Coronation Street

[Slade]

Tracy really is just vile.

Tracy is horrible and doesn’t have any redeeming qualities as a person. She’s ruthless, amoral and completely and totally narcissistic. To reiterate though I’ve thoroughly enjoyed her return thus far to the point where some of her scenes have literally had me in stitches. Don’t get me wrong I would never associate with someone like her in real life but I personally think she’s been great entertainment value. It’s funny though because looking at other forums it appears that the general consensus is both the character and actress are universally loathed. Well I don’t think people dislike the actress as a person I just think they feel she cannot act. I completely disagree with this and think she’s played the role perfectly. That’s how Tracy is supposed to be or at least how the writers want her to come across since she was released from prison. The minute Tracy turned round and saw David in the living room there was no doubt in my mind how that scene would end up. I was surprised she slept with Nick so quickly though and then had the audacity to brag to Gail later on about it in the pub. I think Ken’s been better overall this week regarding Tracy. It’s definitely coming across as if he doesn’t agree with the way she’s acting and at times he seems quite ashamed of her although Deidre still appears to have her back. There is one thing I will say though and I think the character has been written EXTREMELY aggressively. I can understand her being nasty to Becky and maybe Steve but you would have thought with a court case looming she would want to avoid as much trouble as possible and just keep her head down but she is trying to be nasty to everyone for no apparent reason so it was no surprise what happened to her. Something had to give.

I do actually fell quite sorry for Kevin although everybody’s actions involved in this are completely understandable. Shouldn’t really be shocked something’s developed between Sally and Tyrone as they’ve obviously bonded over their hatred towards Kevin.

I was surprised about Sophie and Sian though as I was expecting that. I haven’t watched too many of the episodes as of late so I’m not sure if there’s anything to suggest there was anything there. I did quite like the way they did that scene with the bible in full view.

[Red Ranger 1]

I was surprised about Sophie and Sian though as I was expecting that. I haven’t watched too many of the episodes as of late so I’m not sure if there’s anything to suggest there was anything there. I did quite like the way they did that scene with the bible in full view.

They have actually been a couple since April and public since about September, that's just the first time they've slept together.Go on YouTube and it's packed with stuff.If there's an episode with them in, you can guarantee within a couple of days someone will have edited all their scenes together and posted it.

I basically agree with you about Tracy, whilst I dislike the character as a person I see that she's meant to be that way and I don't dislike Kate Ford as a person or as an actress when she's obviously playing the part as written.Deirdre's always been a bit blind where Tracy's concerned so I'm not surprised by that.I agree her aggression seems to be a bit over the top and is obviously there so there'll be lots of suspects for the attack.I get the impression she doesn't even realise she could be back in jail in a few months, she's acting as though it's all over.

[Inactive User]

I have to admit I and my family are not fans of Coronation Street. But I watch clips of this show on youtube.com. But I did want to watch Coronation Street but my parents would never let me watch it. If they are out for the night, I would turn on the TV and watch it if they are not home, lol.

I did watch the tram crash and explosion, the aftermath of it on youtube.com- it was really good and dramatic.

[Red Ranger 1]

The way that Sian suddenly acquired a pair of pyjamas between episodes left me with the mental image of her deciding it was a bit nippy and sneaking across the landing to her own room to retrieve them.Although things did get a bit less PG-rated later on.Sally's obviously still got hang-ups about Sophie's sexuality but I do think that if Sophie had had a boyfriend come to stay with them and they'd promised to stay in separate rooms and ended up sleeping together, Sally would have been angry about that as well.Her reaction when she turned on the radio and heard "All by myself" playing was one of many laugh out loud moments this week.Sophie's lame excuse for being naked in bed with her girlfriend("We were just trying on some new clothes")was inspired...on the part of the writers, not Sophie.

