Thursday 4 November 2010

Speak Easy 4

Back to The Speak Easy, where your views can be heard... Free and easy, bright and breezy, that's Speak Easy.

Janine writes:

I've been reading William Roache's book on 50 years of Coronation Street and he states that Ken and Mike disliked each other before the start of the Great Feud over Deirdre in 1983. Can you tell me about previous fall-outs between them?

Sorry, Janine, no. I have ALL the episodes from 1976 (before and including Mike's debut) until mid-1979 and there weren't any then. I've studied the episodes extensively, many times, and Mike and Ken did not exchange a single cross word. Perhaps they did in the early 1980s, pre-Deirdre drama? Certainly in 1983, at the time of the crisis, Ken made some very disparaging remarks about Mike! They were very different people. I've been reading William Roache's book, too - and I'm loving it!

It's so good to have Ken there - a character who spans ALL the years!

Debs writes:

I have received the Mark Eden book I won in your competition. Thank you so much. It's a smashing read and he has a lovely sense of humour!

Glad you're enjoying it - Alan Bradley is another Street legend! We remember Mark's first appearance in the show as Wally Randle in 1981. A brilliant actor. Viewing Alan's 1987 and 1988 "doings" recently has chilled us all over again and, of course, the worst is yet to come. We're looking forward to tucking into 1989!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

SPEAKEASY

Hi there- great site. Some further (rather pedantic) Corrie questions for you.

- How did Doris Speed leave the series? When was her final scene? (Am I right in thinking it was unmemorable as DS eventually quit during sickness?)

- When in 1982 was the first scene using the current outdoor set? Did producers make a song and dance of it...or was an unremarkable exterior shot?

Keep up the great work!!! Dan

Drew said...

Phew, Dan - these questions required me to put my thinking cap on! Firstly, if I remember correctly, Annie's final scene was at the Community Centre Autumn Fair in October 1983. She was disgusted that the Deputy Mayoress bought Hilda Ogden's cake in preference to hers, pointing out scathingly that it was a LABOUR Mayoress. Annie, of course, was a true blue Tory. I seem to recall she bought a tin of something for charity saying something like: "I'll buy a tin of anything, then I'll go."

Highly appropriate, because go she did!

The new Street exterior set first appeared in June 1982. There was no big fanfare. The old Grape Street set was replaced in the opening titles. The first scene on the new set, if my memory serves me well, involved Sharon Gaskell, Eddie Yeats and Len Fairclough and our first view of the new No 7.