Review of Coronation Street 2004

Introduction

I hate soaps. There`s a good start to a review of a soap DVD. I`m very aware that I`m kind of living in the middle of a soap culture to a large degree. Every channel has its own flagship soap, whether it`s Corrie, Eastenders, Emmerdale, Holly Oaks or the sadly (hehehe) recently cancelled Family Affairs.

My biggest complaint though is the amount of media coverage that the soaps all get. You cannot browse a single magazine rack in any newsagents without seeing at least three magazines giving away all the upcoming storylines. Why? Maybe soap fans are a different breed, but I want to be surprised watching a film or TV programme. I don`t want to have to read all the storylines that week so that I know what`s coming up. As an example, I caught a glimpse in one magazine about a death coming to one of the characters in CSI:Miami this week. The TV mag didn`t say who, thank god, so I spent the first twenty minutes working out who it was going to be. It was quite obvious from the way the script was written as it was pretty much telegraphed, but in the end I`d have preferred not to have known at all so that I could then have reflected on what I`d seen and heard once it was done and dusted. How can soap fans cope with knowing exactly what`s going to happen?

I can also remember a time when all soaps only transmitted on a single night per week. Now most seem to have an episode on every other night plus an omnibus edition on a Sunday to allow people to catch up if they missed anything. Why? Why so much? Do we really need so much froth on our TV sets? Sadly it looks as if we do based on the ratings. Shame we can`t fund a three day a week sci-fi series, but then the quality would invariably suffer which is clearly an issue with the soaps who have to pack in so many characters and storylines in order to keep going.

OK, anyway, here`s a 2004 review of the major storylines in Coronation Street. Some of the highlights include: Steve and Karen`s wedding, Tracy Barlow`s pregnancy and the repercussions, Sarah and Todd`s relationship, the Sunita/Dev/Maya love triangle, the introduction of Danny Baldwin and Nick`s heroic rescue of Janice in the factory fire.

Video

Presented in anamorphic 16:9 and presumably filmed this way as well, which was a bit of a surprise for me. If Coronation Street can broadcast in 16:9, then what`s the excuse for all the TV show releases in 4:3? You can hardly call it budget constraints if a programme that airs at least twice, maybe three times, a week every week can do it. Can you?

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack, that`s more like it after the shock of the picture format. The soundtrack is more than adequate for this dialogue-based drama and subtitles are provided throughout.

Features

Long and separate interviews with Bradley Walsh (Danny Baldwin) and Debra Stephenson (Frankie Baldwin) containing lots of detail about their characters and the Street. Each interview is interspersed with clips of the characters to demonstrate some characteristic or incident mentioned during the interview.

Conclusion

I`ve not really changed my opinion, but this DVD is a good three hour summary of what happened. In fact, there`s a thought there. Can we not persuade the makers to cease transmitting every night of the week and just issue summary DVDs for those interested? Why not?

What I can say though is that some of the storylines presented here contain some good drama and some funny comedy. I can`t really fault the writers for some of the good stuff they`ve produced, but there is sooo much of it. The actors also tend to shine in some of the meatier roles, and most characters will hit a big storyline at some point. One of the highlights for me was the reaction of Roy Cropper after some longwinded story about Tracy Barlow`s baby. The sight of Roy avoiding the embarrassed apologies of Tracy`s grandmother by hiding behind the explanation of the mechanics of a pushchair and then irrevocably breaking down on his own doorstep in the grief of losing the baby was something to behold. I can dislike soaps forever and a day, but I can`t complain about the quality of some of the acting.

What is missing from this release though is some narration. It would have made it more interesting to have some sort of summarising narration to provide some context to the scenes shown and maybe some snappy dialogue. Alas, it is not to be.

This summary of 2004`s biggest storylines runs for around three hours plus the extras, so any fans will not feel short-changed by this release. I may not like soaps, or most of what was on here, but I feel that fans of the soap will not be disappointed. Good value for money for those who like this kind of thing.