After receiving his electric shock from Percy's electric heater,
Gary Mallett is fine, with no injuries. However, both Judy and
Gary start to blame the Duckworths for the faulty wiring in their
house, and Judy tells Vera and Jack that they will have to pay
to have the house rewired. Of course, Vera will have none of this
and while Vera and Judy argue, Gary invites Jack to his house
to watch football and have a few beers. Jack goes to the Mallets
house on his night off, to find both Gary and Judy there, they
both make him feel at home and serve him pints laced with vodka
in an attempt to get him drunk and agree to paying for the rewiring
of their house! Vera finds out where Jack has gone, marches round
to the Mallets house, gives everyone a ticking off and bars the
Mallets from the Rovers.
Jim and Bill start work on converting one of Baldwin's flats into
two studio apartments. When they come to ripping out the walls,
they find a Victorian fireplace which had been boarded up. Both
realising the cash they can gain by selling this fireplace, they
take it out of the flat and are putting it into the back of their
van when Ray Cropper and Jamie come along and catch them taking
the fireplace out of the building. Ray Cropper tells them it's
not right, that they are stealing Baldwin's property and Jamie
tells them he hasn't seen anything, as long as they give him a
fiver.
Denise and her brother in law are in a spot of bother. Denise
goes shopping with her sister who confides in her that she thinks
her husband is having an affair, but when she talks to him about
it, he tells her nothing is happening. Denise is feeling very
guilty about the whole thing now, and wants to end the affair,
especially when her brother in law (sorry, I can't remember his
name) makes an unannounced visit to Daniel's christening party.
He then calls round to see Denise the next day and she tells him
she wants to end the affair, that Ken and baby Daniel are the
most important people to her. Obviously still feeling very guilty,
later that evening she asks Ken if he still wants to marry her.....
and Ken says YES!
Vicky's uncle, who is a lawyer is working on Steve's case, and
will do his best to keep him out of prison when his court case
comes up. Steve goes to see the bloke he bought the stolen whisky
from, and it transpires that the supplier originally turned down
Steve's offer to go into partnership with him to sell the whisky,
so it looks like Steve could have been in much more trouble than
he already is. Vicky wants to know the truth, and of course Steve
won't tell her that he knew the whisky was stolen, but in the
end she works it out for herself, and storms out of the Rovers,
leaving Steve sitting on his own.
Racquel and Curly don't seem to have much time for each other
these days, so Racquel tells Vera and Jack that she only wants
to work lunchtimes, so she can spend her evenings with Curly.
Curly appoints his assistant Anne, to be his assistant manager.
Liz McDonald had also applied for the post, and thought that her
friendship with Curly stood her in good stead for the job, and
is disappointed when she finds out she hasn't got the job.
Don looks like he is heading for another breakdown. He goes to
see his solicitor who will prepare him for the court case, when
he takes Nick and Gail to court over possession of Ivy's house.
At first he is elated that the solicitor is on his side, encouraging
him and telling him he has every chance of keeping the house.
Then, he begins to wonder what sort of things Gail's solicitor
will have been saying to her, and what things Gail will say in
court to disparage Don, in particular he's thinking of the nuisance
phone calls he made to Denise. He gets drunk in the Rovers and
goes round to see Gail and Martin, bangs on their door and then
starts shouting at them both "I know you've got it in for
me, I know you'll tell them about the phone calls....."
And the best news of all this week is that Rita and Sally have
finally made up, thanks to Mavis, who for once, got things right
by sticking her nose into other people's business and made both
Rita and Sally realise they missed each others company.
Quite an exciting and action packed week on the Street this week.
Finally, Gail and Don agree to a compromise over Ivy's house.
They both agree not to take the matter any further with their
solicitors and to sort things out between them. On the condition
that Don acknowledges it's Nick's house, he then buys the house
from Nick for a reduced price of 12,000 pounds. The handover of
the cheque from Don to Nick is due to take place at the solicitor's
office but Don doesn't turn up, he just leaves the cheque for
Gail and Nick at the office, glad to have it all sorted out at
last. Nick visits Don later and says "Thanks, Grandad"
and as Don closes the door on Nick when he leaves, he tells Josie
that he finally feels that Ivy has gone and accepts her as being
out of his life forever, to which Josie replies "Halle -
flippin' lujah!"
It's Vicky's birthday but not such a happy one for her when Steve
asks her for 3,000 pounds which he intends to use to bribe the
guy he bought the stolen whisky from. Steve thinks the guy will
change his statement to the police and let Steve off the hook
by telling them that Steve really didn't know he was buying stolen
goods. So, Vicky gets the money from her bank and then Steve sends
her in with the money to see this guy, while he waits outside
in his car. The guy asks to see Vicky's money, and she hands him
the 3,000. He tells her that he will change his statement, but
has heard that she is worth quite a bit of money and insists on
another 3,000 pounds, which will become due after the court case.
The day at court arrives, and sure enough, the guy changes his
statement and all charges against Steve are dropped. On the way
out of the court room, this guy's wife takes Vicky into the ladies
toilet and demands the second 3,000 pounds, which Vicky hands
over. Vikcy's uncle Nick, the lawyer, thinks he knows what has
happened and tells Vicky that if Steve has perverted the course
of justice, that he will be in for a much harder time from the
police, if and when they do eventually find out about it. He tells
Vicky he can't stay for a drink with her because he doesn't like
her husband and the company she keeps. Later in the Rovers, everyone
is celebrating the fact that Steve is free of all charges, with
Steve offering to buy Fiona a drink, while Vicky looks on in dismay.
