She needs to get rid of Phelan.

Still a work in progress varying from week to week. If not episode by episode

I know it's early but if this is a taster of her era then I'm not impressed.

A very good description of her tenure so far I reckon. I think a a lot is riding on the writing for Toyah, Peter, Daniel and Adam when they all return. I am really baffled- and quite frankly disappointed- that of all the former characters she could have reintroduced, she picks bumbling oaf, Brian Packham?!

Well, obviously you were included in that. I apologise if you felt I was denying you your right to reply by not addressing you directly, I thought it was politer and more diplomatic to present it as a general observation rather than directly attacking one person's point of view. Perhaps my rather negative tone meant it came across that way anyway. But since you've chosen to do the "decent" thing and openly attack my viewpoint, I suppose I should exercise my own right to reply.

It does appear to me that there have been changes to the show and to characters since Kate Oates took over which have not been for the better. Maybe I'm wrong to attribute them to her, but with all the fuss on this forum about how she was going to make a huge difference to Coronation Street I don't think it's too big an assumption. She claimed responsibility for a lot of developments on Emmerdale that I disagreed with and which were responsible for me not watching. She is indeed one of these people who talks about their show and makes you like it less. Although Ian Macleod sounds even worse, which is why I've not ventured back in that direction.

Maybe I'm looking at this without all the evidence, I'm not familiar with any interview Kieran Roberts has given. If he's said that Coronation Street should look and feel a certain way...well, then he's dead right in my opinion. As long as I can remember, going back 20 years or more, people have said that Coronation Street feels old-fashioned, but it still strikes a balancing act between staying true to a world that no longer exists and possibly never did (all soaps rely on the fantasy of everyone being more involved with their neighbours' lives than they would be in real life) and moving with the times. It does seem as though you are stating without any real evidence that Kieran Roberts is taking a special interest in what is in essence just one of a number of shows under his executiveship, and that he is responsible for keeping on long-term characters who some believe have had their day...although, again, that's nothing new, and I suspect even without pressure from above (whether that be one individual or the whole ITV hierarchy) producers would have to be risk-takers to axe a large amount of veterans. (It's not like Kate Oates' tenure at Emmerdale was noted for the forced departure of characters who'd been there a decade or more, and note how the mass axing of EastEnders characters seems to be confined to those who've been there less than 10 years.) I suspect that in real life most of the cast and crew wouldn't be able to pick Kieran Roberts out in a line-up but that's just my opinion.

~The Todd/Phelan interplay is good. We dont know who is yet to be scammed and with such numpties on the street..

To do this, to inject abit of real drama in the street is miles ahead of what we were getting...

Nearly 57% saying no- ouch!

One thing that's really ticking me off is the complete disregard/ lack of detail when it comes to time frames within episodes. I no longer feel that any attention is paid to what time of the day it actually is. Recent examples include Liz watching Loose Women- which broadcasts at 12:30pm- with a glass of wine in her hand? We also had Vinny and Phelan arrange to meet Todd at 6pm. Despite him being significantly late for this rendezvous, it still only looked like it was 2 in the afternoon. I know these may seem like minor quibbles, but it's this careless lack of detail that leads to a loss of realism. Have we even had a night-time scene since Oates took the reins? There's a distinct sense of all the characters being in a bizarre Twilight Zone bubble right now, with no parameters of time. Furthermore, is it really necessary to have every episode start the day after the conclusion of the previous offering? Why not have an episode set entirely over the course of the early hours following a late night revelation, for example?

Leanne/Steve sl is awful, Jane is a good actress and deserves better material than this crap. MissHell is already irritating and will be 10x more when this comes out and then we have Nick lording it over Steve

Nazir affair, even this affair sl hasn't added any interest to the family. They are still boring as ever, I think Oates should get rid of them

Cathy and the paternity of her nephew/ relationship with Roy. Idc about her or the nephew I wish they bugger off and leave Roy alone. Cathy/Roy do not work, there is no r/ship it's just Corrie telling us stuff but not showing why they like each other. Also Cathy is an awful character, another one for the axe imo.

I'm not a fan of Maria, her sls do not interest me.

I expect shortly a complete move to the new Vegas style casino set. There will be no clocks or Windows to interfere with continuity. It will mean flawless filming.

What I would love to see Oates doing:
- Axe Izzy, Chesney and Sean
- Jenny Bradley to make a Linda Baldwin-style climb to the top of the corporate ladder, leading to friction between Johnny and his children as they question her nobility.
- Sinead returning to the kooky character that she was before being lumbered with Chesney. What about seeing her become an independent retailer as she decides to return to her entrepreneurial ways?
- Bethany's self esteem issues to return as Gary and Sarah start a relationship. Perhaps we could see her return to the dieting pills, which then leads to anorexia.
- Peter returns fully rehabilitated and starts training as an addiction counsellor.
- Toyah finds out that her rapist Phil Simmonds has recently had another conviction for sexual assault overturned, letting him be a free man. It stirs up a whole host of memories for her and leads her down a dark path of ensuring that Simmonds gets his just desserts by formulating a shocking plan...

