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Thread: Corrie Creator Tony Warren dies

  1. #1
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    Unhappy Corrie Creator Tony Warren dies

    Coronation Street creator and writer Tony Warren has died, it has been announced on the show's Twitter account.

    A message on Twitter said: "It's with great sadness that Coronation Street confirms legendary creator and writer Tony Warren, MBE has passed away."

    It's with great sadness that Coronation Street confirms legendary creator & writer Tony Warren,MBE has passed away. https://t.co/WhwInLMVaL



    In a statement, ITV said the 79-year-old had died following a short illness.
    It is with great sadness that Coronation Street confirms legendary creator and acclaimed writer Tony Warren MBE passed away peacefully last night (March 1) surrounded by his loving friends, aged 79, after a short illness.

    – ITV STATEMENT7



    RIP

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    R.I.P. Tony Warren, your creation has provided me with many years of entertainment.

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    RIP Tony Warren

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    I know we complain and criticise Corrie these days, but after 56 years it is still compulsive viewing for many and watched by millions. And let's not forget that when it was first aired way back in 1960, it was ground-breaking stuff. ITV was only five years old and much of television up to then had portrayed a comfortable middle class world. Tony Warren changed all that with his gritty drama of "ordinary" working class people that changed television for ever.

    R.I.P. Tony.

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    The soap world lost a true legend last night (March 1) as Coronation Street's creator Tony Warren passed away at the age of 79 following a short illness. Tributes have been pouring in for the groundbreaking writer, who devised the idea for Corrie when he was just 24.

    Widely considered one of the greatest minds in the business, Warren has helped to shape the landscape of British television. Here, we take a look back at some of his most notable achievements.

    1. Shining a light on the ordinary


    The seed for Coronation Street was planted when Warren was travelling on a train back to Manchester in 1959 and was struck with a sudden flash of inspiration. He was with BBC producer Olive Shapley, who later recalled the hilarious story:

    "At about Crewe, after a long period of silence, Tony suddenly woke me up saying, 'Olive, I've got this wonderful idea for a television series. I can see a little back street in Salford, with a pub at one end and a shop at the other, and all the lives of the people there, just ordinary things and...' I looked at him blearily and said, 'Oh. Tony, how boring! Go back to sleep'."
    Thankfully, Warren didn't listen and ploughed ahead with his vision, seeing the potential for a kitchen sink drama focusing on the lives of ordinary working people. He faced a similar battle with ITV managers, who felt the soap lacked proper drama compared to crime and adventure shows which were more common in the TV schedules. But Warren and Harry Elton, his boss at Granada, fought them all the way and earned a reluctant 13-episode commission.

    While US soaps have often focused on glitz and glamour, our most enduring serials in the UK have followed Warren's original blueprint of exploring the lives of everyday people.

    2. Using northern voices


    Coronation Street. Pat Phoenix (elsie Tanner) With Bill Roache (ken Barlow) And Peter Adamson (len Fairclough) In The Rovers Return
    © Rex Features Weekend Magazine
    Coronation Street has been credited for representing northern characters on screen for the first time, making a significant cultural impact when it brought northern language and dialect to the wider public's attention.

    This wasn't without its teething problems, with some southern viewers complaining they couldn't understand what Corrie's characters were saying when the show first launched in 1960. Fortunately, they soon got the hang of the "chucks" and "by 'ecks" and Corrie proved a speedy hit in the ratings.

    These days, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks have joined Corrie as well-loved soaps which are based in the north, employing hundreds of local people. We've also, of course, seen countless acclaimed northern-based TV dramas over the years too. No wonder, then, that Warren last year received a lifetime achievement award at the Salford Nations and Regions Media Conference, where he was credited for "helping to put Manchester and Salford on the cultural map".

    3. Creating strong female characters... and paving the way for more


    Julie Goodyear and Tony Warren
    © ITV
    Coronation Street's success has always hinged on its strong female characters, with Weatherfield originals Elsie Tanner and Annie Walker undoubtedly setting the tone for what was to come over the next 55 years. Warren masterminded the creation of all the original characters and even wrote the part of Annie with actress Doris Speed in mind, having worked with her before when he was a young actor on a radio play.

