Carla makes a decision about Frank's proposal, but he dupes her into meeting Leanne and Peter at the bistro after witnessing the two women fighting in the street. Fiz is offered drugs by her cellmate to dull the pain after the Croppers bring Hope for an emotional visit, and Sylvia's cost-cutting causes havoc at Roy's Rolls.

Sean's sperm donation storyline looks set to pick up pace soon as he visits his surrogate son in London and runs across not just Violet (Jenny Platt) and Jamie (Rupert Hill) but Eileen's son Todd (Bruno Langley) and even his own ex Marcus (Charlie Condue). Quite a trip!

Little else is currently known about the escapade except that Todd is now in a relationship with a wealthy boyfriend whom he takes to visit his mum back on the street. Violet, Jamie and Marcus all left the soap in 2008 and Todd four years earlier, whether any of the characters will return on a permanent basis has yet to be revealed.

20 years ago this month the nation was gripped by the story of Alan Bradley and Rita Fairclough. Corrieblogger Chris Leonard takes up the tale...

Whilst many Street viewers (and indeed Corrieblog readers), have been surprised by just what on earth Rita sees in 'creepy' Colin Grimshaw, he is by no means the worst mistake that the Kabin Queen has made when it comes to men. For that honour goes to a certain Mr Alan Bradley, a man who two decades ago almost terrorised poor Rita to the brink of death. Of course, their union did not start of like that, and to get to the bottom of the story we need to rewind the Corrie clock back even earlier, to early 1986.

In January of that year, a lonely Rita made the decision to take up fostering again, after discovering that paper girl Jenny Bradley's mum had recently been killed in a road accident. Initally, this proved to be far from plain saling, and so Rita decided to seek extra support for Jenny in the form of her estranged father Alan. The teen was not too impressed to see her long-lost dad again, or by Rita interfering for that matter, but soon came round, and it did not take long for Rita and Alan to notice that they were attracted to each other too...

A lot of people have found a lot to complain about with regards to Coronation Street over the years. Some say, however, even when it's not "good", it's still better than most things on television. When Coronation Street is good, it's very, very good and Friday night's double episode was very, very good indeed. I'd even say it could go down, at least in my books, as a classic memorable episode. Sue's review of the episodes was spot on but as you know, sometimes I just have to chuck in my two pence worth, too. The word "powerhouse" comes to mind when I think of the confrontation between Carla and Tony. The writing, the acting, the mood was all spot on. She taunted him, she wheedled, she manipulated and she got him to admit what her building suspicions were telling her. He was guilty. Of all of it. He bullied and tried to kill Jed Stone and he had Her Liam killed out of jealousy. Little did Tony know that he did it for nothing since she had nobly ended it with Liam because she knew something he didn't, that Maria was pregnant. Tony's life blew apart as Carla walked out that door into the rain. The episode ended with him on his knees in the rain. Alone. Very impressive performances by Alison King and Grey O'Brien.

There was a song in the 1960s by Peter Sarstedt called Where Do You Go To My Lovely? The singer was talking about a rich, famous, sophisticated and beautiful woman who seemed to have everything, but in the last verse he revealed that where she went to in her head was to her origins as a child on the streets of Naples, begging in rags - and he knew this because he'd known her then.

The story of Liam and Carla always made me think of that song, because the clue to their love was always, I think, in the fact that Liam had known Carla since she was very young. He knew all about her poor background, her rough family, her brother in prison. Everyone else saw the polished facade that Carla likes to present (though her speech gives her away sometimes), but Liam saw the woman she was underneath, and he'd adored her but always kept it to himself because she was his brother's girlfriend.

Today's list of nominees for the Corrieblog Awards are based on storylines we've seen this year on Coronation Street. As we said yesterday, these refer to storylines that appeared on our screens between December 2007 and November 2008. Remember, you can only vote on these nominees but feel free to add comments about your own favourites this year. The votes will be tallied and presented at the end of the month. Don't forget to cast your vote in yesterday's poll and the nominees for storyline related categories are....

Wow! I gotta say I'm impressed! I can be fairly cynical watching television and I am very good at nit picking and finding continuity fluff but if it makes me cry, and it did, it's a good, no...a great show. Of course there were bits last night that had me shaking my head but overall, it was a fitting end to the week's build up. Over hyped? Definitely, because that's tv and that's ratings. But in my opinion, all that bollocks about filming three endings put aside, it was mostly all worth it so I'm jumping in with my thoughts about last night's show as well.

The performance that really blew me away last night was that by Gray O'Brien. All week, Tony was glaring at Liam, uttering veiled and subtle threats and pointed remarks, I don't know why it didn't dawn on Liam eventually that Tony knew about him and Carla but it didn't. If you were having a go with someone's fiance, you'd be looking for signs that the partner had discovered it, and if you were on the verge of telling him, I'd think you would be even more aware. But, no. Anyway. That doesn't matter really. Tony's reaction when Liam was hit...

