i think she's due to have her own storyline again rather than be the reactor to one of Ken's. Maybe the upcoming death of her mother may spur on a storyline about dealing with grief though the return of her daughter, Tracey, will probably take her attention away from that in the long run. Even Betty has had a couple of small storylines (Panto, and Oldest Barmaid)!

Gail Platt, though not as senior in age, is a very long standing member of the cast and has been in a front burner storyline pretty much ever since the Hillman storyline with one thing or another and the closet doesn't beckon yet either. Sally and Kevin, "middling senior characters" have also been in major storylines though some, like Roy and Hayley are sadly underused. I also like that there's lots of focus on long standing members/character even if they aren't over 45 or 50, such as Steve, Ashley, Janice, Leanne, Lloyd, Peter and Dev who now has Sunita back.



I don't really see the problem focusing storylines on the "younger" aged actors as they will carry the story into the future, many of them. Once upon a time it was Terry, Martin, Kevin and Sally. Then it was Steve, Andy, Tracy, Leanne, Toyah, Fiz, Tyrone and Jason. Now it's Sophie, Rosie, David, Graeme and Ryan. With luck, we may see some of the small ones grow up and be the next generation of tearaways. (Simon, Josh, Freddie, Amy and the Alahan twins, Aadi and Asha). I never really mind the younger set providing the acting is decent. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it really isn't much more than gurning, screeching and posing.

Given that, I hope the new producer doesn't take all the focus away from the younger characters as some of them are really good actors and can carry a storyline very well. And as John says, some of the more senior actors don't really want major focus, as they are at that stage of "not quite ready to retire" and still like a bit of pin money.

Historically, Corrie has always managed to balance things out fairly well. Sometimes, these days, they do seem to focus too much on the "flavours of the month" until the audience get sick of seeing the face on their screen constantly, even if they're good actors, while leaving other, equally good or better actors in the closet. It might not be a matter of paring down the younger vs. the older cast, but paring out the dead weight, which can come in all ages, and redistributing the balance a bit more.

By George, I think he's got it

Little Simon's missing in Blackpool and Peter's frantic. George is feeling pretty guilty and so he should be. He reckoned Peter wasn't fit enough to look after a 6 year old and here that very same 6 year old slipped away while he was rowing with his wife about not letting Simon go back to his dad. Simon's not stupid, he knew George's lies were just that.

We've already seen Peter nearly drink again, with all the upheaval over George taking Simon but Leanne made him see that he can't backslide if he ever wants to have Simon back. Thankfully, he agreed and this scare of nearly losing Simon again might be the trick that keeps him off the booze this time.

So now, every parent's nightmare. Simon is alone in Blackpool and the search is on. Deirdre voiced a very scary concern that someone could have snatched Simon. It could have happened because it does happen all the time. Going by the spoilers that all had headlines about Simon missing and possibly kidnapped, if I hadn't seen Eve and George, I'd almost have bet money that Eve had taken Simon in order to give him back to Peter, but it doesn't look like that's what happened. Simon, of course, will be found because this is a soap.

George is trying to get full custody of Simon and there's to be a court hearing. Will his quest succeed? Of course not! As I said, this is a soap and the viewers wouldn't stand for nasty George taking little Simon away from his daddy. I wondered how George could have got a temporary order through the courts without Peter being involved at all or without Social Services being involved. It might have been legal, even if a hugely speeded up process. Admittedly, stretching it a bit, George was right to be concerned when Peter started drinking again, and when he checked out of rehab early, but George has been plotting this all along to make up for being estranged from Lucy all those years.

Next week's spoilers say nothing about a court hearing so I'm guessing that George backs down. I would imagine his wife tore a strip off him for it as well and if he wants to save his marraige, that's another incentive. I know if I was Eve, I'd have not only taken a strip off George but torn him a new one as well. All that conniving behind her back and deciding they would have permanent custody of an active 6 year old without consulting her at all? Them's fightin' words/actions, them is!

Great location shoot, I always like it when Coronation Street goes on the road like that. Blackpool, of course, is a favourite and we've seen storylines there many times over the 50 years.

