Return to Corrie

(This post contains non-UK spoilers!)

One of the best things about Coronation Street is that it's been around so long and there is so much history to draw on. I love it when bits from the past are put into the dialogue. Not just the character's own past either, though that's really nice when something that happened long ago is referred to in passing. These things aren't elaborated on, just referred to and long time viewers will remember the situation or incident. Sometimes past characters are mentioned such as a reference to the old battleaxe that used to live round here, Ena Sharples, or when Vera and Jack bought the pub, she wondered how Annie Walker ever managed to keep up the pace in her advancing years. Annie Walker hadn't been in Weatherfield for over 10 years at that point. Rita often goes to visit Mavis in the Lakes or mentions she's spoken to her on the phone.

Sometimes, former characters are brought back on the canvas for short term stories. Bet Lynch has been back twice and though I don't think Bet would work if she was back full time, it *was* great to see her involved in a short visit. Ray Langton came back to mend fences and provide closure for Deirdre and Tracy before he died, at Deirdre and Ken's wedding reception. Eileen fell in love with a man she met through Emily who had met him at church. Turns out he was the man who accidentally shot Ernest Bishop.
(It did irritate me when Emily went on and on about Ernie being murdered as if it was cold blood when, if you'd seen the scene originally or in various compilations over the years, it was clearly an accident when Mike Baldwin entered and bumped into the gunman and caused the gun to go off. Ok, he shouldn't have had the gun in the first place but the shooting wasn't intentional. But i digress...)

Now we're seeing a blast from Ken's past just at the time when Ken and Deirdre's marraige is hitting a patch of road rougher than the high seas in a hurricane. Denise Osborne is back for a short term storyline and with her, is her son by Ken, Daniel. We remember when Ken struggled to try to look after the baby when Denise left and later just found it too difficult to travel to Scotland to see the lad. He stepped back out of Daniel's life and the longer he was away, the harder it was to reconnect even when he knew that they had moved back to the area. The upset in the aftermath of Tracy's trial and conviction and Deirdre's reaction has him reaching out to get to know the child he left behind. I'm going to enjoy Denise's return because I always liked her character. She was meant to be the "new Elsie Tanner" back then, and it could have succeeded i think, but they seemed to button hole her when they put her together with Ken.

It wasn't planned, Anne Kirkbride was ill so they had to scramble to do something else as they were planning to get Ken and Deirdre back together at that time. I don't think Ken and Denise were all that believeable. It wasn't the age difference, it was the difference in personalities. Ken always preferred subservient women or women who had a vulnerability or women who would not have the gumption to stand up to him or put him in his place. They could be career women as long as they weren't all that independent and the ones that were, didn't last too long. Denise just seemed too feisty for Ken. It didn't seem like they would have had anything in common to even start the relationship but in the end, that lack of commonality did split them apart, even if the man she left him for *was* an accountant (and her brother-in-law!)

Anyway, I think that's another one of Corrie's strengths, drawing on the history and bringing back characters for short term visits. Sometimes even longer more permanent returns are good, like Liz McDonald's most recent return. Now that's she's the Rovers' Landlady, I think we'll see her around for awhile. Now if we can just get Jimbo back to stir up a little trouble....