Still, I'm again finding my sympathies resting mostly with Kevin.He was completely out of line thumping Tyrone, whether he slept with Sally or not, but Sally's coming across as petty, vindictive and manipulative(she was blatantly only nice to Sophie to get one over on Kevin)and I'm finding her holier than thou attitude hard to take.Same with Eileen's man-hating attitude:Never take advice about men from a woman who hasn't had a successful relationship in her life.(Dennis was the only one she picked who was halfway decent and even he cheated on her.)So I'm glad Kevin's standing up to her.(By the way, got to love the fact that after being shouted at and thumped in the street, Tyrone just walks over to a customer and tells him to pick the car up at three.)Rosie's characterisation seems a bit all over the place:In some scenes she's understanding towards her parents, in others she doesn't seem to want anything to do with them.Her initial reaction to thinking Sally slept with Tyrone was funny, her abusing him in the street for no good reason less so.Again, writers and directors don't seem to be talking to each other:Sally goes into Rosie's house at the end of Thursday's ep but then Rosie says they haven't spoken.

Sadly, it is very obvious who bashed Tracy.But I won't say anymore about that until it's confirmed. Much as I dislike Tracy, can't say I'm too bothered about Becky being locked up, she didn't come across as particularly likeable and, after stealing from Dev and Sunita, it's arguably no less than she deserves.The residents' reaction to the police provoked some good moments:Steve handled himself well, Roy was typically bemused at being treated as a suspect, Mary was a few sandwiches short of a picnic as usual.Thought Gail and David lying about their alibis was going to come back and bite them but maybe I'm wrong.Lloyd moaning to Steve about having to ferry Chris around, then catching his look and going "You win" was another nice moment:They do have some good banter sometimes.

Maybe I'm being too suspicious but Audrey meeting a handsome stranger just screamed "Set up!" Seriously, Claudia sticks them right next to each other then goes to answer the phone?And this just after she warns her about another gigolo stealing her money...

Edited January 8, 2011 by Red Ranger 1

[Slade]

I sort of sympathised with Kevin to start with not condoning what he did with Molly but I felt he was trying to do the right thing by his kid. I've gone off him a bit after the way he acted towards Tyrone. I do understand why he's having the house valued though as I don't think it's fair for him to pay for where he's living now and the mortgage on the house when he's not allowed to live there anymore although I don't really blame Sally for that either. He was being quite petty when he wanted to give things another go and Sally didn't and he immediately declared a divorce. I agree that Sally wouldn't have been happy if Sophie had been with a boy (As an aside I must remember to You-tube some of the stuff I've missed with her and Sian). Is Rosie usually that annoying? From what I recall previously she was a stuck-up, jumped-up selfish little madam - And quite a materialistic one at that. Glad to see nothing's changed there.

I don't blame Ken for questioning Tracy about her allegations and I don't think she's telling the truth about who attacked her. The woman's a pathological liar. Not surprisingly as far as Deidre's concerned Tracy can do no wrong. Personally I think that Claire did it. Bar Gail who I believe was at home the time Tracy was assaulted, anyone else and I think Tracy would have told the truth as she would have felt she wouldn't have been safe. If Claire did do it I would imagine she would have confronted Tracy, Tracy would have wound her up, turned round to go back into the house before being attacked in a fit of rage with some sort of object (She was attacked from behind despite opening the door to the person, unless she opened the door to someone else which was extremely unlikely as there wasn't time considering that Steve found her). Becky has been extremely annoying and her attitude stinks. Tracy obviously sees this as an opportunity to get Becky out the way to push whatever agenda she has for Steve. One thing I really liked was the interaction between Ken and Steve when Steve offered to take them to and from the hospital at no charge.

Finding it interesting how John is wrestling with his internal demons. He's clearly feeling remorseful about Charlotte and Joe. I know he's murdered someone and you could argue that he ultimately deserves whatever's coming to him but I still don't think he's a bad person - Just an incredibly selfish and idiotic one.

[Zetti]

I think Claire did it as well but why Tracy has said Becky? I am not sure. She should have..

[alexx]

I'm finding Deirdre quite annoying in her protests for Tracy - why is she so blind to her nasty behavior? She was standing in front of her during most of it on the night she was attacked.

The thought of Claire bashing Tracy hadn't crossed my mind, but when you weigh it up she is a prime suspect, especially when you consider her reaction to Becky being arrested.

