David and David

A week of watching Corriedale and Coronation Street. The scene where I felt aah, I know this place: David and David standing on the cobbles, very early in the morning, Near the beginning of last Thursday’s episode. It was an ‘aah’ moment because I was so happy that David Platt still has David the Dog. But also because it was a lovely long moment of feeling at home. The only time, really, in the 8 episodes I watched.

Throughout that episode, I enjoyed David. His spat in the hospital parking lot with a man, then his realization that that man is the surgeon who is going to deliver his baby. David talking to the baby in the incubator, then telling a barely conscious Shona all about the baby. Apologizing to the doctor, telling Shona he’d like to name the baby after the doctor. Really, every moment with David.

In the earlier episodes – the wedding, car crash and the hospital aftermath – I’d been thinking about Gale. How can you have a crash and a baby at risk, even a wedding, without Gail Platt running around screaming “my son, my son” and “my grandbaby, my grandbaby!”

Coffee with Bernie

Gale’s absence was made up for a bit by the follow-up scene to the one on the cobbles. The Davids go into Roy’s for a coffee. I don’t know the woman behind the counter but I like her. She’s obviously close to Shona and David and the late vicar Billy.

I google her afterwards. She’s Bernie Winter-Alahan, Gemma’s mother and Dev’s wife. Reading the character history in Corriepedia – informative but not the best way to retain that warmth I felt for her. What a piece of work! But, I must remember, a character synopsis of anyone would be pretty horrific, especially characters on soaps. Getting to know them throughout their history on the show is much better.

Scary Todd and walls

That leads me to a couple of off-topic observations. Todd Grimshaw! I knew Todd had returned to the street, in the form of a different actor. But I didn’t know he’d also had a complete personality transplant. I’d wanted to immerse myself in Billy’s story, before and after his death. But I was constantly distracted by the frightened rabbit who is now Todd.

I haven’t read Todd’s history since I last watched, and I know that people can change drastically in a bad relationship. So maybe new Todd would make sense if I’d watched throughout. As it is, I just wanted someone to shake this guy and say “Who are you and what have you done with Todd?”

As frightening as the crash itself and the new Todd are, Debbie and new husband’s apartment gives them a run for their money. They may have taken the world’s worst decorating award away from Tyrone and the Duckworth living room. I really like the portraits of her, though. It would be nice to see them on a wall that didn’t do retinal damage while looking at it.

Corriedale and beyond

Corriedale was good. Hard for me to figure out who was who because there were people from Emmerdale as well as several from Weatherfield who were completely unknown to me. But with some rewinding and explanation in following episodes, I figured out what was going on. The little gifts to viewers were good. Ken and the Emmerdale patriarch dealing with a vending machine. Steve seeing someone familiar looking driving a van, nah, couldn’t be. A viewer-chosen scene with Carla and Charity Dingle from Emmerdale. Overall, all good. Fantabulous? Nah.

I enjoyed my time in Weatherfield. But nothing really made me want to move back. Except maybe David and David.