Alison/Kevin/Sally: Alison returns to the street to deliver a letter to Dreary handing in her notice. Hayley takes her for a coffee and a chat. Alison explains that she has no future in Weatherfield and will probably go to London. She is about to tell Hayley exactly *why* there can be no reconciliation with Kevin when Janice barges in and fails to take Hayley's hints to leave them alone. Later she sees Sally to take some presents for the girls and say goodbye to them. In the flat, Alison packs up her stuff as Kevin pleads with her to stay. She is adamant there is no chance of her changing her mind, despite his promises, for she knows that his promises are worthless. Alison vows that she will never make the same mistake again, and won't trust anyone in future. She refuses to tell Kevin where she is planning to go.
Ashley/Maxine: Ashley begins to think about seeing his real mother again, largely prompted by a bit of bonding with Gary's twins. Judy and Gary talk about family traits and which baby takes after which parent. Gary advises Ashley that in future when he has kids of his own he might regret not knowing more about his own background. Maxine can't think of anyone to be her bridesmaid. Ashley eventually decides to invite Kathleen to the wedding. He will also invite her round to his house so that they can get to know each other better before the Big Day.
Sally/Danny: Danny apologised to Sally for the previous day, but repeats that he still wants her. Sally is appalled that he is going behind the back of her friend. Danny says he isn't serious about Sharon, they are just having a good time together. He does feel, however, that he and Sally could have a future together. Sally admits that she wanted a relationship with him before, but backed off because of her children - though she has regretted her decision since. They are about to kiss when Sally pulls away and whines that she can't do that to Sharon and he should just 'go!'
Rovers: Vera is initially hostile to Vinny, but he wins her round with his smooth talk. Vinny antagonises Leanne by criticising her technique (at pulling pints), and he is already on the wrong side of Betty! Judy likes him, though, and so does Natalie. They have had a collection to get a leaving present for Jack and Natalie makes sure that Vera will get him into the pub the next afternoon. Maud and Emily look forward to their trip to Bangkok, though Maud is apprehensive about the food.
Sharon/Sally: Sharon is not sorry to see the back of Alison, but during her girls night in with Sally she has other things on her mind. Sharon truly believes it could be the real thing between her and Danny. Initially she thinks she ought to play it cool, not phone him in case it looks like she is stifling him, but half a bottle of wine later she is confiding to Sally how much better the sex is with Danny than Ian. She mistakes Sally's gobsmacked expression for embarrassment at not having a man. Then Sharon says she has decided to ask Danny to move in with her. Sally warns her it is too soon in the relationship, but Sharon is determined to go for it!
Episode written by Susan Wilkins.
Update written by Helen Johns.
Kevin has the troubles of the world on his shoulders. His fiancee has left him and now Natalie is onto him about the books of the garage. It's all cashflow and no profit, he must get more efficient or reduce overheads, so he gets rid of both Jim and Tyrone.
Tyrone is gutted especially as he's on such a high having presented Jack with his favourite pigeon (Fergie) stuffed and mounted in a glass case. Jack hates it, but Vera says it must take pride of place on the mantelpiece for fear of upsetting Tyrone. The staff at the Rovers buy Jack a tankard (how original).
Ashley sits down with Beryl to chat about the wedding. Beryl has really warmed to Maxine and Ashley says 'Aye, she's lovely'. Ashley explains that he would like Kathleen to come to the wedding and Beryl is fine about it, just so long as she is the groom's mother and Kathleen is just a guest. Straight talking and honest, Kathleen explained why she 'abandoned' Ashley after getting pregnant by her boss, Fred. She politely declines the invitation to the wedding, saying that it is Beryl's day and she deserves it more than her.
Danny is missing from the market as he's gone round to the Kabin to finish with Sharon. Before he can do it though, Sharon asks him to move in with her, so when he eventually manages to get a word in edgeways, the hurt for Sharon is even more. In a touching scene with Rita in the shop Sharon is in bits and blames herself for always throwing herself into relationships too fast and getting carried away with it all.
Update written by Barry Smith
After talking things over with Sally the previous night, Sharon is hungover and still no clearer in her mind as to why Danny has dumped her. Sally meanwhile is feeling guilty that it's her that Danny wants and repels his advances. Over yet another bottle of wine, Sharon is tearful and full of self-loathing and tells Sally that she thinks Danny must have another woman.
