Coronation Street recently announced that sparks will fly for Carla Connor and DS Lisa Swain – aka Swarla – during a tender moment next week.
Ever since Vicky Myers revealed that Lisa ‘had her eye on someone’ back in March, fans were quick to spot the chemistry between Lisa and Underworld factory owner, Carla Connor.
As soon as THAT car scene aired in May, the Swarla ship was well and truly born. Now, with the soap finally giving fans what they’ve been longing for, here’s why Carla and Lisa’s romance will have such a positive impact on queer viewers’ lives.
Long awaited representation
The last time a WLW couple appeared on Coronation Street was in the form of Asha Alahan and Nina Lucas. Sadly though, the pair broke up at the start of this year.
Before this, hugely popular couple Kate Connor and Rana Habeeb – aka Kana – appeared on the Street.
Fans really loved Kate and Rana together and were devastated when the couple never got their happy ending, with Rana being crushed to death in the factory roof collapse… on her wedding day in 2019. We’ve never gotten over this brutal exit…
Fans have been longing to get behind a new WLW couple and have been desperate for more representation on the soap. And, now Swarla is about to give it to them.
Queer representation is so important as it can have such a huge impact on queer lives. With Swain and Carla developing feelings for each other on screen, this will help provide comfort to those perhaps struggling with their sexuality in real life.
As someone who only felt comfortable enough to come out as lesbian as a result of seeing Kate and Rana’s relationship on screen, I hope that Swarla can have the same impact on so many people’s lives in a similar way.
Coronation Street Carla and Lisa: A middle-aged queer love story
With queer relationships as a whole needing more representation on TV, this especially goes for middle-aged queer relationships.
The fact that Lisa and Carla are both middle-aged is so important as it gives queer viewers a reflection of what their lives look like now or could look like in the future.
Having two strong, older women go through life with each other by their side is something that is really special as this is something a lot of queer viewers could only dream of seeing growing up.
With Carla realising she has feelings for Lisa, confused about her sexuality later in life, this is a story that needs to be told. Anyone can realise they are queer at any age, regardless of their past history. This is not something only exclusive to young people.
A slow burn that’s true to life
Corrie has made the decision to create a slow burn romance for Swarla. With fans spotting chemistry months ago, it’s only now that Carla realises she has any sort of feelings for Lisa.
This is a situation that’s true to life for many viewers, with those questioning their sexuality taking time to process their feelings before jumping into any sort of relationship. The subtilities of Swain and Carla’s attraction to each other over the past few months have helped portray this as realistically as possible. And, kudos goes to Alison King and Vicky Myers for portraying this so sensitively and wonderfully!
Coronation Street Carla and Lisa: Characters that viewers care about
Both Carla Connor and Lisa Swain are characters that viewers care about individually. Carla has had such a strong fanbase for years, being a huge Corrie icon.
With Lisa becoming permanent on the soap this year, she’s already built up a huge group of fans as well, being deemed a ‘gay icon.’
The fact that two likeable characters that viewers already care about are coming together to tell this story means that the impact will be even greater.
A power couple in the making
Swarla are ready to be a power couple on screen, with both women being strong, inspiration women that take no-nonsense in public but allow each other to be vulnerable behind closed doors. Fans are totally behind them and have been for months already.
And, off screen, the power Swarla hold is evident, with #Swarla trending on X when Corrie announced the news on Saturday (September 28). The on-screen couple have already created such an online community amongst fans and for good reason.
As a proud member of Swarla Nation myself, it’s been a long time coming, but Corrie is finally giving us the representation we’ve been longing for. And myself and many other Lisa and Carla fans are forever grateful to Corrie, Alison King and Vicky Myers for telling this story.
Read more: Complete Coronation Street cast list 2024 – meet them all here!
Coronation Street usually airs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm on ITV.
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