Issue #0025

The Secret is a Secret No More!

Who is coming to Canada this year? We were promised that this is going to be a special year. It is not only the 50th anniversary of Coronation Street, but also the 20th anniversary of Toronto’s British Isles Show. That’s a double anniversary … and how do you celebrate a double anniversary? Well, by bringing double the usual number of Corrie stars to Canada, of course.

So, this year, instead of just one Corrie star, two will be visiting us. And now the bad news. Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter’s favourite Corrie actor Gray O’Brien (the fabulous Tony Gordon) will NOT be coming. That’s really bad news; I mean really bad news. Tony is absolutely the very best really bad character ever to appear on the show (in our humble opinion).

But the good news is, Katherine Kelly (Becky … er … Granger – she may have a different last name in the UK ) and Antony Cotton (Sean Tully) will be here.

Sorry Fans

We know that many readers of this newsletter do not live in the Toronto area and will not be able to attend the show. You won’t be able to share our excitement at meeting these great young stars from our favourite show. Here is a consolation thought for you: Tony Gordon won’t be coming again this year and every fan, throughout this great land, will share equally in that disappointment.

Katherine and Antony’s Appearance Schedule

All those of you who are familiar with the Queen Elizabeth Building in Toronto’s CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) grounds will know what we mean when we refer to “Coronation Street Corner”. It is that part of the building that has a higher population per square metre than any other part of Canada on one weekend each year. That weekend this year is the 16th -18th April. Katherine and Antony will be meeting fans up close at the following times:

• Friday 16th April -12:30pm, 3:00pm, 5:30pm
• Saturday 17th April – 11:00am, 2:00pm, 5:00pm
• Sunday 18th April – 11:00am, 3:00pm

The pair will also be interviewed on the Fan 590′s booth at the following times:

• Saturday 17th April – 3:30pm
• Sunday 18th April – 1:30pm

In previous year’s visiting Coronation Street stars have made a stopover in other cities such as Halifax, NS on their way to Toronto. If you have any information about this that you would like to share with other fans please tell us by sending your information using the “Leave A Reply” box at the bottom of the web version of this newsletter. If you receive this newsletter by email subscription you will have to visit us at: http://corrie.blightys.com to find the “Leave A Reply” box.

Who is Katherine Kelly?

Corrie fans think of Becky Granger as a bit of a wild character. She is a bit “rough and tumble” and not the kind of girl most men would want to take home to meet their mother. But Katherine Kelly is not Becky Granger.

Katherine was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire on 19th November 1979. She is the daughter of an Irishman with theatrical roots. Her dad, John, founded the Lamproom Theatre in Katherine’s native town of Barnsley and Katherine regularly supports fund-raising events for the theatre.

Fans may be surprised to discover that Katherine has a very serious side to her acting career. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 2001 and was a leading lady in Royal Shakespeare Company productions in both Stratford-on-Avon and London’s west end.

Katherine is an active lady who likes to travel. She visited India last year with Actionaid and witnessed some of the world’s worst slums. She spent Christmas in Los Angeles and has recently been to Ireland. Her tastes in music are a little gaga – Lady GaGa that is. Katherine also enjoys movies and reading books. She recently read “The Kite Runner” by new novelist Khaled Hosseini.

Who is Antony Cotton?

In contrast to his friend and co-star Katherine Kelly, actor Antony Cotton is very much like his on-screen character Sean Tully. Sean is a bubbly extrovert, life-of-the-party sort of person – and so is Antony Cotton. Sean is openly and proudly gay – and so is Antony Cotton. Antony was born Antony Dunn, the son of actress Enid Dunn on 5th August 1975 in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Antony trained for the stage at the Oldham Theatre Workshop in Greater Manchester and, like many other well-known British actors and actresses, he has appeared on stage at the famous Oldham Coliseum. He previously starred in the original British TV version of Queer as Folk and. for just one season, had his own chat show on TV called “The Antony Cotton Show”.

Antony is a passionate supporter of gay causes such as the Terrence Higgins Foundation (Terry Higgins was one the first victims of HIV/AIDS in the UK) and donated his £200,000 prize for winning the 2007 “Soapstar Superstar” contest to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. He has donated other cash prizes that he has won to similar causes.

Watch out Canada! Perhaps in anticipation of his visit here next month, Antony has thrown down the gauntlet at the Canadian government, accusing Canada’s multiculturalism minister of hiding information about gay rights and history from immigrants. Whoa! Cool it Antony; don’t try to take on the whole world all by yourself!

Review: Coronation Street Vol 3: 1963-66 DVD

By the mid-60s when Volume 3 was originally filmed, Dennis Tanner (Philip Lowrie – pictured here with his mother Elsie Tanner) was still on the Street. A cheeky, mischievous character who couldn’t hold down a job, he was nevertheless a like-able young man with an eye for the girls.

Fans who don’t come from the northwest of England where Coronation Street is based sometimes tell me they have difficulties with the accents used by the characters. Some of the expressions used in the script are also uniquely British. For example, Albert Tatlock on being bought a drink by Frank Barlow says: “you’d never think he used to fling his money about like a man with no arms would you?”