Having forgotten all about his 5th wedding anniversary, Les heads off to an auction with Charlie West, while Janice prepares a special surprise dinner for two. Toyah is more than happy to get out of the way for the evening and convinces Hayley to lend her and Spider the cafe again, so that Spider can cook up some Mashed Yams. Les is late back from Huddersfield and thinks that by now his dinner will be in the bin, so seeing a light on in the cafe he bursts in on Toyah and Spider in the hope of getting a burger. Toyah's tells him that they are trying out new veggie recipes for Roy (Mashed Yams?) and that he should get home to Janice for their anniversary meal. Toyah gives him the flowers Spider had bought her and he stuffs them into a dirty old 'victorian' chamber pot he picked up at the auction to give to Janice. After a hearty meal and some rumpy pumpy, Janice spills the beans to Les about Toyah and Spider, 'You mean that dozy crusty's sleeping with our Toyah?' and Les charges off to the cafe to sort them out. Spider stands up to Les and tells him there's nothing he can do because he and Toyah love each other, so Les attacks him and tries to rip his head off. The ruckus is broken up by Hayley who restores order and kicks them all out.
When Jack finds out that Tyrone has been sacked, he confronts Natalie (wearing a cardy this time), who says it's not her fault and she'll go and talk to Kevin about it. Natalie makes Kevin realise he's been hasty, so he goes to see Jim to try and sort things out and with far too much 'so it is'-ing and 'catch yerself on'-ing, Jim suggests some changes to try and take the load off Kevin a bit so he can concentrate on the big banana (motorway recoveries) and leave him to train Tyrone and look after the repairs.
Vinny is forever sticking his oar in and Natalie's starting to get a bit sick of it. I can see a lot more friction between these two before we get to the inevitable romance. He did have a good line though, when he told Ashley: 'Count yourself lucky. You've got a beautiful girl who wants to obey you. You'll never want for 'owt'.
Update written by Barry Smith
Danny has to sneak out through Sally's back entry in the morning to avoid being spotted by Sharon, who later approaches Sally and asks her to ask Danny to call round and see her so that she can try and find out why it's all over between them. Danny is reluctant, but finally relents and goes round to the flat to see her. After explaining that they wanted different things out of the relationship, he finally admits that they can't backtrack now as he's seeing somebody else. At first she doesn't believe him, but she manages to prise it out of him that he is seeing Sally. Sharon, unsurprisingly, is devastated.
Emily is still unhappy that she's having to put Toyah up and have Spider sleeping on the sofa and goes round to see Janice and Les. They all agree that it is better for Toyah to stay with Emily for a while rather than have them walking the streets but while auntie is away, the mice decide to play (and we're not talking Monopoly). Emily returns from next door and is annoyed that Spider and Toyah have broken their promise not to get up to any hanky-panky and says that there is no alternative than for Toyah to move out by tomorrow.
Jim and Tyrone start inspecting Vera's car and very soon they realise that it is actually two cars welded together (a cut and shut) and Jim breaks the bad news to Vera and Jack. Terry, of course, denies all knowledge and as usual his mother says she believes him, but she doesn't seem to say these things with the same conviction nowadays. This is of no help to Judy though, who is still limping and Gary insists she take a few days off work.
Ashley is still all of a fluster over the thought of flying away on his honeymoon, but I'm sure all will be ok once he's read the self-help book that Tom gives him! Fred tells Ashley that he will sort out his stag night and during a chat at the bar manages to ascertain that Vinny is not the marrying kind (I've spent my life listening to married men complaining. Without exception every married man I've spoken to wishes he weren't)
Update written by Barry Smith
Sally is not happy that dull Danny has told Sharon about them. Sharon has been consoling herself with the bottle again and asks Rita to cover for her. She tells Rita all about it and she seems unsurprised but doesn't think that anything will have been going on before Danny finished with Sharon. Sally confirms this later when Rita goes to the market to see her, but this doesn't placate Rita who tears her off a strip anyway. Rita relays this information back to Sharon, but Sharon has no sympathy with her ex-friend who she thinks has stabbed her in the back. As dull Danny drops Sally off at home, Sharon sees them snogging goodbye and after Danny has gone goes over to see Sally where she pours hate and bile on troubled waters. After all the trouble she had with Ian and the wedding, Sharon really can't handle her best friend stealing her lover.
Facing imminent homelessness, Toyah suggests to Spider that they hit the road (Europe, South America, I hear Leeds is quite nice), but Spider reckons he can get round his auntie. Smooth-talking Spider is doing quite well until the intervention of Toyah and they are back to square one. Fortunately along comes Curly who lets them have his spare room, but as he doesn't wish to incur the wrath of Les, he insists it's only for a couple of nights, they must use the back door and tell nobody where they are (some hope they'll stick to this).
Judy convinces Gary that she is fit to go to work, but she's still in pain behind the bar and Natalie tells her to go home, put her feet up and put something on the bruising. Gary tries to make an appointment for Judy at the doctor's, but when the earliest that he can get is next week, Judy says she'll leave it a few days and see if it gets any better with the embrocation she's put on it.
Vera wants to get the car fixed, Jack wants to leave it a bit and Jim is caught in the middle, so he is.
