Coronation Street': Stuart Blackburn named new producer

[Perdita]

Stuart Blackburn has been appointed as the new producer of Coronation Street, succeeding current boss Phil Collinson in the role.

Blackburn, who has been working as Emmerdale's series producer since early 2011, will take up the position in January.

Collinson, meanwhile, will remain at ITV in a new role working with Kieran Roberts to develop new drama from ITV's base in Manchester.

Speaking of his new role, Blackburn commented: "I'm in the very privileged position of producing Emmerdale's hour-long live episode to celebrate the programme's 40th birthday, and I get to produce Coronation Street too. Life just couldn't get any better.

"Emmerdale is a very special programme to me, as I was born and brought up in West Yorkshire. I'm in total admiration of the cast and production team as they are all incredibly talented people. They do an amazing job and I'll be sad to leave them.

"Coronation Street also has a place in my heart, as I believe passionately in storytelling, and although I recognise it's a massive responsibility, I have the best job in the world."

More soon.

[alan45]

Hopefully this will mean an end to the crap storylines involving Tracyluv who of course should never have been brought back. No more Christmas trips to New York then. Let's get rid of St. Ella too, another one of Collinsons mistakes

[alan45]

The boss of TV soap Emmerdale is to take over as the top figure on Coronation Street.
Stuart Blackburn, who is overseeing the 40th anniversary celebrations for Emmerdale with a live episode, will pop across the Pennines to take over as producer of Corrie in January.

Phil Collinson, who has produced the Street since 2010, will move into a new role developing new ITV drama from the broadcaster's base in Manchester.

Blackburn previously worked on Coronation Street as story editor until he moved across to the equivalent position on the west Yorkshire soap in 2009. He became producer the following year and has been involved with memorable storylines such as Jackson's assisted suicide and will be in charge of the live edition on October 17.

He said: "I'm in the very privileged position of producing Emmerdale's hour-long live episode to celebrate the programme's 40th birthday and I get to produce Coronation Street too. Life just couldn't get any better."

Collinson - who joined the show from the BBC, where he had produced Doctor Who - handled Corrie's 50th anniversary week, with its tram crash disaster. Current storylines include a surrogacy plot with Tina carrying a child for his Izzy and Gary.

Collinson said: "It's been an honour to produce Coronation Street and I'll be sad to leave. But the drama can only stay at the top of its game if the Producer is re-energised every two to three years."

"By the time I say farewell I'll have been with the programme for nearly three years and produced almost 750 episodes."

[alan45]

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[Perdita]

Coronation Street's new producer Stuart Blackburn will ensure that the soap retains its "warmth and optimism".

Blackburn recently moved over from Emmerdale to replace Phil Collinson as boss of the ITV show.

"Corrie is in an incredibly strong position at the moment. The viewing figures are great. It started the year at 9m to 9.5m. It's rarely below 8.5m and more often than not it's beating EastEnders," he told the Manchester Evening News.

"My vision of Corrie is really simple. The first episode wasn't whimsical, it wasn't a comedy, it wasn't a nostalgic love-fest. It was gripping urban drama done on popular television for the very first time.

"It was kind of revolutionary - the lives, loves and aspirations of the working classes. What I want Corrie to do is retain that wit, the warmth and optimism.

"This is a show about a community in 21st-century working-class Britain. The characters have to be recognisable to people living that life.

"All modern cities now have a massively diverse ethnicity. That's what we've got to address and I think Corrie has done to an extent, but we must continue to do that."

Blackburn also denied reports that he is planning a "mass cull" of Corrie characters and described rumours that Tina O'Brien (Sarah-Louise Platt) and Georgia Taylor (Toyah Battersby) will return as "complete gossip".

[alan45]

Coronation Street boss Stuart Blackburn today (May 16) promised an explosive summer for the soap as he revealed teasers of upcoming storylines.

Blackburn, who took over from previous producer Phil Collinson in January, was speaking at a press conference held at the show's set to promote the upcoming re-opening of the Rovers Return pub.



The Platt clan will be among the families taking centre stage this summer as Kylie and Nick's secret is exposed.

While many fans expected the pair's one-night stand to be kept under wraps for months to come, the eagerly-anticipated scenes which see David uncover the truth have already been filmed and will air in a few weeks' time.

Fans can expect an extreme reaction from David as he digests the news that Kylie's unborn baby may not be his.

Blackburn teased: "If you think you've seen David get angry before, you ain't seen nothing yet!"


Meanwhile, with Karl Munro reunited with Stella Price and living at The Rovers again, life seems to be getting back to normal for the villain. However, storm clouds soon begin to gather for him again.

With a wedding booked for late summer, Karl's future with Stella looks bright, but his enemies on the street haven't forgotten his sinister side.

Blackburn said: "The vultures are circling - Leanne, Jason and Dev, and a few others out of left field. What will Karl do to protect his secret? I think you'll find that's a rhetorical question!"




The show's chief also confirmed rumours that Tina McIntyre will struggle to hand over Gary Windass and Izzy Armstrong's newborn son after she gives birth early.

Growing attached to the baby and seeing that Gary and Izzy are no longer a stable couple, Tina gets cold feet over the surrogacy deal - which has huge implications as she knows that the baby isn't biologically hers.

Elsewhere, firefighter Paul Kershaw will spark a big talking point among viewers when he makes a single wrong remark which has huge repercussions.

Although details of what Paul says have yet to be disclosed, the "topical" storyline involves his partner Eileen and her Streetcars colleagues Lloyd Mullaney and Steve McDonald.

The repercussions see Paul's relationship with Eileen change forever, and also affects Eileen's friendships with her co-workers.

As previously reported, there are tough times ahead for Roy Cropper as his emotions over his estranged father's death send him on a downward spiral, while the ongoing rivalry between Carla, Rob, Tracy and Peter will play out for a long time to come

[tammyy2j]

Coronation Street producer Stuart Blackburn has strongly dismissed reports of problems at the show, insisting that the long-running soap is "doing fine".

Corrie was triumphant in the Soap and Continuing Drama category at the House of Fraser BAFTA Television Awards last night (May 10), taking the title for the second consecutive year. However, the victory followed some negative press attention surrounding the programme's ratings and upcoming cast exits.


Speaking afterwards at the BAFTA press conference, Blackburn commented: "The stories about Corrie not doing very well have to be put into perspective. Apart from, I think it was two weeks in December and the Live Week, we've been about a million ahead of EastEnders every week, every month, for the last two years - we're doing fine.

"The thing is, all viewing figures are down. I don't watch television now - not live, I just go home and Sky+ it or whatever - so that's why the figures are down, but we've probably got the same amount of viewers as before.

"So we always knew we were doing well - but I don't feel any pleasure in beating EastEnders, because I know how hard they work and there's some good people there. I'm just delighted we've won it twice on the trot."

Coronation Street has averaged 7 million in the overnight ratings so far this year, down around 800,000 on the same period in 2014. The show is now gearing up for a busy few months with a devastating fire, a live episode, and guest appearances from Sarah Harding and Paddy McGuinness.

Asked about the celebrity signings, Blackburn added: "Obviously getting names in is great, but Coronation Street has a long history of doing that - Peter Kay was in the show and that worked out.

"Paddy's in for about five eps and… look at his CV - it's fantastic, and if anyone's seen [2009 BBC TV movie] Freefall, Sarah Harding did a really good job.

"But this [BAFTA win] is about the cast we've got now - the full-time cast - and these guys could grace any genre and any drama, and it's proven when some of them leave the show - people like Sarah Lancashire, these are good people."