Coronation Street: TV’s biggest week.

It’s the end of an exhausting week for regular Corrie fans and the 4 million odd new fans who joined us for the anniversary ‘celebrations’

I use the word celebration reluctantly as blowing up half the street with a tram and killing off three locals is an ironic way to celebrate but whatever word you wish to use it can still all be summed up with the same word at the end of it all: Perfect.

There was a lot of hype surrounding this week. It was first announced back in summer that a tram would crash into the Street and ever since, fans have been desperately trying to seek clues or avoid them regarding these episodes. We were promised something great…we got something amazing. For this week was not just a tram crash and a bloodbath. Coronation Street is deceptively complex and this week proved no different. Behind a veil of death and destruction there was a tapestry of emotion as several long running storylines reached their dramatic crescendos. Tears, tantrums, grief, fear and even humour were all present as episode after episode flew past quicker than Kevin Webster can drop his kegs for the latest bit of fertile, young meat.

The live episode was a phenomenal achievement with no errors to speak of. The drama wasn’t diluted and the actors gave their all…this was a spectacular hour of work from the cast and crew. I spent the first 5 minutes worried that I couldn’t enjoy the storylines as, like the typical negative Brit that I am, I would be hunting for mistakes. I spent the other 55 minutes engrossed and emotionally exhausted to such an extent that I forgot that it was being transmitted live.

We lost beloved  Ashley as he squeeked his last and went off to join father Fred and crowbarred Maxine in the butcher shop in the sky, I say the butchershop in the sky. I’ve spent months yearning for a giant tram to flatten Molly but strangely, when it did, I desperately wanted the poor cow to get out. The scenes where she handed over baby Jack to Barnesy from doomed trashy soap Hollyoaks (good for him, getting out while he still can!) still send shivers down my spine. And psychotic rubber mouthed gem Charlotte will delight us with her bunnyboiling antics no more as pervert/kidnapper/prisoner’s shower toy/fraudster/literary educator/family man/body hider John mistook her for a nail and hammered the life out of her. Oh and some random dude in a car died just so the producers could come up the the clever Four Funerals and a wedding tagline. But we’ll not get into the ‘cop out’ debate now…

But if three horrific deaths weren’t enough, Fiz went into television’s loudest labour, Peter and Leanne married on what he thought was his deathbed, Ken remained the calmest person ever in the face of a deadly disaster either because he’s seen all this disaster before and nothing shocks him anymore or because he’s just so tired now I’m not sure, Sally discovered the truth about Kevin’s affair with Molly and spectacularly allowed him to catch himself out before kicking him out, Rita was showered with all manner of confectionery and rubble just so she could utter the week’s best line: “What is it with me and trams!?” in a mildly incredulous manner and Sunita looked like a severed head buried under a pile of rocks. Slight tangent here but when Dev told Ciaran he would never forget what he had done, it made me realise that he has forgotten the last time he promised this when Sunita was rescued from a burning building courtesy of good old Maya…but I digress.

Let’s face it, we are never going to see a soap week like this again in a very very long time. It was mindblowing and astonishing on every level. Almost everyone delivered outstanding performances but special mentions surely have to be given to Sally Dynevor, Jane Danson, Chris Gascoyne, Alison King, Julia Haworth, Steve Arnold, Vicky Binns and Kym Marsh for staying away.

The supporting cast also delivered. The community scenes that Corrie does so well were all in place with Gail and Eileen uniting in the face of tragedy, Gary breaking down as the bad memories of Afghanistan came back to haunt him, Sean finally becoming a semi likeable character as he reacted surprisingly well in the midst of danger, Hayley and Roy serving soup and sympathy, Graeme realising he is the only one who knows the recipe for Ashley’s signature sausage, Carla and Leanne exchanging barbed snipes and stinging slaps and Rita offering the emergency services teams a toffee for rescuing her.

The week was finished off with a very sombre musical montage of the characters we know and love facing up to the night that has wrecked their lives forever. And we felt for them so badly because of how well we know them. I don’t think I’ve ever been more frightened for a fictional character than I was for Rita. I don’t think I’ve ever related to a fictional character as much as I have with Sally as she kept Molly awake by discussing the life of a housewife (genius). Nor have I ever cried for a character as much as I cried for Claire as she faced up to life without her soulmate.

This was disaster done on a previously unseen scale and I’m not talking about the special effects…I’m talking about the special performances. The cast, crew and production team should be satisfied that they have created a week of drama that makes every Corrie fan proud be just that…a Corrie fan. And that to me, is the best possible way to celebrate a wonderful 50 years.

Please feel free to share your own thoughts of this special week of the Street or on the past 50 years of Britain’s most famous Street in the comments box below.

Posted By Our Man In The North                           (more Corrie here)