Coronation St over-doing same-sex plot lines

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Actors in the longest running television programme, Coronation St, are reportedly concerned about the number of same-sex plot lines.

“It’s not a happy place to be at the moment – and there is growing unrest that the show is losing its way,” said one actor who wishes to remain anonymous.

The soap, in Britain, currently features two lesbians, four homosexual men and a transsexual.

Former Corrie star Nick Cochrane, who played Andy McDonald, said: “It’s unrealistic. Would one road in a working class area generally produce that number of gay people?”

“I’ve got plenty of gay friends”, he explained, “but they don’t all live in a street full of gay people. How many streets in Britain would have schoolgirl lesbians, gay married couples, a transsexual and children to gay couples? It is a little bit far-fetched.”

He said the soap was not “the right platform to highlight so many gay issues all at the same time”.

And Corrie legend Jean Alexander, 85 – who played Hilda Ogden for 23 years – has said three homosexual storylines is “excessive”.

Glenda Young, long time fan and writer of Corrie.net, said she has been a fan for as long as she can remember but that she’s not enjoying it any more. Not now, not for a while.

“It’s gone downhill and I know it’ll come back up but it’s so blinking dull at the minute. I’ve been doing things I’ve never done before while Corrie’s been on TV, like walking out of the room or worse still, changing channels.”

The soap has attracted controversy regarding its storylines since homosexual producer Phil Collinson joined the programme last year.

He told The Sun in December that it is “an amazing platform” that really makes “a difference to the way people think.

“What’s transmitted on Monday night people talk about in pubs, clubs and at work the next day,” he said.

“You can really make a difference to the way people think – and this show has always had a gay sensibility.”

Sources