Corrie legend slams soap

The modern-day Coronation Street has too much sex in it and is promoting underage promiscuity, a former Street legend has claimed.

11:03 26 September 2005

The modern-day Coronation Street has too much sex in it and is promoting underage promiscuity, a former Street legend has claimed.

Jean Alexander, who will forever be synonymous with the hairnetted Hilda Ogden, slammed ITV bosses for some of their recent sexy storylines and insisted that she would never return to the soap.

"I don't like so much emphasis on sex and I also wish there was more fun in Coronation Street," she told the Manchester Evening News.

"There used to be so much more comedy. Whereas a storyline would usually be played out within three weeks, today certain storylines seem to drag on forever."

Her comments come after fans were gripped by the underage sex scandal that saw Sarah Louise Platt, played by Tina O'Brien, become a schoolgirl mum, while 15-year-olds Rosie Webster and Craig Harris are set to get it on later this year.

But ITV bosses have hit back at the 78-year-old's comments, claiming that the show is designed to entertain a modern audience.

"We don't subscribe to Jean's opinions. Every week 12 million people across the country tune in to be entertained by the drama in Coronation Street," an ITV spokeswoman said.

Hilda was recently voted by readers of the TV Times as the soap's most popular character, but her agent Joan Reddin confirmed that she has no intention of returning to Weatherfield.

"It wouldn't work if [Hilda] came back," she said.