Graeme Proctor, an old soul in a young body

When Graeme Proctor first appeared on our screens, he was a cell mate of David Platt's in the juvenile detention centre. He was clearly a pyromaniac and most definitely way off the wall. He provided a quirky, nonsensical mirror to poor David's angst. Lucky for us, he must have struck a chord with the viewers and the producer because his character was returned to the canvas of Coronation Street.

We know Graeme is not a sweet and innocent boy, but he does have that childlike quality. He comes across as naive but does have "street smarts" and often it seems like he "didn't get the joke". Then you see a twinkle in his eye and a sly near-wink and you know he's actually taking the piss. Nobody can tell me his dressing up as a near-replica of Liz for Teresa's Slapper and Vicar party wasn't a mistaken understanding of the concept of the party. He knew that was Teresa's intent, for people to imitate Liz, but I think he didn't realize that Liz wasn't in on the joke.

He seems a bit thick, yet he has a keen sense of observation for what's going on around him. He's pragmatic, earnest, optimistic and kind. He's basically honest and working on turning his life around yet isn't adverse to a bit of dodgey dealing now and then. I like to think of him as the Greek Chorus, always watching human nature around him and he's often spot on in his observations. Most people in his world think he's weird but he is only eccentric. He is helpful to his neighbours and willing to lend a hand or a shoulder.

Recently, there was a scene where he and Kirk had been out together. I thought, wait, isn't Kirk a good 10 years older than Graeme? Graeme can only be David's age (David just turned 19 at Christmas past) since he was in juvvy with David who was under 18 at the time. Kirk never hangs out with David, after all. He's more of an age with Jason and Tyrone, his usual buddies. Kirk is older than Maria who is about 26 or 27 by now. (She was about 17 when she first appeared in 2000.) Mind you, Kirk is probably only about 15 emotionally, most of the time, though can surprise you sometimes in his maturity.

But that had me thinking. Given Graeme's nature, it feels like he really is an old soul in a young body. He certainly is wise beyond his years. We don't know a lot about his past but a few remarks have led me to guess that his childhood family life was probably not all that pleasant. It led him to a habit of setting fires and he still swoons when he gets a whiff of charred wood. He's determined to stay on the straight and narrow, however.

Craig Gazey plays Graeme Proctor which skill and finesse. I'm sure he must have a lot of fun with it and he has superb comic timing. He keeps Graeme reined in just enough so he's eccentric and yes, sometimes, weird but not over the top psycho. He gives Graeme self confidence with a dose of yearning to be accepted. He's already winning awards and I foresee many more in his future. He's a perfect, classic Coronation Street character and I really hope he's around for a long time.

You can read a great interview with Craig over here.

State of the Street: February 2010

So Becky was officially pregnant (but spoilers say she's going to lose it in early March). First of all, after everything she went through with Steve, I can understand how she wants to be cautious. Second of all, she made a remark about what she dared to want. See, she wants a baby but she's scared. She knows things might fall apart like they usually do in her life. At least she has enough respect for Steve, no matter how bad things got with him, she didn't take any action before she told him about the baby. Rumours say that eventually it'll be known that she can't carry a baby. More fodder for her low self esteem, poor kid. If that's the way it goes, i'm glad. I can't see Becky as a settled down mother figure on the show. She's better off as a step mum, I think. I thought, oh maybe they can adopt a child that has had a similar rough upbringing as Becky, someone who's life she can help turn around like Roy and Hayley did for her. I think that would work. Then after i thought that, spoilers came out with the exact same thing. Psychic, me.

Jesse and Eileen are all but finished i think. He didn't like it when Jason and Tina moved back in and he had to shift his stuff outside. Why didn't he put it in the van or at his mother's house where he kept it before he moved in? A bit petulant really. He always was a mama's boy but they're making him very dislikeable which is the entrance to his exit. Too bad they wasted John Thompson, he can be so good and there was loads of potential. If you ask me, i kind of think that Trev, Janice's lodger, might make a good bloke for Eileen, but it's early days yet. He could have no spine just like Jesse though he does seem to have a bit more about him. Time will tell.

