Corrie writer reveals scripting process

Coronation Street writer Jonathan Harvey has revealed details of the scriptwriting process on the show.

The 42-year-old playwright, who has also penned upcoming anniversary theatre production Corrie!, told Metro that different writers on the ITV soap have different favourite characters.

Harvey said: "There are 18 writers and we meet every three weeks for two days. Together, we plan 15 episodes of the show. We each write an episode each.

"People tend to pitch ideas for their favourite characters. I liked Blanche, who died earlier this year, which was a real loss to the show, and I like Norris and Mary. They're fantastic."

Quizzed about which stories he came up with, he replied: "I joined in 2004 and I co-created the character of Tony Gordon, who came in to run the factory, then started killing people.

"I've done lots of incidental camp comedy storylines along the way, such as Jason Grimshaw winning Mr Gay Weatherfield. It's been six years and you have to come up with stories every three weeks so I'm hard-pushed to remember what's mine."

Asked how new characters are conceived, Harvey said: "With Tony Gordon, it was because Carla's husband had died and it was a question of doing something with her. I suggested giving her a new man who turns out to be a psychopath, which led to bigger stories."