Tonight's double bill- in particular the second episode- was brilliant and the strongest episodes we've had since Kylie's murder IMO. Of course it helped that the focus was on the show's two strongest families, but aside from that it had the feeling of a special week of episodes with some excellent writing and astounding excellent performances from Jack P Shepherd, Ben Price (who I normally don't rate too highly), Tina O' Brien and the much missed Chris Gascoyne.

The writing tonight really was character-driven. From David's attempts to justify his disturbing plan to his shocked family members to Peter and Ken's argument about their many misdemeanours, it really did feel like a different league tonight. Aside from the kitchen sink moments, we also had some suitably catty and acerbic one liners delivered quite entertainingly by Kate Ford. It was also refreshing to see her be genuinely thankful to Mary for her advice on Ken and a welcome reminder that Tracy can be human, albeit once every four years.

The pace and feel of the episodes felt more natural and I loved the fact that we got to see Steve and Michelle closing up the pub and Ken awaiting his taxi to the airport at 2am. It's small but crucial touches like this that made all the difference. It's all too common now that we have entire episodes set entirely in daylight and sometimes it just jars, particularly if we see characters having a drink after work or getting ready for bed.

Agree with all of this - when was the last time we saw them close the pub up? Nice human touches bring a sense of realism.

Loving all the night scenes. Second episode was so good tonight.

When did Kate Oates' storylines first start being broadcast? When she started, she was finishing up Stuart Blackburn's ideas, but when did all that finish before her own work started?

Someone on this thread has said that this is really the seat of her storylines. She's been credited now since August 15th, but I guess she's had to wrap up loose ends from Blackburn over the past number of weeks. I was under the impression, however, that the likes of Beth's bigamy and Sharif's infedelity were amongst the first of her storylines.

I also think all the Maria/Caz stuff is down to her too as shortly after Samia returned in Apri
She said that she'd had a meeting with Kate & that she had lots of interesting ideas for her character & she was looking forward to the challenge after a couple of very quiet years!!

Yeah, you're right, NDD. The Caz and Maria stuff must be down to Oates as well. Despite finding Rhea Bailey a weak actress, I'm still intrigued to know where this one is going. It's been teased that it's to become quite dark...

I also forgot to mention the surprise twist with Ken having the stroke. Only for Helen Worth bloody spoiling it on This Morning (Kate Oates must have been seething), I would have genuinely been shocked. As I've said before, Oates' previous twists (Beth's bigamy and Alex's real father being Alan) fell flat largely because their effects weren't far-reaching or seismic enough to truly shake up a lot of characters' lives. This twist, however, involves the show's longest serving character in one of the show's most prominent families and looks to be the catalyst for the returns of Adam Baldwin and Daniel Osborne- two characters with a rich history on the show. Not only that, but this has the potential to be quite a long-running arc as we see Ken struggle with the debilitating nature of his condition. It'll also spark conflict between Peter and his family members as they'll undoubtedly blame him for what has happened.

I'm enjoying Corrie more than I have done in ages. The writing seems better and scenes don't seem pointless but actually contribute to the storylines, or they are just about everyday situations, but have engaging dialogue.

Interesting that you mentioned quality of dialogue. I found the quality of the writing of quite a high standard on Monday night. The conversations between the Platt siblings were truly heartfelt, character-driven and contained reference to the past. It was never more appropriate for David to mention Brian Tilsley's killer Darren Whately and Nick using Leanne to get to him when he was released from prison in 1998. Having more long-standing characters than others was a clear advantage to Corrie in this instance and I'm glad that they saw the opportunity to refer to past events in a truthful and realistic way.

I really do think that ITV did Corrie no favours by putting it up Emmerdale's epic car pile up this week. It's obvious that the latter had a much bigger budget at their disposal and had an event week that was on a par with Corrie's tram crash. Whilst I found aspects of David crashing the car laughable- what was with the dodgy editing and slo-mo as the car flipped- I enjoyed the week on a whole:
Positives:
- The conversations between David, Gail, Sarah and Nick as he was locked in the cellar. The dialogue was rich, heartfelt and drew upon the family's history.
- Peter's return and his argument with Ken prior to the genuinely shocking moment when he suffered the stroke. The writing here again drew on years of tension and animosity between father and son.
- Tracy showing her more humane side at various points this week. I loved her showing genuine appreciation to Mary when advising her about Ken and his trip, showing remorse about how unnecessarily cruel she had been to Ken and her concern and worry for Ken's welfare following the stroke. The writing for the character was much more believable this week.
- Time frames: far too often Corrie episodes can feel staid, pedestrian and lacking in ambition when it comes to reflecting the passing of time in in a realistic manner. This week, however, we had evening scenes, later night scenes and early morning scenes. The pacing was much tighter and it all felt a lot more cohesive. Even the minor touches of Steve and Michelle closing the pub felt more true to life. More of this, please!
- Unspoiled twists: we had two major ones this week with Ken suffering the stroke and the genuinely shocking moment where Anna suffered severe burns to her legs following the car explosion. Both of these will have major repercussions for the characters and their families involved, provided provided that provided that the writers do it justice.*
- Eva supporting Gemma as she testified in court. Eva has come perilously close to being a tiresome self-obessed diva with her unconvincing pairing with Aidan of late, but we had a welcome reminder of how warm-hearted she can be when she reassured Gemma as she gave evidence. Is this the start of an unlikely but engaging friendship?
- Community feel to the stunt scenes. What was wonderful about the tram crash was how involved the entire cast were and how they rallied around one another in times of need. Albeit on a smaller scale, we saw evidence of this on Friday night with Kevin, Tyrone, Robert, Nick, David, Luke, Caz, Anna, Sally, Sarah and Tim all rallying round to help save Gary and Lily. We also had Robert tend to a shaken Michelle and Beth helping out with the clean-up at the pub.

