Things have taken a few strange twists down Weatherfield way since Coronation Street had to rewrite scripts involving crazy K.C kidnapping baby Freddie. While the ever-powerful Corrieblog jury is still out on whether or not the new stories have worked, my brain was ticking away as I wondered when Corrie has changed scripts in the past.
Click through below to read more about the Street's hasty script rewrites. [Ben]
Corrie's first total storyline rewrite is also one of its most famous. The original storyline that was planned in 1963 would see Sheila Birtles start an affair with con-man Neil Crossley, be sacked from her job due to neglect and decide to take her own life. The scenes showing Sheila try to commit suicide were recorded, showing her swallowing tablets, turning on the gas, vomiting into the bin and swallowing more tablets. Just days before the episode was supposed to air, the press leaked the story and Granada was bombarded with complaints.
The decision was made to change the storyline so that Sheila did not try to kill herself and new scenes were filmed the day before the episode was to air. Granada was advised to show Sheila enter a catatonic state, where she simply sat in silence in a sort of trance. Actress Eileen Meyers was very disappointed by the change, since all of her hard work was wasted. In spite of story being completely different, the subsequent scenes and episodes were not rewritten and the reactions of the residents are very over the top, considering nothing actually 'happened' to Sheila.
In 1971 Corrie was running a story which saw Elsie's newest husband, Alan Howard, have an affair with Irma Barlow. The storyline was running well until Sandra Gough, who played Irma, suddenly quit her role and left the country. Instead of shelving the story completely, the writers decided to continue with it, so Judith Barker was brought back in her role as super-bitch Janet Reid (later Janet Barlow). The writers didn't even change the scripts, and Judith complained about how hard it was to act because the all-important dialogue had been written with Irma in mind, not Janet.
These are just a couple of examples that spring into my mind, but can Corrieblog readers think of any other instances where Coronation Street has had to quickly change its scripts and stories?
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This is a great post, Ben!
In general terms, these things tend to happen where an actor has either died, or left the show very suddenly. Although they don't always necessitate huge script re-writes, it often means that, from the viewers' perspective, storylines can be left hanging without any satisfactory conclusion.
A couple of examples spring to mind:
1.Linda Baldwin going AWOL when actress Jacqueline Chadwick effectively walked out.
2.Granada made a huge deal about Julie Goodyear's return to the show a few years back. It was meant to be a "proper" return to the Street. Bet reappeared for Betty's retirement party (just how many times has Betty been sacked/walked out/retired from the Rovers???) when she was meant to be going away to live with Gordon (mkII) and his wife. She was also supposedly back in Weatherfield for some kind of court case, but when Julie Goodyear realised just how much pressure the cast and crew were under - and how little rehearsal time they got - she ended up taking a sickie after a just few episodes and never returned.
The writers apparently had about 9-12 months' worth of storylines lined up for Bet.
The rest of the characters were made to report back on how the court case went and Bet finally returned (off screen) to wherever it was she was meant to be living (Brighton???). A highly unsatisfactory and messy end to that particular storyline.
I never realised that the actress who played Linda Baldwin just walked out on the show. Thought that was a planned exit?!
Well... it sort of was and it wasn't at the same time(!!!).
From memory, Jacqeline Chadwick had indicated that she wanted to leave the programme and I think she had been quite vocal about it. It seems that the "exit" storyline had become very open-ended because she had somehow become unavailable to film many of the scenes. The storyline itself had Linda go AWOL with Mike's car which was later found abandoned with no sign of her.
I think that it later turned out that she surfaced in Ireland, but this was all off-screen stuff. I have to admit, the whole outcome of the storyline was so vague that I (confirmed anorak that I am) really do not have a 100% recall on it.
Perhaps someone else can help me out with this???
Linda vanished so swiftly they had to employ a 'double' for some scenes. I remember Mike Baldwin pushing her into a car etc...
What about when there was an actors strike or something in the early 60's didn't half of the actors have to be written out for a few months?
I've only ever seen Irma in Video's as I didn't start watching til 1980. I liked her charachter but she seems to slur her words a bit and I wondered if her leaving suddenly had anything to do with a drinking habit.
I suppose there would have been script changes when Len Fairclough was sacked and he wasn't on screen for about a year. Also when Stan Ogden died
I do remember Eve getting very vocal about Linda's dissapearance, that is all realy.
Didn't Anne Kirkbride become ill during the filming (for a Christmas show) of a reunion with Ken that involved a kiss that was never shown? Instead of getting together she was written out for several months.
This is just an excellent post, Ben and others! Thanks so much for this very interesting stuff.
In 1983 when Len Fairclough was written out because of Peter Adamson's court case it caused a few headaches script-wise. There was an impending storyline about him, Mike Baldwin and Alf Roberts joining forces to start a nightclub in the street but in the end Mike Baldwin did it on his own (the Graffitti Club) and the involvement of the other two was dropped. Also at this point Len Fairclough had taken on a new asisstant who was one of the first black actors in the show but he was dropped after only appearing in two episodes when Len Fairclough was no longer in the show. Although Adamson won his case later that year he didn't return to the show because he upset Granada by selling his story to the sunday papers. I remember that Granada got their revenge by employing a Len Fairclough lookalike in one episode who played a plumber or a builder. It was their way of saying 'no one's irreplacable'!
1983 saw quite a few problems for the script writers wih several actors leaving or being dropped: Doris Speed was taken ill after a break in at her home and so Annie Walker suddenly disappeared after a story involving a jumble sale at the community centre. Her absence had to be hastily explaned that Annie was visiting her daughter but she never returned even though the actress got better. They bought in Billy Walker to fill in the gaps in the storylines and eventually Bet Lynch took over the Rovers but it was all a bit of a mess for a while.
Another story that started but disappeasred was in the mid 1990s when Alf Roberts as Mayor knew that the council were threatening to redevelop the street to make way for a ring road. I recall that he confided in Rita but it was never mentioned again. This could have something to do wth Brian Mosely's ill-health but I'm not sure. Does anyone else know why?
Pearl, yes, Anne Kirkebride got ill. They were going to reunite Ken and Deirdre but she ended up having to go nurse her mother. Instead, they paired him up with Denise and had Denise get pregnant.
As I recall it, Jacqueline Chadwick was due to go on maternity leave and they had planned for it. Unfortunately, she suffered complications with her pregnancy that required her to stop working several weeks before she had planned. That was why the script had to be changed and some scenes shot with a double. It was while she was on maternity leave that she decided not to come back and to give up acting entirely. It can't have been entirely unexpected because apparently she left Emmerdale the same way, going on maternity leave and then deciding not to come back.
A more recent change was in the Mad Maya story. I understand that the trial was supposed to be shown and the story continue. It was dropped because the actor who plays Dev, whose name I can't spell, was exposed as a cocaine addict and went into treatment. And wasn't the story of Curly being framed by Anne Malone also hastily rewritten when he went into rehab?
All of these stories certainly make me sympathize with the writers, who have to deal with all these unexpected events and struggle to keep the stories cohesive! They must pull their hair out when a major story has to be changed, with no notice.
i am in posession of a script from corrie, i am unable to date it.
it states at the bottom of the page 31/10/2000 but the script includes curly watts and emma taylor and natalie barnes, toyah battersby,
could you please tell me if this date is correct.
the script talks about curlys wedding stag night.
sarah has just had bethannie.
script code :1/0694/4951