Ooh eck! In the 60s he was booed, heckled and called Judas in Manchester – then the BBC wiped Madhouse tape clean! But now he might be in Corrie…
Ol’ Bob apparently likes nothing more in the evening than curling up in his rock’n’roll slippers and catching up with Coronation Street.
And now the makers of the world-famous North of England soap have given him an open invitation to make an appearance in the show next time our rover returns.
Well, it might be a load of cobblers – an ITV publicity stunt for sure – and Bob has certainly left his answer blowing in the wind.
But he definitely has made it clear Corrie is one of his favourite TV progs.
He said recently: “Coronation Street, I know it’s an old-fashioned shows but it make me feel at home. I’m no fan of packaged programmes or news shows. I never watch anything foul-smelling or evil.”
Bob also said he liked Father Brown and early episodes Twilight Zones.
‘How many pints must a man swig down,
before you call him a man
And how many meat pies must the Mad Manc inhale
Before he can sleep in his van…’
An ITV spokesman said: “To hear that Bob Dylan is a Coronation Street viewer blows my mind.
“I would absolutely love the idea of him turning up in the Rovers Return one night.
“Maybe we could write in an open mic night and a mysterious singer could roll in out of the Manchester rain and do a turn.”
Dylan released his self-titled debut album in 1962, two years before the first episode of Coronation Street aired.
The ITV spokesman said: “Both he and Coronation Street established their reputations in the 1960s, both have championed working-class voices and causes, both tell stories with a particular sensibility and sense of humour.”
Dylan first visited Britain to take part in a BBC play. TV director Philip Saville felt that he would be perfect for a high-profile BBC drama Madhouse on Castle Street. Dylan sang four songs in the play, including Blowin’ in the Wind. Sadly, the BBC wiped the play in 1968 as Dylan soared above Nashville’s skyline instead of the rain on the rooftops of Salford…
It was the story of a man who locks himself in a room in a boarding house leaving only a note saying he has decided to “retire from the world”. His sister and the other boarders then try to discover why. As was the usual method of BBC television drama production at the time, the play was produced in a multi-camera electronic studio on video cameras. The 35mm master was released for junking in 1968, and no copy of the play is known to exist.
#dylan #manchester #coronationstreet #madhouseoncastlestreet #bbc #itv