Ciaran is back and wasted no time chatting up both Michelle and Carla straight away with all the Irish patter. But Peter, who had found staying dry not too much trouble, wasted no time dipping into the booze minutes after hanging out with his old mucker, missing the cameraderie no doubt. You didn't think Peter wouldn't have at least one backslide? And it's going to lead to worse things. I'm glad they went this route. It's realistic and very much in line with Peter's personality and character that he would start hanging out with his old drinking buddy and fool himself into thinking he could handle a few drinks. It's heartbreaking to see the effect on poor little Simon especially but that's realistic too.

I really thought George was going to be the bad guy, someone with ulterior motives but it seems he really is just trying to be a good granddad and look out for Simon after all. Maybe. Someone has to, for Peter's sake. Ken questioned whether George cares about Peter. Good point.

Joe's dead! While i'm not happy to see anyone die, when it's on a tv program, that's different. And don't get me wrong, i'm not happy Gail has to go through losing a spouse YET AGAIN, and have reason to be miserable YET AGAIN, i am glad to see the back of Joe "Mr. Miserable" McIntyre. It's so wearying to have to watch his face whinging and whining and crying and self pitying. He could have been a better character but they made him a loser. That's 3 out of four husbands of Gail's that are dead. Martin should count himself a very lucky man. And i know, in real life, people get into desperate situations but this isn't real life, it's a soap so i am allowed to belittle the late Joe. I never liked him.

I don't know why Gail thought lying was such a good idea. You'd think she'd have learned that protecting people just digs you in deeper and you get found out in the end. By that time, it goes harder for you for covering it all up! Now she's changed her story to the police and it made her look more guilty. Including lying about the text and flowers.... to protect David. Well she's made her bed now. It's going to be lie upon lie. First mistake was bringing that boat back home. It's all going to fall apart from there. Poor Tina, though, she's the victim of all of this. Where's her mother? I wonder if we'll see Tina's mother come to the funeral?

Molly continues to make desperate puppy dog eyes at Kevin, hoping to lure him away but she can't be blatant about it. Kevin remains loyal to his wife and family. But the secret has to come out, it always does on soaps sooner or later. In the meantime, Jackie's back! She was the one bright pink spot in the sadness and misery of Gail and Tina finding out Joe was dead. Gail and Tina sobbing and miserable and cut over to Jackie and Molly chucking flowerpots at each other on the cobbles! Brilliant! I know people really detest Jackie Dobbs and she really is awful, Gobzilla we used to call her, but she's fun to watch because she's just so out there and audacious! More nerve than Dick Tracy, me dad used to say! With Jackie, short doses are best and this was a great one!

Joe, we hardly knew ye

I can't say I'm unhappy to see the demise of Joe McIntyre. He wasn't in Coronation Street long enough to really form any attachement to as a character and he was rarely a sympathetic one. He leaped from weakness to weakness, dragging Gail down with him. She even moaned to her mother at one point that she was too old to be looking after a man, and wanted someone to look after her for a change. It's a lot of stress and baggage to take on but she stood by her man, even after his addiction drove him to break into her workplace to try to steal painkillers from the drugs cabinet.

He first seemed to be a great guy. Lots of humour and zest, he persued Gail with zeal but not in a stalking kind of way. He liked her, she liked him. She had reservations because their children were a couple and quite rightly too, because when it did come out, neither was too happy with the revelation. He thought they'd be good together and didn't let her put him off. It seemed like a very long time since someone really put such a smile on her face and although his temper seemed a bit quick to boil, he could be the right man for Gail.

Couldn't he?

Well, no. That's never going to happen, is it? Gail seems to be a loser magnet, I'm sorry to say. And very bad luck for husbands. She's had four of them and three of them have died, two by drowning and one stabbed to death. Mind you, she was about to divorce both Brian and Richard (who she found out was a murderer). Fate has funny ways of taking care of your problems for you, doesn't it? Even this time around, Joe was mired under debt to a nasty loan shark who might have come after Joe's family so very likely his death will mean that she's off the hook as far as the debt goes. As to the insurance fraud? Hmmmm... maybe not so off that hook.

