Mary Taylor (Coronation Street)

Mary Taylor
Pattie Clare as Mary Taylor (2011).
Coronation Street character
Portrayed by	Pattie Clare
Introduced by	Kim Crowther (2008, 2009) Phil Collinson (2010)
Duration	2008—
First appearance	26 November 2008
Classification	Present; regular
Spin-off appearances	Coronation Street: A Knight's Tale
Profile
Date of birth	1974[1]
Residence	Weatherfield
Occupation	Unemployed (2010—) Newsagent (2009)
Family Husband Ray Gibbs (2001) Mother Maureen Taylor Romances Norris Cole

Mary Taylor (previously Gibbs), is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. played by Pattie Clare, made her first onscreen appearance on 26 November 2008 and departed on 15 May 2009 but returned in March 2010 and has appeared on the show ever since.^[2] The character of Mary was originally a guest character who appeared in November 2008, as a love interest for Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden). The character proved popular and was brought back in 2009 for another short stint.^[3] She was brought back full time in 2010.

Storylines

In 2008, Mary begins to visit Norris (Malcolm Hebden) more often. Norris' fellow lodger, Jed Stone (Kenneth Cope), enjoys flirting with her, but Mary only has eyes for Norris. Norris invites her to his home for Christmas. Near the end of January 2009, Mary returns, telling Norris they have won a motor home. Norris is pleased, but begins to be concerned about how far she wants to take their relationship. On 13 February 2009, in the Rovers, they say an awkward goodbye to each other, Mary is expecting a kiss or a hug from Norris, but gets nothing, leaving her devastated.

In March 2009, she returns and she asks Norris if he would like to go traveling, this leaves his friends Emily (Eileen Derbyshire) and Rita (Barbara Knox) unsure how they'd feel if he left. In April 2009, Mary tells Norris that her mother has died but she admits that she feels a sense of relief as she had been a very domineering woman. On 15 May 2009, she and Norris say goodbye, as she sets off to travel around the world. She drives off in the motor-home, but not before promising to keep in touch with Norris via postcards.

Norris begins doing competitions with Emily's niece Freda (Ali Briggs), and they both win £1,000. They get a picture taken before splitting the money and Freda leaves the Street. However, Mary reads it and returns to the Street and surprises Norris. After briefly meeting him, she goes up to Scotland, but returns a few days later. When Norris begins getting tired and needing a break, Mary suggests that she does some work in The Kabin so he can take a break.

Mary enters a competition for them and if they win, they would win a week at a cottage in the countryside. She manages to win it and persuades Norris to attend, which he later agrees to. Norris is delighted when Rita returns to Weatherfield and offers her to work for him again at The Kabin. She also offers to look after it when he goes away with Mary.

One of the nights of which Norris and Mary are at the cottage, she causes Norris to realise that she is trying to ensure that he cannot escape, and he even witnesses Mary mentioning the two of them married; a horrific thought for Norris. Norris becomes even more scared of Mary's antics when he hears her talking to her 'dead' mother who later transpires to be alive and well. Norris then calls the police and Mary is taken to the station for holding Norris captive against his will. However, just when Norris thinks he has evaded Mary, she is released from the police station and returns to Weatherfield to try and make amends with Norris who wants nothing more to do with her.She also has made several attempts to try and talk to Norris since the event but he has refused to listen. On May 10, 2010, she attends Blanche Hunt's (Maggie Jones) funeral and also tried to talk to Norris, however, he leaves to go to The Kabin. On 31 May 2010, she turns up at Gail Platt (Helen Worth)'s trial for the murder of Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale), and sits behind Norris in the court and again tried to talk to him. Mary and Norris quickly begin gossiping about the trial and are present for the duration, much to the annoyance of the Platts and Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan). On the day of the verdict she bets Norris five pounds that Gail would be found guilty.

She then formed, or forced - as some would say, a friendship of Hayley Cropper, upon finding out about her forthcoming marriage to Roy Cropper and offered her assistance with the preparations, but quickly began to hijack the situation - picking very expensive venues and dresses. Hayley tried to tell her to backdown but found it very difficult, much to Roy's annoyance.

