Conversation Street

If you’re anything like us, you’ve been eagerly awaiting the new Corrie book ‘60 Years of Coronation Street’ ever since it was announced earlier this year. Now we’ve finally got our hands on a copy, and this week, we chat with author Abigail Kemp about what it was like being given the responsibility of collecting together over 10,000 episodes’ worth of history for the compendium. Abigail shares the how she went about doing the research, which parts she’s most proud of and what some of her personal favourite stories have been over the years.

On our latest episode of the podcast, we have a natter about the episodes of Coronation Street broadcast in the UK between the 19th and the 23rd October (Episodes #10,145 - 10,150). First off, though, we talk about what an honour it was to be asked to be one of the representatives of the Corrie fan community as part of its 60 For 60 campaign, and we're also briefly joined by writer Abigail Kemp, who picks a winner in our competition to win a copy of her new Coronation Street book. In the Street Talk section of the show, we chat about this week's Corrie, in which Billy summons a ghost from his past when Mary calls him in to perform at exorcism at #11. Meanwhile, Leanne's rage hits hitherto unreached levels when she she feels even more people are giving up on Oliver, Gary struggles to grasp the idea that being Ray's henchman for hire may mean a bit of tough negotiating, and the Winter-Browns prove in just a couple of scenes that anyone living in Weatherfield who's unemployed for more than five minutes just isn'

For our bonus podcast this week, we take a look at the character of Fred Gee, the randy Rovers potman, who, despite his many flaws, ended up being a bit of a favourite of ours during our recent rewatch of some of the the late 70s and early 80s episodes. You'd be forgiven if your knowledge of this particular character was a bit sketchy as he's not often talked about, but fear not - by the time you've listened to this episode, you'll be a real Gee wizz!

In our latest podcast, we share our thoughts on the episodes of Coronation Street that were shown in the UK between the 12th and the 16th October (Episodes #10139 to 10144). Even though he spends half the week hiding upstairs at #11, we still get to see enough of the new incarnation of Todd to be able to form a better opinion of him this week, but was it positive? As well as this, we react to the twist that Gary now appears to be teaming up with Ray to flatten one side of the street as part of the 60th anniversary action, share our thoughts on what Arthur's secret could be, and muse over whether one or two storylines are getting a bit repetitive. In the Kabin segment, we kick things off with some exciting news about how Corrie's digital team are contributing to the 60th anniversary celebrations on social media before giving a bit of promo to some new side projects from Julie Hesmondhalgh, Connie Hyde and Ian Bartholomew. We finish things off, as always, with more of your listener feedback. Street Talk - 00:19

For our bonus podcast this week, we take a look at the first half of the results in Corriepedia's Ultimate Character Survey. Over the summer, Corrie fans went to the site in droves to rank every single regular character there'd ever been on the show, and over the past month, we've loved seeing the results come in every day. Here, we chat about who came in 60th to 31st, remarking on who's risen and who's fallen since the survey done for the 50th anniversary in 2010, and discuss what we think might be some of the reasons for any particularly surprising placements.

On our latest podcast, we chat about the episodes of Coronation Street broadcast in the UK between the 5th and the 9th October (Episodes #10,133 - 10,138). It was another massive week on the cobbles, and it was hard to even know which storyline to tackle first, but we plumped for Oliver's heart-breaking story, which saw another powerhouse performance from Jane Danson as Leanne was left reeling from the revelation that Nick's got a secret son. Also this week, Abi comes to the rescue again when she goes to extreme lengths to stop Geoff gate-crashing Sally and Tim's wedding, and after being teased for so long, Todd returns to the cobbles - but what did we make of his new incarnation? There's some good news for Maureen Lipman in The Kabin as we hear she's going to be made a dame, and we round the podcast off with a bumper feedback section, which, as well as the usual impressions on the recent goings on in Weatherfield, also opens up some interesting discussion on some meaty topics including the representation of

For this week's bonus segment, which is also available in video format on our YouTube channel, we try our hands at responding to the web's most searched for questions on Coronation Street. Thanks to the magic of Google auto-complete, we find out what the most burning questions are about Corrie, its characters and cast, and see if we can answer them ourselves. Which characters are people most interested in finding out the fate of? Which actors are Google users desperate to discover the sibling status of? Is Charlie De Melo real? Tune into this segment to find out the answers to all this and more!

