Well, we’ve made it through the summer and now, it’s our favourite time of the year here at Metro.co.uk.
Autumn.
As the nights draw in and the leaves begin to fall from the trees (honestly, we are so happy typing this), the drama in soapland gradually begins to build up, as the rest of the year airs massive storylines, huge secret reveals and a…*checks notes*…volume wall?!
Don’t worry, we’ll explain everything.
When it comes to Coronation Street, they are stepping into new territory this autumn, using technology found in the Avengers movies, giving the role of Corrie Villain to someone new, and saying goodbye to a much loved character as well.
So, sit down, grab a blanket, hot chocolate, biscuits, anything that remotely represents autumn (handful of orange leaves is too far) and enjoy, as we bring you some Coronation Street gossip from the boss himself – Iain MacLeod.
‘Dark, dangerous, scheming’ side of Stephen Reid revealed
Ever since Stephen Reid (Todd Boyce) returned to Weatherfield, viewers have been speculating about whether he could turn out to be the latest baddy in the Street.
‘They’ll proved to be right in no small measure,’ Iain confirms.
When it comes to Stephen’s personality Iain says that, ‘Desperate’s the word, and he will continue to get more and more desperate and more and more dark as the story unfolds.’
He says that the thinking was that although Stephen had a strong family connection and heritage on the Street because of his links to the Platts, he’s actually a blank canvas as far as his personality goes.
‘We thought, if we’re going to fill in those blanks and we’re going to learn more about him, shouldn’t we make him dark, dangerous, interesting, scheming?’ Iain explains.
‘Mischievous is probably too light a term, but certainly Machiavellian may be a stronger word. I think he’s just brought such an injection of otherness into the show.’
Iain also reveals that we can expect Stephen to be in Weatherfield for quite some time. ‘He’s a fish out of water and doesn’t quite belong there, which I think will contribute to some of the behaviours we’ll see from him in the coming months and possibly years,’ he says.
‘I’m excited to see the audience reaction to the unfolding story when they realise that he’s every bit as desperate and dangerous as they predicted when he first returned.’
Danger for Audrey
After revealing that Stephen is set to reveal a much more sinister side going forward, the next question we need to address is how this will affect Audrey (Sue Nicholls). After all, Stephen is her golden boy.
On that, Iain told us, ‘I think any Coronation Street fan should and does worry about Audrey, especially because she’s quite fragile at the moment in terms of what we’ve seen on screen recently, she’s been through this depression story, she’s attempted to take her own life.
‘That makes her peculiarly vulnerable to Stephen because she’s clinging on to him as something positive, the light at the end of the tunnel for her emotionally.’
He’s quick to reassure us that Audrey won’t come to physical harm in this storyline, ‘But emotionally the stakes for her are incredibly high because she’s put all of her maternal eggs in Stephen’s basket.’
With Audrey suspicious of her family after Nick (Ben Price) and David (Jack P. Shepherd) tried to steal Lewis’s inheritance a few years back, Audrey feels that she can trust Stephen more than the rest of the family.
‘She and Gail have always had a very fraught relationship, very complicated relationship. And whereas Stephen, possibly by not having been around has been put on this pedestal,’ Iain adds.
‘She’s mistrusting them and throwing her lot in with probably the person that she should trust the least.’
Spider’s secret
There’s a massive shock in store for viewers – and for Toyah (Georgia Taylor) – when a big secret about Spider (Martin Hancock) is revealed.
As they thought about bringing the character back, Iain says, ‘We had a lengthy and heated debate about what does Spider’s life look like now? Is he the eternal teenager that’s still chaining himself to trees or has he had to grow up as the character’s got older? What does the 21st century version of Spider look like?
‘I think the answers we’ve come up with are surprising, shocking, interesting, and I think will make the audience gasp slightly when we discover exactly what’s going on with his life at present.’
The big reveal comes after Toyah chooses Spider to confide in over exactly what happened in the car crash that led to Imran’s death.
‘She ends up unburdening herself entirely to Spider, talking in detail for the first time about what went on behind the wheel of that car, to what extent or not she feels culpable for what happened to Imran, how much of it was an accident and how much was it deliberate,’ Iain explains.
‘She unburdens herself to Spider and believes that he’s the best person she could tell, the person she can trust the most.’
While Iain wants to keep some details under wraps for now, he will say that, ‘She’s head over heels in love with this guy again and has reconnected with him instantly on his return to the street and feels like he’s her one true friend in the world.
