DS Forums

 
 

Corrie: Will we ever get a storyline like Richard Hillman again?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 22-08-2007, 17:28
greysfan
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 672

In the new age of circular, samey, anticlimatic storylines on Coro Street, we would all like to know:

- Will we ever see storylines of the gravitas of the R. Hillman storyline again?

By this I mean. Exciting episodes which keep the viewers hooked for solid MONTHS like, to name but a few:

- Dougie being left for dead

- Richard starting the fire at Audrey's

- Richard burying a shovel in his wife's head

- Richard burying a crowbar in Emily and Maxine's heads

- Richard confessing to murder (who could forget 'Norman Bates with a briefcase' or Richard fleeing the house and Gail staggering to the phone in tears to ring her mum, the mum she refused to believe?)

- Richard's untimely death in a 4 part episode spread over the week. Remember Gail throwing the ring into the canal and walking away with Audrey? Brilliant.

The 'big' episodes are so dull now - I mean look at Paul Connor's death... that didn't feel like anything other than 'just another episode'. Same could be said for Fred's death.

Only ones this year I can think of are the Peacock fire and Tracyluv/Deirdre two-hander.

Who can forget the climatic trial verdict ... episode 2, first scene: Jerry Morton with a bacon butty.

Are the days of outstanding special episodes and storylines over?
greysfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 22-08-2007, 17:45
VoodooChic
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: I am MALE
Posts: 8,267
Well you have to think about real life - it is supposed to be a drama about a back street in the North.
VoodooChic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-08-2007, 18:02
kyri
Guest
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 27,629
The story was very unrealistic but it got away with it because Corrie needed spicing up. They tried the same with Mad Maya blowing up about 15 shops in one night but that just got really stupid.

I think it should be a while yet before another storyline like that is done. Also Paul's death wasn't as good because the characters were new - whereas with Richard it involved all The Platts and most of the street characters we all love.

kyri is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-08-2007, 18:13
greysfan
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 672
Well you have to think about real life - it is supposed to be a drama about a back street in the North.
Yeah, I forgot. That's why Sean and Violet, young and youthful, are having a baby and don't leave the confines of the Street.
greysfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-08-2007, 18:19
Agent F
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 37,641
Yeah, I forgot. That's why Sean and Violet, young and youthful, are having a baby and don't leave the confines of the Street.
I agree. Corrie is a drama - yes, it should still be bordered by limitations - but it's not as if the show reflects real day-to-day life. I think you can combine the two - you have to have dramatic plots but there also has to be room for those little scenes where two old friends could just be having a chat about nothing in the pub. It's when you start relying more on one than the other that you have a problem.

I think the Hillman story worked excellently. It was a very fine dramatic plot that was well planned and well written - a slow-burner that involved many of the characters. It didn't take over every single episode - there was room for other stories to grow. And even the story itself had its tongue firmly in its cheek at times - the thing about Corrie is the humour is wonderful and you could see that throughout the story. Lines like the Norman Bates one could be used and yet the drama remained - it never strayed into panto territory.
Agent F is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 02:46
elvis86
Banned User
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 1,421
The Richard Hillman storyline was absolutely fantastic IMO!
They just got it exactly right, the build up and the adverts and everything were amazing! The reveal episode was absolutely brilliant, I had goosebumps and still did when I watched it on Youtube a couple of weeks ago!

But as people have said, there needs to be a good gap between these kind of plots. The Killer Katy storyline was just too soon after Hillman, and unneccesary in my opinion. It didn't really build up, and the motive wasn't developed whereas Hillman's motives were played out over months/years.

I thought the Maya episodes were great, the only thing that tarnished them was the later revealation about Dev's children. It made you think back to the Maya stuff and question the credibility as Dev showed little concern for his kids as their homes were torched!

The Tracey/Charlie plot I'm still undecided on. The characters certainly deserved a big exit, and it was really brave to send Tracey down for life considering she's such a huge character having been born on the show. But the credibility was questionable, that Tracey would risk jail and seperation from her daughter by murdering Charlie, and that during the months she was planning it she never wavered. It would have been more realistic had she not planned it IMO.
elvis86 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:27
Keewee6
Banned User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,596
i think it was a one off i dont think it would work again - certainly not a serial killer they tried things like "killer katy" and "mad maya" both were shite it is the same with david now
Keewee6 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:38
Squealer_Mahony
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,286
I think the Richard Hillman storyline was the best ever.
The way it built up slowly and then the climax.
And the way it involved so many characters not just the Platts.
We had the Duckworths losing all their money (Remember that scene where David pleaded with Vera to forgive what happened!), Maxine being killed, Emily being attacked, Aiden being framed, Ken trying to prove him innocent, Audrey being shunned for her accustations etc.

