Why silly Corrie has lost its magic
I HAVE every sympathy for the reader who is giving up on Coronation Street after watching it for 59 years since the first episode because of the silly, far-fetched storylines (Letters). The writers have clearly lost the plot. I would recommend they read some of the novels by the creator of the series, Tony Warren, which capture the magic of his original scripts. The Lights Of Manchester is a prime example of his writing at its most insightful and amusing with characters you can almost touch. Realism took a back seat a long time ago on Coronation Street, but has recently been abandoned altogether. How is it that just about all the main characters have owned the Rovers Return at one time or another, and most of them have been married to just about everyone else in the cast? It’s lazy writing and demonstrates a painful lack of creativity. How do nine people, at the last count, manage to squeeze themselves into David’s two-up, two-down? And it’s the same over at Eileen’s, where rooms appear as if by magic to accommodate any stray members of the cast. And when the writers are stuck for a storyline, out comes the fancy dress, including when former mayor Sally Metcalfe was arrested at a charity fundraiser while dressed as a clown. How many shindigs have we seen where all the characters have hired expensive outfits? How do they afford this when the rest of the time most of them seem to have money problems and can barely afford a pair of jeans? Like the James Bond franchise, which is veering away from Ian Fleming’s original Bond character in favour of a #MeToo 007, Coronation Street has diluted, if not deleted, the original spirit of the soap. Perhaps instead of taking popular fiction and distorting it, writers should have a bash at creating something original themselves. Or would that be asking too much? TONY EDWARDS, Guildford, Surrey. I HAVE also enjoyed Coronation Street from the first episode, but lately the plots are diabolical. I often wonder what the cast think of the rubbish scripts they are given. It’s so insulting to the brilliant actors who have to perform such cringe-making stuff. Perhaps the show should be re-classified for children, who maybe would believe the daft stories. The show needs some new, grown-up, intelligent scriptwriters. For inspiration, they could take a look at the classic afternoon repeats of the soap, which are full of great humour and pathos. WYNNE BLACKBURN, Huddersfield, W. Yorks. I AM almost relieved that I am not the only once-avid Coronation Street fan to have given up watching the show after 50 years. The characters are smutty and revolting and the storylines horrible and weak. I don’t want to give up three hours of my week indulging in such rubbish. The programme, which used to have wonderful storylines and characters, such as Hilda Ogden, is now an insult to its creator, Tony Warren.