Morbid? Yes. And, I hasten to add, utterly captivating. What? I like soaps. Correction - I like Corrie. I endure the rest 'cause I have to. EastEnders isn't so bad, but it has got the propensity to grate on one's nerves, when it's not got you curved into a cringe ball on the couch. Emmerdale is enjoyable enough, especially considering it's based in a remote village largely filled with inbreds. As for Fair City, if I've not got the sunglasses at the ready, I have to switch passed it at the speed of, well, light. As mentioned previously, it's as if they're shooting it under four searing hot suns. And let's not forget Ros na Run - a soap which was kindly brought to my attention by one of its promoters. She rang to request inclusion in the Independent's Weekend Magazine's Soapy Bits (page 47, blatant plug, pluggudy, plug) and sold the soap with a chipper "at the moment, we have murder, an incest storyline, and a rape!"
Let's return to the soap of the moment - if not all time. What other soap has had the arse of a tram pound into a newsagents? OK, Emmerdale did have a plane fall out of the sky, but nobody really cared, did they... Put it this way, I doubt I was the only person to shed a tear when Ashley Peacock got crushed by a beam saving Nick and Peter's life last night. Yeah, it was only Ashley Peacock, but what a way to go. Especially with his little kiddies only across the road with Cluurr getting summat to scran.
So, that's one canned, there's allegedly another two characters to kick the bucket. Who's it to be? I'd wager Molly, who's currently trapped under a load of rubble in Dev's corner shop. She's definitely up for the chop - she's a wanton woman who's attempted to break up a marriage AND discarded the local good un twice... in soap terms, that equates her with Beelzebub. Which she kind of looks like. It'll also open the way for the inevitable custody battle between Kevin and Tyrone, both of which hightailed it to the hospital with baby Jack last night.
The other possibilities currently include Rita, who's stuck in the Kabin, and Peter who didn't look in great form when he was hoisted unconscious out of The Joinery. I'm afraid the folks at ITV are doing the usual, keeping their cards close to their chests, but they have let some titbits filter through:
The first funeral will take place next Thursday (one can assume it's Ashley's... or perhaps Peter's?), the second on Friday, where a fight breaks out at the graveside. Which is helpful. I'm guessing a scuffle between Kevin and Tyrone at Molly's send off. Then Corrie continues to put the "fun" into funeral by doling out another service on Monday December 20th.
In other news; it's revealed that the cause of the explosion was the gas at The Joinery and it becomes clear someone is to blame. Hellew Nick. A child will need a blood transfusion and could die (Fiz and John's premature baby - who we hear could be named Hope... ooor might it be Baby Jack, and that's how his parentage is revealed?); Becky steals from the Corner Shop to give Kylie more money; Tracy lands back on the street on December 23rd (she's after getting off on a technicality); while - horrors of all horrors - Sally gets it on with Tyrone *gags*.
Ah, the wonderful world of soaps, where script writers ideas revolve around murders, shock pregnancies, alcoholism and adultery.