A promotional photograph from the UK soap Coronation Street featuring Tina the barmaid, who is soon to meet a sticky end.
The soap opera Coronation Street is billed as “the story of working people and the city street in which they live.”
A promotional photograph from the UK soap Coronation Street featuring Tina the barmaid, who is soon to meet a sticky end.
Working they may be, but ordinary they ain’t. The past year has seen three of the soap’s cast members stand trial for sexual offences, two of them for rape. First, the transient Andrew Lancel stood trial for homosexual offences. Then the time-serving Michael Le Vell was tried for extremely serious offences. Finally, William Roache was also tried for sex offences, including rape. All three were acquitted, and many jurists would argue that none of them should have been brought to trial, particularly Mr Roache, who was accused of offences dating back to the 1960s.
William Roache, who plays the Street’s philosopher Ken Barlow, is also the longest-serving soap opera actor in the world, having appeared in the very first episode on December 9, 1960. Both he and Mr Le Vell are set to return to the programme soon.
The series has also seen more than its fair share of sexual shenanigans on screen, including consensual but illicit sex. On the non-consensual side, Andrew Lancel also played a rapist – who was acquitted. The woman he raped was Carla Connor, a headstrong businesswoman who may be one of life’s winners when it comes to business, but in her personal life she attracts “wrong ’uns” like a flame attracts moths. And like those delicate creatures, Carla gets burned.
Having been married and widowed twice – the second time to a psycho – she has now hitched up with a bloke who has been married more times than her, and who can’t keep it inside his trousers, so much so that he beds Tina, the barmaid of the local watering hole on their wedding night while recovering alcoholic Carla is sleeping off one drink too many.
Having tried to dismiss it as a one-off, he has now decided he wants to live dangerously, while for some strange reason Tina has become besotted with this multiple times married (once bigamously) penniless former bookmaker who shares his new wife’s weakness for drink. Carla deserved better, and Tina? Well, she certainly didn’t deserve to be murdered, but that is what is shortly to happen.
The murder plot was revealed by Digital Spy last year, and the multiple endings were mooted earlier this month. They will be filmed presumably in order to scupper any dodgy dealings with William Hill, or more likely some Far East betting syndicate, but let’s not talk about Stephen Lee.
Alternative endings to soaps are not a new thing. To check out what might have been, visit YouTube and in the search box type in EastEnders (or the soap of your choice) followed by the words alternative endings.
[The above article was first published February 18, 2014.]
Back To AllVoices Index