Coronation Street: Street flood stunt plans scrapped due to budgeting worries, show writer confirms
Former Coronation Street show writer Daran Little has revealed that the soap had to scrap a huge flood stunt due to budgeting concerns.
From tram crashes to sinkhole deaths, Corrie has been no stranger to elaborate stunts that shake the cobbles. But there are a few we don’t know about.
Now, Daran has spoken out about a flooding storyline that never saw the light of day. Daran wrote across Corrie and EastEnders over his vast career.
Coronation Street: Stunts that didn’t happen
On X, a fan was reminiscing on tram crash plans for 2005. Daran replied and shed some light on the writing room scenes.
He added: “You wanna blow your mind further?
“At one stage we planned to flood the street – like a massive flood that killed people and had everyone sat on their roofs.”
Daran announced a bombshell: “But it was way too expensive.”
While flood stunt scenes didn’t air, the tram crash eventually did take place 14 years ago.
Stunts that did happen
With Corrie turning 50 in December 2010, something big marked the occassion. And in one of the biggest stunts Soapland has ever seen, Corrie delivered. A tram derailed and crashed onto the Street.
The event was dubbed ‘Four funerals and a wedding.’ Those who lost their lives were Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns), who didn’t depart this world before telling Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor) that she’d had an affair with Sal’s then-husband, Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) and he’d fathered Molly’s son, Jack; Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold), and an unnamed taxi driver.
The fourth death was Charlotte Hoyle (Becky Hindley) who was actually offed by serial killer John Stape (Graeme Hawley) who needed to silence her and covered up his act of murder by disposing of her body in the crash rubble.
As well as those who perished, Rita Tanner (Barbara Knox) survived her second encounter with a tram when she was rescued from the rubble of The Kabin.
And Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) looked like he wasn’t going to make it as he was rushed to hospital. He and then-fianceé Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) had what they thought would be a deathbed wedding, and when Peter crashed straight after the vows, it didn’t look good.
Fortunately, Peter survived. Unfortunately, their marriage did not.