Coronation Street The Future Carried Out in a Coffin Brigade of Weatherfield....

[cobbles]

The show has always prided itself on it's long running characters, many of whom work on the show as long as they are physically able. Whilst this a great strength for a soap opera providing the show with an exceptional level of continuity for long-term viewers it does lead to some actors and actresses the receiving and almost untouchable status where they will be able to remain as long as they wish, but don not want to leave. This ladies and gentlemen leads us to this thread....

With the age of the shows cast skewing ever younger than it is been in the past, does anyone feel the future of this grand soap tradition is likely in jeopardy as more have 40 or 50+ year careers going into the 2030s despite barely hitting retirement age?

 

[Rove]

I've always supported the idea of legacy characters, especially so for Soaps. It also creates multi-generational story arcs which best suits the genre of daytime and prime time soaps.

 

[cobbles]

I've always supported the idea of legacy characters, especially so for Soaps. It also creates multi-generational story arcs which best suits the genre of daytime and prime time soaps.

Oh I'm not against legacy characters, but the show is certainly building up a glut of them at the minute for the future.

I guess the thought behind the thread was more a slightly macabre fascination with - *fingers crossed touching wood* that if the show lasted until the 100th anniversary, which actors would still be trotting away around the cobbles into their old age the same way that Ken and Rita are, whilst almost impossible to predict there does seem to be a level of service that grants untouchability to the cast members, leaving it up to them to decide whether to stay.

As an example David and Sarah could theoretically end up being on the show the same amount of time that William Roache has at the minute, and only be in their early 70s. Traditionally someone on the show that length of time at the moment, would have to be in their 80s at least. I.e the long-running characters could slowly get much younger. There's a good dozen actors you could never imagine leaving the show who'll still be extremely young relative to the last 10-20 years where the oldest characters on the show have been in their late 80s.

I started doing the calculations by age of each current member of cast by the time the 100th anniversary but realised that was perhaps a brash and insensitive thing to do especially to the current old cast, suffice to say though even amongst those who've been on the show a few decades, there's a good number who'll only be in their late 60s earlier 70s if as expected they stay on the show. You could be looking at a few dozen cast members who've been on it 60 years as opposed to 1 at that point.

 

[Ukdallasfan]

I like the older characters and I think they make a huge contribution to the show. I tend to agree, though, that some of the younger but still long running characters could end up carrying on almost by default when what they give to the show is more limited. For example, David tends to be interesting most of the time due to sparky acting. Sarah Lou is much more hit and miss and I feel has less longevity if the producers were honest to themselves. Steve McDonald is another “untouchable” and I get the impression that sometimes storylines are manufactured to keep him at the forefront. I mean, seven times married? That’s stretching it a bit even these days! It’s scary to imagine some of them still on the show in 30 or 40 years but not impossible when you compare them to William Roache, Barbara Knox etc. I guess there is a balance to be struck to keep Corrie going and that must be very difficult for the writers and producers

 

[Sarah]

I think David is fantastic, he's probably my favourite younger character. I would say he would have a good future outside of Corrie.

Simon Gregson is a terrible actor - Steve has the same expressions constantly and Tracey, oh my God 'Steeeeeeeeeve' must be said about 100 times every scene she is in. Maybe that is the beauty of their characters but I don't think I could take another 60 years of them and Leanne.

Plus I'll be over 100.

 

[cobbles]

I think David is fantastic, he's probably my favourite younger character. I would say he would have a good future outside of Corrie.

Simon Gregson is a terrible actor - Steve has the same expressions constantly and Tracey, oh my God 'Steeeeeeeeeve' must be said about 100 times every scene she is in. Maybe that is the beauty of their characters but I don't think I could take another 60 years of them and Leanne.

Plus I'll be over 100.

I'll be 64 for the 100th anniversary and 84 for the 120th anniversary. Whilst there's no guarantees I'd hope to t least make it the the 100th. If the show does, it'll probably be on Netflix by that point....

Although I imagine there'll be a couple of Brian Parks along the way to kill off a dozen legacy characters.

 

[Barbara Fan]

Who is current that could last for the nest 20 years?

Carla, Leanne, Steve, Tracey, Tim, Sally, David are all good in their roles and I see them morphing into the Ken, Rita, Audrey type of older characters with time

Carla is the stand out for a classic Corrie character and would have fitted in with the Elsie Tanners of the 1970s

But the newbies - many of them leave me cold - and the writing and plot lines need a good shake up too - there isnt much to tempt me back and Corrie used to be unmissable for me, a prog i watched or taped if i was out. Now i rarely bother and i will occasionally get colleagues at work who will say you should watch it or it was good like last weeks court scene but there is so much i skip though on itv player

My TV tastes have changed over the years and Im sure im not the only one - when the older cast ultimately leave or sadly die it will leave a big gaping hole as the link to the past - The Gails and Roys will fill into the "older Statesmen" roles

pS can I ask, what or where is Liz McD in Corrie, has she left??
has Emily ever got a mention
Is Norris still in it?
Thanks xx

 

[cobbles]

Who is current that could last for the nest 20 years?

Carla, Leanne, Steve, Tracey, Tim, Sally, David are all good in their roles and I see them morphing into the Ken, Rita, Audrey type of older characters with time

Carla is the stand out for a classic Corrie character and would have fitted in with the Elsie Tanners of the 1970s

But the newbies - many of them leave me cold - and the writing and plot lines need a good shake up too - there isnt much to tempt me back and Corrie used to be unmissable for me, a prog i watched or taped if i was out. Now i rarely bother and i will occasionally get colleagues at work who will say you should watch it or it was good like last weeks court scene but there is so much i skip though on itv player

My TV tastes have changed over the years and Im sure im not the only one - when the older cast ultimately leave or sadly die it will leave a big gaping hole as the link to the past - The Gails and Roys will fill into the "older Statesmen" roles

pS can I ask, what or where is Liz McD in Corrie, has she left??
has Emily ever got a mention
Is Norris still in it?
Thanks xx

Alison King (Carla Connor) Rob Mallard (Daniel Barlow) could last a good 20 years, perhaps even longer. Jack P Shepherd (David Platt) too. Outside those two I wouldn't be writing angry letters to ITV to tell them not to sack many of the younger cast.

Liz McDonald left but Bev Callard had some serious health issues after leaving and couldn't film Liz's exit + pandemic ruining other opportunities, so she's going to come back for a short stint to film Liz's exit and then leave again.
Emily occasionally gets mentioned as
Norris is back it now after being out for a while due Malcolm Hebden's health issues.

 

[LEEJ88]

The characters of Peter Carla and Sean who can not act and keeps getting his contract renewed are exhausted characters they will be a day when Rita,Ken,Audrey and Gail will be gone and the soap needs to build on those foundations instead of drama drama drama all the time look at Alf a normal guy never flashy yet people loved him cause of how friendly and normal he was we need characters like that.