Last night was one of those nights when I sat and thought about Coronation Street. My thoughts developed into a full blown whinge as I thought about the new characters we have welcomed to Weatherfield in the past few months or so. First we had the Connor family, whose excessive appearances Corrieblog have already questioned. Now we welcome a raggy lot known as the Mortons, who rival the Barlows at No.1 in the "How many people can you squeeze into a two-bed terrace?" stakes (although No.6 does have three rooms). Anyway, my question is simple: do we really need all of these new characters?
My main worry is that the concentration of the storylining team and the writers is, at the moment, too focused on creating new characters to even show an interest in some of the more established cast. Corrie has quite a lot of redundant characters who we have known for a number of years...they are crying out for good storylines! Jenny Platt has shown her intention to quit the programme because after three years her character Violet has done approximately nowt. 
We also have figures like Eileen, Tyrone, Molly, Kirk, Fiz, the Websters (esp. Kevin), Jack & Vera, Vernon, Norris, Dev, Amber and of course the wonderful Yana who are sitting in the Green Room yelping "I've been here for a few years now, give me a good story!". If not a good story then something different. What about the serious side to Norris? The human side to Amber and Dev? How about something new for the Websters apart from affairs? Why not take Yana away from the Battersbys for once and give her links with someone else in Coronation Street? If not something different then just a bit of good old character development. I would like to know more about Vernon then I may start to like him! There are so many possibilities from these fantastic characters but I worry that they are just being swept under the Granada carpet in favour of something shiny and new. [Elsie Tanner]
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It's ridiculous. The cast is too big anyway so no need for all these new people. Time to swing the axe. Sinbad's accent is all over the place as well.
I like some of the new characters but whatever happend to slow introductions. The soap casts are huge now, Emmerdale's is over 60! Too many! Although it is more autographs to collect!
mabye we should get rid of some deadwood with Paul Connor for example Vernon, Les, Maria, Dev, and Amber, they should die in a factory exposion, which causes the place to collapse caused by a gas canister at Websters garage, shooting the Websters to the fore front of the show, also many residents are injured as The Kabin is badly damaged and the Platts too, Leaving the Websters hated by all, and finally giving them a top class storyline
I'm personally tired of all the "rogue" families and characters that keep getting introduced on these soaps! Why did the Morton's have to be written up with dodgy backgrounds, ie, ripping off Dev's shop almost as soon as they are unpacked? It's reminiscent of EE's Miller family over on Albert Square. And what's with the Connors? Are they supposed to be street-wise con-men or something? I don't get it and I find it dead boring.
I seriously dislike the Mortons, in fact i detest them. Waste of space. I like the Connors, they are interesting and have character, this lot have neither.
Kevin needs a storyline but a lack of something else which i shall keep secret!
I know theyve not been in it long but I really dont like the Mortons. Michael Starke may be a good actor but its too much like Sinbad, and now it says Jeff Hordley is joining the cast. I wish if they would cast actors who are not well known from other soaps. I think the cast is big enough as it is. A good storyline would have been to get the Websters to buy Charlies old house and there would have been a chance for storylines involving Sally trying to social climb again because shes on the "Posh" side of the Street and maybe have them struggle to pay the mortgage and bills etc, then just have a couple of new characters move into no 13 (or even Roy and Hayley, their flat is a bit small!)
I love your idea, Mark. I often think up Coronation Street storylines and I thought of something similar a year or so back, only my idea saw the Websters move in nextdoor to Audrey on Grasmere Drive! The story would be that the Websters somehow came into a substantial amount of money by some means or other and Sally quickly sets about (again) trying to make her family better than the others on the Street. Within a day or so of coming into money, Sally puts No.13 on the market and tells Kevin that she intends to move into a new house in a better area of Weatherfield. On the day the family move, Sally sets about getting the backs up of most of the Coronation Street residents, especially Janice Battersby. The family moves into the new house in Grasmere Drive and Sally sets about lording it over her new neighbours - it would be very Keeping Up Appearances! Inevitably, the Websters lose their new home when Kevin is landed with a VAT bill from the taxman. Sally has to move, shamefaced, back to No.13 and face the neighbours she shunned a couple of months earlier.
I adore the Connors (and IMO are not excessively used at all, if anyone was it was the Baldwins Mark II) they all have very interesting personalities and have heaps of potential, plus we are only just starting to get to know the real them.
Mortons love them too and they too IMO are shaping up nicely, espec Jerry and Grandad Morton. I love rougish characters they are the best along with the bad boys.
I am absolutely delighted that Jeff Horley will be joining the cast and am sure he will be a great character.
Fresh blood is needed in a soap to keep things alive and interesting, plus you have to replace those that leave. Also the work load in soaps these days is extremely demanding so having a big cast helps share the work load around.
Corrie have everything bang on as far as I am concerned.
It's too early to judge the Mortons yet, but I thought the Harris family were missused - before we knew it Katy was having an affair with the dreadful Martin Platt and she'd killed her dad. A complete waste of investing time and effort into the characters.
This is the way you should not do it, so I hope the way they handled the Harris' is a lesson learned and that the Morton family get a better deal.
As for getting rid of characters - start with Les!
Babe I agree with you, new blood is need a couple of times a year to keep things interesting. Wendy Peters has it right in her interview when she said four years is time enough to make a useful addition to a show and not get type casted. A few long term characters are necessary for continuity on a show but goodness knows Corrie has more than enough of those.