Coronation Street

[James2001]

Particularly when it's a Welsh language soap filmed in a part of the country where there aren't a particularly high number of Welsh speakers, so they can probably be fairly anonymous when out filming.

[Rory]

Whoops - ITV3 announcer just now kindly invites us to sit back and enjoy Classic Emmerdale.. Then Corrie starts :evil:

[Jez_CymruWales]

Was Emmerdale always filmed there or did they have another studio for the early episodes when it was Emmerdale Farm?

Emmerdale wasn't filmed there until 1997, so they'd only been there for around 18 months or so by the time of the episodes we're seeing on ITV3 (I'm guessing that may well be why Emmerdale didn't go 16:9 until 2002, presumably the studios were only kitted out for 4:3 and it took until then until it was considered economical to replace the equipment). Between 1972-89 (and since 2011) they were in Kirkstall road, from 1989-97 that were in a converted mill on the outskirts of Leeds (the fact they were brand new studios probably explains why the picture quality on the earliest ITV3 episodes looked so good for the time).

Back to Corrie, the fact they're having to use a set for courtroom scenes because of the pandemic rather than real courts as they usually do really shows up on screen, quite obviously fake.

Thanks for confirming re Emmerdale studios -so they are filming back where it all started in 1972. Corrie hasnt really been the same since they moved to media city - there was a lot of history at Granada. I also dont like the fact everything is within a few streets apart from the police station and hospital which is meant to be further away. I like it on the 1998 episodes that the cafe is further away from the street iteself (and even better when the Kabin was too). It was in 1999 when they moved Roy's Rolls to Victoria Street just around the corner and opened other shops there that it all started to feel a bit claustrophobic. In many ways the set has a more realitic feel to it in 1998 than it does now.

I loved the episodes for Deirdre's trial. Totally gripping episodes.

I was reading on another forum that the viewing figures for all soaps are really suffering currently and dropping year on year. Some of that may be to do with covid but are people just getting bored of them. If Line of Duty and other dramas can pull in excellent ratings and the soaps struggle to hit 5 million now something isnt right as they were guaranteed performers before. I realise LOD is event television and needs to be watched live if you want to avoid spoilers which probably accounts for the figures but the soaps do seem to be performing rather poor at the moment and other shows are often beating them in the ratings.

[Jexedback]

Soaps have only themselves to blame for their demise. Every affair has to be more scandalous than the last. Every death more shocking, every killer more villainous. Coronation Street is just not plausible anymore. It’s lost its grip on realism. Of course it was always exaggerated to an extent, but the volume of episodes requires more and more to fill the time. More ludicrous hangers too. While the Pandemic has necessitated there be fewer older cast, there’s been a noticeable shift away from older characters in Corrie particularly. It’s no longer your ordinary back street in Salford, it’s evolved into something Tony Warren would only recognise in name.

I hear some of the reduced crew staffing due to Covid is to remain. What was initially health and safety is now a cost saving. Perhaps soaps are no longer the golden goose?

I’d love Corrie to return to 3x half hours per week to increase quality and not burn through so many storylines.
- As an aside - one of the features of the ill-fated European Super League was going to be a review of the length of matches as young people don’t have the appetite for 90+mins - perhaps the same is true of multi-episode soaps?

[James2001]

I hear some of the reduced crew staffing due to Covid is to remain. What was initially health and safety is now a cost saving. Perhaps soaps are no longer the golden goose?

Even if they are still a golden goose, if they can find a way to cut costs then a company like ITV will find a way to do it. If the last year has shown they can make soaps with a smaller crew, then it doesn't seem suprising they'll be sticking with it, whether the soaps are doing well in the ratings or not.

[Whataday]

Pobol y Cwm returned to location filming some months back. It’s not one of the “big” soaps, I know, but I’ve seen at least a few scenes/storylines play out away from their regular sets. One was in a forest, and there were some hospital scenes in a car park which didn’t look like the BBC to me.

I'd be surprised if any hospital scenes took place on location considering Pobol Y Cwm shares a lot with a certain A&E Department.

[Jez_CymruWales]

Whilst Corrie might have reduced the crew I wish they would reduce the cast. So many of the cast are also underused.

[Andrew]

Whilst Corrie might have reduced the crew I wish they would reduce the cast. So many of the cast are also underused.

I don’t know why people say this as it also means there is more chance of the characters you don’t like being overused if there was less of them.