For this weekend's podcast, we chat about everything that went on in Corrie between the 28th September and the 2nd October (Episodes #10,127 - 10,132) This episode was actually recorded on Gemma's birthday, and after a late start due to a takeaway tea, we decided to make it a Street Talk only podcast - though with some of the mind-blowing developments we were treated to in the second half of the week, we still ended up waffling on for a good while!  Though the seemingly never-ending saga of Carla, Peter, Sarah and Adam all whinging on to each other about their relationship woes was a bit of a tedious start to the week, things got a whole lot more interesting following a sublime twist in the Michael and Grace story on Wednesday. Not only that, but the introduction of Nick's son Sam in Friday's ep helped the week end on a real high, and with the prospect of Tim and Sally's wedding in the imminent future, we think things are looking pretty rosy for next week too!

We've decided to go for another character profile as the bonus episode for this podcast, but this one's a little different to the norm as it kills eight birds with one stone - and those birds are the lame ducks, the Morton family. Even if you were a Corrie viewer back in 2007-2008, you'd be forgiven if you've forgotten this car crash of a family, but you do get props from us if you can count anything significant that they did on more than one hand - and bonus points if you can actually name them all off the top of your head! Fear not, though: if you are a bit rusty on Morton trivia, this podcast will tell you everything you need to know - and then we can all go back to never talking about them again.

It's time for another podcast, and this week we're chatting about the episodes of Corrie shown in the UK between the 21st and the 25th September (Episodes #10,121 - 10,126). This week, it was the Daniel and Nicky storyline that took centre stage, along with the will-they-won't-they-I-don't-know-and-I-don't-really-care shenanigans between Abi and Peter. However, it seemed like much of the discussion on social media was focused on some peculiar side stories about flower identification and Toyah and Michael's increasingly desperate attempts to keep an important client from leaving the factory. Perhaps not one of Corrie's best weeks, then, but as always, plenty to talk about! There's a bit of good news to celebrate for Helen Flanagan and Faye Brookes in The Kabin, and we round off the podcast with some of your feedback on last week's 1980s discussion. Street Talk - 00:12:39 The Kabin - 01:58:47 Feedback - 02:05:02

It's been a while since we've profiled a current character, but this week it's Daniel Osbourne's time in the spotlight. After making a few appearances as a young boy in the 90s and 2000s, Daniel returned in 2016 as part of producer Kate Oates' drive to reinvigorate the Barlow family, and she certainly succeeded! We run down everything that Daniel's been up to in the past four years, with plenty of praise for who we believe is one of the show's strongest actors at the moment, Rob Mallard.

Corrie's back to being on six times a week! Well, kind of.. and in our latest podcast, we chat about what went on in the UK episodes broadcast between the 14th and the 18th September (Episodes #10,115 to 10,120). Well, things are a bit miserable for the residents of Weatherfield at the moment, aren't they? If you're not discovering that your house is about to fall into a bottomless pit, then you're probably either on the brink of a morphine addiction, dealing with your mixed feelings about the death of your abusive stepfather or being told you need to think about turning off your child's life support. It's not often you turn to an undertaker when you need a laugh, but let's hope this new character, George Shuttleworth, has inherited his dad's knack of bringing a bit of much needed levity to the cobbles! In the news segment of the podcast, we share our thoughts about Corrie's nominees in this year's Inside Soap Awards (and suggest a variety of 'best families' who would have made more sense than the ones that w

We've reached the halfway point in our rewatch of Corrie's 1980s highlights, so this week's bonus podcast is a discussion of everything we've seen up to the end of 1984. Mavis and Derek's double jilting, Vince St Clair and Carole Munro, that scene at the Barlows' doorstep that William Roache can't stop going on about, and of course, the demise of Renee 'Pole Through The Face' Roberts. So many classic characters left the show during this period, and in this podcast, we talk about how well the residents of Weatherfield weathered the changes.

