Ivy continues to cause chaos from beyond the grave in this week's
episode. Martin and Nick go to the solicitor's office and read
Ivy's will. It seems that she has in fact, left her whole estate
including the house to Nicky. Everything has gone to Nicky apart
from 200 pounds and a gold crucifix on a chain that she left to
Vera. However, there is a clause in the will. Nicky can only receive
Ivy's estate if he changes his last name from Platt to Tilsley.
Martin is upset, of course when Gail wonders if changing his name
back to Tilsley isn't such a bad idea and when Don finds out the
truth he goes berserk. Josie can't understand why Don can't just
leave the house, walk away from it and move in with her at her
house but Don is determined to stand his ground and fight for
the house, believing that Ivy has only cut him out of her will
because of spite.
Jack and Vera have bought a new car. Jack test drives a brand
new convertible Mercedes, and Don pretends he is Jack's chauffeur
to the car salesman. In the end, they settle for a small hatchback.
When Vera asks Jack for the keys to take the car to the shops,
he tells her he hasn't got it insured for her to drive.
The 5 a side football team doesn't fare much better than last
week. Maxine and Fiona tag along with the boys to a football match
and act as impromptu cheer leaders. Maxine and Des continue to
flirt with each other, and Maxine sends Des a cheeky card through
his letter box.
Poor Emily! Percy tells her there is a damp patch on his bedroom
wall, and Emily calls the builders out who confirm that there
is damp, caused by a leaking roof which needs major repair work
doing to it. Emily tells Percy he will have to find alternative
accommodation while the repair work is being carried out. Maude
Grimes offers Percy a room immediately in her home but when Reg
and Maureen find out, they put their foot down and firmly tell
Maude that they don't want Percy staying with them. When Maude
finally gets her own way and tells Percy he can indeed move in
with them, Percy tells her that her offer of a room is unnecessary
as Curly has offered him a room in his house which he has accepted,
purely to keep Curly company, you understand. Complete with budgie,
armchair, lamp and tea cup, Percy moves in with Curly and cooks
him a 3 course home- cooked meal (which makes a change from the
frozen TV dinners that Curly normally eats). Curly then treats
Percy to a glass of brandy in the Rovers. When Emily calls in
to the Rovers, she offers to buy Percy a drink, but he tells her
he's been taken care of. She offers to buy Rita a drink but Rita
is on her way to Sally and Kevin's for tea. She then calls round
to see Mavis and Derek only to be sent away by Derek who is in
a bad mood over a performance review he is having at work later
this week.
It's little Tommy's birthday and Des takes him to McDonalds for
his burger and fries and guess who he sees working in McDonalds?
Steph! His wife (or is it ex-wife, can't remember). She is pregnant!
At first she thinks Tommy is Des' son and they exchange pleasantries
before Des leaves. Steph slips a napkin to Des which has her telephone
number on it. Jack and Vera hold a birthday party for Tommy in
Des' back garden, and Des sneaks in to the house to ring Stephanie
and invites her over to his house. He waits in for her the following
evening but she doesn't arrive. Maxine calls by to see Des and
they end up going to the Rovers together for a drink, and then
the episode ended when they went back to Des' house for a "coffee"
and you saw them both going upstairs together.......
Jack and Vera are thinking of buying Des' house. When Mavis finds
out who her next door neighbours could be, she isn't happy at
all, espcially when Des tells her that Vera has been measuring
the walls for stone cladding!
Don and Josie are having a hard time together. Don is set on winning
back the house from Nick, convinced that Ivy didn't leave the
house to him for selfish reasons only. Josie can't take any more
of Don wanting to get even with Ivy when their own relationship
is more important to her. Don takes Nicky to a football match
and they seem to be getting on quite well until they come back
to the house and argue, Nicky walks out, taking with him all of
his belongings which Don had packed into a box for him.
The builders are still working at Emily's house and Percy is more
than happy living with Curly, who in turn appreciates the home
cooked food and company that Percy provides. Percy: "Some
people round here call me an old fogey" Curly: "Yes,
and some call me a young fogey so we're suited to each other".
Percy decides that Curly needs a girlfriend and goes to Firman's
Freezers to chat up one of the sales assistants with a view to
inviting her round to Curly's house for a meal. Unfortunately
the poor girl thinks that Percy is a dirty old man and reports
him to Curly. The girl also makes a comment about the calendar
that Curly has on his wall, it's stuck at Miss February (which
is Raquel's picture) when it's now September, and she calls Racquel
a bimbo. When Curly tells her that the bimbo used to be his fiancee,
the girl (sorry, can't remember her name) is most upset and calls
round to Curly's house later that evening to apologise to him.
He takes her for a drink in the Rovers, where she tells him that
she likes stargazing and is in awe when he tells her that he has
a telescope in his loft.
Jim has his vasectomy.
