WHAT on earth is happening in Coronation Street at the moment ?
It has completely lost its light touch and rich vein of comedy that used to dilute the heavier storylines.
I realise they are in a cut throat ratings war but its relentless doom and gloom is making me question my loyalty.
Ever since I can remember we would watch the goings on up there on the cobbles.
My dad's love of Corrie, the only soap we were permitted to indulge in as youngsters, was inherited from his own mum who could barely hear but only turned her hearing aid in order to hear the action on the street.
In those days Jack and Vera Duckworth's tempestuous relationship was a source of comedy on a regular basis, amid the murders, affairs and skulduggery.
Of late characters like Steve McDonald and Norris have filled the void - but poor old Steve is not laughing much these days and Norris seems to have got stuck in the back room at the Kabin because we haven't seen much of him lately.
And poor Michelle, Steve's now-estranged wife, seems to have become the Ronnie Mitchell of the piece, enduring trauma after trauma heaped upon her.
Not only is she having to deal with the grief of losing her little baby, she has now discovered her husband has fathered a healthy son already with her friend and neighbour following an affair.
As nobody appears to ever get a job outside of the postcode of the soap they are in, they equally rarely find anyone outside of it to date either.
Having to work from a very small pool of potential partners means it is very common for multiple family members to date the same person.
Ergo Peter Barlow is now trying for a baby with his former sister-in-law and I haven't quite worked out how exactly Ken is related to the myriad young men who have recently arrived in the street.
One of them has already got someone pregnant and he only arrived what seems like ten minutes ago.
I'm hoping for some positive news for Michelle, who in a storyline several years back discovered her older son had been swapped at birth, but the signs are not good.
In which case I am keeping my fingers crossed the writers will also write some more scenes for Norris and the brilliant Gemma who works in the kebab shop.
I can only hope.