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Hello and welcome to A Slice Of Soap. Time to find out what's going on in soap-land over the next few days. Here we go... Coronation Street w/e July 18 Isn't it funny the way the Corrie writers are turning Carla's Tony into the JR Ewing of Weatherfield? JR loved power - but he also loved women. Is it possible that at some point in the future Tony's gonna stray? It wouldn't surprise me because he's already getting more screen action than Liam. Remember Liam? Anyway, the Tony v Kevin storyline is intensifying. Steve is still trying to avoid Michelle who is becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of a proposal. Lloyd confides in Eileen who tells him that he should tell Michelle that Steve has no plans to propose. But in the meantime an increasingly under pressure Steve has now proposed to a delighted Michelle. Ken surprises Roy by resigning. Blanche says it's because he was too embarrassed to admit his current occupation to his uni friends. Elsewhere, Dev is also wanting more out of life but doesn't know where to start. Lloyd inadvertently drops Steve right in it; Michelle plans to make her other half sweat and see just how far he will go with his little charade. Tyrone tells Dev that he wants to propose to Molly. Dev tries to get Tony to play golf with him but Tony isn't interested. Tyrone books a swanky restaurant for his big moment but things don't go quite to plan. Tony gives Sean his job back and tells him that it was Rosie's idea. Sally and Rosie are getting increasingly annoyed at Kevin's paranoia about Tony. Also on Coronation Street this week: Mel is still furious at Teresa Molly's aunt turns up and gets on Bet's bad side Rosie is enjoying her new found power at Underworld Big news for Emmerdale; Pop Idol's Gareth Gates has said he wouldn't mind starring in the rural soap: "I have almost been in it before," he said. "I went for an audition years ago but sadly it never came to anything. But you never know what the future holds." Wow! Can he even act? But then again, sometimes that doesn't matter in soaps...On to this week's action and Donna discovers that Freddie may have been sighted. Viv becomes desperate to find the money to pay Rebecca and is driven to cashing in the twins savings. Jo begins her first day at the Woolpack and soon steals the attention of the punters making both Jasmine and Andy jealous. Jo wakes up in the barn to find her arm covered in bruises. Andy says she must give up her job at the Woolpack, but will Jo listen to her husband's orders? Bob and Viv share a picnic with the twins and she makes an emotional confession that she shared a kiss with Freddie and that she was blackmailed by Louise; Bob reacts angrily. Terry is starting to regret allowing the factory to operate in the B&B's basement. Bob confronts Louise about blackmailing Viv. Perdy is thrilled when Katie asks if she would be willing to look after the baby when it is born so she can return to work full time. Also on Emmerdale this week: Anna befriends the Dingles and invites them to Donald's party Nicola gets a call from a publisher raving about Rodney's book Louise and Jamie return from their holiday content and loved up I've tried really hard, but I'm still not enthralled by the adventures   of The Mitchell Sisters; I just can't warm to them at all and I can't put my finger on why. They just bore me to tears. This week, the focus is on Dawn who is struggling with life in a B&B. Sean and Roxy are back and are all loved up, but Roxy's shocked when she receives a call from Peggy. Bianca is concerned about how Whitney has got £5000. Actually, concerned is probably putting it lightly... Jase is taking mystery calls. Billy's hoping business will boom but a spider ruins his and Charlie's luck. Yes, you read that right - a spider. We should all just accept that Billy is never going to be lucky or happy and save the EastEnders writers years of desperate storylines for him. Roxy's moved in with the Slaters but it isn't going to be easy for her. Dawn makes a U-turn and accepts fiancé Jase's money – she wants to live in luxury. Darren makes life comfortable for himself by playing off both Dawn and Jase. Ronnie loses her locket and her dignity down a U-bend and she's got a hangover from hell, but she's also on a mission of revenge. Without Roxy and her locket, she is feeling lost. Billy is in the firing line for compensation for nearly killing Charlie. Dawn's gone cash mad and is soon throwing a lavish house warming while Jase secretly slips out to do one last job. Also on EastEnders this week: Bianca's guardian angel drops off yet another gift Dawn is worn out by living on the breadline Mo's on the warpath Hollyoaks w/e July 18 Jack's struggling to cope with his mounting debts and doesn't know what to do next. Niall's enjoying sharing a flat with John Paul and suggests that they make it more of a permanent arrangement. He can't help worrying that Kieron will ruin his plans when he admits he still loves John Paul and wants to see him. Newt's manic and wants Eli to leave, convinced the longer he stays around, the more chance there is of people realising it was them who targeted the village. Newt's behaviour becomes even more erratic, resulting in him losing the one true friend he has when he tells Lauren to get out. Life at the McQueens' is awkward with the overnight arrival of John Paul and Myra's still hurt by his relationship with Kieron. Elliot and Eamon strike up an unlikely friendship, with Elliot determined to defend and support Kris to his dad. A desperate Jack leaves a heart-wrenching voicemail for Frankie, before making a shocking decision. Kris and his father finally meet, but Eamon refuses to accept him for who he is, so there's no point hanging around. Kieron tells Myra that he loves John Paul, and they're staying together - no matter what. When Frankie and Steph return, Darren struggles with his emotions and fails to tell Frankie about Jack's fake death. With Steph there, he can't confess the truth about their awful lie. Frankie insists Darren tells her exactly what happened and as he recounts his story, the enormity of the lie hits home. Darren's sent into a panic when Frankie insists she wants to see Jack's body... Also on Hollyoaks this week: On result day, the students all anxiously wait to find out their fate Newt and Darren reach an uneasy understanding A lonely and drunk Eamon leaves Hollyoaks for good Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks

