Ken is out to smash the system
HE’S OUT TO SMASH THE SYSTEM…
When viewers first met Kenneth Barlow, way back in 1960, he was a thrusting young radical; a dyed-in-thewool socialist keen to get away from Weatherfield just as soon as he could, determined to change the world for the better.
Well, it may have taken him 60 years, but Ken has finally made it out of Coronation Street. And while his partner Claudia may have sold Stillwaters retirement community to him as a pocket paradise, a place of lotuseating indolence for the young-at-heart – Ken has instead found a corrupt dictatorship ripe for the smashing. After all, every paradise has its serpent…
“Charles Moore, the preening ‘residents’ chair’ of Stillwaters is Ken’s new arch-enemy!” chuckles our Corrie source. “Ken’s also stewing over his granddaughter Amy’s recent dig, accusing him of giving up the noble fight for decency and equality in favour of a life of luxury. It stings because, in his head, Ken is just as ‘woke’ and political as any teenager.”
Happily, it looks as if our ageing rebel has a new cause. It’s Charles’ regime of stiff fines for even the most trivial infringement of the rules that most appals Ken. He thought he was moving to a commune of equals, but instead he’s ended up in a kind of police state – and he’s paying through the nose for the privilege!
Ken was slow to listen to Norris’ warning, but after being fined for bringing Eccles into his room, Ken now realises that former copper Charles is ripping off residents left, right and centre. And – in an even worse crime – Charles never even puts his hand in his pocket to buy a round!
“Ken demands to see a copy of the residents’ rulebook, for a list of these supposed official fines,” reveals our insider. “But Charles slithers off the hook by claiming that a new edition is at the printers. Of course, Ken doesn’t believe a word of it. That’s when he realises there’s only one way to bring down this corrupt system – and that’s from the inside…”
It’s time that Stillwaters had a new residents’ chair, he decides. Someone who will put the needs of the many before the needs of the one… Someone honest, decent and incorruptible… Someone like… Ken Barlow!
With fresh fire in his belly, Ken’s determined to bring a healthy dose of democracy to his new home. And with Norris and Claudia at his side, what could possibly go wrong?
“Charles Moore is Ken’s new archenemy!”