Craig! Corrie! Tonight! News Posted by John Hoare on 19th June 2005, 23:29 Your last reminder then, that Craig Charles’s first appearance in Coronation Street is tonight @ 7:30pm on the FUCKING ADULT CHANNEL, or something. There’s also another ep on at 8:30pm. Nice to see that ITV are so full of ideas of what to put in their schedules, isn’t it? (Snip big rant about how shit ITV has become and how good it used to be.) Come on, ITV, take some inspiration from Who and do a primetime SF show or something… If you want, there’s a still of Craig in the ep here. But far more interesting is the lovely picture I’ve got up here – it’s from week commencing 23 April 1961. I got it from the gorgeous site Vintage Times, which is well worth spending an afternoon on.
> I’m lost. When was ITV anything other than a pile of shite? The Avengers Blockbusters Bullseye (it’s great, non-ironically, now piss off) Count Duckula Dangermouse Knightmare London’s Burning The Prisoner Rising Damp Sapphire and Steel SM:TV Spitting Image The Sweeney Thunderbirds Tiswas Woof! World In Action I could go on and on and on. And there’s so many more programmes that I’m sure are great but never watched – Survival, or early eps of The Bill. ITV used to be brilliant. It’s easy to forget with the shit they’ve got on now, though. (Not that I’m saying there wasn’t ever a lot of shit on ITV, but then the same applies to the BBC, or any other broadcaster.) Hopefully the 50th celebrations in September will at least be a decent tribute. To say nothing of the *gorgeous* presentation the individual franchises used to do, instead of the utter shit they’ve got now. And ITN, which used to be wonderful, instead of the poor shadow of its former self it is today. It really saddens me, the way ITV is now. Sure, there’s the odd very good thing (TV Burp, B&S Unplanned, etc) – but in general, awful. Wah.
Okay, I’ll let you off. While I don’t agree with all your choices and would state that BBC and Channel 4 would produce much more lengthy lists, I have to accept that quite a lot of those progs were pretty great. A reliance on quiz shows (where was The Krypton Factor in that list?) and kid shows, maybe…but ITV (in its various forms )have obviously broadcast and, occasionally, made some seminal stuff. Didn’t realise that The Prisoner was ITV which was part of my downfall. Whoops.
I’d like to add some ITV dramas to that list – particularly Jimmy McGovern’s Cracker and Hillsborough.
Reading back the list, it says as much about me as it does about ITV… I’m absolutely *terrible* at watching drama series on TV if they’re not genre. I have no idea why. I suppose it’s as much habit as anything else.
“I’m absolutely *terrible* at watching drama series on TV if they’re not genre” Maybe because they’re all the same, and usually shit. Just how many dramas is it possible for ITV (and the BBC) to make with exactly the same formula?? Oh yeah, saw Craig on Coronation Street. It seems he’s playing a sort of ‘cheeky chappy’ (*vomits*) character who’s a cab driver. At least he isn’t trying to be a hardman gangster or anything. Though technically he shouldn’t be on Corrie, he shouldn’t even be on this planet. I though he was meant to be 3 million years from Earth on a giant pencil, with only his dead bunkmate, a creature that evolved from his cat, a fussy mechanoid and a senile computer to keep him company? Oh, I see, right…I’m getting the two characters mixed up…duh. Oh yeah, his character in Corrie is called Lloyd, which I find funny but I’m not sure why. I’m thinking of Rimmer saying ‘Ooooh Lloydy.’
Yes, great cover although I thought Pat Phoenix was dead, but It’s nice to see Craig smiling despite being forced to wear a hair net… Crossroads, now that was drama…
