Speak Easy - December

Bright and breezy, free and easy - that's Speak Easy - here your voice can be heard!

Kamil writes:

Although you say you don't watch Corrie these days, you must have seen the tram crash scenes. This is definitely the least sycophantic of Corrie sites, but what was your very favorite 50th anniversary moment?

I'm afraid I don't really have one, Kamil! I have seen the tram crash and it's not my cup of tea at all, it's all down to personal taste, and I was frankly startled by reading some of the comments on an on-line forum about the episode. "Hammer time!" (remember the song?) wrote one avid viewer as the episode progressed and came to violent scenes at Number 5 involving a hammer.

My very favourite recent Corrie-related scene was in East Street, the Children In Need Coronation Street Meets EastEnders special, in which Gail indulged in an unusual "keeping up with the Joneses" scenario with an EastEnders character, basically trying to outdo her with various OTT events from her life. Helen Worth was simply brilliant in that!

Tara asks:

Why did Maurice Jones decide to rebuild the other side of the Street in 1989? The Street looked like a gloomy hole back then, and surely nobody would want to buy smart new houses there? Imagine sitting looking at the Duckies' stone cladding as you supped your Earl Grey!

The idea came about because new Executive Producer David Liddiment had seen that such developments were happening in reality in the late 1980s - new houses, shops and industrial units being built alongside older developments.

The character Maurice Jones was a builder, a businessman, and he saw an excellent opportunity to redevelop a site occupied by a small factory and ailing community centre.

Behind the scenes, the new development also fitted in well with the serial increasing its output to three episodes per week, bringing new locations and characters to the show, and drawing in other featured characters who did not actually live in the Street.