Corrie icon blasts soap for ‘unbelievable’ storylines and ‘abandoning loyal audience’
Coronation Street legend Sally Wainwright, who wrote for the ITV soap back in the 1990s before penning hit show Happy Valley, has hit out at the programme for becoming ‘crazy and unbelievable’
Coronation Street legend Sally Wainwright, who wrote for the ITV soap back in the 1990s, has blasted the soap for its “crazy and unbelievable” storylines.
TV writer Sally, 60, penned plots for the long-running programme three decades ago and has since gone on to create huge hits such as Happy Valley, Gentleman Jack and Scott and Bailey.
BAFTA winning writer Sally admitted she has got bored of watching soaps when “the stories got a bit samey and a bit similar, all about romance”. Despite no longer being a viewer, Sally shared her views on Corrie and claimed the Weatherfield-based drama has an “obsession with youth” and has shown some “crazy and unbelievable” storylines in recent years.
Speaking to the BBC, she said: “Certainly that happened in Coronation Street. Or [they were] just a lot more obsessed with getting younger viewers and so making stories about younger people, and ignoring the fact that the key audience was older than that.”
Sally said in the 1980s and early 1990s the soap was a “proper kitchen sink drama” and “such a classy show”. “It was about the real things that happened to real people,” she added.
However, the screenwriter added the volume of episodes the programme has to churn out has had an affect. When Sally joined the soap’s writing team there were only two episodes a week. But, five years later, it increased to four times a week and, now, there are three hour long episodes a week.
The writer added: “I think the problem with that is you just have so much turnover of plot that it inevitably becomes melodramatic.
“When it goes out at that volume (of episodes), inevitably with the ravages of story it just becomes more and more heightened and crazy and unbelievable. I don’t know if that’s been a problem that is become less grounded.”
Last night’s episode saw the new owners of the Rovers Return Inn revealed after facing an uncertain future in recent episodes. During the latest episode, Henry Newton told pub staff that his father intends to sell the brewery but he’s doing everything he can to stop it, which left the likes of Jenny Connor and Daisy Midgeley fearing for their future.
Later in the episode, Henry had to break the sad news that there was nothing he could do to stop the sale and Waterfords now own Newton & Ridley, therefore are the new owners of the pub. Things then went from bad to worse when a member of Waterfords team showed up at the premises, catching everyone off guard, as the staff feared for their jobs.