Last Friday our Coronation Street alphabet reached the letter H, which stood for humour. Historically Corrie has handled its humour as if it were a situation comedy, and a very fine one at that. Rather than forcing the humour into a weak situation, Corrie finds the humour within a strong situation, and Hilda and Stan Ogden were perfect to be at centre of overtly funny stories. The majority of the humour appears completely organic and real, it is endemic. One of the best Ogden stories happened in 1978 when Hilda decided it was time to buy a colour television, having longed for one for over a decade. [Ben]

Click below to read more.

I read this article in the online version of The Sun that compared two current similar storylines, one on Coronation Street and one on "the soap that shall not be named". They both involve someone looking after a baby that is not theirs. We've recently discovered that Jason is not the father of baby Holly/Chloe, which has broken Eileen's heart though not really Jason's. Not much anyway. It's good to see Corrie coming out on top even if the writer is not that keen on the new Morton clan. I think the baby storyline has the potential to be one of our future Top Stories, don't you?

I don't mind that other show but they do seem to be running around like headless chickens sometimes. The strength of Coronation Street is in how they do *both* drama *and* comedy together. I agree with the author of the Sun article, the writing and acting through the storyline on Corrie was top notch.

You would never have guessed that Kevin Webster had it in him, would you?  Back in 1997 Sally Webster went off to Scarborough to look after her ill mum. Kev, left alone in the house with time on his hands, got to grips with his new business partner in the garage, Natalie Horrocks (or Nastily Horrid as she was called in our house). Their affair was excrutiatingly embarrassing to watch, not least because all we’d ever seen Kevin Webster do before was fix the big end of an old banger. So perhaps it wasn’t too much of a stretch then, for him then to have his fling with an older woman? Click through below for more.

You probably thought the worst parent ever on Coronation Street was Terry Duckworth who sold his child to his ex-in-laws for a few thousand quid, breaking his mother's and father's hearts. Up until a few years ago, you might be right. Enter Tracy Barlow...

There have been plenty of love triangles on Coronation Street but what would you call it when six people were involved? I don't even want to think about it! My all time favourite storyline started off innocently. Raquel Wolstenhulme had an on-again off-again romance with the cad, Des Barnes, who seemed to use her when it suited him but never really loved her. The story opened with Raquel and Des in  "on-again" mode. Meanwhile, witchy Tanya Pooley was making life miserable for Raquel behind the bar at the Rovers. Raquel tried to be friends, supporting Tanya when she found out that Tanya was having an affair with a married man.

Click through to find out how the plot thickened.

Who’d have thought Corrie fans would ever see Emily Bishop up a tree? When Spider came into Coronation Street he turned Emily’s world upside down and got her up to all sorts of mischief. Climbing up a tree in the campaign the save the red rec was only one of the many things Spider got his Aunty Em involved in. He didn’t half brighten up her life. He also cheered up Toyah Battersby and together the Street’s eco-warrier and the youngest Battersby did their best for environmental causes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all plain sailing. They put anti-freeze in Firman’s freezers in a plea to highlight the plight of the Norwegian prawn and then went on a demo to save the hoarey ground wort. Toyah, not known for her spelling success, had made a banner that read “Save the Whorey Ground Wort”. Click through below for more.

Today's top story comes from 1967. The residents are enjoying an evening at Rovers when all of a sudden an almighty crash rocks the very foundations of Coronation Street. The drinkers rush out to find a scene of utter carnage - a section of the viaduct has collapsed underneath a goods train. Len Fairclough, Jerry Booth and David Barlow are among the first to start digging the rubble for survivors and are soon joined by the emergency services.

My very first memory of Coronation Street was in February of 1993 when Lisa Duckworth was knocked down and killed by Ashley the vicar from Emmerdale.  A couple of years ago I delighted in watching the whole storyline again on Granada Plus and was captivated by the events surrounding her death.  Lisa Horten was a girlfriend of bad boy Terry Duckworth and before long she fell pregnant and was left to cope on her own as Terry was jailed for a charge of GBH.  Terry proposed to Lisa who accepted and the pair were married with Terry handcuffed and under guard by two prison officers. Click below to follow the rest of the story.

Toyah Battersby (played by the very talented Georgia Taylor) came to Coronation Street in the summer of 1997 along with the rest of her rough and ready family. She quickly established a reputation as a tough cookie, ready with her kick boxing talents and if trouble didn't find her, she found it. An idealist at heart, though, she soon found her self confidence. After some tutoring from Ken Barlow, she discovered she was more clever than she thought. Our little duckling evolved into a lovely swan, and in the process she took on good causes and stood up for them along with her mate and first love, Spider Nugent. She and Spider were a couple and lived together for awhile but broke up over idealistic differences. Spider left for London and Toyah moved on.

