Coronation Street

Oh I agree. I can't stand them. They really are a terrible family, along with The Morton's. I wish they were both axed and they'd free up those houses for a couple of new families who might actually be good.

I think Emmerdale has had a bad year this year but 2006 was brilliant IMHO.

Completely new familes always find it hard to become succesful as there are too many characters all at once and people generally dislike them from the start

The Nelson/Harris's were not exactly universally liked, the Ramsden's were not a success either and both left after a quite short time

The only way to bring new families in successfully seems to be either by bringing a family in of a current character (like the Baldwins) or the viewers holding back their opinions for a year to see them pan out

But the Peacocks are an established family, the problem is that they can't survive the departure of the main character (Fred....I say, I say...Fred ).

Even trying to spice them up with Claire being barking, and Ashley having an affair (as if!) didn't do any good. I felt nothing for either character during the whole sorry plot and actually stopped watching some episodes because they were so weak.

A nice new family could replace them. A couple of young kids (just 2, and not too young), but no dark and dirty secret in their past or distant genetic link to an existing family.

The Mortons could do with losing a few members if they intend to survive. There are too many of them without any real purpose (and clearly nowehere to sleep either).

The same thing happened with the Clayton family back in 1985 - they were written out after less than a year on screen as the viewers didnt take to them. The original Webster family also didnt last long - Bill and Debbie were written out within a year but Kevin is still there and of course Bill has been back a few times since and seems to be there permanently again now.

Talking of returning characters - Jim McDonald is back on screen in 2 weeks times - I didnt expect him back so soon, so I didnt.

There could be a huge fire that rips through that side of the street, then the Mortons and Peacocks get to go, then they might as well just blow Gail up whilst they are at it

The introduction of the Connors has worked quite well IMO*, as they were all introduced separately, giving viewers a chance to 'get to know them', rather than as five completely new characters all at the same time, like the Mortons have been.

*although Ryan is awful.

A few months back am sure I read somewhere that Steve Frost had done an interview on This Morning and mentioned that the Rovers would be revamped at some point.

Is there any word of this?

Yes, this is what he said but we've heard nothing else since. Sean commented on the "1970's decor" last night so you never know, it could be soon. Probably won't be until the new year though.

I wouldn't say the Rovers looked 70s at all. For a back-street pub it doesn't look too bad; no better or worse than the one at the top of the hill near me (which I suppose I would say is a "local").

It's never supposed to look like a Weatherspoons, Yates' or anything of that ilk. The only thing you could question is why they don't have a plasma showing Sky Sports, every other pub does

I don't suppose any "refit" will solve the problem that logistcally the kitchen and living room (out t'back) are in the middle of Wong's Chippie - but we live in hope!

EDIT:

It is true, I think it's more not the style of the pub, but more the fact that it hasn't been updated for that long, could you imagine all of the old smoke lingering in that wall paper, especially now with the smoking ban if it was a real pub?

The thing that hit me was the jukebox scene earlier in the week, surely they could have one of the comuter jukeboxes that most pubs have now.

I do think a revamp of the Rovers is long overdue - they havent even changed the wallpaper since the pub was refurbished after the fire and that will be 22 years next year.