Jerk didn’t look very secure perched on Izzie's lap. She'd have only had to go over a stone or something and he could have fallen off.

Love the way he blanked Anna - the boy's not daft

What's most ridiculous about this is how Michelle hasn't taken the reigns as Street Cars since Steve Buggared off. As his wife surely she would have stepped in as a temporary manager to keep her husbands business ticking over- like she did at Underworld, despite having no prior experience with that business or any other. Surely Liz could have found someone to cover her shifts at the Rover's easily enough.

The whole thing regarding Steve pissing off for months is farcical. All because the actor's swinging the lead....again.

I had to google what this meant! hehe. Yeah Streetcars is a mess of a business- they would have terrible online reviews if they were a real cab company. LIkewise the Bistro, which seems to run on a skeleton staff all the time,

Whereas underworld is overstaffed with Managers- Can the business really afford to pay salaries to Carla, Johnny, Aidan and Alya when their production methods are so archaic and small -scale?!

So you're a doctor with access to the actor's medical records?

Obviously you've never suffered from depression or know anyone who has - and it isn't just feeling a bit fed up - its a debilitating and serious mental illness..

Feel bad for Simon (I have had depression too) but the explanation of Steve's absence is really weak, just doing the "looking after sick friend/relative" AGAIN.

But we have no right to know exactly what someone;s medical condition is. If we did, they'd be shouting out everyone's ailments in hospitals and doctors' surgeries.

Just because he's in the public eye, doesn't mean we have to know everything about him. He's entitled to privacy in his personal life.

remarks like that don't help.

the highest form of ignorance is when you judge something you know little about.

I know. As if someone with a broken leg leg needs nearly six months looking after. Absolute nonsense from start to finish.

She kept smashing and growling with that ridiculous expression on her face, but she didn't seem to make much impression on the windscreen after the initial cracking. They are quite tricky to shatter! She should have bashed the panels and roof - much more expensive to replace.

The poster was referring to Steve's absence, not Simon Gregson's. Agreed there's no reason to publish details of an actor's condition, none of our business, but it is our business to know why the character is missing. And the looking after a sick relative is so feeble and overdone. They've got Roy absent on that one as well as Steve. But when it would be feasible as an excuse, in Emily's case, they send her of to Peru!

I don't think you're getting what I'm saying.

First of all Simon's depression is public knowledge. As I said, I've had depression, and I know it's different for everyone. If he needs a long time to get well then that's what he needs.

My criticism is of the writers who do the "looking after sick friend/relative" line to explain unexpected absences by actors every time - such as Deirdre, Ken, Kevin, Roy, Steve...

Any excuse for a character leaving suddenly for six months to a year would suck anyway. Many people in reality don't leave behind everything to look after someone with a broken ankle, especially someone young like Andy.

I don't get why they don't have Steve return off-screen anyway. But I am guessing they are waiting for him to make a big on-screen comeback

I think that just once when an actor takes a break they shouldn't write out their character as such at all, but just not have them appear from day to day. They could still be "around" but just not involved in any scenes or stories. Back in the early '80s when Peter Adamson was going through his court case there was a period where Len was simply explained away as "down the Rovers", "upstairs" or whatever - it still worked. It would be better than making up a contrived reason for the character to suddenly leave the area.

After all, there are plenty of occasions in real life where you can go for ages simply without seeing somebody or other...

Yeah, I remember they did this with Stan Ogden. When Bernard Youens took seriously ill he ended up having to leave. Stan made his final on-screen appearance in March 1984. Youens died in August that year, with Stan passing away in November - eight months since his final appearance. But in all that time Stan was still around and even at No.13 and they even had "him" banging around upstairs to make his presence felt.

Same with Ena Sharples. Even though she appeared on & off due to Violet Carson's ill health they still made her presence on the street felt such as a twitching curtain whenever she wasn't available to film.

