I RECENTLY visited my elderly aunt, whose TV viewing consists mostly of old re-runs of Murder She Wrote, Midsomer Murders and Heartbeat.

I love staying with my aunt and being fussed over, but three days of her “old lady telly” is about as much as I can stand. Her TV set is permanently tuned to a nostalgia channel devoted to repeats of feelgood dramas, murder mysteries and old sitcoms. We’ve even watched George And Mildred. When I asked why she no longer watched the soaps, she sighed. “They’re so depressing these days,” she said. “At my age you want a bit of a laugh.”

Having watched a recent Coronation Street double bill - in which a psychotic rapist shot one man dead and forced his hostage to kill another - I’m inclined to agree.

Now, I like a soap baddie; they have their place in continuing drama as much as the gossiping busybody, the formidable battleaxe and the unlucky-in-love barmaid. And Pat Phelan, played brilliantly by Connor McIntyre, continues a tradition of moustache-twirling Corrie villains, following the likes of devious Alan Bradley, who persecuted poor Rita, and briefcase-wielding serial killer Richard Hillman.

Corrie’s strength is blending drama with comedy and, thanks largely to the writing, I think it does this better than other soaps. But the long-running Phelan storyline has crossed a line, particularly Friday’s dark episodes. Broadcast before 9pm, they contained shocking scenes in which Phelan ordered his hostage Andy Carver to kill fellow captive Vinny. “I’ll film you,” said Phelan. In a grim warehouse that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Saw horror movies, we saw one of the men shot at close-range. Phelan later tipped both lifeless bodies into a lake.

Gone was the warm familiarity of Corrie. It felt like watching a gritty post-watershed thriller. “What has happened to Coronation Street?” I found myself thinking.

York Press:

Classic Corrie: Violet Carson as Ena Sharples in a 1960s episode of Coronation Street

I’m not alone in feeling disturbed. TV regulator Ofcom is assessing nearly 400 complaints about the recent violent episodes. Yes, there’s the option to turn over or turn off. But as a lifelong Corrie fan, why should I? Those of us with a sense of loyalty to the show stick with it through the highs and lows. But over-egging a storyline smacks of desperation to win ratings and TV awards, at the expense of what viewers actually want to see. Phelan is in practically every scene, which always turns a character tiresome. Meanwhile, the likes of Sean Tully and Roy Cropper, both great Corrie characters played by great actors, are woefully under-used.

To be fair, it isn’t just Corrie that has crossed to inappropriate territory. I watched an episode of Emmerdale this week in which an emotionally disturbed teenager told his sleeping grandfather he wondered how it would feel to see “the oxygen leaving your body”... and “your lips turn blue”. Is this suitable for teatime family viewing?

I know soaps have to move with the times, and there’s pressure to chase ratings and headlines, but they also have pre-watershed responsibilities.

My aunt’s aforementioned nostalgia channel is screening vintage Corrie episodes from the 1970s and ‘80s in the daytime. I’m tempted to record them to watch in the evenings. Well, when you get to my age...