It didn't take long for Joe's finances to crash and burn. The economy took a downturn and Joe's business as a kitchen fitter suffered. He took odd jobs with Bill Webster and even worked part time in a DIY shop. He humiliated himself and worked for a contractor through the despicable Len Windass who, thankfully, seems to have disappeared off the screen. The problem with that contract is that he had to borrow money for supplies (though why the developer building the properties didn't pay for it is a gaping plot hole never addressed. Nor was the fact that the building to be converted was little more than a shell yet Joe was putting in kitchens straight away? Maybe Len just met him in an out of the way location and that wasn't the building site, but that, too, was never clear.) Did Joe go to the bank with the signed contract to prove he had a way to pay back a loan for supplies? Of course not, that would be too easy. He borrowed from a loan shark.

And promptly threw his back out, meaning he couldn't work. He got coerced into paying Gary Windass and Jason to do some of the work which probably stretched his finances even thinner while he struggled to stay on his feet with the help of painkillers. And things went downhill into addiction from there.

Poor Gail, it was one thing after another. David and Audrey both tried to make her see that Joe was a loser. Yes, i know, people in real life have financial trouble and you should stick by your man but this is a soap, not real life. We can be hard on Joe if we want to. Especially when he kept making one bad decision after the next, ending with a fatal plan to fake his own death for the insurance, which wasn't going to pay out for 7 years anyway. Desperation makes strange bedfellows.

How was that plan really going to help Gail? wouldn't anyone notice her taking regular weekend jaunts to Ireland where Joe said he'd go and hide under a new identity? Did he really think she would be able to maintain the pretence for all those years? And then what? He's declared dead, she gets the cash and leaves town, home and the family she's so tied to? Well, she wouldn't have to find out. Joe couldn't even do this right. He got knocked overboard when the boom caught a gust of wind (on a glass-clear lake, another plot hole, but I digress.) Because he'd had a sprained wrist, he couldn't haul himself back on board (why didn't he swim to the dingy he was chasing instead?) and finally just gave up and slipped beneath the surface.

Gail is frantic, thinking he really did go through with his plan but she didn't hold up her end of things. She was supposed to report him missing but because she thought he'd change his mind, she refused to go to the police in spite of David's urging. That's going to be her undoing. Spoilers say Gail will go to jail for his murder in the insurance scam because he forged her signature on the application for the life insurance. No health checkups, and i think it would look suspicious that someone would drop out of sight two weeks after signing a new policy even if it wasn't to pay out for 7 years? The insurance company and the police agree. So Joe is dragging Gail even further down from the grave. Naturally it looks suspicious and Joe's daughter Tina will think the worst of Gail even though she knows her father's situation with the loan shark. Why on earth would she think Gail would kill Joe? Wouldn't it make more sense to assume he killed himself on purpose if you didn't know about the fake-death plan?

Ah well. It doesn't matter. Joe's death and the aftermath will to have repercussions that will last all year long and to tell you the truth, now that he's off the canvas, I'm going to be looking forward to the ride! Gail is one of my favourite characters even if she can be headstrong, bossy, blind to her children's faults and miserable. Even if she's turned into Mini-Ivy Tilsley, she's still a lot nicer than Ivy and hasn't turned into a bitter middle aged harpy in spite of having a lot of good reason to be that way. Not yet anyway. But it could be on the cards after this year is over!

No baby for Becky

Today, the Daily Star says that Becky will have two back to back miscarraiges due to an abnormality in her womb and will never be able to carry a baby full term. You know that will send Becky into a tailspin of insecurity and low self esteem, blaming her rough past habits of drink and drugs as the reason. I heard she may even leave Steve again so he can find a "proper" wife so we'll have a few heart to heart talks between them where he again shows his love and support. And he does love her and he will stick by her. She still has such a hard time believing she's left her old life behind. It will all be very dramatic and sad. But you know what? I'm glad that Steve and Becky aren't going to have a baby in their life.

