Renee (Madge Hindle): Beware of the lorries!A lovely e-mail from Wendy, who says:
I've been watching episodes of Coronation Street from 1980 and I've reached July, which contains the death of corner shop keeper Renee Bradshaw/Roberts. She's killed by a speeding lorry after stalling her husband's car in a country lane. It seems bizarre to me that Alf, her hubby, was almost killed by a lorry crashing into the Rovers Return pub the year before. It's almost like lorries were out to get Mr and Mrs Roberts!
Lol - I remember it all well, but can't say the strangeness of it registered until you mentioned it! It is most peculiar! Renee (Madge Hindle) had reigned at the Corner Shop for four years, marrying Alf (Bryan Mosley) halfway through. The production team decided that the marriage was boring and as producer Bill Podmore had always seen Alf as a Mr Green, the grocer, it meant Renee had to go. A great shame because I was very fond of the character (although I agree with the then production team that the marriage was monotonous!). The trouble was, Madge Hindle was (and I'm sure is) a brilliant character actress and she invested Renee, the astute businesswoman, with a likeable warmth and faint air of daffiness which made me miss her presence in the show a great deal.
Did you know that Madge's daughter, Charlotte Hindle, was a friend and companion to Gilbert the alien in children's series Get Fresh and Gilbert's Fridge?
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5 comments:
"I've been watching episodes of Coronation Street from 1980 and I've reached July..." I nearly dropped my Wham Bar when I read that.
The episode with the Lorry crashing into the Rovers really stuck with me at the time - I must have been 7 years old. I remember Deirdre Barlow being talked down from throwing herself into the canal thinking that her baby was wiped out in the crash - was it Emily that took the baby for a walk just before the lorry hit?
No, a deranged woman Deirdre had met in the maternity ward when Tracy was born!
Those were the days! Corrie lost the plot some years ago. It's a huge shame that it is now so far fetched. It used to be a show which reflected a working class community and everybody could relate to it, whether they lived in England or Australia. It was incredible. Now it's cheap and tacky. I don't mind the gay characters at all, but all these murders and feuds drive me potty! And some "northerners" do the soap no good at all when they write: "I prefer it because I'm Northern". Coronation Street had wide appeal because it reflected the lives of working class people throughout the country. It would never be where it is in the TV history books with an audience solely from the North of England! "So, think on!" as Ena would have said.
You have a point. Corrie used to be the people's soap - and England is a tiny country so far too much is made of the North/South thing. Sadly, all soaps now rely on sensationalised story-lines. Very sad. I used to love Corrie and identified with the characters and the setting so much. And I'm from East Anglia, by the way!
Even 10 or 15 years ago as a small child Corrie still had it's oomph. The storylines that made it work. I don't bother with it now as like you said they only care about sensational (repetetive) storylines, it doesn't say anything to me about my life. The 60's to 90's ish years are my favourites.
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