Corrie Fan Issue #54 Sinister Bubbles

Goodbye Betty Driver

Our Betty (that is Betty Driver in real life and Betty Williams on the show) passed away on 15th October 2011 aged 91. She was suffering from pneumonia.

Betty appeared in 2800 episodes of Coronation Street as the indomitable Rovers Return bar staffer Betty Williams.

Betty enjoyed an extraordinarily long and busy career. She performed for over 80 years! No, that is neither an error nor an exaggeration. Betty was thrust onto the stage at just 8 years old where she performed in theatre and as a singer – as a professional. Actually, she wasn’t too thrilled about it either.

Betty’s father was a former soldier turned policeman. Her mother encouraged Betty to perform despite Betty’s reluctance and later resentment that she had missed out on her childhood. During the Second World War Betty entertained the troops with her magical singing voice. Some footage of her early singing career has survived and been preserved on YouTube. Here is an example from 1938.

Did you recognize our Betty’s face in that video? Take away a few lines and wrinkles and she is still the same attractive gal that she was all those years ago.

Betty’s Hotpot

I’ll bet that most of our readers didn’t know about Betty’s singing career. I am also willing to bet that most of our readers associate her name with something else – Betty’s Hotpot! Hotpot is a very tasty meal that is very popular in the UK – especially in the north where Coronation Street is filmed. Betty (the character) invented “Betty’s Hotpot” as a dish that is served behind the bar at the Rovers Return.

If you would like the secret recipe for Betty’s Hotpot you can find it on Blighty’s Britfood Tips blog, where you can also find a recipe for the Canadianized version that I made this week. Believe me, you haven’t lived until you have eaten a really, really good hotpot!

But here is a real surprise. Betty Driver never cooked or ate hotpot – not even once in her whole 91 years. You see, apart from being a very poor cook, our Betty was a vegetarian!

Guess Who’s Back?

As Norris and Mary stare out across the water towards the imposing castle beyond, a torrent of air bubbles bursts up through the dark water. Moments later a sinister-looking head emerges from the depths and a darkly-dressed character clambers on to the pier at the edge of the lake.

The mysterious character turns toward the startled pair and smiles, but the smile is not warm and friendly; it is somehow malevolent and threatening. The face is unmistakable; it belongs to a former character from the show who perished in water. It is none other than one of the most evil men ever to appear on Coronation Street … Richard Hillman.

Not Only, But Also …

The scene described above is taken from the spinoff movie “A Knight’s Tale”. Brian Capron, the actor who played Richard Hillman on Coronation Street, plays the part of an eerie, creepy boatman employed to row visitors across a lake to a vacation resort castle run by another old Coronation Street regular – the inimitable Curly Watts.

Curly’s fortunes have improved since his days on the Street. He arrives at the castle in a private helicopter and all the staff stand to attention as he strides confidently through the passageways of the medieval fortress toward a meeting with his under-performing local manager.

And His Other Half …

Attendance at this resort is way below target compared with Curly’s other properties and he wants to know why. As he arrives the local business manager and event host is busy playing online bingo. His name? Reg Holdsworth. Yes, one of the funniest duos in soap opera, Curly Watts and Reg Holdsworth, are back – but only for this specially made for DVD movie.

Mary Lures Norris to a Love Nest

“We won, we won” screams Mary as she runs to tell Norris the good news. Norris is unimpressed that Mary has won a vacation for two at a medieval castle resort. His wariness is well advised; Mary has won nothing, it is all a cunning subterfuge. Mary has bought the vacation … and paid a lot of money for it. But to Mary the end justifies the means and she means to use the romantic setting to seduce an unsuspecting Norris.

The Face of a Strumpet

At the same time a naive Rosie Webster excitedly announces to boyfriend Jason Grimshaw that she has landed an exclusive modelling assignment as “the face of Strumpet Ale”. Rosie will be performing her modelling duties at the very same castle and on the very same weekend as Mary and Norris will be enjoying their vacation.

Double Jeopardy

I imagine you will not be terribly surprised to learn that neither of the two principal ladies in this medieval entanglement achieve their goals for the weekend. No amount of enticement – not even with the added spice of a romantic four poster bed – can crack Norris’s hard outer shell. And yet to escape the castle and the clutches of his amorous admirer, Norris must once again place himself in the care of the evil boatman Richard Hillman.

Rosie’s Rescue

Rosie receives a shock when she learns that “the face of Strumpet Ale” is not quite what she expects. Her misfortunes grow as she casually casts Jason aside for a handsome young man with lots of money. But the handsome young man is also not quite what poor Rosie expects and she looks set for a terrible fate – until a swashbuckling Jason comes to the rescue.