Why? Well, obviously I'm not pleased poor Becky has to go through two miscarraiges. That's tragic for anyone including her. But I think for the dynamics of the show, it wouldn't work if Becky were to become a settled down yummy mummy. We already have Claire for that role, thank you very much. As much as I'm sure Becky would make a good mother and that it would be amusing to see her trying to cope with sleepless nights and hormones, I also think Becky is best as a stepmother to Amy. With Tracy returning to the canvas, there will sure to be conflicts there over parenting Amy. Becky is a far better mother to Amy than Tracy was but is not the biological mother so I imagine spineless Steve will be bending to Tracy's will and leaving Becky in the middle. I can see it all in my mind. Becky fuming both literally (smoking fags like a steam engine) and figuratively while Steve doesn't back her up with parenting decisions because Tracy decides to stir the pot, gurning maniacally.

What might really work well, instead of a baby, is if Becky and Steve adopt an older child, one with troubles and that comes from a rough background, similar to Becky's herself. I would like to see her take on a waif, and instill in her the faith that Roy and Hayley showed in her. Paying it forward and all that. Yes, it would mean yet another tearaway kid on the street but it would end up eventually with the child blossoming after being horribly misunderstood or falsely blamed for some awful incident. I think it would have to be a girl because we've had way too many tearaway boys. What do you think?

State of the Street - January

Kevin might be staying with Sally now that he knows where his priorities lie, but Molly got fed up with Tyrone and left him after she found out he wasn't going to take a job and move away. Only Tyrone figured she must be having an affair and jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought it was Dev. How on earth he would think that, I don't know but after all, this *is* Tyrone, not the sharpest tool in the box. Didn't you feel sorry for him though? He loves the bones of Molly but his loyalty to Kevin kept him from taking that job offer once he found out that Sally was ill. Really, though, Molly probably made the right choice. There's no point staying in a marraige when she couldn't have been happy or she wouldn't have had an affair only 6 months into it.

And Sally's prognosis is good and she's only got to have radio therapy. I guess it would have been too long and drawn out of they'd had to show her go through Chemotherapy. I gotta say I am as impressed as I knew I would be about how Corrie has been handling this storyline. They've really shown how it affects everyone around the person who's got cancer. Sally was one of the lucky ones. And it also seemed to take Rosie down a peg too, and she backed out of a boob job that would have been far superfluous to requirements anyway.

I felt so sorry for Tyrone. Does Molly really not love him? She thinks so. She's desperate to get Kevin back but he has seen the light and realized he really does want his wife and family. She begs, she manipulates, but he still rejects her and she might start to realize that Kevin probably was just using her, a crush, an infatuation. But it did my heart good to see that Kevin was forced to support Tyrone, listen to him cry on his shoulder, even return his wife's wedding ring and that is karma coming round to bite him on the arse well and proper. And I relish every uncomfortable moment he's going through after what he did to his best friend and business partner. Pam and Bill both know and now they know each other knows. If Molly and Tyrone are going to get back together eventually, they'll be the ones that engineer it.

More Grandad wars... Ken went off the deep end when he found out that George wanted to pay for private education for Simon. Ken figures it's bad for Simon, who won't have a happy life if he's brought up in a posh school. Deirdre was just more concerned about the smart uniform. Peter was very forthright at the planning meeting which George probably already had sewn up anyway, much to Ken's chagrin. I loved Deirdre's rant at Ken after the hearing. She knows darn well it's got more to do with the rivalry between Ken and George and he should have been supporting Peter rather than pushing him right at George. Maybe Ken's give up the battle because as much as he disapproves of the bar and the private school, he seems to be backing down a bit.

Then there's Gail and Joe, the newly minted McIntyres. El Desperado is in debt up to his eyeballs and illegally so. Surely he could go to the police once he'd paid off the loan shark who keeps coming back and threatening his family? He's scammed money out of Ted. He tried to get money out of Peter and an advance out of Bill. He gleefully accepted Gail's decision to sell the house (and yes, David, she *can* just sell the house you grew up in. Except, he hasn't really grown up has he? Most lads his age would be pleased to be able to move out on their own.) He even eyed up the charity collection jar in the pub! I really thought she was finally standing up to him when she told him she wasn't going to sell the house and Joe gave her insult after insult. I always knew he had a temper and and this just proved it. But no. One apology and one sob story and she took him back. No wonder she's a jinx with men, she has Doormat stamped on her arse! Next up, a life insurance scam by forging Gail's name on a crumpled up form. And obviously making one payment and then pretending to drown immediately after will not make the life insurance company suspicious. Or not.

