Six of Coronation Street's best-known female characters carry the action in a special episode on Monday, November 9, as they come together for an emotional night on the cobbles. Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) is set to spend the evening with her "angels" and best friends Bernie Alahan (Jane Hazlegrove), Abi Webster (Sally Carman-Duttine), Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor), Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins) and Glenda Shuttleworth (Jodie Prenger).
A Night of Memories Takes an Emotional Turn
What begins as a supposedly raucous night of female bonding soon takes an emotional turn. As Debbie continues her battle with early-onset dementia, she invites her friends over and empties a plastic crate onto the carpet, revealing hundreds of photographs taken over the years. She explains that she needs their help to put together a photo book for her son Carl Webster's (Jonathan Howard) 40th birthday. But the trip down memory lane soon descends into chaos as the women's own personal dramas and traumas come to the surface.
There is plenty of bickering and banter, but beneath the comedy is a celebration of the friendships that have helped define Corrie across its 66-year history.
Cast Reflect on Female Friendships
Express.co.uk was exclusively invited to a preview of the episode, where the actresses discussed the special with producer Kate Brooks. The screening was preceded by a montage celebrating six decades of Weatherfield's iconic women, which prompted an emotional response from the cast and underlined the importance of the female friendships at the heart of the soap.
For Brooks, giving these women the space to tell their stories was particularly important. "What makes Corrie so special for me are these really strong northern, funny, complicated, messy women who you know and love," she said. "When you look back on those women over the course of 66 years, every single era has these real standout characters."
Brooks added: "I look at my friends and my friendship groups, and I'd be lost without them. So not having those same female friendships on screen, I think, would be really remiss of us because it's so vitally important to me, and it's vitally important to my family."
"There are characters on screen who adore each other. They fall out. It's messy. It's hard to watch at times. But there's a real love there, and a real understanding that we're all going through something at any given point. You need to rally and look after each other because if you don't do that, that's when you fall apart."
Actresses Share Personal Connections
That sense of solidarity is something the actresses recognise from their own lives on set. Sally Dynevor admitted she was moved by the montage of the show's female stars, past and present. "I felt so emotional watching the montage. To be a part of that, it just makes my heart sing to watch all those women over the years. Some have passed away, some have moved on, some have gone on to do amazing things, and I am proud of us women. When Kate told us about this episode, I was absolutely thrilled because, as women, sometimes in the green room, there's a lot of young people, and then suddenly we all pop out of our dressing rooms, sit round the table, have a cup of tea and tell each other our problems."
"You know what you're going through, whether it's the menopause or something else. It's really beautiful to capture something like that on screen. It's so important to be able to talk to each other, especially in this day and age, with everything that's going on in the world. To be able to talk to each other is really special."
For Sue Devaney, the episode also represents something of a full-circle moment. Having joined the soap as a teenager, she remembers looking up to the women who had already made their mark on the cobbles. "When I first started in Corrie when I was 16, I looked up to those strong northern actors. I remember thinking, 'Oh, I might be like Julie Goodyear one day.' It's lovely because I'm actually doing it now. I'm part of a group working with these wonderful, strong women actors. It's lovely to be part of it."
"What's nice in our profession as well is that it's very rare that you get to do this. I've been lucky because I've done shows like Calendar Girls, which is all women, and Mamma Mia, which is women-led. So to come back to Corrie and do an episode with all women, with my mates, is just amazing. And I'm doing it with my best mates as well."
A Celebration of Women on Screen
Sally Carman-Duttine, who plays Debbie's former sister-in-law Abi, likened the experience of filming the episode to "watching birds fly in formation". "There's always one at the front, and there's always one at the back, sort of supported by the ones at the front. It felt like that. It felt like I was at the back, just watching these powerhouses smash it, and I got to be a little part of it. I absolutely couldn't have been happier. I was just like, yay, big old yay."
For Jodie Prenger, the episode was a chance to celebrate the kind of female storytelling she grew up watching. "I grew up with these women, and we watched these women to make us feel seen in a way. I love it when you see women who are flawed, who are funny, who are brave, who are silly, who are heartbroken. I think it's so vital."
"Floods and fires and car crashes are great, but for these women, what's going on in their lives is just as important. I think it's vital to tell these stories because it's a beautiful thing, in a very traumatic way."
One of the show's newest additions, Amy Robbins, was delighted to discover she was going to be part of "the angels". "I'm relatively new to it all. We stood doing a scene, and I have never laughed so much. I remember thinking, 'I don't think I've ever met a group of women like this.' I've got a lot of sisters and a lot of females in my family, and I come from a big family. But I've never been with women like this in a professional environment where we've all got a similar sense of humour."
"They're all just lovely people, good, kind, funny people. So to spend two or three days doing this episode, it's like coming home. It's honestly one of the best things I've ever enjoyed."
While the episode offers a chance to see some of Corrie's best-known women take centre stage, the events also mark a turning point for several characters, with repercussions set to play out for months to come. Coronation Street is on ITV and ITVX Monday to Friday at 8.30pm.
