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Death on Coronation Street

Members of Tony's stag do party wearing Tony masks in Coronation Street
  • Posted at 5:07pm
  • 23 October 2008
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 1 comment

There are times when Coronation Street comes up with conceits of such brilliance that even those of us whose devotion has cooled over the years fall in love with it all over again. Take the idea of spreading the events of one torrid night over an entire week's electrifying episodes, culminating in the murder of Liam Connor by his love-rival Tony.

It worked beautifully, scaling heights of apprehension and dramatic irony as Carla, that bruised fallen angel with the Lady Penelope cheekbones, had to decide whether to go ahead with her marriage to suave, coal-eyed Tony, or to run off with Liam, a man with the charm and demeanour of an irritated gibbon.

Clearing the decks for the week meant that the culmination of a long-running story could be stretched to a luxurious length with exquisite agony, without seeming laboured. In typical Street style this was achieved with multilayered scripts that masterfully combined pip-squeaking tension and moments of humour as other lives in the Street continued.

In a purely practical sense this was a story that couldn't have unfolded in such a way, say, 15 or 20 years ago, such was its reliance on text messages and mobile phone calls. Throughout the evening, Carla and Liam sent one another surreptitious electronic missives, which drove the action forward, culminating in Liam's death in a hit-and-run "accident" arranged by that damned, smiling villain Tony during his stag night.

This was admittedly played against a typical there's-a-tragedy-about-to-happen soap backdrop as Carla's raucous hen night party was in full swing in the Rovers. Soap students knew that there was only one way for the party to end - either with a visit from the police or, in this case, a devastating telephone call (on a mobile, of course).

But even this arguably hackneyed scenario was lifted out of the ordinary by little Corrie moments, like Deirdre having a fag outside with a distracted Carla. "We've all been around the block a few times, haven't we?" chimed the much-romanced Deirdre, a woman who hasn't so much been round the block as circumnavigated the globe.

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  • Posted on 25 October 2008
  • at 4:31pm
  • by Jonathan

It is the most brilliant and unmissable drama on the box, both in acting and screenwriting. Long live Corrie.

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