Yay! Mary's back to be a carbuncle on Norris's backside. She seems a bit more obsessed than she was before she left. I feel a bunny boiler coming on, don't you? It's nice to see Mary back anyway. And it's nice to see Sunita back and with the fiance out of the picture, can a reunion between Dev and Sunita be far behind? Dev is all worked up and Sunita just thinks they'll mess it up again. But really, it wasn't all messed up until she found out he kept the fact of his other children from her.

And there's Becky and Steve's upset. Becky doesn't want kids because she's had a horrible childhood and doesn't want to feel tied down. She's also scared of pregnancy as well. There was a scene with her taking a test on New Year's we found out at the end of the month it's positive. She's been smoking and drinking all month. For as much as she didn't want a baby though, she didn't go get a terminatin behind Steve's back. He'd have never known. So somewhere, she did want a baby and probably not just because she knew he did, too. Probably the fear is stronger and so she pushed Steve away. And because she says she won't have kids just when Steve thinks he might like to have more, Steve goes off the deep end in a major sulk. That makes her dig her heels in and one's almost as bad as the other though i think he's pushing harder than she is. He keeps upping the stakes, with expensive gold clubs and a motorbike (don't you need a bike license for those?) and pushing Kelly in Becky's face.

But Becky's mom died and though there wasn't much of a relationship, it still gets you right in the heart when you lose a parent. I think what really bothered Becky is how little her mother had to her name and how she ended up, and it seems to make her think how she could very well have ended up the same way if she hadn't fought to get a life. It hurts that Steve just doesn't take any notice that something is wrong. He really thought that winding her up would make her come running back instead of pushing her away. Finding out about her mother's death was nearly the death of the marraige but you knew that wasn't going to happen, didn't you?

Is Becky Granger McDonald over-exposed?

Having decided that Michelle Connor as a character has been ruined by over exposure and naff storylines, next up under the examining light is the character of Becky Granger McDonald. Becky is a very different person when compared to Michelle. We never really knew a whole lot about Michelle's past other than her relationship with Dean who died in a car crash. He was apparently the love of her life and the father of Ryan... er... Alex (enough about that, you get the picture!) We know she was a sometime band singer and barmaid. We know she's got an Irish heritage though it seems like she and her brothers may have been brought up in Manchester, judging from their accents, but we really don't know a lot about how her personality came to be formed and in any case, Michelle does not come across as a wholly complex character.
Becky is another matter. Becky is very rough. She's a loose cannon, and she's got a criminal record. She first arrived as an ex-cellmate of Kelly Crabtree, someone that Kelly didn't want to know because it reminded her of her own less than stellar background. Kelly had managed to turn her life around but Becky was still the same person and proved it by setting up Kelly to take the fall for her own petty thievery and she went after Lloyd just for good measure. She was untrustworthy and she was a liability, both to other people and to herself.

She left our screens for awhile but resurfaced in a class that Hayley was teaching to help women find their feet after being in prison. Hayley took pity on Becky and brought her home, much to Roy's dismay. Hayley always sees the best in people and just knew there was hope for Becky and she was determined to help Becky find a better life. Becky was touched that Hayley would have any sort of belief in her as nobody ever did before. Slowly, in spite of Becky nearly ruining things by allowing her old boyfriend, Slug, to steal Hayley's car and by setting fire to the cafe while trying to cook a meal to make up for it all, Roy and Hayley both eventually became firm supporters.

Little by little we would hear stories of Becky's childhood and past life on the street. It sounded very much like she had little family support as a kid and fended for herself for most of her life. She fled the family home, had numerous run ins with the police including the corrupt Hooch who tried to take advantage of a teenage Becky. She fought back and it cost him career points. That brought about a lifelong grudge which was almost successful when Hooch bribed Slug to set up Becky on a drugs charge on her (second) wedding day to Steve last year.