‘She might not be wrong, but she’s certainly making a huge mistake in confiding all of this to him, for reasons that will become apparent.’
Toyah appears in court
With Toyah’s trial fast approaching, Iain warns that, ‘She’s on self-destruct by the time she gets up in the witness box. Whatever you may come to think about what happened in that car on the day where Imran died, fundamentally she’s a good person.
‘She certainly considers herself to have a good heart and has strong morals. So when she gets up in that courtroom, there’s every possibility that she might just hit self-destruct in some kind of desire to atone for her sins.’
With the added dimension of Spider’s massive secret, it’s clear that Toyah is at huge risk.
‘The trial’s dangerous and oddly enough, the two most dangerous things in it are Toyah’s desire to set fire to her own life, and Spider’s surprising level of threat when he discovers what Toyah claims she’s done in that car,’ Iain says.
‘So there’s quite a lot of danger in there.’
Kelly’s dramatic exit
Viewers will be aware that Kelly Neelan (Millie Gibson) is set to bow out of the show and Iain has confirmed that her exit has allowed them to ‘do something incredibly high stakes’.
Iain revealed that Kelly’s departure is the perfect catalyst to reveal the secrets that have been kept under wraps for the past couple of years.
‘We’ve really thrown everything at this week to try and bring out all the big secrets lies, reveals, and schemes.
‘At times we’ve toyed with blowing it all up and revealing the full secret to everybody. But as I say, finding ourselves in a position where we’re having to exit Kelly, it just means it’s now or never. So we’ve gone with it really and just done something, I think, really special and certainly among the most impressive things that I’ve worked on in my varied career.’
Gary and Kelly’s showdown
While Iain didn’t reveal very much about the exact details of their showdown, he has made it clear that the truth of Rick Neelan’s death is set to be exposed.
‘Gary has to retrace his steps back into the forest of doom where he once fought for his life with Kelly’s dad, Rick Neelan. It’s a really brilliant tying up/full stop on that story that began with that desperate act from Gary all those years ago.’
Ahead of some explosive scenes, Iain confirmed that he will have ‘characters step on all these landmines that we’ve buried for them over the years and have them all go off in one cataclysmic explosion’.
The Corrie x Avengers crossover we didn’t know we needed
Yep, you read that right.
For this special week of Coronation Street, Iain has splashed out on some epic technology to create some very special cinematic sequences.
‘I don’t think any continuing drama, as far as I know, has ever used this technology before. So I think we’ll be the first to do it.
‘The centre piece of the week is a sequence that we’ve shot using technology that’s more commonly found in things like The Mandalorian or they use it a slightly larger version of this in a lot of the Avengers movies.’
The technology itself is called a Volume Wall.
‘Essentially, it’s like a very new fan dangled version of what they would’ve called a green screen or back projection back in the early days of the talkies. But basically, it means you can put your actors anywhere that you can imagine.’
Iain teased that the sequence they have created is set on the rooftops, with ‘a sort of twinkling cityscape behind it.’
‘The sequence that you’ll see is a night shoot, so would’ve been a night shoot for us. Whereas we shot all these night scenes in the middle of the day. In the middle of a heat wave, in fact.
‘You can place your characters anywhere that you can imagine, as I say. And you can have them stand on the edge of that building without having to use a double or without having to rope them up.
‘You’ve got full control over the weather effects, the lighting, the engine that they use to generate this 3D world.
‘It’s witchcraft’, he adds.
‘But I love it.’
Dee Dee Bailey arrives
The newest arrival to the Bailey family is set to bring a breath of fresh air to the street, Iain has revealed.
‘Whenever you introduce a new character, it’s the default setting to go, “And what is her dark secret that she’s concealing when she arrives?” And ordinarily that serves you very well. But actually, with this character we thought, “Well, I don’t know if I want her to have one.”’
He describes Dee Dee as ‘amped up chaos in every regard’ but with an ‘incredibly sharp mind’.
‘She’s so full of energy and vibrance and she’s just great. So I’m really, really excited to see her crash land into that family.
He added: ‘There is loads of fun stuff to play with her being the apple of her mum’s eye, you’ve got sibling rivalry with the boys. And she’s also not that au fait with children, so she’s got a very comedic relationship with her niece Glory’.
‘I think the world needs a bit of that at the moment, rather than somebody pretending to be joyous, but really they’re terribly sad because their dog died recently or something darker. So, in short, and she’s just this big bundle of fun, I have to say.
‘I strongly anticipate the audience will really take to her.’
Source: Read Full Article
