Phil Collinson interview: Carla and Michelle to run Underworld!

[Scarlett.]

Just something new for you Corrie fans to look forward too xD

[Scarlett.]

Bump!

[Scarlett.]

45 minutes!

[Smithy]

Again??!? :p

[Scarlett.]

This is an actual interview revealing loads of stuff xD it was meant to be posted last night, but it wasnt xD

[Smithy]

Oh well, I cba staying up last night and I was clearly right to do so :P Big announcement my ass :p


I imagine this one will actually be good, but I'll still probs end up going to bed beforehand

[Scarlett.]

lol it's only 30 mins away xD

[Scarlett.]

Former Doctor Who producer Phil Collinson took office at Coronation Street earlier this year, succeeding Kim Crowther as showrunner at the ITV soap. In continuation with DS's Producer Season 2010, Phil chats to us about his vision for the UK's longest-running soap, his plans for the 50th anniversary in December and what viewers can expect from some of their favourite characters across the next six months.

How did the position come about?
"I was asked to do it before a couple of years ago but I couldn't do it. Kieran Roberts and I go back a long way because my first job in television was here back in 1997 on Spring Hill. It was the most marvellous show… and the writing team was amazing - Russell T Davies and Sally Wainwright were part of it. After that, I went to storyline for a while with Kieran over at Emmerdale. Because we've known each other for a long time, he just asked me if I'd like to take it on."

Is this a job you've had your eye on?
"I don't know about always had my eye on… I grew up with Coronation Street. I've always been an enormous fan. I did have to think quite carefully about taking the job - for only one reason: I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what was coming up! It's such a big part of my viewing week that I wondered what it'd be like when I started knowing. But it's great! And I'm working with such a brilliant team of people. As a viewer, you take for granted how much goes into making five episodes of drama per week."

7237 7238 251209 molly kevin
What's your overall vision for Corrie?
"I know what makes good Coronation Street. Good Corrie for me is like putting a recipe together. It needs big stories that take in as many characters as possible and ripple across the Street; there needs to be a sense of community - it should always feel like somewhere you'd like to live; and obviously comedy is Corrie's biggest strength. At the same time, you have to have a clever dose of drama. It's all about ensuring a good mix.

"In terms of an overall vision, I want to tell more stories at the same time and over a longer period so the audience invest. Sometimes, there's a temptation to keep coming up with big stories that are over within two weeks - I want to step back a little and look strategically at what stories we're telling and to tell them over a longer period of time. Hopefully what you'll start seeing is that there will be big stories going on at the same time that we dip in and out of to remind the audience that a story is still there."

That said, some viewers haven't been too keen on the Kevin and Molly storyline having rumbled on for so long…
"I don't [think it's gone on too long]. When I took over, the Molly and Kevin storyline was quite rapidly heading for a conclusion. One of the first things I did was to stop that. I believe in mining as much as I possibly can from a story and particularly from one as good as this. The reason I think it's good is because it takes in so many characters. There's Molly, Kevin, Tyrone, Sally, the girls, Jack, Rita, Pam, Bill - you can never stop a story that [has such wide implications]. I always think of the great classic soap affairs like Cindy and David in EastEnders - that went on for nearly a year, I think. There's a great joy in two people standing in a pub and catching each other's eye. That's how you keep tantalising the audience."

Ashley Peacock from Coronation Street
Was there anything you inherited that you knew you had to change?
"There wasn't anything that particularly annoyed me or that I felt compelled to change. Everybody had their view about the way they tell stories, but that's what sets one producer aside from another. I want to speed up the pace of the episode a little, so they feel a bit faster, nosier and busier. Coronation Street is beautifully made, so we need to make it feel a little more sophisticated in the way we produce it."

Do you stand by each and every one of your axings?
"As part of the natural arc of taking over a show, any producer has a good look at what cast and stories they want to play. This show is run by the writing team in many ways - yes, I help to guide and shape it - but we all sit down every three weeks and work out what stories we're going to tell. We always have to be quite brutal when looking at the characters we have - some come to a point where you've run out of stories to tell for them. Soap's all about fresh blood, too. There isn't any sort of desire to sit down and think, 'Now who shall I chop this week' - it's people's livelihoods we're talking about. It's all part of a natural process of renewal."

Are there more departures to come?
"There may well be more people coming and going. It's all about consolidating what we have now."

How exciting is it to be heading up Corrie's 50th anniversary?
"It's amazing. It's one of the main reasons I accepted the job. It's an astonishing achievement for a show. What I'm absolutely determined to do is to ensure that it doesn't feel 50 years old - it's 50 years young. It's about where we go next, about looking forwards. I hope it'll be a memorable and fitting week of television, which propels us from December right into next year. Lots of stories that week will take massive twists and turns and it'll hopefully feel like a new beginning, not in any way looking back."

Coronation Street 50th Anniversary logo
Do you have any returnees?
"There'll be no returning characters from the past, no big nods to nostalgia… The Street itself is 50 years old and characters like Ken and Emily have been in it for that long and reflect that, so I don't want to look backwards."

Kim Crowther teased that the 50th is based on a big event - have you settled on what it is yet?
"Yes… It's still quite early and we're still planning what we're going to do. We'll be announcing more details soon but what I can say is that it'll be massive. It'll be Corrie like you've never seen it before."

Apparently Peter and Leanne's wedding was in the running?
"We're building up to their wedding across the autumn, but it's not actually the focus of the 50th week."

