I'm really enjoying it.

The turn around of some characters has been really good, and the show hasn't forgotten to still have big storylines going on through the transition period.

We could be in for a huge turn around in the aftermath of October week.

Fab ideas as ever. *claps enthusiastically*

I love all your ideas, wish you worked on the show!

How is that even worthy or praise? We already knew she had previously lived in Milan. The whole thing with her getting shares is just a massive plot contrivance for Phelan to scam her with his dodgy flats. Of course, if Blackburn's name was still on the credits that would have been pointed out.

As for the Pablo thing, another plot device just to get the dreary one out of the way so the dullard Caz can scheme and use her card to steal. Nothing more. nothing less. I don't think many gave a toss about the godawful sham marriage plot.

I think it is worthy of some praise, as she's taking plot points from Blackburn and using them to help advance her own stories. It is realistic that the sham marriage come back to raise its head again.

That's plagiarism, but originality was never her strong point.

Whether you or anyone else 'gives a toss about it' is completely irrelevant, it happened whether any of us liked it or not & for it just to never have been mentioned again would have been ridiculous so I do congratulate Ms Oates for tying it up with Maria's new story & hopefully bringing satisfactory closure on it!! For far too long now this show has been airing 'big headline' plots which prove to be five minute wonders with no consequences arising from them!!

It's a similar situation with the Sarah thing in reverse, ie Kate is now filling in a small amount of backstory of Sarah's life in Milan, very small I know but we now at least know that Stephen gave her shares for Christmas & birthdays & it ties in neatly with how she can suddenly lay her hands on £15K!!
We probably wouldn't have been afforded that luxury under the Blackburn regime!!

Blackburn was hardly master of originality himself. Some of his ideas weren't bad, but the executation was an entirely different matter. I would have loved to see what Kate Oates would have done with Steph's revenge porn storyline. That had so much potential but it just became another of Blackburn's issue-of-the-week plots. There next to no aftermath and Steph just carried on as normal.

I went for so-so given up and coming stories. However, I would of preferred an option of "reserve judgement" as I think I need until the New Year to make up my mind as only now are her stories really starting to take hold. By New Year some will of played out and on screen will be all her work.

Saying all that, I found her Emmerdale work very hit and miss and I have a feeling Corrie is going down the same route. Its saving grace for me is that I like all but 5 of the characters. I hope she doean't ruin the characters like she did at Emmerdale?

So far, I've been impressed with how well she's utilising her cast. The balance of storylines and the amount of screen time everyone is getting has impressed me so far. I do agree that I think it's only now that we're really beginning to see her stories taking root. I really hope that she gets Toyah and Peter's returns right. Both are played by excellent actors with a rich history on the show and deserve to have that reflected in some meaty storylines. I reckon there's no way that Georgia Taylor would have returned, after all this time away, if she didn't feel that her comeback material was up to scratch. She has experienced a respectable amount of success away from the show and wouldn't be returning if she wasn't getting decent storylines.

I don't know if this is all on Kate, but it's good to see the upcoming stunt is kept under wraps. Apparently it happens this month, but not much has been revealed.

There will be a Press day beforehand for both ITV soaps.

I have to say I have very mixed feelings about Todd's monologue. It felt like Kate Oates repeating the trick she pulled with Aaron: "Hey, everyone will suddenly like that character if I give him a traumatic back story that hasn't even been hinted at before." Didn't entirely work this time either, although I accept she's having to work with what she's given with the transformation of Phelan into some sort of Villain Sue. Similar thing with Maria's sham marriage I guess but yes, she's taking something silly and disposable and doing something with it. I will say I'm not 100% against Roy and Cathy getting married, but it needs to be dealt with properly. Roy's doubts and Cathy's petulant streak didn't help at all. It might be that Oates is working towards having them be just friends, but it smacks a bit of Oates' treatment of Maurel, when she seemed to take over, realise everyone hated them and have them get married anyway after a few transparent attempts to make us like them (such as Ashley giving them his blessing), only to finally be forced to conclude that yes, everyone did actually hate them.