Sorry, I forgot to post a few of the quibbles I had with this week's episodes:

- The stunt itself, namely the slo-mo of David inside the car as it flipped. This really did not work and actually looks laughable on screen, to the extent that I thought my Sky box was freezing on me. I really am surprised that the powers that be looked at that footage in editing and thought that it was decent enough to broadcast.
- Lily, David and Gary- in particular- leaving the smash unscathed with no major injuries. It really was ridiculous seeing Gary up and about, running down the hospital corridor as Anna was taken in.
- Sally asking Gary if he could wiggle his fingers and toes. It was meant to be humorous, but fell flat as the situation really did not require any humour.
- This one is pedantic, but how did the Platts have phone signal when they were down at the cellar? I guess we just have to suspend our disbelief with that one!

I think they reason they did the weird thing with the missing frames is because it wasn't actually filmed in slow mo, it was David acting in slow mo, while the car was span around on the ground, makes more sense when you think of it like that, it would have been harder and more expensive to have Jack P. Shepherd in the car screaming as it span around on the ground at full speed.

I've more or less given up on Corrie now but if there's been a pregnancy outbreak or people have suddenly realised they're gay then that's her work. Also past characters returning but being almost unrecognisable.

You should definitely give the show another shot, albiex. Yes, there are two pregnancies at the moment, but we haven't had any characters suddenly realising that they're gay yet. The only return we've had under Oates is Peter's and it's been great so far. As long we don't see him revert back to booze or get involved in another love triangle with Nick and Leanne, everything will be fine.

Peter is certainly NO incentive to watch Definitely to stay away.

Interesting that you feel that way about the character. For me, Chris Gascoyne is the strongest actor on the show, along with Bruno Langley and Jack P Shepherd. Peter was ruined as a character when they had him start that Godawful affair with Tina, but I have faith in Oates using the character effectively with Ken's stroke, Peter's secret about why he's back and the rebuilding of the Barlow family unit with Daniel and Adam both returning in early November.

Reading Kate Oates' interviews, it seems like she hates Peter as a fictional person, so I’m not expecting any great redemption. More likely, she’ll take him even further down the route of being the black sheep of the family and scenes like Tracy hypocritically berating him and him being treated like he’s somehow not fit to lick the boots of Saint Nick (the guy who covers up his brother causing a serious accident) will be the norm. I can’t say her comments about turning Adam and Daniel into their fathers are particularly promising either.

Three reasons to stop me watching much nowadays, . I don't think any of the three are actors, particularly Jack Shepherd.
Kate Oates is a waste of time. I gave her three years (give or take) on Emmerdale and she made it almost unwatchable. She trashed characters and tried to rewrite the history. She'll do the same to Corrie

Interesting!! I mean I'm not arguing with you on this as I don't watch Emmerdale but your point about her rewriting history, so far that has been one of the things I have loved about her tenure, her constant references to past characters & drawing on the rich historyof the show's current characters to make them more warm & real than the sterile shells under the Blackburn regime!! To me his time on the show 'trashed' characters by either vastly overusing them, ignoring them completely or trying to change them to suit whatever storyline he was running at the time!

I think its improved slowly

The 'stunt' week was awful and contrived and full of holes.

As much as I like Peter, the secret will no doubt involve him having it off with another man's woman.

Yes, Tracy who is a completely selfish person, treats Ken like shit, yet at times we are meant to buy into the fact she truly 'cares' for Ken. Peter has his problems, but is nowhere near as vile as her.

Tracy's actions being overlooked is becoming ridiculous.

Lets face it, given his past, you can forgive Kate Oates for pointing out just how unlikeable Peter is.

True, he is nowhere NEAR as vile as his sister, but if you lived in the street and knew how badly he treated Leanne and his own son, you probably wouldn't very much like him either.

He's incredibly self centred, weak and actually quite childish. I loved how he turned on Ken and reminded him of his misgivings as soon as Ken wasn't playing to the tune Peter wanted him to. It's as though he's been forgiven so many times that he now sees it as his RIGHT to act deplorably and just get away with it.

Love the character though, and he is incredibly important to the Barlows so I do hope that Oates does invest more into him.

The stunt was underwhelming, but it's nice that Gail has that bit between her teeth and isn't a simpering mess.

Welcome return for Jenny, she has her feet firmly under the table.

I'll admit it's better then is was a few months ago but it's still not brilliant. I think they need a fresh cast. Obviously they won't as they are long running characters and the old people love them. I honestly think some cast let it down though. Some really can't act. It's a shame as there are some brilliant actors on the show but the ones that are poor ruin it for the good ones.