Coronation Street legend Amanda Barrie says show is now more like a 'northern Midsomer Murders' than a soap
Coronation Street legend Amanda Barrie has bemoaned the changes to Coronation Street insisting the writers seem more keen to shock with outlandish murder plots than traditional soap storylines.
Coronation Street legend Amanda Barrie has blasted the soap for becoming Midsomer Murders on the cobbles.
The 90-year-old actress played hugely popular character Alma Baldwin - the wife of flash factory boss Michael Baldwin, who was portrayed by the late Johnny Briggs - from 1988 to 2001.
Amanda still watches Corrie but is dismayed by the amount of murder plots in Weatherfield designed to shock. She believes it would serve the soap well to return to its roots showing normal working class life up North.
In an interview with Best of British magazine, she said: “We had some wonderful people on Corrie when I was in it, as they still do now. The trouble is they’ve had to make it more like a northern Midsomer Murders, which is sad, because the Street used to be a place where the viewers wanted to live and come and join us in the Rovers.”
In the past two years, viewers have seen teenager Mason stabbed to death by his delinquent brother, and recently the whoddinit Theo Silverton murder mystery, with the assailant finally revealed to be Sarah Platt.
Despite her grievances with the writers, Amanda has nothing but praise for the young cast who have to work under an intense filming schedule to get the five episodes out each week.
She said: “I still enjoy it and I’m amazed with the performances now, especially from the youngsters, who’ve never known what it was like to have rehearsals.
“It was very weird joining Coronation Street and seeing all those famous faces, it was like meeting cartoon characters that had come to life.”
Amanda - who is also famous for playing Cleopatra in Carry On Cleo and starring in TV prison drama Bad Girls - is aware her swipe at her old soap may upset people.
But now she’s at the ripe age of 90, Amanda just doesn’t worry about upsetting people, or even being cancelled.
The screen icon - whose book Amanda Barrie: I’m Still Here is out now - said: “People are always telling me to be careful about what I say, in case I get cancelled. But I have told the truth in my book, which is important and I wish our politicians were a bit more honest, because I think people would understand them better if they were. If you look through anybody’s letterbox, you’d probably be very surprised… and that’s not a euphemism, darling.”