With the love and support of the Croppers, Becky started to bloom. She began to have a bit of self confidence. She had people to consider besides herself and her own survival. She wore makeup, she dressed "better" (a debatable point, but better than the old and tattered gear she wore when she was first in the show). Still, she's fiercely independent and often combatative when defending either herself or someone she's come to love. She's still likely to go off the rails without warning, usually when she's been hurt or had a massive blow to her self confidence. Steve's love has brought her both joy and heartache already because he's not a strong person and has let her down a few times. She still doesn't really believe she's a worthy person a lot of the time and her past obviously still haunts her. Why? We don't know, yet. And these are the things we find intriguing about Becky.

We've seen her character develop. We've seen her in love, in lust, in a drunken rampage, and scared. She's not as tough and prickly as she used to be now that she's been living a more civilized lifestyle but she isn't afraid of most people and she's fiercely loyal. The character has had a lot of important storylines over the last year or two and some might say she's in danger of over-exposure, just as Michelle has been. It may be true but it also seems like the storylines that Becky's character gets are very much in character and fill in more gaps in her past that show us how her character was defined and how her character evolves. Michelle's character was never given that. It's difficult not to have a tendency to "over" use the character, especially now that she's a part of a very central family on the Street, the McDonald's. She works in the pub, she's married to Steve and her pseudo-parents are the Croppers.

What you see in Becky is what you get. There are no games, no coyness, no pretense of being anything or anyone that she isn't. She doesn't usually whine and if she does, she shakes herself out of it. She can drink you and all your mates under the table and yet she can be tender and generous to a fault. She isn't patronizing and has little patience for fools and she can spot them from a mile, most of the time. She's not a liar nor a cheat unless she has to save her own skin or that of someone else. She even has her own set of moral values, though some of them may be slightly skewed. She's still trashy and common as muck. She's got very few social skills and would tell you so herself but she is starting to believe that she's a good person, some of the time at least. Yet there's always that shadow that crosses her face when she's hurt, as if she always half-expects to be thrown out with the bins at any time and any and all hurts are probably deserved.

A lot of people find the character over the top and yes, sometimes she is. Still, it's part of Becky's personality and always has been so it's not out of character. Becky is a survivor and though she's softened a bit, she's still strong and can defend herself and her beliefs when she needs to. There's a danger that she will be over used and over exposed but I think most viewers who have liked her so far won't be turned off unless the Powers That Be start to give her ludicrous and ill considered storylines just for the sake of having her on screen. The actress, Katherine Kelly, is also careful not to plaster her face and her business all over the tabloids and that helps avoid some of the over exposure. You occasionally see her in glam photo shoots but mostly she keeps her private life private. Kym Marsh seems to be exactly the opposite and that has contributed to people getting tired of seeing her face and Michelle's all over their screen. Katherine Kelly also has a huge amount of chemistry with her main co-stars, David Neilson, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Simon Gregson and that makes a difference too.

Becky has been on our screens a lot, and will continue to be at least for the near future. Let's hope the writers can continue to handle her storylines intelligently and evolve her character without losing Becky's edge.

The ruination of Michelle Connor

When Michelle Connor first graced the cobbles, it was as a singer for Vernon's band. She was a much better singer than Liz who also auditioned and she got the gig. Vernon, of course, was a bit smitten and managed to get Michelle a job behind the bar of the Rovers. Michelle wasn't having any of Vernon's mucky paws on her glossy bonce but neither did she particularly want Steve McDonald's attentions either. He was also smitten but after more than a few false starts, she finally agreed that she might like to be Steve's girlfriend after all.

Therein lies the rub. What on earth would someone like Michelle see in Steve? She was hip, she was rock and roll, she had tattoos, she had manners! She was a young single mum who's husband was dead. Steve was balding, paunchy, he had tenuous apron strings to his mother, he had three marraiges (two ex-wives), a psycho sort-of-ex who was in jail for killing her lover and who is the mother of his child. You'd think Michelle would have run a mile. But noooo. She must have seen Steve as stability. She's struggling on her own with a teenage son. A man that owned two businesses must have seemed just the (meal) ticket. It's easy to see why Steve was attracted to Michelle. She's quite pretty and sexy, after all and let's face it, Steve is attracted to almost anything in a skirt anyway!