On our latest podcast, we chat about the episodes of Coronation Street shown in the UK between the 7th and the 11th September (Episodes #10,111 - 10,114). Things are slowly starting to ramp up towards next week's return to six episodes a week, and thanks to the extra half an hour of Corrie we got on Friday (as well as some brilliant twists and turns throughout the week!), we have quite a lengthy Street Talk segment this podcast, kicking off with the coercive control story. Now we all know that the concept of strong passwords doesn't exist in Weatherfield, so after a neat bit of slight of hand that would make The Great Magnifico jealous as well as some lucky guesswork, Sally gains access to Geoff's computer files - and is appalled at what she finds... Meanwhile, Gail's two boys compete to see who can have the most dramatic Friday, as Nick discovers that not only may he about to lose one son, he might also be about to gain another, and David has a massive sinkhole open up in his garden.  In the Kabin, we celebr

On this week's bonus podcast, we're chuffed to be joined by Charlie Lawson, the man behind legendary Street character Jim McDonald. Charlie talks about why he thought the McDonald clan made such an impact on their arrival, what it is that keeps him coming back to the cobbles, and whether or not, despite all that Jim's done, we're still supposed to like him!

Our latest podcast covers the episodes of Coronation Street shown in the UK between the 31st August and the 4th September (Episodes #10,108 - 10110). This week, it seems like Alya might be close to following in her grandmother's footsteps after Geoff pushes her to breaking point over the running of Speed Daal. Meanwhile, the details of Scott and Johnny's misdemeanours start to float to the surface like a body in Weatherfield canal, and Jenny nearly gets an eyeful when Shona attempts to get down and dirty with David on Maxine's bench. Next up on the podcast, we react to the news that Corrie's return to six episodes a week is very nearly here (and we're not necessarily in agreement over whether that's a good thing or not!) and we round off the podcast with more of your listener feedback. Street Talk - 00:14:48 The Kabin - 01:31:41 Feedback - 02:01:10

For our bonus podcast this week (the main show should be out Sunday evening!), we tackle two more of your listener questions. First off, we're asked to discuss who we'd put on our ideal Rovers bar staff teams. Well, it ends up being far too hard just whittling our potential pint puller picks down to just one bunch, so we end up musing over a good handful of options - including a few that we'd just like to see just for the sheer chaos it'd cause! Next up, we share our thoughts on which characters from the early years of Corrie have modern day equivalents. Comparing barmaids, builders and battleaxes across the ages, we ponder whether Corrie should be delving more into its history books when creating new characters, and discuss the fact that, however they may sometimes try to create modern versions of classic residents of the street, when you've got a different set of actors, sometimes the old magic is just impossible to recapture.

In our latest podcast, we share our thoughts on the episodes of Coronation Street shown in the UK between the 24th and the 28th August (Episodes #10,105 - 10,107). This week saw the unceremonious returns of Johnny and Debbie, two characters who we'd have thought might have at least texted ahead to get their families to put the kettle on. Never mind, though - what have they been up to? Well, whilst Johnny's been getting a much deserved telling off from Jenny, Debbie's role seems to be to vet the new lady in Kevin's life - as well, of course, as to misconstrue Abi's shifty, addiction-induced behaviour and presume she's messing Kev around. Also this week, Bernie, Gemma and Billy seem intent on making Paul feel as miserable as possible for most of his birthday just so they can surprise him with a couple of bowls of crisps and a signed PJ and Duncan LP, Daniel's obsession with Nicky starts to turn worryingly stalkerish, and Geoff considers investing in a cordless hoover. The Kabin has a mixture of both sad and hap

For this week's bonus podcast, we chat to Corrie actress Denise Black, who's played hairdresser Denise Osbourne on and off for nearly thirty years. We talk about what it was like to step onto the set of the nation's biggest soap for the first time, how unfortunate real life circumstances led to her character shacking up with Corrie stalwart Ken Barlow, and why, even after you leave the show, she believes it's still vitally important to be an ambassador for Coronation Street.

On this week's podcast, we talk about the episodes of Corrie shown in the UK between the 17th and the 21st August (Episodes #10102 - 10104). Get out your best hat because it's time for another Corrie wedding, and walking down the aisle this time - or should it just be down the conveyor belt at this point? - are Maria and Gary. Meanwhile, the Todd Squad assemble after Mary opens a letter from Eileen's runaway son asking for money, Internet parenting guru Gemma comes up with the never before thought of idea of an online video chat group for mums, and Abi's in an unconvincing predicament after a car engine falls onto her shoulder. In the Kabin segment, we share our thoughts on some of the Corrie clip show specials that have aired in the past fortnight, then we finish things off with some tweets, emails and a new iTunes review in our feedback section. Street Talk - 00:21:57 The Kabin - 02:08:44 Feedback - 02:24:18