Leo Firman asks Racquel out on a date but she turns him down,
as she thinks it may be a little bit insensitive to Curly if she
goes out with his boss.
As you may know, Coronation Street is now sponsored by a pet food
manufacturer, Pedigree Chum. It appears that the sponsorship started
this week as there was a dog in the opening credits and Betty
Turpin now has a cat called Marmaduke. Betty takes Marmaduke to
the vets and when she gets back to her house, she has been burgled.
She calls Billy Williams who helps her and offers to stay overnight
to be with her as she is still very nervous.
Not such an exciting week on the Street this week, so not much
to report unfortunately.
Steph does eventually visit Des in his house and lets him know
that she and the father of her baby are no longer together. A
few days later he calls her at McDonalds where she works to be
told that she has gone home as she felt unwell, so Des goes to
visit her at her bedsit which is in a real state, it's a mess.
Des offers to take her in his car to look at some other, more
suitable places to bring up her baby. Maxine still thinks Des
fancies her but he is doing his best to rid himself of her attention.
Des accepts Vera and Jack's offer on his house and introduces
Mavis and Derek to their new neighbours!
The builders have finished at Emily's house and Percy wonders
why Emily hasn't asked him to move back in, he thinks perhaps
she doesn't want him to move back. In fact, Emily is secretly
having Percy's room redecorated before he moves back in as a surprise
to him.
Betty has a burglar alarm system installed in her house and Billy
Williams offers once more, to marry Betty but she says no again.
He asks Betty if he can move in to the house with her but she
says she would rather be on her own.
More heated arguments continue over whether or not Nicky should
receive Ivy's house. Gail decides that she wants Nicky to change
his name to Tilsley as she wants him to have the house. Martin
isn't bothered. Don and Gail argue a lot and Nicky is caught in
between it all. Don storms out of Gail's house finally shouting
"you'll get that house over my dead body".
Racquel agrees to go on a date with Leo Firman, he cancels at
the last minute and then asks her to rearrange a time, (which
he can't make).
Norris is now Derek's boss at the stationery firm. Norris comes
around to Mavis and Derek's house and comments on the "little
things in the garden which make all the difference" only
adding fuel to the fire that the little thing he mentioned was
Arthur the Gnome. Derek now thinks that Norris and Angela are
prime suspects.
Gail takes Nicky to the solicitors to change his last name from
Platt to Tilsley. While there, the solicitor tells Gail that Don
has as much right to the house as Nick does, as he was Ivy's husband
and as such, is legally entitled to stay in the house. So Nicky
Platt now wants to be known as Nick Tilsley. In the Kabin, Nick
complains to Rita that she didn't give him the correct amount
of money for delivering the newspapers and he kicks up a fuss
over 50p. Don walks in when Nick is arguing with Rita to hear
Nick shouting "everyone is trying to rob me". Don and
Nick have an argument and later, Nick takes the keys to Don's
house and lets himself in. He takes his ghetto blaster with him,
turns the volume up as loud as possible and blasts the street
with his music. When Don comes in, he finds a crowd gathered outside
of the house and a police car turns up. The policeman says that
he will have to file a complaint about the noise against Don,
as he is the current owner of the house.
Des takes Steph to view some better flats to live in. He brings
her back to his house and Maxine barges in, she thinks that Steph
and Des are still married. Des sends Maxine away telling her he
doesn't want to see her again. Maxine had made such a special
effort to win Des back too, wearing a sexy outfit that almost
makes Jack Duckworth spill his pint in the Rovers. Later in the
Rovers, Des apologies to Maxine for being so sharp with her when
Steph was there, but he still wants nothing to do with Maxine.
Jack and Vera meet with the estate agent who comes to value their
house. He advises them to sell it at much less than they expected,
despite Vera telling the estate agent about the improvements they
had done to the house (e.g. the bar, and the stone cladding!)
A sign goes up outside Des' house saying "Sold, subject to
contract".
Emily hears that Percy has told people he has been evicted from
Emily's house. Emily marches straight to Curly's house to ask
Mr. Sugden why he has said such things, and he tells her that
he assumed she didn't want him back in the house. She tells him
that she had been having his room redecorated, and Percy apologises
to Emily.
Racquel goes on a date with Leo Firman. They have dinner together
and afterwards Leo takes her back to the store room at Firman's
Freezers. It isn't until too late that Racquel realises what he
has taken her there for, and when she resists him, he tries to
rape her. She puts up a good fight and hits him where it hurts(!)
and then runs from the store room and away into the night. She
doesn't tell anyone about this. Curly asks Leo how the date went
and he complains about Racquel, saying she had the mind of a 10
year old. When Curly asks Racquel what happened, she tells him
everything but makes Curly promise not to say anything to anyone.
Curly promises not to say anything, and the episode ended when
Racquel walked back into the bar at the Rovers, and Curly was
thumping out his anger on some inanimate object in the back room.
(And I had a tear in my eye... )
