Hope Stape-Brown

[Perdita]

Coronation Street​ has been accused of "trivialising" cancer with a "soft" storyline involving a child.

In the ITV soap, Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) and Tyrone's (Alan Halsall) 5-year-old daughter Hope has been diagnosed with ​neuroblastoma​neuroblastoma​, a form of the disease which affects 100 children every year and has a 67% survival rate.

Last Friday, the parents were told Hope's cancer had been cured and she was entering remission after just a couple of months of treatment.

Fiz and Tyrone hear the news about Hope's operation
© ITV
However, now real-life parents have come forward in anger at the apparent trivialising of the condition.

​Victoria Young and husband Rob, whose 3 year-old daughter Ruby has the same condition, have posted on their Facebook page fundraising for her, saying: ​"The whole thing has been a farce.

"Not only am I disappointed in this storyline I am disgusted and offended they have made it look like a walk in the park."

​But a Coronation Street spokesman defended the soap, stating: "We have not at any stage said Hope is cured at all. This is an ongoing story which has been researched thoroughly."​

[maidmarian]

Coronation Street​ has been accused of "trivialising" cancer with a "soft" storyline involving a child.

In the ITV soap, Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) and Tyrone's (Alan Halsall) 5-year-old daughter Hope has been diagnosed with ​neuroblastoma​neuroblastoma​, a form of the disease which affects 100 children every year and has a 67% survival rate.

Last Friday, the parents were told Hope's cancer had been cured and she was entering remission after just a couple of months of treatment.

Fiz and Tyrone hear the news about Hope's operation
© ITV
However, now real-life parents have come forward in anger at the apparent trivialising of the condition.

​Victoria Young and husband Rob, whose 3 year-old daughter Ruby has the same condition, have posted on their Facebook page fundraising for her, saying: ​"The whole thing has been a farce.

"Not only am I disappointed in this storyline I am disgusted and offended they have made it look like a walk in the park."

​But a Coronation Street spokesman defended the soap, stating: "We have not at any stage said Hope is cured at all. This is an ongoing story which has been researched thoroughly."​

h
I accept we do not know the ending of this
story yet- but I can understand the real -life
parents anger!
Soaps in general do make live threatening
illnesses of all kinds- seem easier than they
are.Probably becacuse the viewers couldn't
take the unvarnished truth.
Only the people with a real life loved one
-in that position can and do do that!

[LizzyBizzy]

I think the storyline has showed the limitations of Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) and Tyrone's (Alan Halsall) acting skills.

[Dazzle]

I think the storyline has showed the limitations of Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) and Tyrone's (Alan Halsall) acting skills.

Absolutely. Also, the writing for the storyline has been poor. It's been very simplistic and strangely emotionless. It appears to have been just a plot device to get Fiz and Tyrone into debt!

[swmc66]

I am glad there was a quick end to the storyline. I know it's upset some people but it was painful watching the storyline.....so bad acting I mean I did not feel sad for hope at any time or shed a tear for the parents that's how bad the acting was.

[Perdita]

So Hope is cured of cancer? No more worries??

[Dazzle]

So Hope is cured of cancer? No more worries??

I think she's in remission but they'll be keeping an eye on her for signs of the cancer returning.

[Perdita]

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/cor...inous-stories/

Coronation Street will be taking a different direction for Hope Stape in the future, with the soap's bosses deciding to swap the storylines that have focused on her being violent and manipulative for something a bit lighter.

Appearing on Loose Women earlier this week, executive producer Iain MacLeod said: "She's certainly not going to continue going down such a troubled path, in the short to medium to long-term. We thought: 'Actually, we've done some very dark and twisted things with that character, and okay that'll still be part of her, but for the next 12 months we're going to do normal pre-teen stuff.

"We're going to be building a friendship with her and Sam [Blakeman], that will verge on a very innocent pre-teen romance a little bit and they try to navigate those waters.

"Yes okay, it will always have a Hope twist on it because she's maybe wired a bit differently than most kids her age. She won't necessarily get help, but we'll see a more down-to-earth grounded side of her."

He explained that part of the reason for making this decision was that he didn't want to risk Hope actress Isabella Flanagan burning out, as he has plans for her to remain on the show for years and have her and Sam resemble a certain Byker Grove duo whose actors turned into popstars and TV presenters.

"I just think there's a risk with any character that's that brilliant ? and Isabella [Flangan] is such a good actress as well ? that you burn them out by having them doing too much big crazy stuff in a run. If we're lucky, God willing, we'll have her for years and years..." he continued.

"Hope and Sam, we're taking as our benchmark 'PJ and Duncan'. What if we can take these kids that are, like, 10 and grow them for a decade into this incredibly rich friendship?

"That's what we're hoping to do ? obviously both of those actors are so talented that they might very well be off to Hollywood by the time they're 14. But if we can keep them, we're trying to PJ and Duncan them up."