Exactly. I think people are forgetting that she went into Carla's flat to kill her Though she didn't go through with it and she accidentally caused the fire wouldn't any decent person feel devastated that as a result of their actions their own daughter's life was put in danger and 2 innocent people were killed

Anyone else in soap land that had done half of what Tracy has would have been severely punished by now but she just gets rewarded. She's always forgiven and everything is forgotten by her family at least. I really hope Ken will not let recent events lie and the fact she caused the fires surely has to come out. If it does though it will be sick making if she is eventually redeemed through it

What I want to know is why does Tracy always have blokes lining up for her Her gross and crass character shines out of her and makes her very very ugly.

Yay!! Like your style TT!! Agree with every word!!

Well said! Bravo, couldn't have put it better myself.

Charlie abused, manipulated and controlled Shelley and drove her to a breakdown, social anxiety and god knows what else. He ground her down, destroyed her self esteem and basically ruined her life. She couldn't walk away, that's the whole point. That's what abusers do, make you think you can't cope without them even though they're destroying you. If you don't think Charlie deserves jail for that I don't really know what to say to you.
Of course you're right that there were plenty of other things he could/should have been jailed for too, and none of it made it ok to murder him. He should have been jailed for all his crimes.

Hard to prove surely?

Yes, that's why I said he should go to jail, not that he necessarily would have, had he lived.

End of the day Kal was a total borefest the woman should get a medal for even being slightly involved in getting him off the cobbles

Me too! I can't wait either but I love Kate Ford! I think she delivers her comedic lines brilliantly. Soon funny!!!

Sorry I still don't buy how a strong willed woman like Shelley was can get into that state over a bloke, unless he was being threatening to her & she couldn't get away for some reason! Fair enough if it had been a mousy, wimpish character he was 'abusing' but it didn't wash with me then & it still doesn't now, looking back!! I hated the whole storyline & like I say it destroyed both characters in my opinion!!

It doesn't matter what your personality is like, anyone can fall victim to an abuser. You don't have to be mousy or wimpish at all, you don't have to be anything. It doesn't sound like you're going to believe me but there it is. I hope you never find out for yourself.
It was actually a pretty realistic portrayal as far as soaps go.

Perfectly put.

To be fair you sound as though you are talking from some form of experience so I will bow to your knowledge of the subject As you point out I have no experience so I guess I just find it impossoble to understand!! All I know is that storyline had me screaming at the screen "ffs woman just tell him where to go!" & other such expletives from the start of the story to the finish! As I say I just found the whole thing unrealistic & a bit distasteful but maybe had I known of anybody in that aituation I would have felt differently!! You have given me food for thought!! Thanks!!

What an amazing response!

What Charlie did to Shelley was psychological abuse. It is a recognised type of abuse.

I don't buy at all Tracy is going to change so suddenly even after losing Deirdre. It doesn't really take much to set her off.

There was a plot a few years back where she had kidney troubles and ended up in hospital, and believing she was about to die she apologised to Deirdre for all she had put her through. Yet after a speedy recovery the next episode plotted to split Steve and Michelle up.

Tracy may act "human" again for the next few months, but like a lot of characters she will probably revert to type again.

What happened on Wednesday night? One minute Traceyluv was hissing at Ken and Peter like a cornered pine marten - I waded into me strawberries and cream - and when I looked up, they were all sitting round the table smiling sadly at each other and reminiscing about Deirdre.

1 .What did I miss

2. Does this mean Traceyluv's on the way out? Classic ploy to make arsey characters sympathetic just before giving them the elbow, so we care more (in theory).

Tracy didn't give a hoot about Shelley.

She pretended that Charlie had been abusing her and plotted to kill him as he had an affair with Maria.

I agree that a strong woman can be ground down by a manipulative man but the Charlie and Shelley storyline never rang true to me. She left that bedroom when the plot demanded it (to have plastic surgery, have a fight with Sunita) when if her confidence was really low enough for her to be confined to it most of the time there's no way she would've been able to do that.