Quoting you so I don't get accused of generalising again, not being personal: I've never quite got this insistence that Sinead was a great character "before Chesney". Her first episode involved her being set up on a blind date with Chesney. She was brought in as his new love interest. There was no "Sinead before Chesney". I do actually quite like them together although they've suffered from being given almost nothing to do and I agree that Sinead needs to be better utilised.

I have seen nothing that wants to entice me back to watching it permanently...


Whole heartily agree with this, perfect summary.

With any luck the Nazirs get axed along with Sharif () I'd keep Zeedan because he has some potential imo, Alya is woeful and Yasmeen is downright terrible.

Cathy is a terrible, terrible character and her relationship with Roy just doesn't ring true for me - it all seems rather forced adjust totally out of character for Roy to move on so quickly from Hayley, like you I couldn't care less about Alex. Talking of Cathy, whatever happened to her hoarding storyline?!

As for Maria, I don't mind her character and I think Samia is an alright actress, but they really need to give Maria other storylines that don't involve affairs or one night stands because thats been most of her storyline material for the past 15 years...

RE, Steve / Leanne, I sincerely hope it's better than another 'who's the daddy' storyline with the upcoming revelation that

Is it just me or has continuity improved. Admittedly I'm not massively into any of the current storylines but what is happens seems to be being well-focused on and less crappy filler seems to be hemmed in.

Also, the humour has improved, I've noticed, more sarky and less slapstick-y, for example recent Jenny and Sally banter.

And yet this person is evidently unsackable and untouchable and yet happy to sit back and say nothing while the likes of Blackburn are being slaughtered in the press and on forums. Wonder what SB's work would have been like under a different EP (and why does there even need to be one?).

P45 for Mr Roberts....!

I do enjoy the bitchy interplay between Jenny and Sally. Let's hope that this continues. We also haven't had Buffoon Gail for a while now, thankfully.

I think the handling of Cathy has been bad but that's partly the legacy of Stuart Blackburn's era. I do agree that it would perhaps have been more in character for Roy to never remarry or get involved with anyone after Hayley, but given that they did go down this route I don't think it was handled too badly (if a bit rushed) and watching them in the live episode they looked like they could be a good couple. But then, as has been mentioned with other couples, they had no real storylines or scenes together and we were just meant to accept them as an established couple. In a sense, I can see the sense in Kate Oates (if it is her) pulling back on the reins a bit and Roy's reluctance to share a room with her was potentially a good step, but then we get the somewhat out of character antagonism over Cathy wanting Roy to buy Alex a flat (that doesn't even exist and is clearly just Phelan chancing his arm even without them knowing it's a con job) and then this reveal about Cathy's husband being Alex's father which doesn't affect anyone but her thrown it, and it's all feeling like a bit much and making Cathy rather unlikable, which I can't tell is the intention or not.

It's now obvious that putting Roy and Cathy together was ultimately a mistake. It always jarred with me, given that Hayley was the only woman ever to have been in Roy's life up until that point and they truly were beloved by the fans. A platonic relationship between Cathy and Roy could have worked a treat instead. Roy is such a complex character by himself that there still would have been plenty of storyline opportunities for him outside of romance. I enjoyed their scenes together in the live episode, but can't help but now feel that Roy is weighed down by this relationship. Equally, I hope that Ken remains single after that ill advised relationship with the dreadful Nessa.

Liking the way that Kate is making the effort to build something out of some of Blackbrn's messier moments!!
Three examples:
Finally giving us insight into Todd's character transformation while away in London!!

Finally a few brief mentions of Sarah actually having a life in Milan working for 'Uncle Stephen!!'

Addressing the Maria/Pablo sham marriage debacle & acknowledging that there could be serious repercusdions from it!! Am I right in thinking Caz was about to report them to the authorities with that final scene last night of her phoning the home office?

Edit: Thinking now the Todd thing might have still been under Collinson!?

No, Todd's transformation was all Blackburn. He returned to the show in November 2013; Collinson's final episodes as producer went out in April 2013. Funnily, Blackburn did mention in interviews that we would, down the line, get answers as to why Todd had changed so much in his time away, but we never did until now. That hospital scene in Thursday's episode was excellently written and I am glad that we've finally had some insight into Todd's wanton destructive ways. He has been, head and shoulders, the shining light of Oates's tenure so far and I'm loving the material he's getting. As you quite rightly mentioned, NDD, it's good to see Oates addressing some of the messier moments that Blackburn left us with- particularly that awful sham marriage plot with Pablo and Maria. She's now cleverly using that for Caz enacting her twisted revenge after Maria spurned her advances. Down the line I can also see her finding out about Maria's one night stand with Aidan and blackmailing her with that information.

