Well, Audrey has really gone and done it this time! Alf still
refuses to take her to the Lord Lieutenant's luncheon where the
Royal person will attend. So Audrey decides to bring to Alf's
attention the fact that she can get her own way and embarrasses
him into the bargain. Alf and Betty are due to open a new sports
centre, Audrey enlists the help of butcher Fred Eliott and they
change the time of Alf's visit to 1/2 hour earlier than planned,
Audrey rings the sports centre to tell them the Mayor can't make
it but the Mayoress will attend in his place. So Audrey and Fred
make it to the sports centre and get all of the attention that
should have gone to Alf, Audrey even steals Alf's speech and reads
it out. Unfortunately for Audrey, Alf and Betty arrive just as
Audrey is finishing her speech and Alf is furious. When they get
home, they argue and Alf tells her she is not officially the Mayoress
any longer and has embarrassed him no end. Audrey simply states
that if he doesn't reinstate her as the official Mayoress, she
will continue to embarrass him in public and to bring his good
name down. Fred Eliot, the butcher, is acting as chauffer to Audrey
and thinks he's on to a good thing with her but Audrey is just
simply using him as her transport.
Vicky comes back to the Rovers, and tells Bet she has left school.
Bet is furious that she won't be going back for her exams and
Vicky's attitude is that she doesn't need to pass her exams as
she has the money now, and wants to invest it in a business, with
horses and stables. Bet marches Vicky to see her headmistresses
at school who agrees with Vicky, there isn't much point in her
taking her exams as she wouldn't do very well in them anyway.
Bet is gob-smacked as she expected Vicky to carry on to University
and has been told that Vicky isn't actually clever enough to do
this.
Steve MacDonald doesn't gamble any longer in the betting shop
that Liz works in, he's taking to gambling elsewhere although
Liz thinks he's given up for good. Des and Shaun are concerned
over not seeing Steve in the bookies as he has a huge debt to
clear up.
Mavis and Derek are still fighting over a compensation claim from
Norris - who obviously thinks they've got a good case but is doing
his best to dissaude them from taking it to court.
Trish Armstrong starts work in the Rovers as a cleaner, she isn't
making many new friends in the Street so far. Racquel finds out
that she used to go out with Curly and isn't too pleased about
it. Curly is keeping Trish at arms length when she called around
to see him, he pretended he was just on his way out.
Well, Alf is torn between taking Audrey or Betty to the Lord Lieutenant's
lunch where the 'Royal' person (you never find out who it is)
will be attending. Both Audrey and Betty are giving Alf a hard
time, they both want to be the only person he takes with him as
the official Mayoress. So, Alf decides to send them both... and
he stays at home with his feet up. Audrey ends up bragging to
everyone about how she met the Royal and chatted to her, while
Betty tells everyone they were both stuck behind a crowd of people
and could see the Royal from a distance only. Alf tells Audrey
he is opening a sewage plant next week, and of course Audrey tells
Alf he can take Betty along to that one!
In the betting shop, Shaun the manager asks Liz to stay behind
for a drink after work and she agrees, Shuan ends up telling her
how much he fancies her and tries to kiss her, Liz walks out on
him shouting, and then he tells Des the next day that things aren't
working out with Liz, he's not happy with her work and wants Des
to sack her.
Trish has made a friend in Vera, as Vera can see a lot of herself
in Trish when she was younger. They both go to the bingo together
and go shopping too.
Mavis and Derek are still intent on claiming against Norris for
Mavis's so called injuries. However, it looks like they have a
case until Mavis confesses to Derek she was wearing court shoes
with heels when she tried the machine... will she be able to go
through the claim with the guilt playing on her mind?
Vicky goes to see her grandad to tell him that she has left school
and Bet is overjoyed to have her back in the Rovers, and they
are getting on well together although Vicky hasn't made any concrete
plans for her future as yet.
Don's new friend Josie is still around, they went to the park
with Gail and Martin's younger son (can't remember the name) and
then Don takes her into the cafe to introduce her to Gail who
seems pleased that Don has a new lady in his life, although Vera
isn't so pleased that her best friend's husband is seeing another
woman.
In the hairdressing salon, John needs a model for a hair show
he is entering and asks Racquel. Although she'd decided never
to model again after the modelling school told her she didn't
have what it takes, she decides to do the show for John.
Curly wonders how he can get to meet some of the girls that work
in the supermarket where he now works with Reg, Reg tells him
not to bother with them as he has already told the female workforce
that Curly is gay so they don't bother with him. Curly is incensed
by this so to get his own back he tells the women that he and
Reg are lovers!!!!
Ken, Denise and Mike haven't been in the show for a while so we
haven't seen the new baby much at all. Also, it is obvious that
the actress who plays Sally Webster is pregnant in real life although
they are trying they best to disguise this by only showing shots
of her from shoulders up!
