Coronation Street

True. Although when they effectively get an extra episode every week anyway they really shouldnt worry about losing a couple of episodes every now and again. 6 eps a week really is overkill.

Maybe not 100% relevant to this thread, but not worth starting another. But Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching on C4 tonight has also been pulled due to these events in Cumbria. It was a last in the series "Crime Special", according to Charlie's Twitter. It will be replaced with a repeat.

Neither I, nor I imagine schedulers at ITV are "grief stricken" by the horrendous events of this week. To feel grief we'd have to know someone involved; and of course we don't.

But that being the case in no way negates the undeniable shock and distress that these events are likely to cause the public - to families with young children who see this type of thing on the news; with parents having to explain what they've seen. It would be difficult to have them settle down in the evening to see a gun toting siege in a programme they're very familiar with. Even for adults that could be seen as crass and thoughtless.

Broadcasters carry a responsibility not to needlessly make a situation worse by broadcasting something that could easily be postponed.

I think recommencing the episodes next week is a sensible thing to do, and allows the public to pause for a moment.

The closest event to this was the Dunblane tragedy, and that still carries a tangible resonance for people in this country - despite it being in a tiny Scottish village that 99% of the population had never heard of. I didn't know anyone there, but I can't say I haven't imagined how unspeakably horrible that must have been. Simply dreadful.

What you're suggesting is that, instead of schedulers sitting round a table having a serious conversation about the best way to proceed in the best interests of the viewers and public, that instead they're somehow arrogantly focussed on their own "self importance".

To even imagine that says more about you than them.

I think you're so wrong as to not only fall into the category I suggested, but also Jugalug's description.

I would hope that parents of young children were responsible enough to control what their off-spring were permitted to view on TV, whether real events or drama. These episodes were meant to be broadcast after the watershed.


Postponing or even cancelling a programme doesn't have any effect on the aftermath of a real event, or those who empathise. Don't forget, the fact that ITV have even made the programme shows their willingness to expose the audience to such events, albeit in a fictional drama.


If ITV do eventually transmit the episodes, then all they have achieved is to temporarily censor what they are willing to broadcast to a mainly adult audience (after 9pm) who are perfectly capable of choosing for themselves whether or not to watch.

Are you happy with other people deciding when you will be sufficiently desensitized to watch their programme as originally intended?

If ITV really wanted to show the respect you seem to think the are demonstrating, then they would re-write/re-shoot some scenes during this hiatus, and then start the series late next week with scenes involving a third-person narrative of a passive end to the seige scenario.

I'm sure ITV have enough Emmerdales in the can to broadcast a week of extra episodes which allow a break in Corrie: followed by a similar break for Emmerdale to let them catch up.

No they weren't. Despite the timeslot bosses said they're still suitable for family viewing. I saw the 2nd episode....It's hardly 'Die Hard'.

It doesn't need to 'get in line' with anything. Apart from a few obligue references every now and then it's in an isolated narrative bubble totally under the control of the producers. All they'll do is just change the synopsis in the TV listings and any connections to real life events in non finished episodes will be adjusted.

ITV doesn't 'order' 5 episodes a week, it's in continuous production. They'll just keep producing and showing them. but the production team will just have a bit of a leeway in their production schedule for a while... which they'd probably see as a good thing

The watershed is as much about an expectation of the viewing audience as it is about parental control.

If ITV wrote these episodes with a pre-watershed viewer in mind, then I doubt that there is very much 'gun-toting' to be edited out: if that's the route they choose to follow.

It isn't down to 'respect', it's down to sensitivity and taste.

No TV company wants to be seen as being insensitive. After a day and a half of the news being full of the aftermath of a 'shooting spree', showing something similar on the country's biggest TV show is incredibly insensitive. ITV's are a responsible TV company, there's no way they want to be seen to be crass or lose the trust of their audience.

It's not a 'period of respect'... it'll continue while the story is on the front page of all the papers and top story on all the news bulletins. When that happens and something else is at the forefront of the national conciousness it'll no longer be crass and it will be fine to show

I wasn't aware of the storyline in Corrie being a "shooting spree": but then again, I've avoided spoilers.


You mean....essentially they're thinking of their image and that advertisers might pull their commercials, leaving the segment unprofitable?


...when they think we're OK to be shown a "shooting spree", or when advertisers will pay for the slots in these hyped-up episodes that they booked?

I have seen the new titles on YouTube - they look fantastic and it was interesting to see shots of Manchester City Centre at the beginning. The close-up of the cat jumping off the wall was great as well and I like how they have used a ginger cat like the very first Coronation Street cat.

I thought they'd always tried to use a similar looking cat in all the title sequences; of course, it's not possible to determine whether the original (B&W) version was a ginger cat or not . I'm not a 'cat person', so I don't know how many varieties there are to choose from.

I liked the preview I saw online, but I was rather disappointed that it didin't look any better on a TV in HD. That may, of course, just be a credit to my ISP and the quality of my computer screen that there was no difference!

It's a nice change and its different enough for people to notice.

The new theme tune is good, but I think it lacks a certain punch as it is now

Also, DS will have the Phil Collinson interview up by mid June