NEW Coronation Street boss Iain MacLeod has teased his “Christmassy” Christmas plans for the soap with a huge surprising heartbreak for the cobbles.
The executive producer – whose episodes will begin in December – has insisted the show won’t edge further into darkness and will be full of festive season when the time comes.
He told The Sun Online at a screening of next week’s explosive episodes: “Well, the seeds for the biggest stories for Christmas you’ve just watched, without giving too much away.”
Next week will see the Connor family wrapped up in a huge clash with drug dealer Ronan, as well as Sinead Tinker hiding her cervical cancer fears from her husband Daniel Osbourne. And it’s going to carry on through to Christmas.
Iain added: “I wanted it to be a Christmassy Christmas – obviously there’s a kind of history in soap of going and trying to do the Angie and Den Christmas where it’s all acrimony and divorce papers and vitriol.
“That’s not really my preference when you try and digest your stuffing balls and sprouts.
“You need it to be warm and you need it to be light-hearted in places and you need it to reek of Christmas.
“So it will be a Christmassy Christmas and it will have some big heartbreaking stories within that.
“It will have a big shock at the end and hopefully it will be a surprising payoff to some of the stories that you’ve just sort of seen the inception of here.”
And the new year will kick off some even bigger stories.
He said: “Into the New Year we’ve got a really massive story that plays among some of our older cast but equally we’ve got huge new chapters for your Daniels and Sineads who are towards the younger end of the spectrum.
“We’ve got a big story for Amy Barlow coming up, but that’s all because the writers have brought amazing stories for those characters.
“I haven’t come in and briefed them and said ‘I want a big story for them or them’. I want it to be quite organic.”
Iain was also keen to stress how he wants to keep the balance between light and dark in the soap, as it has always had.
He said: “I know there’s been a lot of talk about the tone of the show – I always think the show needs big material in it but as we saw in the episodes there… the show’s best when it’s got comedy in it, when it’s got low-key poignant stuff in like the Daniel and Sinead stuff we’ve just seen.
“Some high drama and action-packed sequences and I think that was a very good microcosm of what Corrie needs to be and it’s all about balance.”
He added: “My background in Corrie is that I like all the funny stuff but equally I worked on the tram crash in my previous incarnation in the show, I also worked on Tyrone and Kirstie’s domestic violence story, I worked on Carla’s rape, I worked on Peter’s alcoholism.
“So my preferences are broad and I think that is reflected in the audience, really – you can’t please all the people all the time.
“But Corrie’s been very very good since it was first conceived at pleasing most of the people most of the time. So I’m hoping we can give people a little bit of what they like under my tenure.”
And he has tried to reassure fans that he won’t be planning to axe a long list of characters.
He said: “I don’t tend to subscribe to the producer cull. I know on Corrie, I’ve worked with many producers who, sort of day three of their tenure, there’s a photoshopped picture of them as the grim reaper in the papers and a whole list of people that are speculated that their planning to kill.
“But that’s never really been my style.”
But he did reveal that characters would go because the story dictated it.
He added: “I’m quite story-led really so there will be characters that go because the story dictates that.
“There will be characters that go because the actors decided to go and do something else.
“There will be some characters that just drift away and move out of the centre of the show and we might opt to lose them.
“But there’s not going to be a hit list. I’m not going to be packing a load of people onto a bus and like, ‘Oh it’s gone off a cliff, what a shame!’
“I think our viewers are very canny and see that for what it is and it looks a bit cynical. It’s like pulling back the curtain on the wizard of Oz.
“If you cynically get rid of people, people know it for what it is.
Iain also defended previous boss Kate Oates’ tenure on the show, and insisted some elements of the darker storylines will always be found on the cobbles.
He said: “The viewing figures speak for themselves. I think a lot of what she did was challenging but it was massively successful in terms of audience reaction and social responsibility element of what we do.
“[Corrie has always] visited since the early sixties the darker corners of human existence.
“They dealt with suicide in 1963, for example. They dealt with Val Barlow being kidnapped and held hostage by a convicted sex offender who used her children as leverage to try and get his way with her.
“They did their first train crash in 1967 and into the 70s Deidre was sexually assaulted when she was with Ray Langdon.”
He added: “The key is to achieve a balance really and that is the main thing that I’m keen to do.
“So when we do go into those darker areas or those more hard-hitting, grittier areas that we find balance in the show and that we give fans of comedy something to latch onto as well.
“But I wouldn’t say Kate’s stories were too dark at all.
“I don’t think people will see a sea change in the tone of the show when my name appears on the end credits. It will be as it’s always been on Corrie – an evolution from one stage to another.
“So no I don’t intend to do anything radically different really. If I’m going to do anything it’s to balance any dark stuff with lighter stuff and with comedy and with character, which I think is what people first fell in love with about Corrie.”
And he teased some of the lighter stuff would be coming with Ken Barlow, adding: “There is some really funny stuff coming up with Ken Barlow.
“With Bill you don’t often think about him in that mould but he’s got comedy chops as well. That’s one of the great things about these characters.”
Iain became known for his willingness to push the boundaries of what soap was while he was in charge of Emmerdale.
He helmed episodes that saw dead characters return as ghosts in dream worlds, flash forwards, and a spectacular episode that showed viewers how dementia-sufferer Ashley Thomas saw the world.
MOST READ IN TV & SHOWBIZ
But he has ruled out doing any experimental episodes on Corrie.
He said: “My gut feeling is that Corrie isn’t the right place to do that.
“Corrie originated that genre and I think we need to stay true to that DNA.
“I think we can still push boundaries and tell challenging stories but I think in terms of the way that we package our storytelling, this isn’t the place for non-linear stuff or for flashbacks particularly or for hallucinatory excursions into people’s mental inner landscape.
“Corrie’s not about that for me – Corrie needs to keep one foot on the ground and remember the show that Tony Warren designed and not deviate from that too much.
“So don’t expect too much weirdness.”
Got a story? email digishowbiz@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 02077824220.
We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Link
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/coronation-street-boss-iain-macleod-reveals-heartbreaking-christmas-plans-and-huge-new-year-spoilers/
News Pictures Coronation Street boss Iain MacLeod reveals ‘heartbreaking’ Christmas plans and huge New Year spoilers
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/nintchdbpict000401226281.jpg?strip=all&w=640
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий