|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
index page |
|
|
Alec finally arrives home from his Christmas cruise. Vicky and Bet don't tell him about Bet's aborted relationship and dust up with her decorator but when Alec tries to hire him for further work, the truth comes out. Initially angry, Alec forgives her and acknowledges his part of the blame for leaving her alone at Christmas.
Vera decides to try to find her long lost grandson and hires a private detective. However Jack realizes the detective is ripping Vera off because he really knows what happened to the lad. He reveals that Andrea adopted baby Paul out when he was tiny and there is no longer any way to trace the child. Vera is heartbroken.
Although Angie is dating Des, they really are only mates. Raquel and Angie clash while Raquel is staying in the house so she moves out and into Des's house. It's not long before she's sharing Des's bed, much to Angie's consternation. Angie works in the Rovers but her temper gets her sacked so she takes a job waitressing to make ends meet after she catches Curly paying some of her rent for her and Raquel is hired by Alec to replace Angie.
The charity shop closes but no new tenant is lined up for the empty shop on the corner of Coronation Street. Raquel is hired as the Rovers' new barmaid. Martin goes back to work as a hospital porter so Sally gets the job of minding Sarah Lou and David. Derek tries to critique Pendlebury's business and ends up causing his own redundancy. He begs Mavis to plead to Victor for his job back but when she does, she is aghast to discover he is no longer a sucker for her charms.
Kevin gets coerced into bribing a punter to keep a lucrative maintenance
contract against his morals and better judgement and worse, must then pad
the maintenance bills to recoup the bribe! Kevin vows to make up dodgey
invoices only until the thousand quid is made back. Alma gets tired
of Mike nosing around in her life and plans to sell up and move away. Mike
signs his investment in the cafe lease over to Alma, no strings attached,
to prove he really does love her. When that doesn't dissuade her,
he asks her to marry him. She considers it but turns him down flat when
she finds out the position he's put Kevin in at the garage.
Ken puts his back out coaching soccer at school. He is immobilized
and hospitalized and since he can't take care of himself when he comes
out, Deirdre reluctantly offers her front room for his recuperation
after Tracy begs her. The neighbours begin to suspect a reconciliation
as does Tracy and even Ken starts harbouring faint hopes but Dierdre puts
that to rest quickly and firmly. And when Tracy has a boy over after school
and Ken overreacts he is told quite plainly that he has over stayed his
welcome.
Mavis and Derek offend Rita with the suggestion that she might be ready to retire and sell them the Kabin. Since this proposition is turned down soundly, Derek wallows in the depression of being unemployed. He thinks to ask his ex wife for a job but Mavis objects so strenuously that he forgets that idea. Rita discovers her long time sweet sales rep is taking retirement and Derek and Mavis immediately scramble to move Derek into the sales position but are thwarted when Ted reveals his nephew will be taking over. Derek, as a result, takes a dislike to Ted who begins inviting Rita out for lunches and other dates.
Bet discovers that Alec pretended to be a widow on his cruise when a wealthy woman he met on the ship visits. Bet is incensed that she was described as Alec's mother. Andy meets a new girl, Paula at the library and they start dating, surviving an attempted coup by Steve. The Kabin is broken in to twice in the course of several weeks, frazzling Rita's nerves. Jack gets a part time job as a hearse driver and pall bearer but Vera and then Alec catch him out and his undertaking career is cut sadly short.
Terry Duckworth surfaces and brings with him a lovely new girlfriend Lisa Horton who just happens to be pregnant! Vera is over the moon at the prospect of a new grandchild. Jack however, is suspicious that Lisa is out to Trap Terry.
The contention between Alma and Gail increases when, due to a low valuation,
Alma plans to leave anyway and let Gail run the business for her. It is
nearly at the breaking point when Martin has a word with Alma and advises
her that she will never be able to run from Mike anyway and to stand her
ground. She sees sense and makes up with Gail. Faced with Andy's upcoming
university expenses, Liz tries to go back to work at the pub but Alec prefers
the lovely Raquel.
