I've wandered off from Corrie again - seemingly the brief period of good writing has now come to an end - but even though I haven't been watching, the factory collapse has my attention. I'm not so much interested in whodunit (I'm hoping for Nick because I can't take either Gary or Seb seriously as villains - and I actually identify quite a lot with Seb so making him a villain would be a little offensive) but in who died.
We now know the unfortunate character was Rana which isn't as much of a shock - we knew Bhavna Limbachia was leaving anyway - but the controversy stems from the fact that Rana is one half of beloved soap supercouple 'Kana' and killing the character off is another example of the Bury Your Gays trope in which there is the idea that queer characters are more likely to be killed off - sometimes in a brutal fashion - than their straight counterparts. Generally, I'm sure there's something to it but I'm more interested in the trope as it relates to Corrie, who now has a history of killing off their queer characters. This seems to be a good opportunity to re-visit the LGBT characters of Corrie past and present, and their roles on the canvas as well as exploring the possible reasons why some of these characters were killed off, and whether that was a good idea.
Todd Grimshaw
In the beginning, there was Todd. He was originally with Sarah Platt back in the early noughties but then found himself kissing her brother Nick on the lips. Things started spiralling after that when he had an affair with nurse Karl before he was exposed, leading to that famous catfight scene between his mother Eileen and Sarah's mother Gail, and the start of a rivalry that still exists to this day.
In 2013, Todd returned permanently with a personality transplant, leading viewers such as myself to refer to him as Rodd. Despite the bad writing, Bruno Langley rose above it and his relationship with vicar Billy Mayhew remains one of my favourite to this day, before unfortunately Bruno ruined it all with a sex scandal and Todd was written out, last seen fleeing from the police.
I get that Corrie can't hire the actor back but it would be a shame to lose Corrie's first gay character altogether, and I hope one day they re-cast. Todd has some unfinished business with Billy and once that's resolved, maybe we can finally have a same-sex wedding that doesn't go belly-up.
Kate Connor
Originally introduced as a minor Connor, Kate was engaged to soldier and resident nutjob Caz. They broke up for... reasons and Kate was involved in Caz's (awfully-written) downfall. She moved on to Rana, then married to my favourite grump Zeedan, and these two fell into an affair that bored me but managed to set Twitter alight, giving birth to 'Kana'. I'm sure Faye Brookes is a nice person, and I admire her for putting up with Gareth Gates, but for me, her acting leaves a lot to be desired and I don't have time for her character. Which is a pity because I'm sure in the hands of a better actor, losing her brother and the love of her life in the same year would make for a compelling story.
Rana Nazir
The other half of 'Kana', Rana was introduced as a partner for Zeedan. The two got hitched and, as mentioned above, she fell into bed with Kate. I actually think Rana had potential - Bhavna Limbachia can act and we know she can do comedy from her turn on Citizen Khan. I also enjoyed her familial relationships with Imran and her mother but alas it wasn't meant to be. I can't say I'll miss the tears though. Bhavna can cry but honestly it was getting a bit much!
Hayley Cropper
Oh Hayley, how I miss you! She was introduced as Corrie's first LGBT character, way back in 1998, originally as a joke! She was always intended for Roy but it was soon revealed that she previously lived life as a man called Harold. While the writers wouldn't be able to get away with that sort of writing today, it led to a beautifully formed partnership between Hayley and Roy, and a fully-fleshed character for who being transgender wasn't the most interesting thing about her. The only complaint I have was the way she was written out - a tired euthanasia story that, in this instance, was out-of-character. Hayley would never have left Roy voluntarily! She's still mentioned even five years after her death (I believe on tonight's episode, one of their former foster children appears and learns of her passing) and Julie Hesmondhalgh has moved on to star in some of the biggest television shows in Britain, namely Broadchurch and Doctor Who. A part of me though still hopes she'll agree to come back as a ghost if David Neilson ever decides to leave and the writers decide they want to break me and kill off Roy.