Update written by Barry Smith
Yet again it appears that Sharon has sought solace in the bottle and Rita has been left holding the fort downstairs whilst a hungover Sharon feels sorry for herself. When Rita eventually makes contact with her there's some straight talking as she points out her responsibilities, but with her life in tatters the shop is the last thing on Sharon's mind. Later on in The Rovers the pair make up, but Sharon tells Rita to back off.
Our illicit lovers sneak out of Curly's backdoor, but Toyah wants to go back for more. She is so happy that the two of them woke up together this morning that she's prepared to miss her first lesson at school. Spider is having none of it though as he wants to get looking for somewhere to live as Curly will only put up with them for another night or so. Toyah nips into the cafe at dinnertime and sweet talks Curly into letting them stay a bit longer and Curly reminisces about his own experiences of unrequited love.
Maxine has decided that she wants to look her best on her wedding day, so has decided to stay in with a face pack. Audrey and Doreen have other ideas and drag her over to the pub blindfolded, handcuffed and still in her pyjamas. Meanwhile the stag party arranged by Fred is turning into a bit of a flop. He's hired a room at the golf club, but they can't have the jukebox on because there's a committee meeting on in the room next door; the beer is a whopping £2.20 a pint; Fred bores them all with tales of sausages and the steward won't let the cowgirl stripogram in because there's a dress code that stipulates no denim (so she offers to remove it). No wonder then, that they all decide it would be better to go back to the Rovers.
Meanwhile back at the Rovers, Sharon has joined the hen party and is knocking back the tequila like there's no tomorrow. Rita tries to get her to go home, but she's having far too good a time for that. Tom arrives with Melanie and Maxine's wedding preparations are now complete as she is reunited with her bridesmaid. The rest of the stag party arrive just in time to hear the drunken rantings of Sharon as she pours out her bile on Sally and Natalie for stealing her men. She is dragged out by Rita and Gail.
Update written by Barry Smith
Unable to rouse Judy, Emily puts a coat under her head and goes to call for an ambulance and then goes to the Rovers and gets Ken and Natalie (Martin was at the reception and so wasn't available). Ken vainly tries mouth-to-mouth but he soon realises that he is wasting his time and that Judy is dead. Natalie goes to the reception where Gary is having a great time and tells him to come home quickly because Judy's been in an accident but while Gary is away getting his jacket she tells Jim the truth and asks him not to spoil the wedding day of Ashley and Maxine. Back at the house, the ambulance has arrived, but they say that she's been dead for an hour or so and so there's nothing anybody could have done, however as this is a sudden death, the police surgeon will have to be called in to establish the cause of death. Gary arrives home with Natalie, still unaware that Judy is dead and refuses to believe it when Ken breaks the tragic news. He denies it again when he goes into the back yard where the doctor has just finished examining the body and he picks her up in his arms and tries to bring her round. The doctor asks Gary about Judy's general health and about the bruise on her leg as Gary starts to come to terms with the fact that he has lost his wife and the twins have lost their mother. There will have to be a post-mortem and Gary insists on going with his dead wife to the mortuary. Gary returns to find that Emily has fed and changed the twins, put them to bed and finished off the ironing (what a wonderful woman, why is that Geoffrey so nasty to her?) leaving him able to sit on the sofa sobbing and trying to get his head around the tragic happenings. Jim arrives to help him with the grieving process and eventually Gary breaks down in floods of tears in the arms of his friend.
Sharon comes round on the sofa, looks at the empty bottles and heads straight for the toilet, either she has unsuccesfully attempted to commit suicide or she has unsuccessfully tried to send out a call for help. Fresh from the reception in a hat that looks like she's got a crow nesting in her wig, Rita bumps into Sally in The Rovers who tells her that the Kabin has been shut all afternoon and that there's been no sign of Sharon. Rita immediatley goes over to the flat and unable to get a reply, lets herself in with her spare key. There she meets the pathetic sight of Sharon wallowing in self pity and shouts at her. Lets face it she's a complete failure, she admits she thought about suicide, but she hadn't got the guts to go through with it.
'I think Mrs Peacock suits you because you're a beautiful bird'. What a charmer that Ashley is!!! Tom and Melanie reappear, clearly having been up to no good upstairs and Tom is immediately grabbed by D'reen to take part in the traditional Heavey ritual of the bride's mother dancing with the bride's work colleague . So where was Audrey? Well she was turning into the green-eyed monster as Fred spends all his time with Kathleen rather than with her. As is traditional at such events, the bride's father gets plastered and nearly makes a scene (why shouldn't he, he's paid for the bloody thing), but Ashley and Maxine, slip away quietly leaving her parents to a have a tiff. Up in the bridal suite, the happy couple leap onto the bed, only to find it filled with balloons and Maxine also finds one of Melanie's earrings and guesses what's been going on with Tom.
Update written by Barry Smith
