Coronation Street bosses urged to wake up over bad stories

South Wales Argus

4 hours ago

The programme has been slammed by viewers for its over-reliance on serious crime stories and the under-utilisation of established characters, something that many believe was the reason for its poor showing at the British Soap Awards.
Corrie, which first aired all the way back in 1960, was outshone by rival soap operas like EastEnders last week, leading to concern from some ITV viewers.
How many awards did Coronation Street get at the 2025 British Soap Awards?
The only title won by Coronation Street at the British Soap Awards last week was claimed by David Neilson (Roy Cropper) for the Outstanding Achievement category.
According to the Radio Times, the rest were won by Hollyoaks, Emmerdale and EastEnders.
Coronation Street bosses told to 'wake up' as show 'worst' it has been in years
Taking to the Coronation Street Reddit, one fan simply demanded that the showrunners "wake up" and added that it "absolutely deserved to get no awards" last week.
They wrote: "The soap awards should be a massive wake-up call. Corrie absolutely deserved to get no awards, sorry to say, not compared to EastEnders.
"The show has been a constant crime saga with pointless loopholed stories carried by meaningless characters. I remember corrie in the 2017/18 days when they did Aidan's suicide, Bethany's grooming plot, David's rape.
"Going even further back, I remember Kirsty and Tyrone's domestic abuse storyline, which was heavily lauded. Even the racism with Max/Lauren and Alia alongside Geoff's abuse of Yasmin was heartbreaking to see.
"Yes, they were miserable and dark stories, but they were relevant stories and had us hooked, and we cared so much about what these characters were going through."
They added: "It's ridiculous how established characters are being sidelined for newer ones who haven't even built a rapport with audiences.
"Work with some charities and do further research on issue-based stories that can be explored instead of being lazy and recycling constant cheating and crime storylines with the same predictable characters.
"I get the newer actors are probs cheaper to use and easier to fit in anywhere to make up a storyline but overusing them creates resentment towards them.
"Use them sensibly and start giving the older cast members more meaty storylines."
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Finishing the complaint, the ITV viewer said: "Listen to your audiences for once, otherwise these pointless stories that always revolve around cheating and crime are further going to decrease your popularity."
Other fans of the show agreed with one user writing: "Not going to lie. I do still enjoy Corrie. But there needs to be more 'kitchen sink'/Rovers scenes. The occasional trauma-based storyline better executed. It's like they pick and choose which they want to do well."
Another added: "Coronation Street has been the worst I have ever known it in the past 12 months."