STREET STRIFE
TV legend Michael Parkinson slams ITV’s Coronation Street for brutal kidnapping plot
The chat show king says the ITV soap has caused him to recoil while watching and says the current plots are more suited to a horror channel.
TV legend Michael Parkinson has slammed Coronation Street’s brutal storylines — claiming they make him physically “recoil”.
The chat show king, 82, said the ITV soap he used to enjoy was now “more suited to a horror channel”.
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Yorkshire-born Michael, known to his fans as Parky, said: “I never imagined I would recoil from watching Coronation Street.”
But he singled out the programme’s current kidnap plot that has seen two characters tortured and killed.
The gruesome storyline, he said, “had little to do with that gentle, funny reminder of life in the North Country I discovered and so admired in the early Sixties when I joined Granada Television”.
Millions of viewers saw villainous Pat Phelan — played by actor Connor McIntyre — kidnap Andy Carver (Oliver Farnworth) and Vinny Ashford (Harvey McArdle).
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Pat Phelan persuades Andy Carver to kill Vinny Ashford in a warehouse on Coronation Street
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He then ordered Andy to kill Vinny in exchange for his freedom — but once he did, Phelan also shot him dead.
Parky blamed ITV’s desire for the Tony Warren-created show to become a ratings hit after it did much better than first expected.
He added: “Its overwhelming success carried seeds of change that would transform Tony Warren’s wonderful idea into a gold mine.”
But “it sadly stimulated the beginnings of a change that allowed Pat Phelan to become a major player in a storyline more suited to a horror channel than a family show”.
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Evil Pat Phelan tells brainwashed Andy Carver he needs to kill Vinny Ashford on Coronation Street
He told the Radio Times that Connor’s “unnerving” performance made the story even scarier. It was worthy of a spin-off series about the murderer, he said, adding: “Hopefully, far away from Coronation Street.”
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