It’s a soap that’s been at the centre of a lot of negative discourse from the start of the year, the news cycle around it dominated by announcements of cast departures.
And, although it’s not the first time a mainstream soap – including the ITV show itself – has been hit by a wave of exits in a short amount of time, it has been claimed that the soap is in crisis.
There’s no denying that some fans have been disillusioned with the darker led plots for some time. A main complaint, with some justification, is the over reliance on crime and health dramas, with the police station and hospital sets seeming to dominate above even the Rovers at times.
However, the show came in for some huge praise around a heart-wrenching week of episodes at the start of the year which saw Mason killed in a topical knife crime storyline, reviewed by me as a masterclass.
Sadly this was overshadowed by fears of the axe being stoked in worried fans by reported claims that the show wouldn’t survive another 10 years due to ITV cutting costs.
Naturally, this seems highly unlikely – while overnight ratings of TV shows have largely fallen over the years due to streaming and online demands and competition, Corrie still retains its position as a jewel of the ITVcrown, bring up to 5 million viewers and therefore remaining interest from advertisers.
Now, the discourse has been addressed, with a source close to the show confirming the future – and, as expected, it’s going nowhere.
‘Corrie’s vision for the future on the show has secured its place on screens for years to come,’ an insider told The Mirror.
“Fans can ignore any idea that within a decade the soap will be gone, because it’s in no way on the brink of collapse. There’s some really exciting twists ahead for our favourite characters and couples, with a massive stunt that will no doubt bring the drama, as well as some hard-hitting storylines bringing some of soap’s biggest characters to the forefront.
‘It really is a case of one door closes and another opens in that some familiar faces will be leaving, but others will be back – and the new faces could be just what the show needs. There’s so much ahead so the idea the end of Corrie is in sight is bonkers.’
On the wave of exits, they added: ‘These departure decisions have been made across the last 12 months not in the past few weeks, be they a choice by an actor or storyline related, which is not at all unusual. The soap does not announce them that far in advance as it undermines the storytelling if people know too soon that a character will be going.
‘It is just the information has been leaked in quick succession which has led to a completely false narrative.’
In fact, Corrie has officially addressed the situation, with a spokesperson telling Metro in the wake of reports that the show suffered its worst ever TV ratings: ‘It is misleading to use figures that focus on an episode which aired on Thursday night at 9pm, a day and time which is not our usual transmission pattern. It also does not take into account the viewers who have watched or will watch the episode on ITVX.
‘Monday night’s highly acclaimed knife crime episode peaked at 3.9 million viewers which, when consolidated, will be in keeping with the show’s 2024 average of 4.4 million, making it the most watched soap on TV.’
Upcoming storylines include a fire rocking the Platt household, the culmination of the Daisy, Daniel and Bethany love triangle, huge developments for Carla, Lisa and Rob, torment for Abi as she suffers flashbacks of Seb’s death, and a cancer diagnosis for Kevin.