Rita begins dating Ted Sullivan, which riles Reg Holdsworth. Derek is spiteful over the loss of running the Kabin and Alf comes over all protective of her. It's not long before Ted asks Rita to move to Florida with him! Rita has a good think and decides to accept. She gives Mavis and Derek first refusal on purchasing the Kabin just as Derek is about to accept a new job. He and Mavis decide to buy the shop and Derek turns down what would have been a very good job. Curly decides to buy Number 7.
Meanwhile Reg gets himself in trouble at Bettabuys by riding roughshod over a new trainee who happens to be Lord Morgan's daughter. Curly lets Reg hang himself as revenge when he finds out that Reg scuppered his chances for a promotion.
Liz gets a job at the local Legion. Jim takes out his angst against
Alec for not rehiring Liz by playing a joke on Alec and pretending to get
the Health people to examine the food. Alec decides to stop serving food
in the pub rather than comply with the new health regulations and
lays off Betty, much to Jim's chagrin. Jim apologizes but it's too late,
Percy calls the health department who investigate and tell Alec he must
completely renovate the Rovers kitchen to the tune of thousands of pounds!
Percy gets himself barred from the Rovers for several weeks. Raquel goes
through some insecurities feeling Des has no feelings for her and nearly
leaves until Des talks her round. Kevin balks at overcharging customers
and nearly quits his job as protest. Mike backs down and Kevin gets to
run the billing his own way.
Due to Reg's machinations, Curly nearly ruins his chances of buying
Rita's house by putting in a ridiculously low bid. Reg does a bit of interfering
and digging up Ted's past, insinuating that Ted's first wife drowned because
Ted killed her! Ted and Rita have a holiday in Florida to scout out the
lay of the land, leaving Mavis and Derek in charge as a "dry run". Derek
wastes no time alienating the paper delivery kids and, led by an enterprising
young red head, they go on strike, leaving Derek and Mavis to struggle
with the deliveries. Derek has to back down in the end, just before Rita
and Ted return. When Rita and Ted return, he shocks her with the
news that he has an inoperable brain tumour and wants to spend whatever
time he has left with her! Rita takes a few days to think over the
issue carefully and decides to marry Ted but is not willing to move to
Florida away from her friends and home. Mavis and Derek are heartbroken
and bitter when told that they cannot buy the shop after all, especially
as Derek turned down a good job for the prospect, and Mavis quits the Kabin.
Alma finds that she is named as co-respondent in Mike and Jackie's divorce. Jackie beseeches Mike to get her name stricken off the documents, Mike makes out like he will try his best but Jackie isn't very willing to budge. We find out that Mike was the one that put her name on the divorce papers so he could be the hero for her and get it removed again! But Alma doesn't find out and Mike is able to manipulate her and wears down her resistance eventually, and she agrees to marry him! They make plans to marry in June.
The Rovers kitchen is renovated. Bet goes to Teneriffe with Stella. Vicky is invited but prefers to stay close to home for her spring holidays as she is dating Steve MacDonald. Alec and Vicky have a falling out over his manipulations, using receipts from his Christmas present to her to get money back as an expense from her trust fund. Alec makes up with Percy as well. Alec and Vicky continue to clash over her seeing Steve. Alec decides to serve food all day long to recoup some of the cost of the new kitchen and hires Liz back to work catering.
Martin starts his course. Andy continues to see Paula while they are
both revising for exams. Raquel plans a surprise birthday party for
Des but gets the surprise herself when Simon, the man Des's wife
Steph ran off with turns up out of the blue looking for Steph who's
left him. Not long after, Steph turns up, needing a place to think. Raquel
can't share the house and leaves, moving in to the Rovers. Des wants Steph
back but she only needs a cover for another bloke she has on the string
and leaves him heartbroken again. Jim's bike business is suffering
a lack of trade.
Paula breaks up with Andy because she needs to concentrate on her studies. He is torn apart and stakes out her house until she agrees to talk to him. But still she insists they stay apart for the duration and Andy nearly blows his chances by walking out on an exam. Emily Bishop shows signs of melancholy which worsens. Martin is finding his studies hard but enjoyable. Gail is finding it difficult to have some private time with Martin between his new friends and his study time.
