Coronation Street - Todd and Karl

I've watched this on youtube too a couple of months ago. It's kinda well-explored. Not bad. But too bad they didn't end up together. Karl is fit!!

One of the main writers behind this story, Daran Little, went on to write for Hollyoaks: In the City, and most recently Hollyoaks. He wrote some great material for John Paul.

Coronation Street is an institution in the UK, and not a very bold show (they had few minorities, if any, until the 80s, and minorities in leading roles have been few and far between). This story was a real risk. That they had Karl and Todd kiss, however briefly, caused somewhat of an uproar.

Unfortunately, they've never been willing to try other gay characters who are allowed to be sexual or have romances. Their most prominent gay character, Sean Tully (Anthony Cotton) is a modern-day version of Mr. Humphries from Are You Being Served. He has a cute boyfriend, Marcus (who started last fall and is leaving in the next few months), but the closest they get to affection is a kiss on the cheek.

They recently added another gay man, Ted Paige. Ted is Gail Platt's long lost father. He's in his 60's or 70's and recently lost his partner of 20 years. I appreciate their decision to show an older gay man, you don't see them very often on TV, but I'm cynical enough to believe they only got away with this because they know he can be written as sexless.

Karl and Todd had some superbly written scenes, the tenderness and longing and chemistry worked in spades. My favorites are when they're trapped in an elevator, when they're at the hospital and Karl spontaneously kisses him and says he closed his eyes, and then when they're having dinner with Todd's girlfriend and Karl privately tells Todd that one of the best parts of an affair is the secret and the sneaking around. That's something soaps don't touch on very often.

Todd came back for a few weeks last year. He made peace with his former girlfriend (who was marrying his brother, whom she'd gotten involved with years ago to punish Todd, a decision that caused him to leave town). He said he had a boyfriend (not Karl), but that they weren't very close.

When the affair ended, fans sent in a petition asking for Karl to stay around. The show acted like they were listening, then as a sop to fans, put him in one or two episodes and nothing more. He was a great character, Chris Finch was very charismatic and talented (and has played gay in other roles since Karl), but they weren't willing to take the chance.

Sean's a difficult character to write for, because Anthony Cotton really isn't a dramatic actor. Stories like what happened with the baby he had with Violet were already shaky enough, they couldn't be saved by his performance.

He's best as a supporting character. It would be nice if they could bring in another gay character as a balance to him, but they don't seem to want to take the risk.

Right now, we're about 9 months behind and I know it's even worse for the Aussies and the Kiwis. Reason: CS gets preempted by the Stanley Cup playoffs which last almost as long as the regular season itself (gotta find a way of paying all those million-plus-dollar babies I guess). I'd post a picture of the Cup if I knew how, but I don't... so google it, imagine it, or forget it was ever mentionned.
Tks to CSVU, I can keep abreast of the latest developments. Couldn't help notice Todd's fleshier look (fatherhood must suit him).
You're so right carld2, "You closed your eyes (let's drive it in with a hammer)" brief pause "gayboy (but a sledgehammer is so much more effective)". Loved it.

carld2 Read it a long time ago... and I agree... most enjoyable.

Have you checked this fanfic site?
www.toddandkarl.co.uk/
Best stories by Supergirl I think. Site worth checking for Ian's incredible drawings.

Thanks, neand48. I've read some of those stories before, but I lost the link. I still wonder about what could have happened if Corrie had really committed to Karl as a character.

Ashley is still on the show. He's straight, but sometimes I do think he'd do well in a relationship with another man. He and Kevin Webster are friends and both married to crazy women...

I'm disappointed at the lack of Corrie fic out there, but then, thanks to ITV's policies about their clips, most of them aren't on Youtube, and most of the stories probably don't inspire a lot of stories anyway. And Eastenders also doesn't have that much fic, in spite of a Youtube presence.

Out of all the shows, the Corrie format is the one I enjoy the most. The use of veteran characters, the humor, the friendships. It's for that reason I wish they had better use of gay characters. Sean is just hard to care about or to sympathize with. He recently got fired from his job at the underwear/knicker factory for lying to get out of work (he wanted to go work at another job and to look at apartments with his boyfriend). They want us to see this as a bad thing, but the character's just impossible for me to feel sorry for when he has such a flip attitude about work. They even had his boss make a few casual homophobic comments behind Sean's back to generate viewer sympathy. I'm not sure how I feel about that type of writing.

Sean's cute boyfriend Marcus is going to work as a Botox giver. He's leaving the show soon. There are rumors he will have an affair, perhaps with Liam's cousin Tom. Tom isn't gay, that viewers know of, but he's a new character and he does go overboard in flirting with women.

Gail's father Ted, who is gay, befriends Ken Barlow. Ken's wicked mother-in-law, Blanche, goes around spreading rumors that Ken must be gay.

Wow, that's a gorgeous drawing!

Todd's going to be mentioned (not seen) as part of Marcus' leaving story. He sees Marcus in London with another man and calls Sean to let him know.

www.dailystar.co.uk/soaperstar/view/44018/All-Over-for-Play-Away-Gay/

These are really good - stayed up the whole night (literally!) last saturday reading (well I returned pretty late from having drinks with friends but still ...).
What I loved most were the lovely dialogues which felt just "true". To get the dialogues right seems to be the hardest part. I imagine it 's very tempting to have the characters say too much and explain lots of things - sometimes in a way the characters on the show would never do it - and suddenly you don't recognize the characters in question any longer. I'ver never watched "the Bill" but how the characters are described in this fanfiction and the way they act and speak - it all fits remarkably well.

So - Sean made a pass at Tom - Tom kinda dismissed it but didn't answer Sean when he asked him if he was gay. Sean assumed he was, made a scene about Tom being a coward for not being himself - Tom declared he was str8 - Sean threw a tantrum and flounced off.

Yeah he does - I had to look twice when i saw the two of them together at first.

Corrie may be getting a lesbian teen character.

www.digitalspy.com/soaps/a151877/first-lesbian-character-for-corrie.html