Plus we don't see the character's lives 24/7, so it doesn't matter if they "disappear". We just assume any scenes in the Rovers when Steve is absent he is down at the cab office. And when we are at the cab office but he isn't present we are to assume he is out doing a fare. Plus it isn't like Michelle has done anything that requires Steve, so I don't get why he has been written out and left the country.

I completely agree, especially in cases where there is a certain amount of pre-warning such as when an actress takes maternity leave. Either just dont have them appear at all and not involve them in major storylines, but still referenced as been on the street or they could even film a bunch of scenes of the character just in day to day scenes in the house or at work for filler that dont require any knowledge of the rest of the storylines in the script. They could then be spread out as filler scenes across the months the actress is off. We would know that the actor was away because of maternity leave/ having a short break/ taking part in some other production... but within the narrative of the show they would just appear less frequently and not be involved in any major storyline.

Why does Anna not just tell Kevin the real reason she hates Phelan, considering she was basically raped by him (in the sence she was blackmailed into having sex with him against her will).

She didn't have to do it though.
It was her decision to consent.

She should have told him where to go rather than consent.

If Anna doesn't want to tell Kevin about her pleasurable experience with Phelan in the hotel room, why can't she say how he blackmailed them with the CCTV footage of Gary attacking him and making Owen do the labour for free?

Anna is really grating that she expects Phelan not to get work but won't give a reason.

Anna: "You have to sack him"
Kevin: "Why?"
Anna: "Oh, it doesn't matter. I am over him."

Anna: "You can't hire Pat"
Jason: "Why, what did he do so wrong?"
Anna: "Nothing"

Because Kevin will murder him?

Exactly so.

They never used to think up far fetched reasons for characters' absences in those days, so why do it now. Emily going to Peru has been the most ridiculous. We used to go for weeks not seeing her around but she was mentioned occasionally and that's all it needed. We have Paula Lane's first pregnancy to thank for the whole Callum fiasco.

Off you go again. Only a few days ago you were having a rant about Alex Bain- the actor who plays Simon. Now you're off again about Simon Gregson. You are getting confused. Both issues discussed here are about the characters they play in Corrie, not the actors.


Well said. Ever get the feeling of deja vu?


BIB Whoever it was who thought that sending a 80+ year-old woman to Peru, was a feasible way to write Emily out, needs serious medical attention. Loony



I agree.

Lots of us these days have experience of depression. So there's no need for anyone to get on their high horse about the issue like no one else knows anything. Nor are we demanding access to the actor's medical records. Not that Simon Gregson's illness was ever relevant anyway.

You'd think Kevin might twig that there's more to Anna's seemingly irrational hatred of Phelan than she's letting on.

Sometimes they have no choice but to explain people's absence in ways that will just never be entirely convincing. Deidre missed her daughters wedding because she was comforting her friend who's brother has died. I do think maybe they could have tried a little bit hard to explain Deidre's absence, but they had to come up with something as obviously Anne Kirkbride was not well enough to appear.

I think in this case knowing that the actor playing Steve has his own personal reasons for not being able to work right now, we shouldn't get into debates on how this is dealt with on screen. The viewers should respect this and put their focus on to other characters in the show, until he is ready to return.

Just catching up on Friday's episode to see what all the fuss was about with Anna smashing up Phelan's van. Can't believe she actually growled at him & everyone like some kind of wild animal haha. And when Kevin later unsurprisingly dumps her she says "no think about it this is massive!" They've only been dating for about 3 weeks!

Did anyone else notice that Sean & Liz seemed to be wearing the same shirt?!

And Liz trying to talk Tim round to the idea of running streetcars "its not a whelk stall in Morecambe". Morecambe's famous for shrimps not whelks, their football team isn't nicknamed the whelks lol. And I've never seen either a shrimp or whelk stall in Morecambe anyway. Maybe there were 50 years ago when it was a thriving town but not these days. But Corrie is stuck so far in the past I'm surprised the residents don't still use the outside toilets & have a tin bath infront of the fire.