Vera and Ivy meet a nice waitress on a night out but don't realize that it's Julie, the woman Don had the affair with. Don reconnects with Julie when he drives her home at Ivy's bidding.
Lisa arrives with the news that Terry Duckworth has been arrested and
is in prison. Jack and Vera let her stay with them so she can easily visit
Terry rather than travel back and forth from Blackpool in her advanced
pregnant state. Terry and Lisa decide to get married. Her parents
meet with the Duckworths and try to persuade Lisa against marrying Terry,
a convict and to come home and they'll look after her and the baby but
she digs her heels in. Curly agrees to be best man as plans are made for
the wedding. The wedding takes place at the end of the month, the
groom chained to an armed guard. But Vera persuades the guards to release
Terry for a couple of photos and he bolts! He is apprehended a few days
later behind Bettabuys, after telling Lisa that he didn't marry her just
for the opportunity to escape and Vera must explain to the police that
she was not in on a plan to make her son into a fugitive.
Don attempts to rekindle his relationship with Julie under the guise of friendship using Ivy's absence on a religious retreat as the excuse. He offers to leave Ivy but she realizes they can't build a life on someone else's misery and tells him to go away. In a fit of rage and depression, Don speeds his car down a country road and crashes it He nearly dies but in the end only loses his foot to the devastating injury to it. Ivy discovers the facts about Julie and the fact that Don may have tried to commit suicide the night of the accident but although she is devastated, insists that they can make it work.
Emily's condition worsens, Mr. Sugden is very worried but nobody will take any notice, they only feel he's being over protective. Emily lends Mike Baldwin some money to start a spare parts business. Emily disappears one day. When she is found, by Alf and Percy, she is taken to the hospital where a mild breakdown is diagnosed and a restful stay in an asylum is prescribed.
Vera quits her job after finding out that Reg was the one that turned Terry in. The bike repair business is doing so badly that Jim has to lay off Steve. Andy wants to travel around Europe this summer with Paula but Liz and Jim are unable to contribute any money for his 18th birthday until Liz sells her grandmother's ring. Angie finishes her course and gets a job working for Onyx Fashions for a man named Hanif Ruparell.
Alma goes to see Jackie Ingram, the near miss of the divorce accusation
still weighing on her mind and finds out about Mike's duplicity.
She smacks Mike and he's left hanging, not knowing if she'll marry him
or not. She turns up at the last minute with a warning never to lie to
her again, and marries him.
Alec takes temporary possession of what he's told is a Mexican mouse eating spider, larger than a great hairy tarantula, it is, hoping to make a bit of money off showing it in the bar. Only it escapes its terrarium. It vanishes for some days, greatly alarming the staff of the Rovers who try to keep it quiet from the customers. Alec pretends he found it dead. Right about this time, the new kitchen is ready for it's first health inspection. The day the inspector is in, Alec sees the spider ("Boris") crawling across the countertop. In a panic, Alec manages to stand in front of it and in the end, has to crush it with his bare hands behind his back but luckily, the health inspector is none the wiser and the kitchen passes muster.
Ted's illness takes its toll on both Ted and Rita who has to cope with
his blinding headaches, memory lapses and occasional wanderings. Nobody
besides Audrey (and soon Alf because Audrey told him to stop him bitching
about Ted) knows so Rita also has to contend with her friends' less than
stellar opinion of Ted, believing he's just after Rita's money. Derek and
Mavis are eventually told as well but Derek seems more concerned about
his own future if Rita eventually decides to return to work at the Kabin·
after.
Curly signs up at a dating agency as Gerald Murray and meets a Janet Shaw who turns out to be his ex-girlfriend Kimberly Taylor! They begin dating again. She's not best pleased to discover the lovely Angie is his roommate nor is her mother but Curly talks them both around and asks her to marry him again. He has even managed to find a strong hand in dealing with her parents. As they promise to get married in the spring, Curly and Kimberly make plans to go on a holiday together.
Ted's health fails more quickly. One day he heads out to his house to
work in the garden but never gets there. He is found driving erratically
and is jailed and then hospitalized by the time Rita finds him. Derek has
his eye on other job possibilities. Des moans about being single. Sally's
new arrangement sitting at Gail's house gets off to a rocky start but things
are settled amicably in the end. Don and Ivy spend the month at odds with
each other, he doing his best to stay away from her and her trying to understand
his attitude. She's shocked when he admits the accident happened because
he tried to top himself.
Jack and Vera and Lisa prepare for the birth of the baby. A little boy, Tommy is born on September 9, the same day that Percy has a bowls tourament, witnessed by a group of the Streeters. Sadly however, Ted falls asleep while watching and passes away. Rita copes with the funeral with the help of her friends but when Ted's will is read, leaving most of his estate to his wife, his sister and her husband explode and vow to fight the will.
Don gets kitted out with a wooden leg. Jack nearly loses his pigeons when Vera decides they're dirty and should not be around the baby but they are given a reprieve when Martin mentions that the birds do not carry any disease. Andy starts at Sheffield university while his girlfriend Paula decides to go to Manchester. Jack is fined for parking illegally and using Don's disabled sticker.
One of Martin's classmates, young Irish nursing student Carmel
Finnan begins helping out babysitting for Gail and Martin in the evenings.
The Platts take pity on the lonely young girl but Ivy is not happy with
a stranger minding her grandchildren. The thing is, Ivy starts drinking
to excess, making a spectacle of herself on more than one occasion.
Gail and Martin plan to go away but plans are nearly cancelled because
Gail won't leave the kids with Ivy in her current unstable state. Carmel
is asked to stay the weekend while they go away which makes matters worse
with Ivy.
Rita's battles with Ted's family continue as they insist on challenging his will. Rita returns to the shop full time, Derek ends up taking a job as assistant school caretaker mostly because Jim challenged that he couldnāt make a go of it. Thus begins the torment of Derek by his supervisor Councilor Harry Potts. Curly and Kimberly return from their holiday which, by all accounts didnāt go smoothly. They row but make up. Rug hooking is involved. Steve starts working in the garage but is pulled away to start Mike's t-shirt business in another unit in the same complex. That leaves Kevin still short of a mechanic. A smooth talker named Doug Murray is hired.
Lisa is invited to sit in Des's back garden with the baby to have a
bit of peace from Jack and Vera and the two of them become friendly, fielding
the gossips who suspect there's more than friendship involved, Vera being
especially vehement in the defense of her Terry. Ken meets Maggie
Redman, a recent widow and the mother of one of his students. They
begin dating. Percy meets a German veteran, Klaus Mueller, at a reunion,
someone that he apparently treated kindly when the German was a POW in
the camp where Percy was the cook. Surprisingly the two men forge a friendship.
Ivy's drinking finally eases off once Don promises to stay. Derek
continues to have difficulties, chaffing under the rule of Harry Potts.
The Head of the school charges Derek with a quest, to gather information
on Harry Potts so that she has evidence of his misdoings and dereliction
of duty. Angie designs a few tshirts on the side and talks Steve into letting
her use the print shop as a private deal. Mike finds out and decides to
bring Angie in on deals that he can make himself. Andy leaves university,
unhappy and missing Paula. He rows with his parents and with Paula but
Paula manages to placate him and he agrees to go back.
Carmel plays on Martin and Gail's sympathies and manages an invite to move into the Platt household. She manages to find fault with any flat or bedsit she can locate so has her feet well under the table at the Platt's as she manipulates and insinuates herself into Gail's shoes.
Reg helps Bet organize a pub quiz night in hopes of getting a leg over. The quiz night starts off well but the men's team vs the women's team is an unfortunate combination and the evening quickly descends into insults and chaos, much to the chagrin of Bet because her boss, Nigel Ridley is there to witness the whole disaster. Doug Murray chats up a few of the Street women but settles on Deirdre who already has her hands full as Tracy is growing up and becoming more independent and less than helpful. It is revealed that Doug Murray is aka Dave Matthews and is running from the bailiffs after incurring a lot of debt.
