Corrie - New Producer, New hope? No spoilers please

[HettySunshine]

Thought I'd start a new one as we're not far off and there'll be much to talk about this week, I I fear.

I agree with frillyfarmer

This was one of the best acted episodes in a long time, (except for kate but I just can't like her I'm afraid)

Apparently it was Shayne's idea to have Aiden's final scene at the flat sobbing. Kate Oates wanted to end it at the pub. He thought the character deserved more. And she agrees he was right

I thought Gail's soliloquy was the only real weak part tonight. It's difficult to take her seriously and I just found her expression and whiny voice too grating and saccharine.

I also thought that, given the klaxon like warnings they didn't have to sanitise the suicide scenes quite so much. It made things slightly farcical in that there wasn't even a fleeting shot of a body in the bathroom and the agony of Johnny's discovery was all off-camera. It also felt unrealistic when he asked the stretcher bearers to stop and put his hand on top of the cover rather than try to touch/hold his son one last time.
But that aside, I'm amazed how well they've handled this topic - given recent performance!

Some excellent acting - but I did find Maria's bawling with no tears a bit over the top. Johnny was very good, and so was Eva. But David and Shona's scene outdid them all - it was extremely moving.

Frillyfarmer- I am glad you said that. I'm sat here feeling everything I felt the night my brother died. Replaying tonight's episode and making comparisons. My heart feels like there's a knife in it. The pain of suicide is unbearable for those in its grip and those left behind. The true number of suicides is actually higher than official figures as suicide has to be proven beyond all reasonable doubt and many times it will be recorded as misadventure or a narrative verdict. I just keep remembering Aidan's sobbing and knowing my brother would have been doing the same. It's devastating. Sorry- just need to get this out.

It was a really sad episode, and tough to watch.

to everyone who has personally been through this type of loss.

I didn't like Gail's speech. Well, the words were moving but the effect was weird, it kind of jarred me from the moment and made it seem fake rather than real.

Johnny was heartbreaking, going in so normally and then seeing the note.

Many years ago my brothers girlfriend committed suicide in their home, and he found her but only after he had been home for a while. She was upstairs and he didn't immediately go upstairs when he got home. He thought she was out. I was quite young at the time and I've never really thought about how that must have been for him. Tonights episode made me think about that.

I liked Roy in tonights episode. He looked geniunely shocked and uncertain as he went to get to Kate.

And I thought the contrast between Maria and Kate was very good. Maria running down the street and believing it was true the moment she saw the ambulance, while Kate saw the ambulance and went into denial because they don't send an ambulance if someone has died.

Even Jenny talking about Princess Diana's awful wedding dress, just because she needed to fill the silence was good.

I think they did really well with all of it, the cast were good, the writing was good, the whole thing was heartbreaking. Poor Aiden. And poor Johnny.

I don’t normally like Maria but her reaction made me sob, and then Gail’s piece, it was well done, so maybe Kate Oates did the right thing going with this storyline and David’s story.

Many years ago a friend of my parents killed her self after her husband died, she couldn’t go on without him, and I remember the shock my parents felt and how tragic the situation was, especially for their adult children. She never got to see her grandchildren.
I had terrible PND and used to work out ways of ending the pain of it, but remembering her and her family stopped me. I didn’t want my wonderful family, my tiny wee boy to suffer the way her family did.
My heart goes out to anyone who has ever been in this situation.

except for kate

Agree with this. I think it must have been very difficult to act those feelings but she did a bad job of it.

I also thought that, given the klaxon like warnings they didn't have to sanitise the suicide scenes quite so much. It made things slightly farcical in that there wasn't even a fleeting shot of a body in the bathroom and the agony of Johnny's discovery was all off-camera.

Totally disagree with this. The way they did it was perfect. We didn’t need to see in the bathroom. We knew perfectly well what was there.

I think with big scenes like in this episode, the gulf between good and bad acting is painfully obvious ( I'm looking at you Kate).

Kate was awful last night, sorry, she just can't act.

Johnny did a great job.

