Sir Michael Parkinson has slammed ‘Coronation Street’ bosses for their violent and "gruesome" storylines.
The television icon has responded to recent scenes which saw villainous builder Pat Phelan [Connor McIntyre] kidnap and orchestrate the murders of Andy Carver [Oliver Farnworth] and Vinny Ashford [Ian Kelsey], and warned the ITV soap could lose its charm, with some viewers left uncomfortable watching the graphic deaths shown before the 9pm watershed.
Parkinson, 82, told RadioTimes magazine: l "I never imagined I would recoil from watching ‘Coronation Street’, but the storyline of the kidnapping and torture of Andy and Vinny and their brutal murder by Pat Phelan had little to do with that gentle, funny reminder of life in the North Country I discovered and so admired in the early 1960s when I joined Granada Television."
Parkinson claimed ‘Corrie’ had been a victim of its own success, and while he praised McIntyre’s acting chops in the role of murderous Phelan, Parkinson suggested it would have been better suited for another show.
He added: "Ironically, its overwhelming success carried seeds of change that would transform Tony Warren’s wonderful idea into a gold mine and sadly stimulated the beginnings of a change that allowed Pat Phelan to become a major player in a storyline more suited to a horror channel than a family show.
"The storyline is made even more shocking by Connor McIntyre’s performance as Phelan.
"His basilisk stare, the unnerving certainty of his murderous intent, is enough evidence of his ability to play a psychopath and worthy of a series about this murderous nutter – hopefully, far away from ‘Coronation Street."
Michael Parkinson blasts Corrie’s brutal plots