Hello and welcome to Wednesday's edition of A Slice Of Soap. As fans, we get used to characters coming and going. But in some cases, they come back again. The less said about Dirty Den's Lazarus-type rise from the dead in EastEnders, the better. But in Coronation Street, it appears that boring bookmakers Harry and Dan Mason (played by Jack Ellis and Matthew Crompton) are being axed to make way for the return of Ken Barlow's bad boy bigamist son, Peter. He's played by Chris Gascoyne. I don't know about you, but I loved seeing Terry Duckworth (played by Nigel Pivaro) return - even if it was for the sad occasion of Vera's funeral. If only he'd make a more permanent return; it would give Jack Duckworth something to do. He really is half the character he was without Vera nagging at him. A shame (impossible to replace Vera). Can you imagine how good it would be to have the dynamic of Jack and Terry again? Anyway, back to Peter Barlow and the actors who play the father and son bookies were apparently shocked when they were told they are being written out of the show after less than a year. Matthew Compton reportedly said: "It was horrible. It's like splitting up with someone when you don't want to. You feel sick - just like being dumped." It's unfortunate for them that they're bearing the brunt of the inadequacy of the Corrie writers - neither character really convinced and their chemistry with each other wasn't the best either. Harry might've worked if he'd arrived alone to be the new factory boss - a kind of Mike Baldwin replacement (although Bradley Walsh as Mike's son Danny was perfect). Peter has caused dad Ken, played by William Roache, a lot of trouble over the years with his criminal activities. He married Rovers Return barmaid Shelley while already secretly married to florist Lucy, with whom he'd had a baby. Peter returned to the soap briefly last year for Tracy Barlow's murder trial. He will be back on The Street in October. Well, if he's stopping at No 1, it's going to be pretty crowded in there... Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks That's it for now. Join me on Friday for more soap news and gossip. Got a comment about your favourite soap, this blog or anything else? Share it with me.

