To hardcore Coronation Street fans, this isn't really news, but for the rest of you it's probably worth a laugh. Ian Mckellan, who played Gandalf in the Peter Jackson feature films, the Lord of the Rings, has joined Coronation Street for a few episodes. His part is very funny. He plays a famous writer who has come to the dreaded "writer's block" part of his career. To help this, he claims he's come to the Weatherfield area to absorb the struggle of the working man and get in touch with his roots so he may finish his masterpiece, "The Canary's Last Song". In each episode he digs deeper and deeper into the hearts (and pockets) of the bookish Coronation Street characters, such as Norris, Emily, Rita and several others. His dialog is very funny, and reminds you of the way he spoke in LOTR, with those flourishes of grand, Middle Earth dialect, only while wearing thick, seventies style glasses and an old cordeuroy jacket. But instead of warnings about dark times and soliloquies of inspirational breadth, this time he speaks "snob" and quotes elaborate lines of literature in the most mundane of settings. Ken, the most bookish of all the Street characters sees through all this right away, and in the end exposes him as the con artist he is. Very funny stuff, and worth catching in the re-runs if you can.

Gandalf was by far my favourite character in LOTR, and Ian played him flawlessly. In fact I'd go so far as to say he seemed to lift Gandalf directly from the pages of the books. Truly it was wonderful to watch on the big screen and afterward I felt like I had just spent three hours visiting an old friend. It was good to see old Gandalf having a little fun with my other friends on Coronation Street. Here's to you, Ian the white.