I am finding that I have more sympathy for Kevin in this storyline which is surprising to me becuase my initial perception of Sally was a more positive one than the one I have of her now. She seems quite immature (it is entertaining to watch though) and in light of the fact she herself slept with her boss behind his back and he turned a blind eye to it yet she is acting like the total victim, its quite annoying. If she hadn't done that in the past I would be backing her totally.

I've laughed a few times at some of the quick wit in the scripts and I'm quite intrigued by a few characters that haven't had that much screen time since I've been watching. I'm enjoying the storyline involving Gary and his family. Mary, she seems very eccentric and a bit creepy, I want to know what that chainsaw thing was all about.

The John Stape storyline is quite varied, at times its felt like a black comedy and others quite tragic. I'm looking forward to how it pans out. I like how the guilt is really starting to creep in and how he continues to live a double life in an effort to escape 'Collin'.

Edited January 9, 2011 by alexx

[Slade]

Surprise, surprise it was Claire although I was totally wrong about how it happened. The fact that it was an accident would also explain why Tracy was prepared let Claire get away with it to frame an innocent person. I was surprised how calm Becky was during the whole thing and quite prepared to risk getting in further trouble just to scupper Tracy's plans. Steve seemed to be the only talking sense TBH.

I'm glad Lloyd was a good sport and followed through with chauffeuring Chris and Maria around. At first I thought he was going to deliberately find excuses to sabotage the whole thing.

I completely agree with the previous post regarding John and tonight was a perfect example of that. I found the scenes with John and Colin's mother (Must remember to get Colin's name right) quite sad at first as a terminally ill parent simply wanting to see her son one last time. I wasn't expecting John to confess everything to her but I suppose the guilt was eating him alive. When he did tell her, after seeing her reaction and she started to suffer from angina pain I immediately thought "Oh no not again" and knew she was going to end up dead but could see how part of that scene could be perceived as comical in a twisted sort of way. I do have mixed feelings about the situations John keeps landing himself in. In one hand I feel he doesn't mean to do any harm and is simply a victim of circumstance and each event is the direct/indirect result of his or other people's actions from the previous one. Alternatively you could argue he has brought everything on himself and had he simply listened to Fiz at first and not got involved in teaching things would be very different. I was frustrated with him tonight to be honest because although he was trying to help Colin's mother how did he expect her to react if he told her everything and then refusing to give her, her angina medication until she'd accept his reasons for telling her and agreed not to go to the police. Well at least he is completely free of Colin now.

Mental note - I MUST remember NOT to confuse Chesney and Gary. As I said I hadn't seen much of Coronation Street as of late and kept thinking Chesney had gone to the army and returned with some sort of stress disorder, all aided with SORAS although that's not really Coronation Street is it?

[Red Ranger 1]

It was fairly obvious from the spoilers this week that Claire was the one who attacked Tracy and her reaction to Becky's arrest was so blatant I think I'd have thought it if I didn't already think it.The way it happened makes sense and I'm glad they didn't have her act completely out of character by have her attack Tracy with a baseball bat.Although I want her to get away with it, I'm glad she did the decent thing and confessed.I think they could get her on an assault charge but it'd be hard to make anything else stick since she didn't intend to harm Tracy so I'm hoping she'll avoid jail.

In two minds about this Maria/Chris thing.At first I thought it was just another example of Maria falling for a psycho and it will probably end up like that but they do seem to be adding a bit more depth to Chris than his original Bad Husband persona suggested.Hard to tell if he's genuinely making an effort with Lloyd or just pretending.

Whilst Kevin's being a bit high-handed about this, my sympathies are still with him.I think if he tried to discuss things reasonably with Sally then she'd still want everything done her way but it'd be nice to see him try.Glad he pointed out that she's hardly been the model wife:Nice bit of continuity.At the end of the day, she doesn't want him back, which means they need to get a divorce, which means they need to split everything, and her throwing tantrums doesn't help.Not entirely sold on the sudden bond between Sally and Tyrone, they've never really liked each other in the past and the fact their partners had an affair seems a flimsy basis for a friendship.

