Issue #56: A Tale of a Tonne of Corrie Gifts

Best Soap, Best Becky … Bingo!

The National Television Awards were … well … awarded recently and the gong for “Best Serial Drama” went to Coronation Street. The show won in another category too when Katherine Kelly won an award for best serial drama performance for her portrayal of Becky MacDonald. Katherine won’t be winning that award again … [spoiler deleted].

Coronation Street lost out to rival soap EastEnders in last year’s awards. Corrie comes from Manchester in the north of England, while EastEnders is based in London in the south of England where, coincidentally, the National Television Awards are held.

But, the awards are determined by TV viewers voting through their computers and mobile phones. So, the cunning folk at Granada used social media like Facebook and Twitter to drum up support for Coronation Street and … bingo … it worked!

Who’s That Gal in the Leopard Skin Dress?

Could it be? No, surely not! Not Bet (“I’ve got tights older than you love”) Lynch from the Rovers? No. But young Brooke Vincent (Sophie Webster) donned a stunning leopard skin dress for a night out clubbing with friends recently.

Brooke is a WAG (“Wives And Girlfriends” – of professional soccer players). Her beau-of-the-day is Josh McEachran of Swansea City Football Club. Good old Bet Lynch had tights older than either of them.

Million Dollar Hotpot

Who would have thought it? That lovely old lady, the hotpot hostess, the brassy old barmaid herself, 91 year-old Betty Driver – the lovely lady who fulfilled her dream of being a Corrie cast member until her dying day – moved on to her heavenly reward leaving a net worth of a million pounds (approx $1.6M)!

Her luxury home, her car and all her worldly goods will be distributed mainly among her friends since she had few living relatives. Good old Betty; she left a million happy memories from her nine decades of performing, one truly priceless recipe and a hot pot of cash!

Slapstick Fumer!

The soap world in the UK is in a bit of a lather because of a controversial scene aired recently in which builder Owen Armstrong (played by the brilliant Ian Puleston-Davies) applies mild corporal punishment to young Faye Windass.

The young Windass, frankly, deserved far worse than the slap across the back of her legs that she received. We won’t spoil the story for those of you who don’t want to know, but the little tyke did a bad thing – a very bad thing and the big bully builder was mightily displeased.

ITV received complaints from TV viewers offended by the scene. Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter does not want to get immersed in a discussion about spanking, but the story does illustrate the Show’s willingness to embrace controversial topics.

Catch You in the Fall

Spoilers, as we Canadians know them, could become extinct soon. CBC’s highly welcome double episode catch-up is set to get us up to speed with the UK by September. But CBC may choose to remain a week or so behind the UK just in case … (just-in-case the little boat that brings the weekly canister of film from England gets held up by pirates?).

That Tyldesley Troublemaker

If we told you that Tyldesley is a troublemaker what would you say? “Yes he’s been trying to break up Peter and Leanne’s marriage. Why can’t he accept that he is never going to win his former wife back. What a loser!”

What? Who did you think we were talking about? Nick Tilsley? Noooo. We are talking ’bout Catherine Tyldesley, the actress. Catherine plays Eva Price, the new young female tower of trouble at the Rovers. I know, it is easy to confuse her with Ben Price who plays Nick Tilsley. Whoa … Overload …

The 29 year-old actress is a huge Corrie fan who is just delighted, thrilled and a little overwhelmed to be a part of the Corrie dream. But, hey, she made it. Oh, and by the way, Catherine likes to go to bed early with a good book. No late night partying for this hard-working girl, not like the diva-in-heels she plays on-screen.

Roache Approaches

Excitement is building about the upcoming visit by Bill Roache to Canada. Are you following Bill on Facebook and Twitter? Well don’t! No, I mean it. Bill has revealed that his online identity has been stolen.

“I am not on Twitter and never have been. I would not know how to Tweet to save my life!” he said (that’s probably an exaggeration, tweeting is no more complicated than sending a text message on a mobile phone). Neither does Bill have a Facebook page despite the fact that there are three Facebook pages bearing that name.

The impostor has been sending abusive online messages in Bill’s name. If you have been following “Bill Roache” and found him to be an unexpectedly unpleasant person, you now know the reason why.

Corrie Cast Crowds Canada

Aren’t we lucky. We thought we had hit the jackpot with the visit of Bill Roache but our country is going to be almost crowded with the Corrie cast in March.

A show is coming to different parts of Ontario, March and April 2012 called Tales from the Street. It features four cast members: Stephen Arnold (Ashley Peacock), Julia Haworth (Claire Peacock), Nick Cochrane (Andy MacDonald) and older ensemble member Ken Morley (Reg Holdsworth). who are going to share secrets, and stories and take questions from the audience as well.

