Coronation Street

I agree, Dev was probably at his worst last night just minus the animal noises. Can't say Vuuuurrrrrnon was much better either.

There will probably be a lot of padded episodes over the next few weeks given the fact most of the cast have been suffering from illness and they've had to reshoot scenes with Jack P Shepherd as he was wearing an offensive t-shirt

Been saying that for ages! However Corrie isnt the most exciting its ever been at the moment to say the least! There isnt really anything big happening at the moment.

I dont like Michelle as a character so find it difficult to have any sympathy for her, the entire storyline with her and Steve is really stupid. Also I have no interest in Dev and Vernon as characters either.

I felt sorry for poor Tyrone tho - however Auntie Pam is annoying me already!

Its great to have Blanche back - her comments about Ken going to the theatre with Ted were amusing.

I've been trying to get into the show again lately and I just can't focus on anything of interest. Turned off mid way through the 7.30pm episode yesterday as it was so dull. They just seem to be padding the episodes out which again brings me to the conclusion as to why the show needs to be on so many times.

Next week looks no better... Gail moaning about paying for sandwiches on the plane and state of her carpet!

He'll actually go as well won't he, he'll be on Lloyd's sofa by 7.30 on Monday

I'm surprised Michelle didn't pack up and go off on one of her many holidays she takes every other week

Vernon working in the cafe was quite amusing, the discussion about trains with Roy and calling Jerry 'the fat controller'

Digital Spy reports that Violet was originally intended as a lesbian character - but producers went cold on the idea.

Thinking back that makes complete sense - there was always that feeling that she was hiding something at first and was a bit prickly with men. She was rather mysterious, but they never played out why. Now, perhaps, we know why!

And aren't Corrie just showing how behind the times they are by making a big deal about bringing in their first lesbian.

Here's an idea - why not bring in two. That way you might actually have to address the issue of their sexuality, not just the usual initial bout of homophobia from the usual suspects before two weeks later they're settled in and are an accepted part of the community.

I'd have thought, the new lesbian will make try to seduce an existing character, maybe Molly?

Actually Violet's character was set up for many different storylines, originally, and they wanted to see how it panned out with other characters. That's not unusual with 'recurring dramas'.

At one point Violet was going to have the 'past' of being abused by her father; then another one was being HIV+ after becoming pregnant by Jason. They were storylines that were dropped as not fitting in the with the character as she developed. When you consider the number of writers and possible character dynamics, it's almost impossible to predict which plotline will be followed by the production team in the end. It's just a field-day for the tabloids, really.

As for a lesbian character....my only disappointment is the fact that they needed to announce it. Did they announce a new ginger character?

The rumours I remember at the time were that she was intended to be hiding the fact she was HIV positive, hence her reluctance to get too involved with anyone. But again, supposedly they had second thoughts on the idea.

Talking of which, one of those awful DVD specials is planned for October...

And what did they do with Violet in the end? Not a lot. I always thought Jenny Platt was a great actress with the potential to do great things with the right material, but the producers never utilised her properly. Instead they just left her behind the bar for months on end until she decided to leave, and even then they gave her the worst exit story imaginable.

Totally agree. I really liked the character of Violet and the actress was great but the writers did nothing. It makes no sense.