Overall, it's still hit and miss at the moment. Thursday's episode was decent thanks to the delving into Todd's past and the emotional scenes of Ozzy passing away. Unfortunately, this was preceded by the absolute clanger that was Wednesday's offering with the Cathy and Alex nonsense, as well as Dev's brats selling flowers off graves. The flat scam plot continues to be one of the show's better storylines right now as it's beginning to involve a wider range of characters like Sarah, the Nazirs and next week even Rita. The climax for this one is crucial though, as it's been built up over a number of months now.

Oates has said in interviews that we will be seeing more twists and surprises in the show and I hope that she holds true to that as Corrie really lags behind the others when it comes to genuinely shocking and thrilling unspoiled twists. We have seen two unspoiled twists so far with Beth's bigamy and Alex's paternity, but the problem with both of these is that neither one has caused real shock waves through the street as thy only affect small groups of characters. We need shocks that plough through communities and affect the lives of many. C'mon Kate Oates, you did this on many occasions when you were at Emmerdale. Let's now see that on the cobbles!

I agree that Todd has been THE character of recent months, so complex, multi layered & well acted by Bruno Langley, a character who for anyone with imagination must be a dream to write for!!
I am of course enjoying the rebirth of Maria as a character, the Caz storyline is holding my interest now & putting her with an established (and in my opinion good though I'll probably be shot for saying so) actress has brought better performances from Rhea Bailey recently filling out Caz's character a little!! It's not just getting a big s/l though, it's
that, under Kate Oates, we have been reminded just how many characters Maria has emotional & historical connections with!! All good there!!
I like the way she is giving all the characters including the younger cast airtime even if some of the plots are a little contrived as with the twins, though to be fair it isn't beyond possibility they might turn out a bit messed up given all that's happened in their lives & I could kind of see where she was coming from with Dev being overprotective of them!
What I do think is that you have hit the nail on the head when you say it's all a bit hit & miss at the moment, like we are still in transition & this week has been a real case in point!! The Cathy stuff hasn't really held my interest at all, simply because I can't even begin to feel invested in Roy & Cathy as a couple!! I like the introduction of Alex & the connection Roy has developed with him but I think it was a aerious mistake of the Blackburn reign to have Roy become romantically involved again so soon, it's not Cathy herself that's the problem for me, I'd be quite happy to view them as friends but marriage, absolutely not!! I still live in hope kate sees this too & that the wedding never happens!! Tyrone can see it & so can 99% of Corrie viewers I reckon!!
I would wholeheartedly disagree with those detractors who say it's even worse than it was under Blackburn, it couldn't be, people have short memories, and, though there's still a long long way to go I am findong myself now looking forward to the next episode each time, a feeling I haven't had for posdibly 4 or 5 years now!!

I thought that Maria and David's conversation about Kylie's death and the possibility of Clayton getting off was a really nice touch. It was also well directed as we had them sitting in the chairs alongside one another and, as a result, the scene had a more engaging feel to it. They're two characters who've worked alongside one another for years, yet haven't ever really been that close. They now have a lot more in common in terms of their respective losses and it was good to see Maria referring to Tony and Liam.

Totally with you on the Roy and Cathy thing. I would rather not see them marry. Surely these scenes with Tyrone questioning Roy's feelings are leading to something else down the line?

I tend to agree with your thinking. I think there are long term structural issues that need to be dealt with, over and above the mere tri-annual change of producer.

I think there has been a general improvement over the last four or five months, but most of those storylines would have been under Blackburn's tenure.

But it's early days. I'm sure Adam and Peter Barlow coming back will help.

Beyond the usual calls for the need to address the worth of some long term peripheral characters (Chesney, anyone?), I think the factory is at a very low point at the moment. At least when Carla was here, she brought it out as a dynamic place of interest (even if it was dated and unrealistic during her entire tenure). Aiden, Kate and Johnny are all quite weak characters IMHO, and it seems stuck in a rut. Jenny Bradley has been wasted there so far.

I think Thursday and Friday were really good episodes and what I want to see more of, interesting storylines, instead of the Nazir rubbish and Roy and Cathy.

Oh dear, now it's nearly 60% of folk on here saying that they're not impressed with her work.

I genuinely think that there's a real opportunity to craft a Nazir reveal that's quite shocking and powerful, ie Sharif dying off-screen suddenly and the truth only coming to light afterwards. It'll also be crucial that there be some consequences for Alya after her blackmailing Sharif for her own gain. I honestly don't think that he's much loss to the show anywhere. He's always been the real weak link in the Nazirs for me anyway.

It looks like David, and his vendetta against Macca and Clayton, will be taking centre stage in upcoming episodes. Along with this, October will see Peter make his much anticipated return and the stunt stemming from David's pursuit of justice which, intriguingly, we know little about. Furthermore, this will lead to at least one death. We are also going to see Bethany's self esteem issues revisited as Gary and Sarah's chemistry is explored further, as well as more developments in the ongoing plot with Phelan and Todd. I'm actually looking forward to October on the cobbles.