“A Knight’s Tale” is the third Coronation Street spinoff movie we have had the pleasure of reviewing in this newsletter. The others were “Romanian Holiday” and “Out of Africa”. All three have shared one thing in common: they are all based on comedy instead of drama and the genre is the type of comedy the English do best – farce.

We would love to be able to offer copies of this excellent DVD for sale but unfortunately, although we were able to obtain a few copies, they are all sold already. But wait, there is hope for one lucky subscriber. We have just one copy left that was viewed for the purpose of writing this review and it is being offered as the prize in our trivia contest.

Coronation Street in New Zealand

Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter exchanged emails with Corrie fan Gavin Kennedy in Papamoa, New Zealand recently. New Zealand’s Corrie fans are outraged by plans to move Corrie to an earlier timeslot. I know we get aggravated when our favourite show is bumped by the hockey playoffs but our problems are a minor inconvenience compared to what they are experiencing in New Zealand. Here is what Gavin had to say.

Hi John. We are about 14 months behind England with Coronation Street. I have copied the following article from the newspaper:

Fans are outraged at TV ONE’s decision to screen Coronation Street earlier in the evening to make way for the final shows of MasterChef Australia. TVNZ announced today that MasterChef is moving to 7.30pm every week night for the final three weeks of its season. That will see Coronation Street , which currently airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm for an hour, bumped into the earlier timeslot of 5.30pm from October 17. That could mean editing out some scenes when the show moves to its new 5.30pm children’s timeslot on October 17, the state broadcaster said last night.

The protest against the decision is gathering steam. Television One is being hit with an avalanche of complaints. An online petition has nearly 6,000 signatures.  Head of television Jeff Latch insisted the change to 5.30pm might be only temporary to make way for 15 episodes of MasterChef. He had an open mind and – depending on the ratings – could move Coro back to 7.30pm. He said he would watch reaction to the earlier timeslot “with interest”. Mr Latch told tvnz.co.nz the Coronation Street audience had halved since 2002. But figures compiled by Freeview and published on throng.co.nz said Tuesday’s episode of Coronation Street was the third most watched programme on TV One, with 511,310 viewers, behind only One News and Close Up. MasterChef Australia was the fifth most viewed,with 225,970 viewers. Coronation Street was also the third most viewed show across all the free to air channels. MasterChef Australia did not make the top five.

Advertising commentator Martin Gillman believes the move will be permanent and is intended to be. “You don’t take a show from primetime and then bring it back. “It is a risky move for TVNZ. I am loath to say that it will kill off Coronation Street because another soap -Home & Away on TV3 – thrives at 5.30 pm,” said Mr Gillman.  A poll on nzherald.co.nz last night had almost 3000 votes, with 61 per cent saying Coro should not be moved. Sixteen per cent were not unhappy to see it go, while the rest didn’t care about the lives of the Manchester folk.

I’ve signed up to the on-line petition and now I’ve posted this Save Coro song on YouTube. Hopefully, Mr Latch will get to hear it and also see that it has had a lot of views. Any publicity about saving Coro would be much appreciated. As mentioned there is an online New Zealand petition people can respond to. Here’s the You Tube address for the song- please send it along to others. Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hjlJaE0v84

Thanks for your support; cheers, Gavin Kennedy

Trivia Contest

In Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter Issue #53 we asked:

Colin Fishwick is currently lying underneath several tons of concrete inside the foundation of the rebuilt Underworld (rebuilt because Tony Gordon destroyed the place; but then he had to didn’t he – who can blame him? Huh?). But where did John Stapes claim that Colin had gone?

That may be the easiest question ever to appear in Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter; so we are going to make selection of the winner very interesting. The 13th and 39th correct entries will each receive a prize. The winners can choose between an official 2012 Corrie Calendar or a, made in the UK, Corrie scarf.

The easy answer was, of course, Canada! Our lucky winners were Joanne Donato and Georgette Burnside. Congratulations Joanne and Georgette; please contact us to claim your prizes.

And Now …

This issue’s prize trivia question is in honour of the late, great Betty Driver who, as we reported in this issue of the newsletter, passed away recently. Betty Driver played the role of Betty Williams in the show, but that was not the first part for which she auditioned. Which other famous role could have been hers if things had worked out differently?

The winner will be the 13th correct entry received and will win the reviewer’s copy of the Coronation Street spinoff DVD movie, “A Knight’s Tale”. As usual, entries must be made only by using the “Leave a Reply” box at the end of this newsletter. All entries are automatically time and date-stamped by the system and that is the only fair way we have to determine the winners. Also, you must be a registered subscriber of this newsletter to win. Subscription is easy and free. Good luck.

Psst … Hint

You can get the answers to nearly all of Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter’s trivia questions from “Corriepedia“. You can also spend hours reading fascinating tidbits of Corrie knowledge on the site.