Coronation Street

I used to love Corrie. Then came Carl Webster: no charm, no sex appeal, no lips. Just a walking beige void sucking the life out of every scene. He's not mysterious-he's missing. Missing charisma, missing presence, missing a reason to exist.

I won't watch another episode until he's gone.

Preferably with a one-way ticket to obscurity.

There was a time, when I used to look forward to watching Coronation Street, but those days are no more. There are a number of reasons for the decline in the show, to understand them you have to seperate the show into two eras - before and after Eastenders! The soap was significantly different before February 1985 - the year that Eastenders began. The characters were likable and you warmed to them, the stoylines were almost an issue free environment. In order to compete with the new kid on the block, the establshed characters, and their storylines became darker. New, more realistic characters were introduced, in the begining they worked quite well. We are talking about the period from 1989 to the early nineties. The episodes increased from twice a week, to the six we have in the modern era. The quality of the writing and acting has fallen dramatically. Many of the modern storylines are issue led, which can make for tedious viewing. I can't tell whether I am watching Eastenders or Brookside sometimes!. The show has become a shadow of it's former self,

I once rated this legendary soap as the best drama series ever made! It had everything...great characters, superb storylines, lots of laughs intermingled with some hard hitting and serious plots. A wonderful programme, it was peerless, no other series came close. It was quite easily a 10/10.

Then the slow decline started from the late 90s. It remained a good show though, despite losing its unequalled dominance...but the rot set in deeper and deeper until it is now just another British soap that is using murder and mayhem to shock us into watching. Gone is the comedy that set it apart from other soaps. Gone are most of the legendary characters. Gone is the superb acting where just a raise of the eyebrows told us all we needed to know. It has been replaced with shouty, unpleasant characters, serial killings galore, forced and unfunny "comedy" lines and unbelievable nonsensical plots.

They maintain some decent performances with a few of the characters from the old days still there flying the flag for this iconic show. But I dread what the show will become when the very last one of them finally leaves. With regret, it will probably die a natural death and be removed from our screens.

That would be a sad day indeed.

Who invited this walking bad decision onto the cobbles? The man rolls in with smirks, secrets, and a garage full of drama-and suddenly Abi's forgetting what loyalty looks like?! While Kevin battles cancer in silence, she's playing pub flirt with Carl, who honestly has the emotional depth of a puddle in July.

And don't get me started on Carl's smarmy charm. It's all "Oi, fancy a drink?" and "Just helping out, mate," while he snakes his way through Kevin's business, family, and wife like it's a sport. Red flag? Carl's basically the Manchester United of red flags.

Also? If he pulls one more "I'm misunderstood" pout, I will personally send Sophie Webster a first-class ticket to come shut this mess down. Weatherfield's had enough chaos-Carl just adds smokescreens and sex appeal he thinks he has.

Run, Abi. Run fast, run far, and take the receipts.

I've joyfully sat through some of the classic years on Britbox, 10/10 quality viewing, with glorious characters, uplifting storylines, it represented pure escapism, it was watched by huge audiences, it was wonderful.

Skip forward to 2020..........

What on Earth have they done to it, why on Earth do people watch it, what a horrible, trashy show. You wonder why on Earth people don't move away from the place, murder, arson, rape... Is this the teatime entertainment people want to sit down and watch? Clearly not, as millions have switched it off.

Dear writers, the occasional, big storyline is great, but every other week? Please tone it down, add a little more fun into it, you never know, people may switch it back on.

1990 9/10 2020 3/10

Fair score 6/10.