QUEEN OF CRIIME: CORRIE’S BLOODY AWFUL
Writer puts knife in over top soap
LEGENDARY crime writer Martina Cole has blasted Corrie for being too violent. She slammed recent storylines and demanded a return to the “glory years”.
LEGENDARY crime writer Martina Cole has stuck the knife into Coronation Street for being too violent.
The best-selling author, whose books have been turned into blood-drenched television series, is a diehard fan of the ITV soap.
But she slammed its recent storylines, including serial killer Pat Phelan’s murder rampage and vicar Billy Mayhew’s drug addiction.
Martina, 58, said the show should return to the gentler glory years of Stan and Hilda Ogden and Jack and Vera Duckworth. She told fans’ website Coronation Street Blog: “The storylines go on too long, ie Phelan and Billy’s drugs drama. Too many episodes and not enough storylines.
“For me the wonder days of Ken and Deirdre and Baldwin need to be revisited. Those storylines could have done 20 episodes a week and I’d have happily watched, fabulous acting! The same goes for Hilda and Stan, Vera and Jack.”
Martina revea- led her all-time favourite Street character was Elsie Tanner. She said: “She was a big, brash and beautiful woman who fought for her family even though she knew their failings better than anyone else. A very strong woman and I adored her.” She is not the first celebrity to criticise the soap’s darker direction since it started screening six episodes a week. Veteran broadcaster and Corrie fan Sir Michael Parkinson said the once “gentle and funny” soap was now more like a “horror film than a family show”. And former Street star Sherrie Hewson, 67, claimed the soap’s “glory days” were behind it.
Ofcom is assessing whether ITV breached guidelines by screening violent scenes ahead of the 9pm watershed after getting 622 complaints over Phelan’s killing spree.
Corrie producer Kate Oates has pledged light-hearted moments will return but admitted she was a fan of “black comedy”.
The Star Says: Page 6