Tag: Coronation Street
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Anne Kirkbride And The End Of An Era
We have lost a real TV legend. The warmth and genuine sorrow expressed at the tragic death of Anne Kirkbride shows how over four decades, the character of Deirdre Barlow had earned a place in more than just the Soap Hall of Fame.
Think of that character – first there were the distinctive physical characteristics; the big glasses of course, the unique vocal tics and the neck vein that was so prominent it had Facebook pages devoted to it. Then you focus in on the stories and the moments.
Scrambling desperately through the scattered contents of a lorry that had crashed into The Rovers, looking for Baby Tracey.
Marrying Ken in the same week as the Royal Wedding and being the only woman, aside from Camilla, who came close to stealing focus from Diana.
”Free Deirdre”
And of course… The Ken-Deirdre-Mike Baldwin love triangle.
It is not exaggerating to say that the character of Deirdre was at the centre of some of the most watched and talked about TV moments of the past 40 years.
These were big moments. To coin that horrible American phrase, watercooler moments. But such moments are getting rarer. In a time of Netflix and it’s VOD rivals and hundreds of digital TV channels, the days when a number in excess of 20 million people would sit down and watch a single TV show are long gone.
The soaps of course still have that power to occasionally produce storylines that land on the front of the tabloids, as do reality shows. But with an increasingly splintered audience even they are not quite the big conversation pieces they would have been even 10 years ago.
Binge watching means that we of course still talk about telly. Witness a group of Breaking Bad devotees getting together. But we now tend to watch at our own pace. The idea of a family gathering in the living room to stare at the box in the corner and watch the same thing at the same time is becoming increasing quaint, the relic of a pre internet age.
The mourning for Anne Kirkbride is a sign of a character that we have watched several times a week over the past forty years who was part of big moments we have shared. Moments that made millions of us stop and watch.
When Ken and Deirdre were eventually reconciled, the news was announced on the scoreboard at Old Trafford during a game between Manchester United and Arsenal. It read: “Ken and Deirdre reunited. Ken – 1, Mike – 0.” If such a storyline happened now, it would be all over Twitter and Facebook or we’d wait to catch up online at the weekend.
TV has changed. How we watch it has changed too. In a world of often bewildering choice though, there is still a place for sharp writing and strong acting. But now technology means that we are as likely to find it as our own speed, sometimes years after the TV shows we obsess over were first produced. There may never be a soap plot that gets tens of millions of us holding our breath one night quite like Deirdre being sent to jail or the time that Mike Baldwin knocked on the door. But for those of who us who saw it, discussed it and lived it we will never forget Anne Kikbride. She was part of our conversation. She was part of our lives.
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My day as an EXTRA on Corrie
When I was asked ”Do you fancy a day in The Rover’s Return this Christmas?”, it took a fraction of a millisecond to say yes. If nowt else I was open to the possibility of uncovering some juicy backstage dirt. Purely in the name of investigative reporting of course.
The politically correct term for them these days is ”background artistes”. Everyone still calls them ”extras” though to be honest. They are the people you see in movies and TV shows, fleshing out the screen and adding depth and presence; whether the thousands of mourners in the funeral scene in Gandhi or a handful of punters in the pub on Coronation Street.
I must say I am not the most regular of viewers these days but Corrie will always have a special place in my heart. Still going strong after over 50 years of existence, it’s influence and importance can not be overstated. On a personal note, I remember how it was the only telly show my dear old mum considered unmissable. I’m also old enough to get a touch misty-eyed at the slightest mention of Elsie Tanner (aka The Greatest TV Character Ever).
Production of the show has moved out of Manchester in recent years to a purpose built studio complex at Media City, Salford. The studio is just yards away from BBC North and the legendary cobbles and familiar terraced houses are a stone’s throw from the sleek glass and metal, Blader Runner-esque buildings of Salford Quays.
On arrival at reception, extras are ushered into a nearby area called The Hub, a holding area where we await further instruction. With its white and bright orange walls, it is not dissimilar to the breakfast room of a budget hotel. Trays of ITV branded mugs sit in a small kitchen area, next to a fridge crammed with milk and loaves of bread. After making coffee and toast, it was time to sit and wait to be told the plan for the day.
Young assistants, or runners, rush in and out in their unofficial uniform of hoodies, battered jeans and Converse. They clutch clipboards loaded with lists and wear headsets constantly connecting them to the show’s Mission Control, as vital as life support to the smooth running of a logistical juggernaut like The Street. The runners are friendly enough but have the brisk, no-nonsense manner of people well drilled in getting disparate tribes of people from A to B with minimum fuss on a daily basis.
I asked our runner, Paul, if the novelty of working on Corrie ever wore off.
”It does become just a job, yeah. But when you tell someone where you work and see the reaction, you remember it is a cool place to be working.”
Paul took us across into the studio, a vast low ceiling hangar-like space. Off the main walkway are the individual sets; rows of plywood boxes with words like ”The Kabin” and ”Bookies Flat” written on the back of them. Moving through the studio, I caught brief glimpses of familiar rooms through gaps in the flimsy walls.
After a brief delay, we were taken onto our set; The Rover’s Return. An obvious statement but the first impression was that it looks just like it does on the telly but smaller and darker.
The scenes we were filming were short and light in tone. They were for the Christmas episodes, so the pub was festively decorated including a string of silver tinsel around the picture of the much missed Betty Turpin on the wall. That made the inner long term viewer inside me go “Aw”.
Us extras were briefed on what we were doing and when and where to move and work on the scenes commenced very shortly after. Film and TV making can be notoriously slow moving and exacting, but turning out over two hours of television a week Coronation Street is factory like in approach. Flubbed lines or technical hitches cause only the briefest of breaks in the production line and it resumes at a relentless pace.
From my privileged position as ”Man At Bar Reading Wetherfield Gazette” I eavesdropped as the regular cast on set gossiped, joked and chatted between takes. Listening to it all seemed to me so, for want of a better word, normal. As they discussed weekend plans and showed each other YouTube clips on their phones, it felt exactly like the light, time killing banter that takes place in a million other workplaces day in and day out. Although not many workplaces have a cabinet packed full of BAFTAs and Royal Television Society Awards in the foyer admittedly. The cast shared private jokes, talked about family and gently teased each other; the universal language of professional colleagues who get on well together.
It stands to reason actually. With their grinding schedules and constant demands, Coronation Street and the other long running soaps are the actor’s equivalent of a 9 to 5 office job. And just like in any other place of work, there is even a spot of office politics as I overheard a couple of long standing stars having a grumble about management. Discretion, of course, prevents me from naming names. That and I would quite like to be invited back one day.
So I can’t say I was privy to any major revelations or noteworthy nuggets of gossip during my visit to The Rovers. However next time I read one of the show’s stars tell an interviewer how the cast are One Big Happy Family, I’m now slightly less likely to write it off as PR bull and roll my eyes in cynicism.
This Christmas On Coronation Street:
Will Gary Ruin Christmas? Does Kylie stand to lose everything? Find out in the Christmas Day Episode on ITV1 at 8pm.