Coronation Street icon Bill Roache has admitted he understands why viewers are turning off the soap.
Playing the role of Ken Barlow, Roache, 91, has been a part of the show since its very inception back in 1960. Since then, he has been a permanent feature during the show’s history through the decades, dealing with affairs, family feuds and tragic loss to name just a few of the storylines he has been involved in.
But as the show has progressed, many hardcore viewers and critics of the ITV soap titan alike have pointed out similar problems with the show that could be responsible for a gradual drop in viewership. Many cited the lack of character-driven scenes to be an issue as the show focuses on more dramatic plot lines, while others said the lack of humour puts them off watching.
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Now, Bill has opened up on what the critics have made of the show in recent months and said that he empathised with those who have been left frustrated. Speaking on a Cameo to a fan who used to watch the soap but no longer does anymore, he gave a rousing speech to get them back on the box.
(Image: ITV)
In a video message to the fan on their birthday, he wished them felicitations for the happy occasion. He then read that the person did not watch the show anymore, to which he replied: “Well that’s up to you, isn’t it. A show like Coronation Street is so well-established and it has its phases.
“Sometimes there is a lot of serious stuff, and things like that but Coronation Street really is known for its humour and there’ll be periods – quite long periods – where it will be on the drama side but it changes. It goes through phases like that and I understand a lot of people stop watching Coronation Street.”
He added that bosses at the channel need to find a balance to attract as many viewers as possible. He explained: “The difficulty the producers have is you’ve got an older generation that’s getting older, there’s a younger generation that’s coming in and you’ve got to keep appealing to the younger generation and that isn’t easy.”
Roache also quipped that had the show not adapted with the times, it would have been taken off the airwaves a long time ago. “It has to be an organic process, a living thing of drawing in the youngsters,” he said.
Bill, who is currently trying to pay back a whopping £500k unpaid tax bill, is not the only cast member to have doubts about the producers’ new strategy. Iconic actress Maureen Lipman, who plays Evelyn Plummer on the soap said that the show needs to go back to basics and stop with the sensationalism.
“We’ve come to a point in Corrie now where people are getting murdered in knicker factories,” she explained. “We’re having domestic abuse; anything that ticks the box of social problems in the 21st century is going to be in your local soap.”
(Image: WireImage)
Maureen added: “Whereas back then you had the freedom to put Martha, Minnie and Ena in the snug and have a conversation about Ben-Hur. It’s never been political but I always like it when the women sit down and go, ‘Ooh, Donald Trump, ain’t his hair shocking.’
“All those wonderful expressions that your parents come out with, like my mother saying, ‘Ooh, doesn’t a black skirt cover a multitude of sins.’ People talk like that, and we recognise it as true.”
Corrie is starting to fall behind the times, as it fell out of the top ten most viewed TV shows on Christmas Day. In total, 2.6 million people had sat down to watch the show according to figures, but the numbers are down on last year’s total of 2.8 million.
Coronation Street airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