Shaun decides not to sack Liz after all, after talking to Des
who tells him there is no need to sack her as he work is fine
(although Des doesn't know the real reason why he wants to get
rid of her), so Shaun and Liz make up and become friends again.
Mavis and Derek decide to drop the claim against Morris for Mavis'
injuries on the Mile Muncher machine. Mavis finds out however
that it was actually Angela's idea to drop the claim against Norris,
and that Derek had taken Angela's advice, so is quite furious
about this.
Vicky has a letter from her grandad inviting her on a 3 week cruise
leaving this Friday, but Vicky has no one to take with her and
asks Bet to go, Bet doesn't fancy going on holiday with Alec but
does fancy the holiday itself. Later, Alec rings Vicky to say
he can't go on the cruise after all but still lets Vicky have
the option of taking someone, so both her and Bet are all set
to go on the cruise together for 3 weeks. Bet now needs to contact
the brewery to send in a relief manager while she is away.
Steve MacDonald is having severe money problems, Shaun is after
his debt owing to him for Steve's gambling in the bookmakers (about
£2,000) and his credit cards have been stopped also. Fiona
tries to help him out of it but he doesn't seem able to help himself.
With Fiona giving him so much attention lately he realises that
he really loves her and asks her to marry him, and sends her 24
red roses to the hairdressing salon. Fiona thinks about this a
lot and tells him the answer is no, mainly due to his cash situation
and tells him when he digs himself out of the hole he's in she
might think differently about his proposal. Mike Baldwin is also
giving Steve a bad time over the business, as they have just lost
a big order and the business isn't doing too good either.
John enters the hairdressing competition with Racquel as his model
(who laps up the attention). John persuades Fiona to enter the
competition too and she uses Steve as her model. John is placed
second winner, and Fiona receives a special mention for a first
time competitor who has won the most points.
Josie and Don are getting more used to each other, she goes around
to Don's house and he cooks dinner for her, she is disgusted with
the dirty tea towels he's using in the kitchen and he tells her
it's because his washing machine is broken, so Josie offers to
do Don's laundry. She does know about Ivy in the retreat, and
Vera is most unhappy with Don seeing another woman.
Reg Holdsworth hears on the grapevine that Firmans Freezers may
be taken over by an American company who are notorious for sacking
all of the present staff and recruiting their own to take their
places, he's worried now about losing his job, although he hasn't
told Curly yet all of what is happening.
Still no sign of Ken, Denise and the baby, although you do get
to hear the baby's screams filtering down from Denise's flat into
the hairdressing salon!
Steve MacDonald and his girlfriend Fiona decide they need to cut
back on Steve's spending to ease his money problems and the best
way to do this is for Steve to give up his flat in the docklands
and to move somewhere cheaper. Fiona asks Alma if the flat above
the cafe is still for rent, and now they are planning on moving
in there. Shaun tells Liz he is worried about Steve's overdraft
and warns her that he will go after the money.
Mavis and Derek accept an invitation to Angela's house for dinner
along with Norris. Angela and Mavis don't get on at all well and
Angela makes a pass at Norris and keeps on feeling his leg under
the table!
It's Rita's birthday and Alf takes in a bunch of flowers for her,
they end up having a heart to heart talk about life in general
and shop keeping and so on, and Alf tells Rita it's all worth
while when he gets a smile from her, she is so touched that they
give each other a hug just as Martin walks in the shop and he
teases Alf about this. Later, Alf and Audrey go to Gail and Martin's
house for tea and Alf tells Martin that he got the wrong idea
about himself and Rita, and brings up the fact that he saw Martin
kissing a young nurse when he visited the hospital on Christmas
Day.
Vera tries some matchmaking with Curly and Trisha and invites
them both to tea on the same night. She goes on about there not
being enough happiness in the world and how you have to grab it
while you can and they both realise they've been set up with Vera
playing cupid. Still, it works, and the next night Curly offers
to take Trisha out. Before they go out, Trisha's son comes to
see Curly and warns him to be careful(!) when he takes his mum
out.
The relief manager steps in to the Rovers to take over while Bet
is away. Bet did ask Racquel to take over while she went on her
cruise but Racquel couldn't decide if she was strong enough for
the responsibility, and by the time she'd decided she would like
to step in as relief manager, Bet had already called the brewery.
His name is Rodney and he was in the police force with Betty's
husband Cyril. He is about the same age as Betty and they get
on well. Jack tries to pull a fast one and tells Rodney that it's
a tradition for the Rovers to stay open past closing time for
the regulars to stay behind for a drink, however his plan backfires
when there's just himseld and Rodney who ends up playing his trombone
in the Rovers. (Racquel calls it a flute!)
Josie waits at Don's house for his new washing machine to be delivered,
unfortunately it doesn't arrive so Josie busies herself with cleaning
the kitchen while Don is out. I think Don is starting to feel
a bit overwhelmed with Josie, and that she could be taking over
his life a little bit too much although he seems to enjoy her
company.
