Corrie - tara chuck

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youtube have removed the clip - arses to them! Still, about 5000 people saw it before that happened, so no worries really.

I'll add the higher quality avi to the private downloads section

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VIGIL IN WAKE OF OUR VERA'S DEATH
02 February 2008
www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk


Regulars gathered at the Spiders Web Pub, Grimsby, to toast beloved Vera Duckworth in a wake to coincide with her funeral. She died in her Coronation Street home on Friday, January 18, between 7.45pm and 8pm on ITV. There were about 12.5-million witnesses. Although an inquest is yet to be opened, paramedics at the scene say the resident of the famous fictional cobbled street died of heart failure.

One of the wake's organisers, Jeni Newby, of May Street, Grimsby, said: "We all saw her die on the television. After that we were talking about it and thought it would be a bit of fun to watch the funeral together and drink to her memory."

Regulars gathered for the tragic occasion before the television in the Carr Lane pub to see Mrs Duckworth's body finally being laid to rest. All customers were reminded to dress in black for the occasion, and flowers were laid to rest around the late Mrs Duckworth's coffin - which previously housed a golf club.

Jenni said: "It was really quiet in the pub during the time the funeral was being broadcast. You could have heard a pin drop."

Licensee Mandy Wells said appropriate refreshments were available: "We know Jack Duckworth had cheap champagne to toast his late wife so we made sure we had the same brand. We also had to have the hot-pot after the main event. It was just a bit of fun really - a joke between us all that kind of snowballed.

Jeni said: "It's a bit of a send-up of people who take soaps too seriously. We all had a great time. I don't think we'd do it for another soap character."

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Liz Dawn's battle against lung disease
Coronation Street star reveals how years of smoking has taken its toll
By Paul Robinson
CORONATION Street legend Liz Dawn today - Monday - gives a moving insight into the toll that chronic lung disease has taken on her life. Leeds-born Liz was recently forced to quit her role as Corrie's loveable loudmouth Vera Duckworth because of the effects of emphysema. And in an interview to be screened by ITV1 on Monday evening, she tells how the disease cast a shadow over her final weeks and months on the show that made her famous.

Speaking to Sir Trevor McDonald's Tonight programme, 68-year-old Liz says: "You know you're not right. You only have to see steps and you have a trauma. And I don't walk a long way. It's if you have to do things over and over again and especially the cobbles. The cobbles on that street, honestly! We could do three rehearsals and two takes and, honestly, I'd be sat on the steps in one of the houses. I couldn't get my breath."

Her physician, meanwhile, says Liz would be dead by now if she had not kicked her 50-year smoking habit around the time she was diagnosed with emphysema. The actress gave the Tonight cameras access to Professor Ashley Woodcock after agreeing to take part in a special edition of the show to try to raise awareness of the disease.

Prof Woodcock says: "Liz came to me about five years ago really pretty desperate. At that point she could walk just a couple of yards ... she was in a really bad way. She'd smoked a lot of cigarettes in
her life and she came along with lung function that was very poor. Stopping her smoking was really critical and she did that ... which has been great because she wouldn't be here now ... if she hadn't stopped. We've been able to stabilise her lungs, and in fact give her some improvement by effective medical treatment."

Millions of fans watched last month as Liz took her final bow on Corrie after 34 years playing Vera. The character was found dead at home in an armchair by husband Jack after suffering a heart attack.

Burmantofts-raised mum-of-four Liz, a tireless off-screen charity worker, says: "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. My biggest problem was trying not to breathe. If you notice, Jack threw his overcoat over me, which made it easier."

Liz Dawn - Fighting For Breath: Tonight goes out on ITV1 at 8pm.

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I'll see if I can find this doc and post it...

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Corrie legend Jack Duckworth to quit street
By Matthew Acton

CORRIE legend Bill Tarmey is to Jack it in after 30 years playing the Street’s best-loved rogue.

The popular star has told bosses he will quit as Jack Duckworth after he reaches the landmark anniversary next year. His departure follows the break-up of Britain’s greatest soap double act when on-screen wife Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth, left earlier this year.

Last night a pal said Bill, 67. had told bosses that he would sign a new one-year deal in the autumn but it will be his LAST. “He wants to get to three decades in Corrie, which is a huge achievement. Bill’s not getting any younger and wants to enjoy retirement. He’s got a place in Tenerife and is looking forward to being out there,” added the pal. “He is not in the best of health and does find the workload on Corrie very tiring.”

The £180,000-a-year star has made slacker Jack Duckworth into one of soap’s most enduring characters. He first appeared in the Street in November 1979, when Vera dragged him to Brian and Gail Tilsley’s wedding—only to have him sneak off for a pint.

Together they provided classic Corrie moments. He briefly owned his beloved Rovers, and in another memorable storyline he was arrested for unwittingly growing pot on his allotment. nd millions tuned in to see Jack say an emotional goodbye to Vera when she died in January. But Bill himself has been dogged by ill-health in real life for years. He suffered a stroke at 36 and was given ten years to live after a heart bypass in 1986.

He needed another bypass in 2002 and had to be brought back to life when his heart stopped after the eight-hour op. But Bill always refused to give up smoking and has no regrets. He once said: “If I die tomorrow, they’ll have to prise the smile off my face because I’ve had such a good life.”

A Corrie source told us they were still hoping they could get him to stay on—at least to the show’s 50th anniversary in 2010. But he added: “If Bill decides to go he will be hugely missed. He has been a huge part of the show for many years.”

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He's been great for sure, the sketch where he pretended to be a female lawn-green bowler has me laughing just thinking about it.

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Coronation Street legend to make a comeback from beyond the grave

ITV is rolling out the latest in computer-animated technology for a very special cameo appearance in, er, Coronation Street. Corrie legend Vera Duckworth is set to come back from beyond the grave to haunt long-suffering hubbie Jack. The Sun quotes one 'insider' comparing the plans to the Bobbie Ewing resurrection in Dallas. Let's hope there are no showers involved this time around.

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Well it was pretty good in the end. I'd forgotten that it was all happening last night, so it came as a surprise, but it was well done and actually enjoyable.