Have you ruled out a live episode?
"Nope. We've not ruled it in either, though. Something like that takes an enormous amount of planning. We're still talking about it but I'm not particularly an advocate of doing it. We did it ten years ago and obviously EastEnders did it this year… if we were to do one, we'd need to find a way of making it radically different from any that have gone before."

The opening titles and new theme have received a mixed reaction - how's that been received at Corrie HQ?
"You have to trust your instincts with these things. I don't go online and read forums and blogs or anything. We wanted some titles to reflect HD and to signal that the show's entering a new era. I think they're beautiful, while retaining all the charm of the old titles and theme. Tony Warren watched them and was involved in the decisions we made - he said that they're the titles that we always wished had been on the show, so that's good enough for me."

New Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson dishes the dirt on his vision for the long-running ITV soap right here...

If, however, you're partial to gossip about that fate of some of your favourite characters, then read on...

The Armstrongs
"They're an interesting family… Owen has his own builders business and he'll be a key player in the renovation of Underworld following the explosion. He has quite a checkered relationship with his daughters and it's fair to say that he smothers Izzy because of her disability. Katie, his other daughter, suffers a little because of that. He's quite a dark, brooding character and he'll be involved in a relationship with a couple of our female cast. He'll really set the cat among the pigeons."

Liz and Owen hit it off in the Rovers.
Apparently you're on the lookout for a new bad boy character…
"I've high hopes for Ian Puleston Davies who plays Owen as he's a very different bad boy. He's that little older and wiser and potentially a dangerous character. We've also cast Will Thorp who's coming in to play Cheryl's husband Chris. He'll be a thorn in Lloyd and Cheryl's side for a long time. Will's a brilliant actor who's delivering a very chilling performance. Again, he's quite a different bad boy - he's rough and ready, much more of a Charlie Stubbs-type character who starts working for Owen. He can certainly pack a punch and hold his own. Definitely one to watch!"

Becky's sister's been cast, too, apparently...
"We've just cast Paula Lane as Becky's sister Kylie Turner. She's brilliant and I'm very excited. She'll come in and move into the pub with Becky, Liz and Steve. She's a big character across the next six months and beyond and it's fair to say that she'll cause hell for the McDonalds…"

Eileen's been criminally underused in recent months…
"I love Eileen and she has a very big story coming up, so watch this space. We'll see a lot more of Eileen over the next six months…"

Natasha Blakeman from Coronation Street
Natasha
"Natasha's story will take a really interesting turn. Her story with Nick is another big plot across the summer into the early part of the autumn. She'll have a really big, memorable exit. Natasha becomes really important in the run up to her departure. All I'll say is, don't believe everything you read in the papers…"

Nick and Leanne
"They're an interesting pairing. What I love about Corrie is that so many characters have such history. I know Nick's played by a different actor but I think it's brilliant that you can refer to Leanne's abortion and that Nick and Leanne were married. Their relationship is tinged with lots of bitterness and unresolved feelings. We may very well go back there with them but there aren't any plans in the foreseeable."

Becky and Steve
"We'll continue with Becky and Steve's desire for adoption. Becky's desperation for a child, for everything she didn't have herself when she was growing up, will take her and Steve into dangerous waters."

Carla Connor from Coronation Street
Could we maybe delve more into Carla's past? Maybe her family?
"I don't think we'll go into her past - and there are no plans at the moment to bring in her brother Darren. I love Carla - we're going to be seeing a lot of her. She's a very significant, complicated character on the Street. You're right to identify that she's missing a family angle to her but what you'll see happening is her relationship with Michelle developing. They're sisters in many ways - they're not, they're sisters-in-law - but it's a really nice relationship which we'll be pushing. We'll be putting Kym Ryder in the factory, running it with Carla. That's really exciting!"

Molly and Kevin
"It's going to be a big, important story for the rest of the year and into next year. Molly's baby is due in September and that's going to be huge. That'll be the beginning of the next chapter of this story."

The Windasses
"That's an important one for us to tell. We'll see Gary go off to war and from that, explore what it's like for the parents of servicemen."

Tina and Graeme kiss.
Graeme and Tina - do they have a future?
"Certainly for the foreseeable. I'm loving what I see. Sometimes, you put the unlikeliest of people together and it can go either way but they're an example of it working. I love watching them - they're both consummate actors and they'll be working with each other for a good while. But nothing's ever forever in soap, is it?"

Maria will be at a bit of a loose end when she returns…
"She still has her brother Kirk and her job in the hair salon! She's connected to Carla and Michelle because of the baby, too, so I think she feels part of that family. There aren't any plans for her to have a massive story over the next couple of months because she's been through a lot."




I am REALLY loving the sound of all this, Owen and Cheryl's husband sound like a pair to watch, Carla and Michelle running the new Underworld :D

[Callum]

Carla and Michelle running Underworld is genius.

[Scarlett.]

I agree, this will bring a new lease of life to Michelle and Carla, getting Michelle away from the Rovers is a great idea, I love how the bad builders plot is going to tie in with theirs too, not to mention John Stape's plot!

And it sounds like Natasha might not kill herself after all

[Smithy]

Noo let Natasha do herself in!!!

ik that sounds really mean, but it would be gripping stuff!

[Scarlett.]

It might be something more interesting xD

[CarlaConnor]

Awesome!!!! I will love it when Carla and Chelle are runnin the factory together!!!!

I've loved Michelle for a long time now!!! :D

And Carla has been my favourite Corrie character since I started watching it back in 2007!!! :D

[Visage]

I think having two feisty characters running Underworld is the perfect tonic for Corrie. Can't wait to see this one develop.

[Scarlett.]

I agree, Underworld has dark for too long, from Tony's influence, it's time for it to brighten up