On August 30, 2010, Mary was upset for not being invited to Roy and Hayley's wedding. She unbuckles the lock keeping Hayley's carriage on the steam train that they were traveling to the church in. Later, her motorhome was stolen, and she launched her own investigation, believing Gary Windass was responsible. Kylie Turner turned out to be the one responsible for the theft but the motorhome was returned the following morning to Mary's delight.

Creation and development

Casting

The character was introduced for a specific storyline as both herself and Norris have an obsession with entering competitions. Mary lives with and takes care of her disabled mother and uses the competitions as a way to enjoy life. Norris initially resents Mary, as she often beats him in competitions, but when they meet, they quickly become close, and Mary offers Norris one of the tickets she has won for a Cliff Richard concert.

In May 2009, it was reported that Mary had been axed form Coronation Street due to cost cuts but executives have denied reports that characters have been axed from the show in order to cut back on costs. Corrie producers this afternoon insisted that the departing characters were only ever intended to remain with the show for the duration of their ongoing storylines, which all happen to come to an end within the next few weeks. A show spokesperson said: "The affected actors were all involved in storylines that were due to run for a finite time. If every new character stayed in the show, the Street would be a little crowded to say the least."^[4] In September 2009, it was announced Patti Clare was to reprise her role as Mary Taylor. A spokesperson confirmed: "Mary will be back to rekindle her relationship with Norris."^[5]

Storyline development

Malcolm Hebden who plays Norris Cole said in an interview with the soap's official website, the star claimed that his friendship with Clare makes it easier to create chemistry and humourous moments when they film scenes as Norris Cole and Mary Taylor. Hebden commented: "I think when Patti and I get together it's comedy all the way. We love working together which is a good start for comedy. "Oddly enough, you can play a love relationship with someone you hate - I've done it - but comedy you can't do. So I love her to death and it helps with the comedy."^[6]

Pattie Clare revealed that she was obsessed with joining the cast of Coronation Street. She said: ""I used to write and write to the casting director asking for a job and he'd write back saying, 'Nothing doing at the moment'," she revealed. "I could really see myself in Corrie and was very persistent." She confessed that she had been so desperate to land a role that she had created a new character and written a scene for her. "So I wrote him a scene making up a character for myself called Cherise, who was to be Raquel's half-sister," she said. "She sat in the bar and didn't say anything and wore glasses and was quite dowdy and then Raquel gives her a make-over. "I thought it was brilliant, but he wrote back and said, 'No, no, no, no, no, it's not going to happen'." "I had a lot of theatre experience, but I'd wanted to go into television for a while. I was told I had to take a gamble for a year and turn theatre work down and sit it out," she explained. "It was terrible. I didn't do any acting for nine months so I worked in an office and the job came in the September."^[7]

Reception

Patti Clare was nominated for funniest performance at the 2010 and 2011 Inside Soap Awards.^[8] She lost out to Tameka Empson who plays Kim Fox in EastEnders in 2011^[9] Patti Clare won Best Comedy Performance at the British Soap Awards 2011.^[10]

See also

List of Coronation Street characters (2008)

References

1. ^ http://www.itv.com/soaps/coronationstreet/characters/m-pcharacters/marytaylor/
2. ^ http://www.itv.com/PressCentre/CoronationStreet/Ep5958Wk49/default.html
3. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a176623/patti-clare-to-make-corrie-comeback.html
4. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a155074/corrie-bosses-deny-character-cost-cuts.html
5. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a176623/patti-clare-to-make-corrie-comeback.html
6. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a193783/corries-hebden-praises-co-star-clare.html
7. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a267899/patti-clare-i-begged-for-a-corrie-role.html
8. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/scoop/a329296/in-full-inside-soap-awards-2011-nominees.html
9. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a342413/inside-soap-awards-2011-the-full-winners-list.html
10. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/news/a319276/british-soap-awards-2011-the-winners.html

External links

http://www.itv.com/soaps/coronationstreet/characters/m-pcharacters/marytaylor/