That's true, I do have both personal and secondary experience. I guess it's hard to understand if you've not got experience or haven't heard a lot of other people's accounts or what have you, I can see why you'd think that a person with a stronger personality couldn't fall victim. It is very frustrating to watch on tv/film, and indeed in real life; it seems so logical and straightforward that the person treats you terribly so you leave them, but it's a lot more complicated than that. That's why it's such an awful thing; they teach you to accept horrific treatment and that you don't deserve better, that no one else would ever want or put up with you. Once that message gets drummed into you it's incredibly difficult to get rid of. And it starts gradually and subtly; if the abuser was awful to you as soon as you met them you would be able to run a mile. They have to convince you that you need them first, that you can't cope without them, and also to cut you off from family/friends, usually to ruin your financial independence, anything to make you dependant on them.
No problem, I'm glad if it's been helpful.


That's a fair point. I just put it down to soap writing personally; the story was good in soap terms but it was never going to be 100% spot on. With any issue type storyline there's going to be stuff that's very convenient; Max's sudden development of ADHD and its subsequent disappearance, for example.
Also as an aside it can be either gender abusing the other. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious but there's generally a lot of focus on men abusing women (which is the more common) but there are still women who abuse men. And men who abuse men and women who abuse women.

Tracy, in my opinion, is such a boring, predictable character. She just seems to go round in the same cycle time after time: flirt with partner in crime, sleep with partner in crime, commit crime with partner in crime, get away with crime.

I think the turning point was Peter sitting her down and telling her that she risked wrecking Amy's life and turning her into a carbon copy of herself.

In answer to your excellent reply to my last comment srhgts, yes thsnk you it was actually a really helpful insight & made me think again about the storyline!! From your experience it sounds only too easy to fall victim to this kind of abuse!!

What I equally don't understand, from the abuser's (in this case Charlie) point of view is what do they get out of it long term?? I can just about understand if you're that way inclined it being empowering, even 'fun' for a while having that much control over another person or if they 'wasted' that person then moved onto their next victim it would be almost feasible, but after reducing Shelley to a complete wreck of a human being, he then stuck around to deal with the consequences??
Where could possibly be the 'fun' or enjoyment in dealing with the complete wreck that Shelley became, plus dealing with all the verbal abuse, finger pointing and accusations from the rest of the Street who correctly blamed Charlie for Shelley's mental state!!

That always struck me as hard to believe at the time & I'm really glad they didn't go down the route of him wasting another character ie the then silly naive little Maria or indeed tough as old boots Tracy!!

Too right.

And being a constant chore to watch, acting very badly and smirking throughout.

I felt no sympathy towards her at all regarding Deirdre's death.

Good points, sorcha

Especially the bit in bold.

Seriously how did Charlie go from abuser to instinctivley then go and protect Roy Cropper?

Plus he always was very nice to Amy Barlow.

It is easy. I mean it's not like there's an abuser lurking around every corner and you need to be constantly scared of running into one, but it's not uncommon. It can be helpful to be clued up on and watch out for the warning signs just in case.

That's a thing that's always baffled me, how anyone can be drawn to behaving like that or get anything out of it… Well like with anything everyone's different and their reasons and motivations will be different, but there are certain things that generally tend to be the case. There's usually a feeling of powerlessness/lack of control over their own lives that gives them a need or compulsion to control someone else. If your life is full of negativity and you feel like you have no control, apparently the way some people deal with that is to take it out on the people they're meant to care about the most, to make them feel how they do and much, much worse. I will never understand how it works, how someone can do that to someone they're supposed to love. Or how they can want to stay around the poor person whose life they've destroyed… There's nothing attractive about a broken person who jumps at their own shadow and is scared all the time. It's predatory and creepy, like people are only ok to be with when they're broken down, vulnerable, dependent, childlike even. And afraid. Really, really afraid, all the time. How anyone could enjoy a relationship where their partner, relative, whoever it is is scared of them… I don't get it.


Because people are dimensional and multi faceted. Even the nastiest, most vicious abuser is nice to someone, sometime.