It seemed like the powers that be decided that Kym Marsh was going to be the feature actor on Coronation Street screens and with that in mind, they paired her with a major character and from then on it was non-stop front-burner storylines. It really contributed to making Michelle Connor an over-exposed and over-used character and, quite frankly, I think people are bored to death of her. In the process, they've taken her character from a flirty sexy woman to a woman with problem after problem, who seems to jump into bed with any bloke that looks her way. No wonder her son, Ryan, is now calling her a hypocrite for being upset when, at nearly 18, he and his girlfriend decide to have sex. Her angst at all that lasted about 5 minutes and she was off to a posh hotel for a romp with a man she'd only known five minutes. Nice one.

During the year or so that she was the character of choice, she had both brothers die in car accidents, one who was seeing prostitutes and had one in the boot of his car at the time of the crash, and the other who was cheating on his wife with his brother's widow and was killed by his lover's husband. Lots of reasons for Michelle to emote, her beringed hands constantly pressed to her forehead. If that wasn't enough, it was decided that her son was not her son and was switched at birth with another lad. The other lad was a handful and caused no end of upset. Michelle agonzied over wanting to know her biological son, most of the time at the expense of the boy she raised and then became jealous and upset when Ryan wanted to get to know his biological parents. All this, a major storyline, was soon forgotten. The biological son and Ryan's bio parents have disappeared and aren't even referred to at birthdays or Christmasses.

That's ok, though. The next major storyline for Michelle came hot on the heels of all this when Steve had a one night drunken fling with Becky. He covered, he lied, he fled to Spain, and when Michelle was about to figure it out, he proposed to her. She found out of course and chucked the ring into the bin. No longer engaged, she made Steve leave his own pub but eventually forgave him and they reconciled. She became bossy, imperious, she snapped her fingers, Steve jumped. Is it any wonder he ended up falling for good time girl Becky, a woman not all that far away in personality from his most recent ex-wife, loose cannon Karen.

Steve did the dirty on Michelle and fair enough, she was pretty ticked off and hurt when she found out. She took great pleasure in informing Becky that the shiny bling on her finger was the one Steve gave her. She'd picked it out to make sure it was pricey and then chucked it in the skip, remember? So really, she didn't want it anyway but made Becky feel like 2 pennies over it anyway and then, in drunken glee, and in front of the whole pub, made sure she was the one that told Becky that she was not Mrs. McDonald after a thwarted wedding. Becky was drunk and the registrar wouldn't marry them but she couldn't remember.

Dusting off her hands, her work there done, she sashayed next into Peter Barlow's storyline after Jane Danson left on maternity leave. No way to further that relationship so what do the writers do? Chuck Michelle at him instead. After all, he's a known womanizer just like his father. Ah but there's also handsome Luke Strong in the picture too and yes, she went out with him as well. In fact, she jumped into bed with one and then the other within a day of each other before she left town for awhile on a concert tour.

And was I glad to see the back of her for awhile! They had her at a low-ish profile when she returned but when Tony Gordon was revealed to be the man that murdered her brother, she went into hysterics at his court hearing and pretty much made the whole thing about her. As usual. But Michelle's back so we can't have her doing nothing, say the Powers that Be, the same ones that leave other, more interesting characters, like Hayley for instance, or Janice, in the storyline closet for Spare Parts for months on end. We can throw her back between Luke and Peter for a minute, until Leanne gets back, and, ooooh, I know, let's give her a job back in the bar with the man she lived with and his new wife, the one he cheated on her with, and let's give Michelle another man. And so they did. Jake the builder came in through the lounge window and saw her naked. I suppose that took all the guesswork out of it and it was inevitable that within 48 hours she was making doe eyes at him.

There are rumours that she will be put together with returning character Ciaran McCarthy and with Nick Tilsley in the picture, can a romp with him be far away? I think not. What better (that's said sarcastically) storyline than to have Michelle and her former sister-in-law Carla fighting over a man? (Carla is apparently going to be wooed by Mr. T in a bid for the factory)

If ever there was a character in need of a holiday in the spare parts cupboard, it's Michelle Connor. Over exposure and stupid, unbelievable storylines have turned her from a pleasant enough character into a screeching, bossy, man-tease. Enough already!