I thought David and Shona were amazing. The look of despair on David's face was so real. The way he just blurted it out to Shona as if he knew in that moment if he didn't say it he never would.

littlebunny I can't begin to imagine how you deal with this.
A colleagues son committed suicide aged 17, and she found him. Tonight made me think about her and her pain

I was in tears for most of the episodes. Eva was brilliant, but I agree, her and Adam are to blame for sending him down this path. They didn't just ruin him financially, leaving him homeless and living secretly in the destroyed factory, but also the baby lie, and hurting his relationship with his family (albeit temporarily) when his dad disowned him. She was vile.

Brilliant acting from most of the cast (fizz, in her few scenes was abysmal)

My heartfelt sympathies to those who've been through this

I’m uncomfortable with the blame for aiden choosing to end his life being laid at Eva’s feet. She played a part in his hurt, as did Adam. But so did he. He set the ball rolling by destroying his own relationship with Eva and his father. He risked those relationships himself in the first place. And Maria colluded in that. He acted very selfishly which started a chain of events that him in a horrible situation. But for his actions, none of that would have happened.

How is it Eva and Adam's fault? If he hadn't cheated on Eva then she wouldn't have done what she did!

I am glad we didn't see the body, listening to Johnny losing it was very powerful I thought. Agree that Kate was poor, I feel that she should have played the stunned one, while Carla did the angry bit, she would have handled it much better.

I thought their responses were appropriate for the characters, but Kate was pretty poor...

for everyone who has been affected by these harrowing episodes. I must have been living under a rock as seriously did not expect this outcome. I didn't realise what had actually happened until reading here after Monday's episode! We lost a close family friend in similar circumstances a couple of years ago and witnessed the devastation on the family first-hand. The feeling of shock and disbelief was palpable and this came across well in the acting.
I reckon Corrie drama can be almost Shakespearean when it comes to reflecting real life, especially when juxtaposing humour, or even simply normality, and tragedy (the factory girls wittering on in the background completely oblivious, while the horror of what's happened gradually dawns on Alya's face). No character is 100% good or bad (Phelan looking out for Summer springs to mind), and this episode even had a soliloquy. And although Gail's a long-standing member of the cast and her thoughts were delivered from the perspective of a worried parent, I wonder if the general message have had been better delivered by someone with more gravitas .... maybe Rita or Ken? Incidentally, is anyone old enough to remember the time when Ken attempted an overdose after one of his many bust-ups with Deirdre, but was rescued at the last minute by Bet Lynch? I think he would understand more than most what Aidan was going through. And Roy, who witnessed Hayley's harrowing final scenes, albeit in different circumstances, will probably be a massive support for his friend Carla.

I wouldn't be surprised if it wins a soap award the next time they do the best of soaps on tv. I thought it was a very gripping episode. And I had given up watching Corrie of late but this did get me v hooked.

They're discussing it on the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC2 right now.

I wonder if the general message have had been better delivered by someone with more gravitas .... maybe Rita or Ken?

Oh god NO!! Either of those two delivering that speech would have ruined the whole thing for me. It made total sense that it was Gail whose son had just disappeared in the upset of an acquaintance’s death and a looming prison sentence. I can’t stand when ken starts being all profound and Rita had no connection at all to aiden.

Agree they should get an award for this storyline, particularly David and Johnnie’s performances.

Shayne Ward deserves an award too. Hope he goes on to do more acting roles.

The point was it should be someone with no connection to him and I agree that the reason it was Gail was because of her own son's turmoil - though of course because everything happens on the Street, all the characters seem to be connected even if only tenuously (Rita now regards Jenny as the daughter she never had) and Ken did himself go down that same line route many years ago. I remember him sitting at the kitchen table with the bottle of pills. It was horrid. And a good thing they are not allowed to show things like that now. :(

Yes, it was very well done - I was impressed. I particularly liked the way that Aiden's death affected many more people than just his family, and that their reactions were so varied. Thankfully I have no experience of this issue, but imagine that it was very true to life. Using his death to be the thing that triggered David's opening up to Shona was inspired.

Please don't let the scriptwriters fall into their usual ways of letting the suicide be forgotten by everyone a couple of weeks after it happened...