Peter Barlow hasn’t changed a bit since the 1960s. Born in April 1965 it wasn’t long before he had a bottle in his mouth … (ouch, was that too cruel?). The Coronation Street Vol3: 1963-66 DVD includes the episode in which the Street’s first twins are born to a young Ken and Valerie Barlow. Annie Walker cracks open a bottle of champagne at the crowded bar in the Rovers as a nervous Ken rushes off to the hospital to see his new-born babies – daughter Susan and son Peter.

It is the day of the Rovers Return coach outing and Annie Walker is sitting in the pub wearing her best coat and hat – with a look on her face like she has just eaten a lemon. Annie is not best pleased. Her bar relief is late and the bus is waiting outside, ready to go. Len Fairclough arrives to pick up a couple of crates of beer for the trip. Annie looks down her nose at him as she suggests that there is a right and wrong place for drinking and a “charabanc” is one of the wrong places.

As the coach stops Annie needs to attend to nature’s call. Husband Jack calls out to her as she strides towards the back of the cafe: “have you got a penny love?” “Yes, I have a penny” she replies. Moments later she returns, apparently unable to find a penny in her pocket. Jack, makes a big display of searching for a penny then, also unable to find one in his change, asks Len Fairclough if he has one. A highly embarassed Annie slips away in disgust at Jack’s insensitivity.

(It was common, in 1960s Britain, to need a penny to open the locked door of a public toilet, so having a pee was euphemistically referred to as “spending a penny”).

And what about the strange relationships that have developed over the years. The show has always been about relationships and none can have been so strange as the very formal relationship between Leonard Swindley (Arthur Lowe) and Emily Nugent (Eileen Derbyshire).

Swindley, a devout christian and chairman of the Glad Tidings Mission Hall where Ena Sharples lives and works, accepts a proposal of marriage from Emily who fears that she will soon grow too old to wed and have children. The two have a working relationship but, despite being engaged to marry, still refer to each other as “Mr Swindley” and “Miss Nugent”.

It is their wedding day. Emily is all dressed up in her gown and veil; Leonard is nervous and impatient, attended by his friend Len Fairclough. The residents of the Street are waiting anxiously in the pews at the Mission Hall while Ena Sharples plays the organ. Emily is overdue but at last someone rushes in to announce that the taxi is on its way. But what happens next? You can find out on Disc 1 of this superb 2-disc set of DVDs distributed exclusively in Canada by E1 Entertainment.

Why You Should Buy this DVD on Amazon

Why would anybody want to buy a DVD of old Coronation Street episodes? Today’s Coronation Street is way different to the Coronation Street of the 1960s. For heaven’s sake, they didn’t even film TV shows in colour back then. I asked myself that question. But then, after watching both discs in the set I found that I was enjoying the old episodes even more than the new ones.

So what was it that hit my hot button? Nostalgia! It reminded me of the Manchester suburb where I met my wife. The street she grew up on is still there but the people on the street have changed. The corner store, the chippie, and the local pub are all either boarded up or demolished. Watching old Corrie episodes, shows that were actually recorded before all those changes happened, brought back some very happy memories.

There is just one more reason why the entire staff here at Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter (yes, it’s just me, John) would really appreciate it if you would pick up a copy of this DVD by clicking on the Amazon Ferris Wheel ad in the left column of the web version of this newsletter. A lot of time is spent researching and writing this newsletter and it all seems just a little worthwhile when Amazon pays us a tiny little commission for referring a sale to them. Thank you so much.

New Coronation Street Magazine

More good news for Canada’s Corrie fans. You may remember the dynamic publishing duo from England – Mark Llewellin and Peter Riley – who produced some excellent magazines for Canadian Coronation Street fans. Sadly, Peter Riley has passed away but his former partner Mark Llewellin has resurfaced with a new Coronation Street magazine that is going to be on sale at the British Isles Show in Toronto in April.

It is unclear how fans who can’t attend the show will be able to get their hands on a copy, but we’ll keep you posted.

Winner of Last Trivia Contest

In issue #0024 we posted another trivia question for fans to take a shot at. We asked you to identify the character in this picture. We said the winner would be the 7th correct entry received, which turned out to be Sheila Terreau. Congratulations Sheila, please contact us to claim your prize of a British food and candy hamper valued at $25 from Blighty’s Tuck Store.

Our thanks go to everybody who entered. There is another trivia challenge contest in this issue with another great prize for the winner. Even if you won our contest before you still have an equal chance of winning again. Give it a try.

Trivia Contest

This an easy one for fans who are long-in-the-tooth and have the memory of an elephant, or who own a copy of the Coronation Street vol 3: 1963-66 DVD. Identify the character from the 1960′s shown in this picture and you have a chance of winning a copy of the Coronation Street spin-off movie “Out of Africa” DVD courtesy of E1 Entertainment.

Your entry must be submitted using the “Leave A Reply” box at the bottom of the web version of Blighty’s Corrie Fan newsletter. We need the name of the character and the name of the actor who played him. The winner will be selected by random draw from all the correct entries submitted by Thursday 18th March. Good luck.

NB: Entries will not be published on the web until after the closing date. If you submit an entry and don’t see it immediately – don’t panic!

We will be back in another couple of weeks with a fun-filled Easter issue of Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter. See you all then!