The Road to Corrie (BBC4)

I've got to admit that I found the first half an hour not that great - the bloke playing Tony Warren was good but there wasn't much tension with the characters and it felt like quite a few biopic cliches, even though I'm sure that's what happened. It took off for me once they started casting. Agree with everyone that Jessie Wallace was fantastic, as was Lynda Barron. I also thought the actress who played the first Ena as excellent - getting the balance of being wrong in every way without going over the top.

I found it very touching when Pat Phoenix thanked him for the script because she's almost given up, and seeing the pictures of the real cast at the end.
 
I didn't know what to make of this in the first ten or so minutes, it felt a bit Hollywood, y'know: "One man and his dream, and his courage - little did he know he was destined to" yada yada yada, i.e, a bit over-dramatised.

But now I'm really enjoying it :)
 
Also it will be repeated (I think) in the Autumn on BBC2.

I was an excellent drama than I think would have looked out of place in the 9pm slot on ITV1 or BBC1. I though the casting and acting was very good, with a good story.
 
I hope he keeps the good-looking girls. I wouldn't mind it if the tram fell on Chesney or Kirky, but I hope Tina and Rosie don't get killed.
 
Loved it. Lynda Baron stole the show. Roache Jnr was quite sexy. Jessie Wallace continues to astound (she was also great as Marie Lloyd). Celia Imrie should be compulsory.

I always wonder about how much is historically accurate and how much is dramatic licence. The office women who befriended Tony Warren: was she a real person, or was she created so the Tony Warren caracter had someone to talk to?
 
My favourite era to watch is the 70's. No kids at all, and the youngest characters in the late 70's were Gail and Suzy who were 18 and 19! There were no 'babes', no 'pretty boys', most of the men were overweight and out of condition, nearly all the women were all middle-aged (and nothing like how glamorous women of that age would look now!) ..... and it was wonderful because of the characters, the writing and the actors.

Ironic that the first person hired for looks was Chris Quinten in 1979. And he was as wooden as a block of wood in the acting department!

It was similar in the 60's. No kids apart from one, and very few under 30. Lucille represented the younger generation all by herself!

There was more of an age mixture in the 60's than the 70's, but I remember it was late-90's before 'young people' arrived in force in Corrie. Funny how that coincided with when I started to go off it! I went off it completely when the odious Battersbys took over, but around then there was loads of 'young people' in it and it got boring cos of it.

Give me the 70's Corrie to watch, anyday! :)

I haven't watched Corrie for years, but if I do drop in for a few minutes these days, I do get a HO feel when I see all the girls/women who would come under the heading 'babes'.who are in it now.
 
It's peculiar that at the age of 23 Tony Warren decided to fill the programme with old people. Still, it was 1960. I don't know if my mum pinched this quote from someone, but I recall her saying "of course, before the Beatles there were no young people". Maybe after the Beatles people realised that teenagers were a gold mine for film, TV and record companies so they started appearing on TV and in films.
 
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