If you've ever wondered how Coronation Street gets its storylines to adhere to the law, wonder no more. Barrister Paul Dockery of Manchester's 18 St John Street Chambers is the adviser to Coronation Street’s script writers on the legal aspects of the show.
Paul said: “It all started about six years ago when I was chatting to my friend [Coronation Street archivist] Helen Nugent,” he relates. “It was the day after Les Battersby was in court and I was passing comment on some factual inaccuracies and she said they’d call me in for the next large legal story.”
Since then he's has been called upon to advise on some of Corrie's biggest storylines involving a string of murderers, kidnap and several assaults. Most recently he's helped scriptwriters on the saga facing Gail, who is facing trial for the murder of her husband Joe. “Everybody wants to know whether Gail gets convicted,” says Dockery. “Even judges in the magistrates’ court have asked me that question, but I can’t say.”
A perk of being the show’s legal adviser is that Dockery gets to appear as an extra. The first time he appeared on the soap he sat between characters Cilla Battersby and Norris Cole in the court gallery; in a later appearance he told Gail that her son must face trial for pushing her down the stairs. His first speaking part came when Corrie bad girl Tracy Barlow was sentenced to life for the murder of her boyfriend Charlie Stubbs. Tracy will reappear in the show in May as Gail’s cellmate.
“That would never happen in real life,” Paul says. “Gail’s on remand and Tracy has a life sentence, so they wouldn’t end up sharing a cell.”
Monday 29 March 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You might also like...
-
Here are the major storylines for the week ahead on Coronation Street, all wrapped up nicely in 50 words or less. Monday 1 April to Friday 5...
-
Wednesday 27th March 2024 DAISY HAS AN UNWELCOME VISITOR Jenny and Daisy are horrified when Christina texts to say she is coming to stay fo...
-
Monday 25th March 2024 DAMON WANTS TO GET THE JOB DONE Harry thanks Damon for his VR headset and gives him a hug. Damon apologises again for...
-
You might have heard of Elf on a Shelf (I hadn't, I have to admit). Well, now there's a Coronation Street version doing the round...
-
Kate will begin her role in April 2024 reporting to the newly appointed Executive Producer for Continuing Drama, Iain MacLeod, John Whiston,...
-
We've all been waiting for Samon (Darah?) to collapse around Sarah's ears, haven't we? Like David using the VR headset, Sarah is...
-
Friday 29th March 2024 GLENDA GETS SOME UNWELCOME VISITORS With Jenny heading off to a posh dinner with Rita and Daisy going away with Ryan,...
-
Billy is finding it hard - Paul will at some point want to end his life and Billy is concerned that each slight sign of decay will lead to t...
-
How has Steve been coping in the wake of Tracy’s affair as it was a bit of a double whammy for him, his wife didn’t just have an affair, she...
-
Here are the major storylines for the week ahead on Coronation Street, all wrapped up nicely in 50 words or less. Monday 25 March to Friday ...
3 comments:
exactly wot i thought about them sharing a cell-so wots the point of having a legal expert in when ytheyre not following his advice
Ther is no wayany jury could convict on solely circustantial evidence. Nobody was present at the time oif Jioe's death except Gail, but this has not been proved. Evidence given by Trace Barlow is only heasay ang it all stems on tnbe premise of the word of a convicted murderer against the word of a hitherto blamless woman.. I assume th judge did a summing up before sending the jury to consider its verdict. This was not seen on TV, but I am sure he would have directed the jury towards a Not Guilty verdict. In my opinion a Guilty verdict would be very unsafe, aand likely to be overturned by an appeal court
Having a consultant is no guarantee of either accuracy or believability. The stories come first, despite the research, as I know from painful example.
Post a Comment