Departing the Corrie cobbles

I suppose it was inevitable that Karl Munro's days on the Street were numbered, given that any potential future storylines were reversed up the back ginnel and left for dead. For the rather good John Michie, it's the end of the line and in the next few months, we will get to see whether or not the long arm of the law catches up with him. Or maybe Dev will BELLOW at him while pulling one of those macabre jovial faces. Or maybe Karl will just flee from the High Priestess of Beige and her mean-spirited, unlovable mother, Boria.

Within the next twelve months we will also be bidding farewell to both Tina and Hayley. Of late, Tina has been a little more bearable, possibly because she has been offset against the increasingly weird Gary and the perpetually whining Izzy. Compared to these two, every line of Tina's is pure slapstick. The character's departure is a long way off and yet there is already a feeling in some quarters that her farewell will somehow be baby-related. I'm not so sure, given that the kiddie will be nearly a year old by the time Tina packs her hooped earrings and flees. It seems unlikely that Gary will be hassling her for twelve months.

Hayley's the departure is the one most of us will be dreading. Why? Well, it wouldn't feel right or do justice to the character for her to do a runner with someone else. Which leaves the Grim Reaper and if we are never likely to see that red anorak again, here's hoping the PTB wring every emotional drop out of Hayley's goodbye. Jamming her in the back of a cab with a half-hearted 'cheerio' would not serve her well.

For me, forever swathed in the mists of nostalgia, the Corrie farewells of yesteryear were always an event. Elsie's 'ta-ra' in 1984 was over-the-top but ticked every box. The same can be said for Bet and her farewell rant a decade later. Of course, we all remember Alma's demise and Linda Baldwin's nasty little victory smirk! I always thought poor old Mavis Wilton was a bit short-changed though as, if my addled memory recalls, she disappeared part-way through an episode.


Other than gory over-the-top show-stopping deaths, which characters do you think got the best send-offs?

Are there any new, inventive and relevant ways in which Tina and Hayley can be sent packing?


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