Sean Tully
A raging gay stereotype who likes to flounce around in the pub and the factory, played fully to the hilt by Antony Cotton (who I believe most of the time is content to play himself). I had no time for this character until last year's homelessness story where Cotton, for once, toned down his acting and sold the story of a man thrown at the wrong end of a difficult situation. Before, I'd be clamoring for him to be killed off immediately. Now? I'll keep silent if we can have more of THIS Sean, the toned-down more serious guy, affected by his past experiences.
Billy Mayhew
Introduced as a partner for Sean, Billy is a vicar who happens to be gay and very comfortably so. With the odds stacked against him, I should be given to like him but to me, he comes across as a bit... wet. The only time I've ever really liked him was when he was with Todd and I suppose he works as a foil for some of the more darker characters... but I'm not sure I'd miss him if he left the Street. Just sayin'.
Sophie Webster
As the Americans would say, a legacy character, the daughter of Sally Metcalfe and Kevin Webster. While I thought it was a good decision for Sophie to come out as gay, it seems to limit her options somewhat when it comes to story. Now when a lesbian character is introduced, our first question is 'how long until she hooks up with Sophie?' However, I've seen an improvement in Brooke Vincent's acting recently and I think the character has potential. Sophie's quite ambitious like her mother. Why don't we see her start her own business? Meet a partner through that? Let's get her out of this rut the writers seem to want to stick her in and explore her options.
Sian Powers
Can't say I miss this character. She was introduced as a friend of Sophie's before of course, the friendship turned into something more. I can't remember the story, mainly because at the time both actors put on impossible-to-understand accents but as I remember, they were due to get married but it was called off on the day. I think Sophie had slept with Amber but I can't remember!
Maddie Heath
Despite the best efforts of Amy-James Kelly (another actress who's gone on to find success outside the soap world), this character never worked. She was originally intended to be 'the new Becky McDonald', a massive mistake when introducing a character! Don't write her to be the new anything! Let the character find their own voice! Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be and after a tepid romance with Sophie, Maddie was killed in an explosion. She's the third gay character to have died on this show if you're keeping count.
Ted Page
I googled LGBT characters of Corrie as I was writing this article and forgot this character existed. He's Gail's father but was revealed to be gay. He started a friendship with Ken Barlow, leading to a hilarious storyline in which Blanche believed Ken to be gay himself. The character disappeared which seems a shame. Bring Ted back and let's have an older LGBT character on the street for once!
Marcus Dent
Oh Marcus! Another character that I liked. He was a refreshingly normal and grounded character who had relationships with Sean Tully and um... Maria Connor! Yes the otherwise gay man was with a woman for a couple of years before he screwed it all up by sleeping with Todd in one of many stupid storylines from 2014. Not much to say about this character otherwise but I wouldn't be against him returning one day.
Caz Hammond
She was introduced as Kate's fiancee before someone in the writer's team decided to make her bonkers. She became fixated on Maria (what is it with Maria? She was also married to another gay man briefly! It's like that's a turn-on for her!) until Maria rejected her. Then I think Caz made out that Maria killed her or something but she didn't and basically it was all stupid and illogical. I can't remember how they wrote Caz out.
Paula Martin
The much older and most recent girlfriend of Sophie, she was a high-powered lawyer and old school friend of Sally who was called to help out when Sally was accused of fraud in a Purely Original, Never Been Done Before, Honest story twist *coughcoughDeirdrecough*. I didn't hate this relationship actually, it seemed to force Sophie to grow up a little although she was quite mean to Paula later on. I've heard rumours that Paula is returning so let's see what the writers do with her. As a character who's bisexual rather than fully gay, there's a lot of potential there.
So by my reckoning, three gay characters died and one faked her death to get back at someone who didn't love her in the first place (soaps!). As for all three genuine deaths, I don't believe they are indicative of a homophobic trope. Two characters were written out because the actors chose to leave, and since they were both part of a supercouple, the fans wouldn't have been expected to believe that the characters could up and leave. And as for the third, as I said, it was clear that Maddie never worked as a character in the first place. So I'm afraid I just don't see the criticism of Coronation Street at the moment to be valid. Your opinions may differ.