Also with Corrie being so long running and many of the characters being so long running, you already end up with it situation where one character has had everything happen to them, and they barely have time to go back to normal before something else happens to them. This would only get worse if there were less characters to go around

Corrie also has a large number of older cast who aren’t going to be at the heart of the next big story but shouldn’t be axed just to reduce the headcount. Also you always need characters to just behave normally behind the bar or in the shop rather than everyone being in the middle of a storyline.

In reality what people normally mean, is that they should get rid of a list of characters they don’t personally like.

[James2001]

Was strange to see Jon being led into prison at the same time Dierdre was led out, wouldn't there have been separate male and female prisons rather than just different parts of the same prison?

This story about Jack refusing to give up smoking and other things because of health issues tragically mirrors Bill Tarmey himself, who refused to quit smoking despite several heart attacks, strokes and other major health problems, and eventually ended up killing him. And to an extent Bernard Youens (Stan Ogden) 15 years earlier, who was much the same and lost a leg to gangrene- which is what we saw the doctor telling Jack could happen to him- before also passing away a few months later.

[Brekkie]

I’d love Corrie to return to 3x half hours per week to increase quality and not burn through so many storylines.
- As an aside - one of the features of the ill-fated European Super League was going to be a review of the length of matches as young people don’t have the appetite for 90+mins - perhaps the same is true of multi-episode soaps?

Well Corrie has had half time for a few years now.

TBH if soaps went back to their 80s/90s levels I don't think you'd see the quality improve that much. Half the episodes and they'd need to half the costs - and viewers would probably soon be complaining about stories playing out over a week rather than a night and the small casts.

[James2001]

The gates of the studios appeared again in tonight's episode standing in for a prison. But a different prison to before- was NHP Norcross before, now it's HMP Highfield.

[Rory]

I thought it was interesting (found out via Corriepedia) that Todd's ex-schoolmate Stuart, seen last night, wasn't a new throwaway character; he previously appeared in 2003 three times. It was even the same actor: https://coronationstreet.fandom.com/wiki/Stuart_Fergus

Stuart didn't seem confused his old mate had a new head. Just thought it was a nice bit of continuity.

[Jez_CymruWales]

Whilst Corrie might have reduced the crew I wish they would reduce the cast. So many of the cast are also underused.

I don’t know why people say this as it also means there is more chance of the characters you don’t like being overused if there was less of them.

Also with Corrie being so long running and many of the characters being so long running, you already end up with it situation where one character has had everything happen to them, and they barely have time to go back to normal before something else happens to them. This would only get worse if there were less characters to go around

Corrie also has a large number of older cast who aren’t going to be at the heart of the next big story but shouldn’t be axed just to reduce the headcount. Also you always need characters to just behave normally behind the bar or in the shop rather than everyone being in the middle of a storyline.

In reality what people normally mean, is that they should get rid of a list of characters they don’t personally like.

Many characters are underused and some of the better characters as well. When was the last time we saw Ryan for example. And although Toyah and Imran have been in it recently and involved in some storylines they have been very underused, particularly Toyah.

Im not going to post a list of characters id like to see axed as everyone will have a different opinion, characters they like and dislike but even some I dislike like Gemma and Sean can be tolerated more with better writing. I don't find Gemma half as bad in scenes with Rita and Jenny for example. The older cast should definately stay and its understandable why they cant do many scenes these days with Covid restrictions etc Bill/Ken being off at the moment, Audrey has hardly appeared and even Rita didnt appear much when Sharon returned and they kept making excuses why she wasnt on screen and didnt appear at all last week. But all of this can be overlooked due to covid. Bad writing however cannot.

[Jez_CymruWales]

I thought it was interesting (found out via Corriepedia) that Todd's ex-schoolmate Stuart, seen last night, wasn't a new throwaway character; he previously appeared in 2003 three times. It was even the same actor: https://coronationstreet.fandom.com/wiki/Stuart_Fergus

Stuart didn't seem confused his old mate had a new head. Just thought it was a nice bit of continuity.

Yes it was a nice touch and definitely some of the better scenes in recent episodes. The actor was familiar to me from Dream Team, a soap i watched in the early to mid 2000s but I cant say I remember him in Corrie - then again it was 3 episodes 18 years ago. I haven't enjoyed Todd being back that much and I'm disappointed they just put him back with Billy again.

[Brekkie]

Corrie getting pretty heavy warnings tonight for strong language and violence.