Siege Week
"Siege Week" is a week-long special of the British soap opera Coronation Street, which was broadcast from 31 May 2010 to 9 June 2010 on ITV.[1] The six 30-minute episodes were directed by Ian Bevitt and David Kester, and were the most expensive Coronation Street had ever produced,[2][3] costing £1 million.[4] The episodes, ranging from the 7352nd to the 7356th in the series, were written by Martin Allen, Mark Wadlow, Stephen Russell, Chris Fewtrell and Joe Turner, and produced by Kim Crowther for ITV Studios.Each episodes broadcast every day during the week, the special storyline followed the soap's well-known villain Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien) escaping from prison and with the help of his former cellmate Robbie Sloan (James Fleet), sets off to kidnap his ex-wife Carla Connor (Alison King) and Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh) in the Underworld factory with the intent to murder them.[5] The episodes continued to depict the kidnapping, hostage situation and the aftermath, such as the rescue attempts of other characters and the explosive climax in which the factory was consumed with fire.[6] Bitter about his ex-wife Carla Connor's (Alison King) affair with Liam Connor (Rob James-Collier), Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien) forms a plan with his cellmate Robbie Sloan (James Fleet) to break out of prison, and kidnap and kill Carla, and Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh) for revenge against her husband Roy (David Neilson), who convinced Tony to confess to the police that he had murdered Liam, which ended him up in jail.Meanwhile, Gail McIntyre's (Helen Worth) trial gets underway, as she is accused of her husband Joe's murder, although he accidentally died faking his own death for life insurance money.She begs to be freed, but Robbie duct tapes her mouth shut, and after checking that she cannot speak or scream for help, leaves her bound and gagged in the office, unable to escape.Tony taunts his tied up ex-wife as she tells him he will go back to prison for even longer, when he reminds her he was given a life sentence.It is revealed that Robbie has kidnapped Carla and Hayley to earn money for his estranged son's university tuition fees, and Tony has promised him £2,000.Tony gags Hayley's mouth with duct tape, and forces Carla to answer the door and holds a gun to her while remaining hidden.Struggling to untie herself from her restraints, Carla begs Tony not to kill them, but he refuses, stating "she cast the first stone" by sleeping with Liam.Carla, still tied to her chair, tries to convince Tony to untie her so that they can have a drink to celebrate, attempting to get free or buy herself more time.Just as the flames surround the factory, Carla finally manages to break free of her bonds just in time and hits Tony over the head.'"[11][12] When looking back on the Siege Week, she spoke of how "It's always good to film the big stunt stuff, it's always what people remember, however it's often the least pleasurable to film...it's just so intoxicating," and commented on the cast she worked with, saying "James Fleet who played Tony's old prison mate Robbie who held Carla and Hayley hostage was sensational to work with."[15] Hesmondhalgh joked that she had to tell King to stop groping her while she was tied to a chair, commenting "It was absolutely hysterical because Ali's so funny, and she's not at all what she looks like."[15] Previously in April 2010, King told Glasgow's Sunday Mail she thought "If Tony was to come back I think Carla would fear for life.'[22] Following the Cumbria shootings, that occurred on 2 June 2010, the Siege Week was temporarily taken off-air, as it was felt that the storyline was too similar to real life events.