Obviously, as a writer for this blog, I know all sorts of stuff about forthcoming plotlines on Corrie. I hear who's had their contract renewed and hasn't, who's going to be introduced to the Street. I read these things but there's a part of me that wishes I didn't.
Right below this post, for example, is a piece about the forthcoming fire in the Rovers. I know it's going to happen - so do you - so does everyone. ITV are plugging it, the actors are tweeting it, it's all over the magazines. The only element of mystery is "who will die?", even though we all know Shobna Gulati's leaving.
Even the question "who will die?" is a spoiler. Imagine if you turned on the show and, bloody hell, the Rovers went up in flames! And then Sunita got trapped in the cellar! Imagine how tense you'd be, how nervous, how thrilled.
It just doesn't happen any more. Even if you don't read the blogs, or watch the previews on Daybreak, you catch the cover of Inside Soap or All About Soap in Tesco's and get to see Will Sunita Live? in 30 point font all over a picture of a burning pub. Trust me, it happens; my partner doesn't catch many of these spoiler sites, and sometimes he'll come up to me in the supermarket and say "Is Stella really a man?" I've managed to keep the Rovers fire off his radar so far, but it's a hell of an effort; it's like having a part-time job.
It means that sometimes the smaller, unheralded plots end up being more satisfying. Take Roy's little casino sojourn; that wasn't catnip to Jaci Stephen so we heard nothing about it. It meant there was a bit of tension and a few laughs. It was fun because it was unexpected.
I'll still read all the spoilers of course, because I'm incredibly weak willed and I can't stop myself. Basically what I want is for the internet and television to just stop. Is that too much to ask?
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