Corrie must axe this tasteless plot before sickened fans switch off for good

CORONATION Street bosses must axe this upcoming tasteless Toyah Battersby storyline before it begins on screen – or face losing even more viewers.

The Sun exclusively revealed how bosses have come up with the grim story that Toyah Battersby had a secret baby after she was raped in 2001 – with them being stillborn.

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And Toyah, played by Georgia Taylor, 44, will now find out the land is set to be dug up and fears her secret will be discovered.

And to add to all of this Toyah was seen being spoken to about the morning after pill by a doctor in the aftermath of her rape.

Are we seriously meant to believe that Toyah just decided against it? And that she didn’t notice she was pregnant?

Or that once she did she didn’t confide in the people who helped nurture her back to full strength after her ordeal?

If there’s one hard rule soaps should stick to – don’t insult your audience.

Predictably, the backlash has been swift and brutal.

Fans have practically queued up to voice their disgust while even Corrie icons have spoken out about it.

Vicky Entwistle, who played Toyah’s mum Janice in the soap, slammed it on Twitter writing: “Well we tried to make our moments as real as they could possible be, didn’t we Bruce?!

“I guess we failed. Who knew [that] digging up dead babies would become the highlight of ITV’s tea time slot!!!”

Fans joined her with one writing: “This Toyah story that’s been announced for #Corrie is absolutely repulsive. It’s like they’re actively trying to make this soap as repellent as possible.”

A second said: “It may very well be Corrie’s worst concept and possibly one of the worst concepts in soaps.

“How obsessed with trauma do you have to be to retcon a woman to have a baby with a rapist AND reveal the baby died?”

Another added: “Hoping the new producer axes the storyline when she arrives next month.”

I fear that this story is too grim for the cobbles where darkness is being embraced.

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We’ve only just got shot of Weatherfields two resident gangsters in brothers Damon Hay and Harvey Gaskell, and now we’re immediately being thrust into even more grim storylines.

Coronation Street has always been at its best when it balances light and shade.

The darkness of a serial killer terrorising the cobbles with the light – and savagely witty – humour of beloved characters.

But that doesn’t seem to exist any more. In its place we’ve had the truly awful Stephen Reid serial killer storyline being “balanced” by scenes of the equally awful Gemma Winter stuffing her face and speaking.

Corrie boss defends dark plots amid fan backlash

ITV drama boss John Whiston recently defended the soap’s current state to the Guardian.

“Coronation Street is, and always has been, a mixture of characters you love, earthy humour and stories that matter such as the current Liam bullying storyline or the Lauren grooming storyline.

“The show is proud to explore important contemporary issues such as these and our audience research shows that viewers really appreciate these stories and believe we deal with them in an engaging but responsible way. 

“Which is why Coronation Street continues to be the most-watched soap on British TV.”

And while that’s true – Corrie is the most-watched soap on British TV – it’s still lost millions of viewers in the last few years.

Storylines that insult viewers sensibilities and their intelligence just like this one won’t help reverse that.

In fact I fear if it isn’t urgently pulled the damage will be too great to come back from and more viewers will switch off.

And they won’t come back.

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