    Warren had grown up in a matriarchal community and drew on observations from his early life while creating the Street's early legends. Strong women and feckless men have populated Weatherfield ever since, with feisty characters like Bet Lynch, Vera Duckworth and Liz McDonald following in the footsteps of the originals and becoming TV legends in their own right.

    4. Bringing the TV soap genre to Britain

    Warren didn't invent the soap genre, as radio soaps like The Archers and US serials like As The World Turns pre-date Coronation Street. But it was Corrie that proved that a TV soap could have enduring appeal on British screens. The show was only commissioned for 13 episodes originally, but the quality of Warren's original scripts led to the show rising rapidly in the ratings and proving its worth as an ongoing series.

    EastEnders' longest-serving actor Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale) said it best today when he pointed out that there'd be no EastEnders, no Emmerdale and no Hollyoaks without Warren's legacy.

    5. Paving the way for LGBT representation

    Sean realises Todd's in love with someone else
    © ITV
    Warren was openly gay in his early years at Coronation Street, at a time when homosexuality was still illegal. In 2010, he spoke about the prejudice he faced from some writers at Corrie at the time. He explained that it only made him even more determined to stay true to himself - an attitude which no doubt inspired others:

    "On one occasion I sat there and listened and listened until I got to my feet and said, 'I have sat here and listened to three poof jokes, an actor described as a poof, a storyline described as too poofy, and I would just like to remind you that without a poof you wouldn't be in work'. One of them said, 'But Tony, we didn't mean you'. I said, 'You call my brothers, you call me'. I didn't know I felt so strongly until that moment, and from then on I never pretended to another soul that I was anything other than what I am."
    Warren has said that introducing a gay character would have been inconceivable when Corrie first launched in 1960. Instead he used the language of characters he met in Manchester's gay village when writing lines for the likes of Elsie Tanner.

    Warren himself acknowledged that Corrie was too slow to feature LGBT representation, only airing its first gay kiss in 2003. Asked in 2010 whether Corrie was "the queerest soap of them all", Warren replied: "Maybe now, yes. But we lagged disgracefully behind for a long time. But now, we're hopefully queer enough."

    6. Remaining involved 55 years later

    Tony Warren in 1998
    © Rex Shutterstock Hutchinson / Daily Mail
    Warren drifted to and from Coronation Street over the years and didn't always agree with the show's direction, but he was a consultant on the ITV soap until the day he died. And it wasn't just a vanity title, either - the show's producers actively sought his input into storylines and characters.

    In a series of 2010 interviews which coincided with the show's 50th anniversary, Warren confirmed that he met for lunch with then-producer Phil Collinson once a month to chat in-depth about every household and character. Much to his delight, he'd see their conversations affect what he watched on screen months later.

    And when Digital Spy asked whether he'd be present on set on the night of the 2010 live episode, his response was typically cheeky: "I'm around a lot more than people realise. You can bet your **** that I'll be on the set on the night!"

    Digital Spy

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    thank you and r.i.p

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    Tony Warren was a genius, I am not sure what he thought of the current state of the show, but he created a masterpiece. Watching the early episodes you realise what a genius he really was.

    The characters he created, Elsie, Ena,Minnie, Martha, Annie, Jack, Albert and Ken. The dialogue, the sets, we had seen nothing like it and without CS would we have had EE or Brookside? At least we have his genius on film, to watch and marvel over again and again.

    You will be with your Corrie mates now Pat, Violet and Doris. I can just picture Violet saying "what took you so long," with a rye smile. RIP.

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    Coronation Street creator Tony Warren is to be honoured by the British Soap Awards.

    The Outstanding Achievement Award (Off Screen) has been renamed the Tony Warren Award in his memory, reports the Daily Star Sunday. Warren sadly passed away last month after a short illness.

    "When Tony Warren created Coronation Street he also created an entire genre of British television drama. Everyone who works on the soaps today, and everyone who enjoys watching them, owes him so much," said Corrie's executive producer Kieran Roberts.

    This year's awards, to be held at London's Hackney Empire next month, will also see changes to the award for Best Dramatic Performance. There will now be a Best Male Dramatic Performance and a Best Female Dramatic Performance prize.

    Both awards will be decided by the awards panel, while the Best Actor and Best Actress prizes will return to being entirely voted for by the public. Last year, they were decided by a mix of panel and public votes.

    The long-list of nominations for this year's British Soap Awards will be released tomorrow (April 4).

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