The show is playing all across Ontario and it is headed to Winnipeg. Approx 15 dates and maybe more to come. Tickets are available at:

http://tickets.ticketwindow.ca/eventperformances.asp?evt=1275

Which Shows Will You be Attending?

Will you be going to see Bill Roache? Or will you be going to see “Tales from the Street” – or both … or neither? Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter would like to hear from you. Tell us which show(s) you will or won’t be going to see using the “Leave a Reply” box at the bottom of this newsletter.

One Metric Tonne of New Corrie Fan Gifts Has Arrived!

It was early in the morning on a cold day in January when a giant truck backed up in front of the store. The driver hit the air brakes, climbed down from his cab and slowly walked toward the back of the truck. He climbed up onto the tailgate, opened the latch and threw up the rear roller door of the monster vehicle.

Inside the truck were five pallets stacked high and heavy with cardboard boxes that had just completed the choppy journey across the North Atlantic Ocean through gales and winter storms that whipped the rough seas up into giant crashing waves.

Mounted on top of the wooden pallets, wrapped tightly in a blanket of plastic film was a treasure trove of Coronation Street souvenirs that had just completed their long journey from Manchester, the home of Coronation Street.

How it all began …

The saga began in late November with an email from a company in Manchester, England inquiring whether I might be interested in buying some Coronation Street gifts. After a few transatlantic telephone calls the precious cargo was on board an English lorry for the short trip from Manchester to the port of Liverpool.

Bon Voyage

In Liverpool the pallets were loaded into a container that was hoisted on board the MSC Alyssa – a giant ocean-going container ship bound for Montreal. The ship hoisted its anchor just two days after Christmas  and moved out into the Irish Sea, then around the northern tip of Ireland before beginning its Atlantic crossing. A few days later the Alyssa docked in Montreal and its Corrie cargo began the final journey by truck to Toronto.

Heave-ho, Away We Go

The big truck unloaded the five huge pallet loads of goodies onto the pavement outside the store and yours truly, together with a volunteer helper, began the task of moving a couple of hundred cases of Corrie fan gifts inside the warmth of the store.

She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain …

The mountain of boxes was unbelievable. It was stacked so high and deep that regular shoppers could barely navigate their shopping carts around it all. But, it was here at last – 1000 kilograms (that’s one metric tonne) of all-brand-spanking-new Corrie fan merchandise officially licensed by Granada Ventures.

The whole exercise – from the initial phone calls to the fine folks in Manchester, England through to seeing the delight on the faces of fans as they sort through the wonderful selection of never-before-seen-in-Canada Corrie merchandise was a wonderful experience.

I Love My Job

Now everyday I hear the Coronation Street theme tune playing quietly as shoppers press the “try it” button on the Coronation Street “Talking Bottle Opener”. “I can hear you playing with my toys” I shout toward the back of the store; before I get back to the important business of another desperate sprint to the finish line by “Jack’s Wind-Up Racing Pigeons” (my personal favourite).

Hey, don’t laugh; Scarlet and Fergie have become my close friends. Winding them up helps me unwind. They have both been appointed to the editorial team here at Corrie Fan Newsletter HQ; you’ll be hearing from them quite frequently. I love my job.

Oh, by the way, if you are curious about the contents of that big shipment, take a look at Blighty’s 1000kg of Corrie Gifts.

In the next issue of Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter we will review some of these great new Corrie gifts. I am having a fabulous time playing with all my new Corrie toys and already Corrie fan visitors to the store are loving them!

Trivia Contest

In Blighty’s Corrie Fan Newsletter #55 we wrote:

As a judge on the show, she sentenced her real life husband’s on-screen daughter to life in jail. She passed away quite suddenly a couple of years ago. The daughter, by the way, was recently released from prison and is wreaking havoc on the Street. Who played the judge?

The winner will be the 13th correct entry and will receive one of a selection of gifts from the 1000Kg of Corrie gifts soon to arrive at Blighty’s Tuck Store.

Luckily the ship carrying the prizes made it safely to port so we can honour what we offered in the last newsletter. And the 13th correct entry came from Tracy Callaghan. Well done Tracy; take a look at the selection of Blighty’s 1000kg of Corrie Gifts and let us know which one you would like for your prize.

And now for this issue’s trivia question:

He was dubbed the “Bird Man of Weatherfield” after climbing onto a roof looking for one particular bird. When Andy MacDonald removed the ladder, the “Bird Man of Weatherfield” spent the whole night up there. Who was this “Bird Man of Weatherfield”?

The winner will be the 21st correct entry received. Thanks to everybody who has entered in the past. Even if you didn’t win before, keep on trying. When we get lots of entries and lots of your fan feedback it encourages John to get on with the task of keeping the newsletter going.

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.