As one soap reviewer observed this week, John has to be the most mild-mannered serial killer in history.He's never deliberately set out to hurt anyone, yet he's left a trail of corpses in his wake. Graeme Hawley seems to be playing it for full on black comedy, such as in the scene where he's trying to revive Joy with the spray, which is probably a good choice since it stops it getting too dark. Not sure if he was meant to be deliberately incompetent in his cover up(wiping the fingerprints off the spray while holding it with his bare hand!)or not.This being Corrie, he's probably going to pay for his crimes at some point but he does come across as a basically decent chap who does silly things with disastrous consequences.

Some lovely Corrie humour as usual.Steve's reactions throughout were hilarious:Asking Becky if she fancied trying on a policewoman's uniform in the middle of a serious discussion, his delayed realisation that Claire had gone to the police and bizarre greeting to Sean, his bewilderment at Becky knowing the people waiting at the police station.And Ken's genuine delight at finding the book he lost in the middle of a family argument...

Yeah, examples of SORAS in Corrie are somewhat rare:They famously aged Mike Baldwin's son Mark up two years to make him the same age as Nick and Sophie's been up and down(they made her the same age as Chesney then either forgot or changed their minds so she's now the right age), which may be why she ended up taking her GCSEs at 15.But they're more likely to keep them the same age and cast someone older if a child actor wants to leave.

[Slade]

A lot has happened since I last posted.

Good to see that my faith is restored in the British justice system and Tracy is finally a free woman. Just a shame that Claire appears to have gotten away with attempted murder. An extremely callous act. With all that stuff over with the writers appear to have toned Tracy’s character down. I think this is a more accurate representation of her to be honest. She’s always been scheming and calculating and there is clear motive behind most of her behaviour so the way she was verbally attacking or insulting every person before didn’t make sense (even though I found some of the scenes hilarious).

Anyway I’ve really enjoyed her lately. I loved the way Becky came into the pub looking smug expecting Tracy to be behind bars but Tracy emerged working behind HER bar. I thought having the writers get Steve to offer her a job was a good move. Really liking the bickering between her and Tina. Sods law Tracy overheard Leanne discussing her affair with Carla. That being said I loved that scene especially when we could see Leanne looking at herself in the mirror, the toilet flushed, Tracy emerged then you could see on Leanne’s face the realisation that she was in trouble.

To me it’s no surprise that Tracy told Peter. TBH I thought she was pretty convincing and it almost appeared as though she didn’t want to tell him. Even in the most recent episodes I would even go as far as saying at times there did appear to be genuine concern although I’m guessing the main reason why Tracy was reluctant was because she wanted to use the information in some sort of future blackmail plan.

From Ken and Deidre’s perspective it’s hard to know what to do in a situation like this and I understand them wanting to protect Peter but I do think the minute they were aware Tracy knew, given her track record they should have seriously considered damage limitation. When Leanne was there they possibly should have spoke about the possibility of her coming clean.

I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Up until this week I was convinced Leanne was still in love with Nic (who incidentally is a complete tosser for deliberately getting Peter back on alcohol just so he could improve his chances of a reunion with Leanne) so I wanted Peter and Carla together but seeing her with Simon and thinking about what she’s had to put up with I’m not so sure. I think she definitely deserves a second chance and she does love him. Either way I’m really looking forward to the blessing on Valentine’s day and I suspect Peter obviously has something planned so Leanne, Nic and Carla are not going to know what’s hit them. I do feel this whole storyline though is riddled with hypocrisy. EVERY person involved or who knows about the affair has done the dirty on someone at some point.

I have to admit when Sally invited Anna and Eddie round just to put off a prospective buyer of Kevin’s house that was funny. I also found it funny when she found out who the guy she’s dating was Rosie’s employer and is spite of the photographs of her daughter still wants to go out with him anyway. If that had been anyone else that would have been a different story.

Rosie is seriously doing my head in. She is such a self-centred little drama queen victim so it was good to see her embarrassment dressed up as a chicken.

I actually quite like Owen as a bad guy too. There’s just something I like about the calm controlled manner he displays in the tone of his voice when he’s threatening people. This was apparent when Eileen cashed the company cheque straight into her bank account and when he objected to Gary’s relationship with his daughter.

Quite like Gary and Izzy as a couple. I think she’s good for him and bar his parents appears to be the only person who knows how to handle him. Incidentally I can’t get over how similar Gary and Chesney look. They could actually pass as brothers.