Coronation Street is riding high thanks to gripping storylines and a clutch of top TV awards. Good news for the man in charge, Phil Collinson. David Henry spoke to him.

Being the producer of Coronation Street is a bit like being manager of the England football team. You’re constantly dealing with the latest issues involving your star names, your every move is scrutinised by the media and millions of fans have an opinion on how you’re doing and are not shy about expressing it.

Phil Collinson, the man tasked with creative control of Corrie, should meet up with Harry Redknapp. He could advise the Tottenham Hotspur manager on whether he should make himself available to the Football Association.

But Phil uses another sporting comparison to describe his job. “It’s like being an Olympic athlete,” he laughs. “I go to the gym a lot because you need to be fit. It’s very busy.”

As he approaches his second anniversary at the helm of Britain’s longest-running TV soap, the 40-year- old has a schedule so hectic it rivals any football manager’s.

He spends the working week at Granada’s Manchester studios overseeing everything from casting decisions to budget meetings. He has Friday night and Saturday to himself but by Sunday he’s back at work. Most weeks he has 15 scripts to read before Monday morning. These are the gruelling demands on your time when you run a TV institution.

“It’s a tough job”, says Phil. “There are a lot of different responsibilities. But I really enjoy it. I was a fan of Coronation Street before I started working on it so it really is a privilege.”

Corrie producers change at an even faster rate then England football managers. Most bosses last two years then leave. So is Phil coming to the end of his time in charge?

“The show is moving to Salford Quays next year. That’s a very big move for us. I’ll see that through as producer. So that takes me into the middle of next year. I can’t see beyond that at the moment,” he says.

“I’m happy to be creatively leading the show and still think I’ve got more stories to tell.”

And why would he leave when things are going so well? The soap is riding high in the ratings, thanks to Becky McDonald’s dramatic departure and the rape trial of Frank Foster, and it’s picking up plenty of prizes at awards ceremonies, too.

Last month Corrie was crowned best soap at the National Television Awards. And it also won at the Broadcast Magazine Awards, voted for by industry insiders.

“It was lovely to win a National Television Award because they are voted for by the public. It’s a great endorsement of the programme. Then to get industry recognition is great, too. It means we’ve been recognised by the public and our peers,” Phil says.

It’s vindication for the producer who last summer faced a barrage of criticism. Fans began to question the direction the show was taking and stories starting appearing in the national press claiming – incorrectly – that ratings were down. Phil took to the airwaves in defence of the Street.

“I gave a couple of interviews. I wanted to defend my work and the people who work so hard to put out five episodes a week.”

But the criticism did prompt some searching questions. “We took a good hard look at what we were doing. Perhaps we were too crime heavy. But, ultimately, you’ve got to trust your instincts and the instincts of the people around you.”

Now, with Corrie on a winning streak, Phil is keen to put the controversy behind him. Asked about criticism in the press that the programme has too many gay characters, he says he “doesn’t want to revisit that issue”.

Like managing the national football team, taking flak comes with the territory when you produce a soap. But Phil surprised many viewers by taking on his critics so publicly.
 
Despite gaining a high profile as a result of his public interventions, he says he dislikes the glare of publicity.

“I’ve consciously pulled back a bit,” he says. “I can’t bear the limelight, actually, but unfortunately it is a natural part of the job.”

He will, however reluctantly, step back into the spotlight again next week when he will be a guest speaker at an event at Manchester Town Hall run by the St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre.

Phil and his colleagues consulted the centre when they were plotting Frank Foster’s attack on Carla. When the attack was screened on Coronation Street last year, it was praised for its realism. Calls to the charity Rape Crisis increased by 800 per cent
following transmission. He’ll be speaking in a debate about the media’s portrayal of sexual assault.

“Coronation Street is not a public information film, it is a drama series, but we wanted to make it as accurate as we could,” says Phil. “This was a domestic rape and that is not something you see presented very often. I think that’s why it had such an impact.”

In a shock twist, the character was shown to have got away with the attack when his trial was screened last month. But the storyline is set to continue and the ramifications will be felt on the cobbles for a while yet, Phil promises.

Devising Frank’s comeuppance is just one of the storylines he’s plotting. Another major event coming up will be the death of barmaid Betty Williams. Phil is busy organising a fitting goodbye to the beloved character to be screened in April. Bill Kenwright, the theatre impresario and Everton football club chairman, is returning to the cobbles to reprise his role as Gordon, Betty’s son.

The death of actress Betty Driver last year at the age of 91 came as a surprise, despite her age. She’d played the Rovers stalwart for more than 40 years. Making sure she has the right send off is a serious responsibility.

“I loved Betty,” Phil says. “I laughed with her. She was very important to everyone who works on Coronation Street and everyone who watches the programme.

“We’re going to give her a good send off. We’ve come up with something I think is really delicious. She has taken a secret with her to the grave and it emerges in a beautiful way.”

A former producer on Doctor Who, Phil has worked on two of TV’s biggest shows but still remains ambitious. An adopted Mancunian, he’s originally from Leeds. He says he’d like to stay in Manchester where he feels “very settled”.

“It’s an exciting time for drama in the north west. There’s a lot of great work being done by people in this region.”

At the moment he’s happy in the big job he’s got.

But, with his experience of dealing with star egos, delivering regular results and winning prizes in the big competitions, perhaps Phil should look to the FA for his next challenge.

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