It was brilliant.
Squealer_Mahony is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:43
Squealer_Mahony
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,286

I thought the Maya episodes were great, the only thing that tarnished them was the later revealation about Dev's children. It made you think back to the Maya stuff and question the credibility as Dev showed little concern for his kids as their homes were torched!
I agree.
I think they ruined everything with Dev's kids, it made a mockery of everything Dev and Sunita went through with Maya.
Squealer_Mahony is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:47
Loz_Fraggle
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,869
I think the Richard Hillman storyline was the best ever.
The way it built up slowly and then the climax.
And the way it involved so many characters not just the Platts.
We had the Duckworths losing all their money (Remember that scene where David pleaded with Vera to forgive what happened!), Maxine being killed, Emily being attacked, Aiden being framed, Ken trying to prove him innocent, Audrey being shunned for her accustations etc.

It was brilliant.
I agree, it was brilliant, I don't normally watch Corrie but did for that storyline. It was really well written, the Norman Bates line, and when Richard found out he didn't need to kill Maxine well his intention to kill Emily led to her death, and he didn't need to do that because one of this clients had died of natural causes previously to the murder of Maxine and therefore he'd inherited the woman's house. When he went out to the yard and sobbed, it was great.
Loz_Fraggle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:49
Loz_Fraggle
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,869
I agree.
I think they ruined everything with Dev's kids, it made a mockery of everything Dev and Sunita went through with Maya.
The revelations about Dev's kids ruined it for me, like we were supposed to believe that ? It was an awful storyline.
Loz_Fraggle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:50
Squealer_Mahony
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,286
I agree, it was brilliant, I don't normally watch Corrie but did for that storyline. It was really well written, the Norman Bates line, and when Richard found out he didn't need to kill Maxine well his intention to kill Emily led to her death, and he didn't need to do that because one of this clients had died of natural causes previously to the murder of Maxine and therefore he'd inherited the woman's house. When he went out to the yard and sobbed, it was great.
It really was something special.
If they were gonna try something like that again they'd have to build it slow with a few small incidents and keep the storyline top secret.
Squealer_Mahony is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:53
Squealer_Mahony
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,286
The revelations about Dev's kids ruined it for me, like we were supposed to believe that ? It was an awful storyline.
Yeah, I liked Dev and Sunita as a couple and they went through all that just have it ruined by a last minute storyline that was totally out of character for Dev.
It didn't make any sense that Sunita would be oblivious to all this seeing as she WAS one of the "shop girls" and her and Dev were good friends for so long.
I could nearly accept it if it was just Amber but that he had a whole heap of kids was just ridiculous.
Squealer_Mahony is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:57
nick202
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,431
The Richard Hillman storyline was great - it really put Corrie back on top after a few years of languishing in the ratings doldrums. It was a real slow burner, and planned brilliantly. However, its the kind of story you could only do once every 15 years or so, a bit like the Alan Bradley story.
nick202 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 09:57
pablopicasso
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Not where I was before.
Posts: 31,647
Yeah you cannot keep stuff like that secret, there would have been a whole "You have to watch that Dev, he has fathered kids in every shop" thing going round, no matter how hard he tried to stop it. People gossip and co-workers are among the worst for gossiping. It was unrealistic that Sunita wouldn't know about it. It was a poor way to lead to her exit. It was a shame the writers thought it was a credible story.
pablopicasso is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 10:01
Loz_Fraggle
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,869
Yeah, I liked Dev and Sunita as a couple and they went through all that just have it ruined by a last minute storyline that was totally out of character for Dev.
It didn't make any sense that Sunita would be oblivious to all this seeing as she WAS one of the "shop girls" and her and Dev were good friends for so long.
I could nearly accept it if it was just Amber but that he had a whole heap of kids was just ridiculous.
It was a terrible storyline, I'm sure they could have thought of a better exit storyline for Sunita than that, I know Bob in Emmerdale has a lot of kids but that's always been refered to, whereas in CS, just dropping this bombshell about Dev was just awful.
Loz_Fraggle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 10:04
Surfing King
Banned User
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 84
the Richard Hillman Story was absolutely fantatstic but since then Corrie havn't come anything near to that gripping drama.
Surfing King is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 10:55
Coffee Girl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 562
The Richard Hillman storyline was amazing. I don't watch Corrie anymore, but I did back when and I was blown away. It did have a panto feel to it but it worked, somehow. The acting and the writing was great and it was just a really nice, entertaining bit of telly for a while. I loved it.
Coffee Girl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 13:40
Ooh Matron
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Grace Bros
Posts: 696
I agree that the Richard Hillman story was great but no bigger or better than the Rita/Alan Bradley story in the late 80's and the Deirdre/Jon Lindsay story in the late 90's. I've come to the conclusion that these huge stories which really grip the nation only come round once every 10 years. Having said that I really enjoyed the Charlie/Tracy stuff.
Ooh Matron is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 14:14
Kevnaldo
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Big Brother House
Posts: 3,434
Richard Hillman has been the Storyline of my life of watching Coronation Street.

I was actually sweating throughout the episodes!

No-one can top him in my opinion.
Kevnaldo is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 13:52.