While Sarah blathering about Uncle Stephen didn't do much for me, I think Oates is doing a good job with the character and her family in general. Bethany's bullying storyline has been going around in circles for months and the Windasses have cemented themselves as the most detached family on the show. So Oates seems to have hit gold by finally ditching two-dimensional Lauren, moving the focus onto Bethany and her relationship with Sarah, and involving Gary. I also think she is starting to do what people claimed and move underused characters into the spotlight: The Nazir stuff has failed because it's just made all the characters who are in the focus unlikable, but I'm impressed with the attempt to make Andy more than just the fit barman who was brought in as a gimmick character and lost his gimmick. Making him an amateur writer and horror fan isn't going to set the world alight but at least he has some character traits.

Enough with trying to make Maria and Aidan out to be soul mates though. She's got more chemistry with Caz.

I think it airs the week beginning the 17th. Let's hope that Oates gives us enough information to draw us in, but also leaves us guessing as to other crucial aspects. It was ridiculous how much was revealed ahead of transmission when Blackburn was at the helm, down to lines of dialogue delivered by the characters. The show needs to move with the times, and part of that means not spoiling every aspect of what's to come.

And we'll probably see a trailer the week before!

Probably. The Press day is a week before.

So we can expect the press day on Monday, the 10th then by the sounds of things.

Both Corrie and Emmerdale. In Manchester and Leeds with transport between.
Yes it sounds crazy to me too.

Yes, I'm glad the stunt is being kept under wraps. And I hope we are in for some shocks during this big week. t would be nice to see some blockbuster storylines from Emmerdale & Corrie during this week, both helping each other push up the ratings.

I also hope this upcoming week will be a turning point. I think when a new producer comes in, they need a big event to re-envigorate the soap. It gives them an oppertunity to create their own dramas.

More screen time for Jenny is a must. Hope they realise her potential.

I worry we'll have a Leanne-Peter-Nick love triangle........ she was perfectly suited to Peter, that was until Carla got her claws into him.

Collinson did oversee an awful one ep return for Todd in 2011.

Seeing as two of the worst characters in soap history in (even after Sean) Caz and Alex have been the main storylines, it's been an abomination.

I think Kate Oates has been doing a good job so far.

Like most have said Todd has been great sine she took over and I thought the breakup scene with Billy was amazing.David's slow burn revenge story has been good and Gail has grown a backbone instead of being a comedy character...On Friday she ordered David to get some counseling...that is not the same Gail that had peanuts thrown at her. While I see problems with the Roy/Cathy pairing I think Kate is addressing that, you had Tyrone telling Roy that maybe him and Fiz shouldn't have pushed them together and it looked like Roy was having some doubts about the relationship himself.

The only real weak spot for me is the over use of Maria. The woman is on the show now 24/7, she is every one's friend and confidant.

Agreed about Maria, nice to look at but terrible, especially whining and poor attempts crying, seems like every episode.

These are (mostly) my thoughts too. I thoroughly loved all her work at Emmerdale however. So while Im still finding Corrie boring-ish at the minute, Im giving it more time to fully see things start to get more interesting as a viewer, Im sure there were a lot of longer term storylines already preplanned out and it is hard to scrap or change them while you're also working further along on the bulk of what needs to be done to keep on schedule. But Im so bored by anything Roy/Cathy/Alex do. Im not a huge fan of Phelan or any of that, but it is building a little bit of momentum now. Im not excited that Alya is back and looking to get more screen time. Some of the promising things I am hopeful about...Leanne/Michelle/Steve. Sarah and Gary. Returns of Peter, Toyah, Baldwin boys.

That really was a terrible episode. It set a record in terms of the amount of former characters we had making comebacks- Todd, Marcus, Jamie and Violet all put in appearances- but it was woeful. Violet was a horrible old cow and Todd had that idiot Jools on his arm, who kept calling him "Toddly".