Kimberly proceeds to organize every aspect of Curly's life but when he decides to spend some money on a good telescope and have the attic renovated for a skylight, making the loft into an observatory, Kimberly breaks their engagement. Curly hires Neil Mitchell to do the building work and he starts dating Angie.
Lisa's friendship with Des continues to cause much friction between
her and Vera. Vera lets Terry know that Des has been sniffing around his
wife. Very shortly after that, several thugs beat up Des and warn him off
Lisa. She's so upset that Terry would do that that she decides to leave
him and she moves back home to Blackpool. Ken and Maggie continue
to court but Maggie holds back on details of her past relationships, specifically
that with Mike Baldwin whom we know to be the father of her son Mark.
Bet is told by the brewery that she must cut costs by 10 percent
and raise profits or else she will lose managership of the Rovers. She
launches Happy Hour which works quite well. She double and triple
checks her sums and cannot see where she needs to cut further as she's
sure her profit margin is within the brewery's guidelines. It is discovered
that there are two salaries on the payroll that Alec had set up, Hilda
and · and was pocketing the money himself.
Steve fails his driving test but as he had bragged about how he would ace it, he is too embarrassed to admit it and allows Mike and Kevin to believe he passed. But he gets into a fender bender while driving Mike's Jaguar and to cover his tracks, gives Kevin's name to the police. Kevin has a moral dilemma whether to go to the police and present his papers, pretending it was him and lie, committing fraud, or tell the truth. The lie also will allow Mike to have his insurance cover the damage to the car and the pressure is put on Kevin to lie, and even Sally thinks no harm will come of it. Eventually Kevin caves in and does so.
Deirdre continues to see Doug who has had to declare bankruptcy and start over financially. Tracy starts working part time after school at Maggy's flower shop. Deidre discovers who is Ken's new lady friend and of course, recognizes her as Mike's former paramour and the mother of his son, a fact which slips out when she is arguing with Tracy. Tracy tells Ken because she thinks he has a right to know and Ken has a hard time handling the news though he and Maggie do not break up over it. Mike discovers that the man that brought Mark up as his own son is dead and admits to Alma that Mark is his son. He decides to become more involved in Mark's life but is shocked when he discovers that Ken is dating Maggy! Maggy wants Mike to stay out of Mark's life.
A new beauty salon is opens up in the unit where the charity shop had been. Neil Mitchell is doing the renovations and Denise Osborne is introduced as the new stylist and resident in the flat upstairs. Immediately Jack, Doug and Reg go sniffing around but Denise, with Bet's help, manages to cut their ardor off at the knees. Angie is gobsmacked to discover that Denise is the soon-to-be ex-wife of her boyfriend Neil but Denise assures her it's over between them.
Andy arrives home for Christmas holidays. Rita and Raquel spend Christmas with Bet, joined by Denise as well.. and Vicky visits Bet as well though she spends Christmas with Alec first. Curly and Des spend Christmas at an all-inclusive hotel in Blackpool but Des decides to find Lisa and spends his days walking the seashore with her. They admit their feelings for each other which, they admit, are more than friendship.
It soon becomes evident that Carmel fancies Martin and hopes to replace
Gail as Martin's next wife. She manipulates the children, Gail and Martin
and insinuates to Sally that Gail and Martin's marriage is on the rocks
but Sally finds many holes in Carmel's story and her suspicions are raised.
Gail begins to find Carmel taking over and starts hinting that she find
a place of her own. At the school Christmas party Martin gets drunk. Gail
has had to stay overnight at hospital because Audrey was afraid Alf has
had another heart attack (just overeating out dated Christmas puddings).
Carmel climbs into bed with Martin and pretends in the morning that they
were intimate. Martin now realizes that Carmel is obsessed with him but
doesn't tell Gail, hoping it will blow over. Carmel leaves for Ireland
for Christmas but arrives back on Christmas day unexpectedly. Don assists
in finding a bedsit for Carmel but when Martin takes her to look at it,
she comes on to him and he ends up cruelly rejecting her. There's a big
confrontation at home when Martin tells Gail everything (nearly) and Gail
realizes the extent of Carmel's delusions and tosses Carmel out of the
house herself.