“Plenty of gravy, Royston. I lurve gravy”. With dialogue like this and the incredible acting talent of Sir Ian Lord of the Rings McKellen, the character of Mel Hutchwright couldn’t go wrong, and for this fan it did everything right and is up there as one of my all-time favourite Corrie stories. Mel Hutchwright turned up in Corrie for only a few weeks in March 2005 but caused turmoil in his short reign on the Street. Mel was the author of trashy novel Hard Grindings which the Corrie book club took to their hearts so much that Blanche contacted the author. Mel turned up on the cobbles and the regulars quickly find out that he was a freeloading fraudster with writer's block. Click through below for more great pics of Mel Hutchwright on Corrie.

“Plenty of gravy, Royston. I lurve gravy”. With dialogue like this and the incredible acting talent of Sir Ian Lord of the Rings McKellen, the character of Mel Hutchwright couldn’t go wrong, and for this fan it did everything right and is up there as one of my all-time favourite Corrie stories. Mel Hutchwright turned up in Corrie for only a few weeks in March 2005 but caused turmoil in his short reign on the Street. Mel was the author of trashy novel Hard Grindings which the Corrie book club took to their hearts so much that Blanche contacted the author. Mel turned up on the cobbles and the regulars quickly find out that he was a freeloading fraudster with writer's block. Click through below for more great pics of Mel Hutchwright on Corrie.

One shorter storyline that initially played out over several weeks  was the introduction of Sunita Parekh. She was discovered hiding out in the Coronation Street shop flat, owned by Coronation Street's lothario, Dev Alahan. Geena, his fiancee, thought he was hiding another woman in the flat. She was right but not in the way she thought.

Time for another top story for you. It's May Day Bank Holiday, 1983. Rovers potman, Fred Gee, has decided to take Bet Lynch out for an afternoon drive, but his hopes of a romantic liaison are soon dashed when she invites Betty Turpin along for the ride. The car has been in for a service at Tilsley's garage, but in spite of Brian's protests, Fred insists on taking it away without all checks being complete - bad move as he had not yet serviced the handbrake! Click through below for more... [Sky Clearbrook]

Another short storyline that lasted just a couple of episodes back in 1968 and was very well done, started with an escaped convict, Frank Reilly, who got into the Barlow flat and scared the life out of Valerie Barlow. Ken was off directing the school play for the night and the neighbours were all gathered in the pub, worried about the escapee, not realizing he was only just across the road!

I remember being a youngster and hearing people talking about Coronation Street and saying "Oh yeah, remember when the lorry crashed into the pub?" The lorry crashing into the Rovers Return Inn in 1979 is our top story for today as it seems that nowadays we Corrie viewers are waiting for the next explosion or 'disaster' and in Corrie of the 1970s, this was as big as it got!  We have recently seen Tracy Barlow receive a life sentence for murder, but we must try to cast our minds back to a time when Madam Barlow (Langton, that was) was the nicest, cutest thing on Coronation Street.

Once upon a time on Coronation Street, Weatherfield, there was a forty-something man, shy, a bit odd, trotting around the cobbles of Coronation Street with his trusty shopping bag, a classic stereotype of a "trainspotter". Into the picture came a thirty-something woman, also shy and awkward, who has poor fashion sense but a cheerful disposition. Roy Cropper and Hayley Patterson were introduced by Alma Sedgewick, one of Hayley's coworkers at Freshco's. Alma had intended that Hayley and Curly Watts might hit it off but Roy and Hayley made an instant connection and became star crossed lovers.

This storyline makes most Corrie fans groan but Derek's gnome was more than a mere garden ornament. Oh yes, verrily, it was indeed a pawn in the game of jealously and bitterness between Derek, Mavis and Norris back in 1995. Derek and Mavis were happily married, or as happy as they could be considering he was a complete idiot and she was proficient in simper. Derek decided to get fit and bought a Mile Muncher from salesman Norris Cole. Yes, our Norris! Mavis tried the machine, fell off, did herself a mischief and ended up in hospital. Derek tried to sue Norris but Norris’ then girlfriend Angela Hawthorne ordered Derek to drop the claim. (She was very forceful, was Angela). Click through below for more.

Sometimes I think that we take stories for granted.  The Coronation Street press office is always rabbiting on about the next "explosive storyline" or the next "dramatic exit", but what about the days when things were far simpler than risking murder each time you go to the shop?  Today's top Corrie storyline is a simple saga about misunderstandings, false accusations, and most importantly, some very fiery women.