Hello and welcome to another week of A Slice Of Soap. So, what will be going on in soap-land in the next few days? Here we go... Rosie-haters, she's gonna give you more ammunition this week; wait until you see what she does next. I'm still reeling from Becky and Roy's fight last week - that was really hard to watch and that, as far as I'm concerned, is the kind of real drama that Corrie does so well. Anyway, Tony is still determined to buy the garage off Kevin (don't do it Kev!) and resorts to underhand tactics with Rosie to try and get his own way. Eileen's got a house full of lodgers and asks Becky what her plans are. Sean is enjoying being the breadwinner while Marcus investigates college courses, but he loses his job. Liam meets up with his cousin Tom to discuss business options. Lloyd is uncomfortable about Becky working behind the bar and tells her he thinks she should quit before Steve returns. Sally is annoyed at Teresa for throwing cigarette butts onto her conservatory roof. Steve arrives back only to be faced with his supposed plans to marry Michelle and also the presence of Becky in the Rovers. Harry's Clarissa makes too many demands on Lloyd and Deirdre is unhappy with Ken. Steve blames Lloyd for the mess he's in. Also on Coronation Street this week: Ken's reunion depresses him  Teresa leads convalescent Sinbad/Jerry astray Rosie sells her parents down the river Ever watched an episode of Hollywoodoaks and thought you could do better than some of the actors? Well, viewers are being offered a unique opportunity to win a guest appearance in the soap, £1,000 in cash and the chance to take part in Liverpool's Capital of Culture closing ceremony: find out more here. It's been a highly dramatic couple of weeks in Hollywoodoaks (as I've dubbed it). Tina and Dom want to keep baby Max after all. Justin gets caught up in Leila's plans to get Ravi and Nancy together. Nige discovers that Steph's flat is empty and orders Sasha to help him break in. O.B. struggles to write Max's eulogy as Steph makes the final arrangements for the funeral. She is distraught when she discovers she's been burgled. Calvin and Val have a heart to heart, and share an awkward kiss. It's the day of Max's funeral; Steph prepares to bury her husband and O.B helps Tom to get ready. The funeral procession including Darren, Jack, Tony and Dom escort Max Cunningham out of Hollyoaks Village for the final time. O.B. waves goodbye to his friends in the village, safe in the knowledge that Max is looking over them… Lauren returns from her Paris trip and pays Newt a visit. Russ is mooning over Caroline Also on Hollyoaks this week: Zak and Russ contemplate their future Alek returns and faces Carmel's fury Mike's thrown when his decree nici arrives in the post We recently said goodbye to Keith and Mickey Miller and now we know that at some point, we'll be waving Yolande off too. Question is, how will she go? Will Patrick force her hand by getting into Pat's knickers again? Will Yolande be killed off? My bet is that she'll want to go back home to the West Indies and Patrick will want to stay in Albert Square - something like that. Let's see what they do with her. On to the action and Peggy takes matters into her own hands and decides to take Ronnie to Dorset to find Roxy. Omigod, how pointless are the Mitchell sisters? They're the next lot that need to be written out of the show. Phil is determined to cut the apron strings…but will Peggy let him? Sean's temper flares as he tries to find out where Roxy is; Peggy and Ronnie are on their way to find Ronnie but things aren't going as smoothly as Peggy was hoping for and Phil makes his first encounter with Suzy Branning. Ronnie is stunned at seeing her father after all these years; Phil does Suzy another favour but she refuses to tell him anything. Sean tries to get Roxy to return to London with him. Also on EastEnders this week: Sean is desperate to track down Roxy Janet has a chest infection Dean continues to flirt with Roxy It's so sad to think that we'll never see Jack Sugden again - RIP Clive Hornby; you were magnificent. To the action and Lexi is stunned to overhear that Donald is leaving the business and calls Carl. Eli arranges a lunch with Gennie to discuss the misunderstanding over their kiss. Katie is unnerved when Gray tries to arrange a date for the caesarean. Jasmine and Jake flirt with each other at Donald's party, but she is worried to see Miles has returned. A happy Jasmine suggests to Jake that they tell Laurel and Ashley about their new relationship. Katie begins the next phase of her plan and invents a sob story about her mum's financial ruin to play on Gray's sympathies. Can Katie continue to lie, cheat and steal her way to destroying Gray's future? Donna witnesses first hand the troubles Viv is experiencing. The atmosphere reaches its peak when Nicola makes a veiled comment about prison; Viv loses it and throws the troublemaker out. Nicola is confused when Gabby calls her 'Trixie' but is shocked to discover the reasoning behind her nickname. With Bob tied up at the pub, Donna has no options but to pick up the slack for her mother. At the end of the day a visibly emotional Donna explains her fears to Marlon that Viv is about to crack. Also on Emmerdale this week: Marlon is fed up with Viv Donald's daughter Anna turns up Diane and Val offer Marlon his job back Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks

Hello and welcome to today's edition of A Slice Of Soap. Coronation Street fans are probably united in their love of Becky Grainger (played by Katherine Kelly). She arrived on't cobbles as the scuzzy 'mate' of Kelly Crabtree's (and then landed her in trouble with the police). At first, she was nothing more than a plot device. But then, the writers got busy and her character was fleshed out and Becky's now become an essential part of the action. Funnily enough, a similar thing happened with Sean Tully (played by Antony Cotton). He was only there to be a mate to newly-gay Todd Grimshaw when he first popped on't scene.  As if to confirm Becky's increased status, she's now going to get the seal of approval - it's the one that says you're somebody on't Street....Becky's going to become a Rovers Return barmaid! But not just any barmaid - she's the 50th! In celebration, Coronation Street fans can vote for the Rovers Return's best barmaid. Viewers can log on to itv.com/soaps to vote from their favourite pint puller from Monday. There will also be a special picture gallery of some of the most memorable barmaids. Corrie will celebrate bar staff from leopard-print and gold draped Bet Lynch right up to today's Michelle Connor (played by Kym Marsh). Katherine Kelly said: "50th barmaid in the Rovers is very exciting. We've been working on Becky's look, cos she's always got to get it a bit wrong. So we're thinking maybe a bit of Amy Winehouse-style eyeliner. I think she's going to adore Liz McDonald. Liz is her idol - she'll want to be Liz." Well for me, there's only one winner and it's brassy tart-with-a-heart Bet Lynch. I remember watching a clip on that compilation show that Matthew Kelly voices on TV and Bet had borrowed a dress from (queen) landlady of the Rovers, Annie Walker. She came into the pub wearing the really revealing dress; all her flesh showing. "Bet!" Annie said aghast. "You've got it on backwards!" Ha, ha, ha! Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks

Hello and welcome to A Slice Of Soap. It's fair to say that fans of Coronation Street probably won't be surprised about this. It looks like Bill Tarmey, aka Corrie legend Jack Duckworth, is on his way out. According to the News Of The World, the popular actor has signed just a one-year contract which will run out in 2009 - but the deal will allow him to clock up 30 years on the soap. Apparently, he wants to reach the milestone of three decades in Corrie, which is a huge achievement. A friend told the News Of The World: "Bill's not getting any younger and wants to enjoy retirement. He's got a place in Tenerife and is looking forward to being out there." Bill Tarmey's future on the soap has been the subject of debate since Liz Dawn - who played on-screen wife Vera Duckworth - left the show. When you've got an established and much-loved double act and one of them leaves, it's always difficult for the other one. What do you do with them when they can no longer be what they were? And in Jack's case, that was a hen-pecked husband. Coronation Street has been here before - it was the same thing in reverse when Bernard Youens (who played Stan Ogden) died. Screen wife Jean Alexander (the legendary Hilda Ogden) struggled on alone for a couple of years, but it was never the same without her other half to bounce off of. I still say that the Corrie writers should get Lloyd the taxi driver together with Kelly Crabtree and make them the new Duckworths. To make it more contemporary, she could be the woman who wants a WAG lifestyle (nice house, designer labels etc), forever nagging Lloyd for not giving it to her.... Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks

Hello and welcome to A Slice Of Soap. It's been a very busy time for some former soap stars. Now we're hearing that Emmerdale and Coronation Street veteran Matthew Marsden has apparently landed a part in upcoming movie sequel Transformers 2. The actor will be playing Graham, a member of British Special Forces, according to Empire magazine. The film is a follow-up to the 2007 Transformers film - which raked in millions worldwide - and it seems it will reunite its stars Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and John Turturro. Michael Bay is apparently back in the director's chair. The film starts shooting soon and is expected to be released next year. Midlands-born Matthew made his soap debut as Emmerdale's Daniel Weir back in 1995 (he was rather upper crust but that didn't stop him getting someone pregnant). He then played mechanic Chris Collins in Coronation Street (he was the one everybody fancied). He's been carving out an impressive movie career for himself since he left soapland in 1998. He's been in Resident Evil: Extinction, appeared alongside Sylvester Stallone in John Rambo, was in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down and also featured in Michael Caine vehicle Shiner. He's done what the likes of Rob Kazinsky (Sean Slater in EastEnders) and Rupert Hill (Corrie's Jamie Baldwin) would love to do. It's a big leap from a UK soap - even if it's just to bit parts in Hollywood movies (I mean, Matthew Marsden's hardly a household name, is he?). You may have noticed ex EastEnder Sean Maguire (Aidan Brosnan in Enders) recently in dumb movie Meet The Spartans. He's been in Los Angeles for eight years now and he still hasn't had a hit TV show yet (every single one that he's been in has been cancelled eventually) or graced the cover of one of the premier US magazines (unlike ex EastEnder and ex Bionic Woman Michelle Ryan). But the point is this, he's out there. And knowing that a couple of soapsters have made the jump from UK soaps seems to inspire others to try it and as long as Americans are happy to see British actors on their screens, that trend won't stop. Got to admit though, I can't see Rupert Hill making it out there - he could barely act when he was in Coronation Street! I look forward to being proven wrong. In the meantime, so many US stars are coming over here to do panto, I'd really like to see a few of them in our soaps. Can you imagine Patrick Duffy (Dallas' Bobby Ewing) as Michelle Fowler's other half in the (hugely unlikely) event of a return for the Enders favourite? That would be funny! Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks

Hello and welcome to A Slice Of Soap. As far as I'm concerned, some soaps do some things better than others. EastEnders? No one can touch it for grit and violence. Hollywoodoaks? Easily the most glamorous soap. Emmerdale? When it comes to soap-dodgers (geddit?), this is the one - courtesy of the Dingles - that outdoes all the others. But wit? Humour has always been, and will always be, the domain of Coronation Street. EastEnders struggles to do 'funny' - witness the latest attempt involving Keith's lottery ticket. About as funny as a wet weekend in Wigan. On the other side, with a simple picture, Corrie has me rolling on the floor laughing. Vernon, long after you're gone, I will always remember you fondly because of this.... Ladies and gents - I can't do it justice so I shall say no more. This is, without a doubt, the funniest thing on Coronation Street....   Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks  

Hello and welcome to A Slice Of Soap. Former Brookside actor Michael Starke has revealed what a struggle it was to film his latest dramatic Coronation Street scenes. His character Jerry (or Sinbad/Jerry as I've dubbed him) tries to run after a group of yobs who have been terrorising the street - but he pays the price for his efforts. The kebab-shop owner suffers severe breathing trouble and is taken seriously ill in the Rovers. "I've never had to play a heart attack before, this is my first and last I hope," says Liverpool-born Michael. "We had medical people on stand-by to make sure what we did was authentic. Heart attacks do get people in different ways of course," he continues. "I had an idea of what it would be like by asking around, but what I discovered is that when you have the actual attack it stops you in your tracks. It was a bit difficult because we had to do it so many times. We shot it over a few days and it had to be consistent." Corrie fans - do you think the scriptwriters are trying to drop a planet Mars-sized hint to the ex-Brookside actor to consider losing a pound or 70? Let's face it, he does look a bit like a heart attack waiting to happen and I've lost count of the number of fat jokes that have slipped into the script since he's been there. I don't remember Michael Starke looking that big in Brookside. He's soooo overweight now - I swear he leaves footprints on't cobbles... Official Sites Coronation Street Emmerdale EastEnders Hollyoaks  

At long last Corrie have seen sense as to get rid of David Platt or Pratt to most people over the UK. To say the least, his character has been the most annoying soap character reasonably ever.

The street has become too obsessed with this annoying little brat, even his off screen character is an annoying prat. The actor who plays him shows himself to be as annoying as his onscreen character and hopefully he will never work again, apart from a fast food take away, even then I would end up hanging up on the git if he ever answered.

Hopefully this will be one soap character, that they do not want released.

Kym Marsh and Jack Ryder married in 2002, but now have announced that they are splitting up. Kym 31 has shot to new stardom in the role of a Coronation Street barmaid, while Jack Ryder has seen his career come to a thumping halt.

Jack who played Jamie Mitchell in the depressing soap opera Eastenders, finds that trying to act as a happy character is just too much since his departure.

This leads us to the question of will anyone ever work after Eastenders, or is it just the happy soaps that see actors/actresses work again.

 You can purchase Kym Marsh CDs formally of Hearsay here.