Liz helps out behind the bar in the Rovers although Vera leaves
her in no doubt as to who is the boss. Watch out for some great
ear-rings that Vera is now wearing (Bet Lynch style). Now that
Racquel is no longer working evenings, Vera is looking for another
bar maid, and Percy offers Liz's help. Racquel is looking forward
to spending her evenings with Curly and she wonders what they
will be doing at night together, and Curly replies cheekily "I've
got a few ideas..." and smiles at Racquel, who says "Oh
you and your flippin' telescope!"
Tricia is in debt, she receives letters chasing overdue payments
and finds she is behind with her bills. In desperation, she sells
her TV to Ray Cropper for 30 pounds. Jamie now goes up to Ray's
flat to watch TV while Ray does Jamie's homework for him. Things
get worse for Tricia and in desperation, she sends Jamie out to
his friends house one evening, gets all dressed up... and invites
Baldwin around to her flat. When Mike gets there, he wonders what's
up and she tells him it's just a social visit and then propositions
him, telling him she needs the money. Mike walks out, telling
her that if she tries it again with him, he will put her out on
the streets, where she belongs. Tricia starts crying "What
else can I do?" Vera and Jack need a cleaner in the Rovers,
and Rita knows that Tricia is stuck for cash so lets Vera know
that Tricia is looking for a job.
Deidre finds out that Ken and Denise are getting married Gail
tells her in the cafe. Ken tells Denise he's sorry that he didn't
tell her himself, but Deidre seems ok about it all.
The Mallets are no longer barred from the Rovers, Jack tells Vera
it's a private argument, and she doesn't have the right to bar
them. The Mallets send Jack and Vera an estimate for rewiring
their house, later when they come into the pub Jack serves them,
and he offers to rewire their house for them, to keep the peace.
Andy MacDonald and Maxine are becoming "good friends",
although he admits he isn't seeing her because of her brain.
Denise's brother in law, Brian, is not giving up easily on their
affair. He lets himself into the flat above the hair salon and
waits there for Denise. When she goes up to the flat she is shocked
to find him there, but remains firm and tells Brian their affair
is over, she is determined to marry Ken. Brian storms out, telling
Denise she'll be sorry she messed with him. Then, Denise's sister
comes round to see Denise, she's in tears as she now has proof
that her husband was having an affair after reading his diary
which detailed times when he should have been at work and he wasn't!
Ken writes out the wedding invitations in the Rovers and hands
them out. Meanwhile, Brian goes to see Denise at the salon but
Fiona tells him she is at home, and he goes there. Denise tries
to close the door on him but she lets him in anyway, and he tells
her he loves her and wants to be with her. Denise says it's not
what she wants, she wants to be with Ken and Danny and asks Brian
to leave her alone. It's all very emotional; Denise starts crying,
and there's mascara running down her face. Ken comes back into
the house and they don't hear him, he walks into the living room
and thinks that Denise is crying because Brian has upset her by
getting her involved in his marital problems. Ken tells Brian
to sort out his problems with his wife and the "other woman"
and to leave Denise out of it but then Brian tells Ken that Denise
*is* the other woman. Ken is gobsmacked, then furious. He grabs
Brian and throws him against the front door and out into the street.
By this time Denise is hysterical, baby Danny is crying, and Ken
tells Denise "Get out before I kill you".
The next day Denise goes to see Ken and asks for his forgiveness,
she wants to get back together with Ken and carry on as before,
but Ken won't hear of it. Then Brian comes around to see Denise
again and tells her that he loves her and asks her to move away
with him, away from Coronation Street. Denise knows that there
is no future with Ken any more, and so she goes to see Ken for
the last time, to tell him that she is moving away with Brian.
She tells Ken that she is leaving baby Danny behind with him,
as he is more settled and can provide Danny with a better life
that she can. And off into the sunset Brian and Denise go. Fiona
and Maxine are confused when Denise doesn,t show up in the hair
salon the next day, they haven,t a clue what has happened so Fiona
goes to see Ken to find out where Denise is. Ken thinks Fiona
has known all along about Denise and Brian's affair, and is really
nasty to Fiona before he tells her to leave his house.
Tricia is in prison! She has ignored reminders to pay her television
license, and has failed to appear in court to pay her fine. So,
when 2 police officers come looking for her in the Street, they
go to Ken's house thinking that she still lives there. Ken tells
them she's moved. The police say that if they don't find her,
she could be in more trouble than she already is, so Ken tells
the police that she is in the Rovers and he goes in to fetch her
and she is sent to prison for a week. Jamie gets placed with a
foster family, but he runs away, says it's awful as there's no
TV, and asks Deidre if he can stay with her instead. After a meeting
with the social services, Deidre agrees that Jamie can live with
her until Tricia is released from jail.
Liz and Jim McDonald fully believe that Steve is innocent of all
charges of handling stolen goods, only Vicky knows the truth and
she is having a hard time covering for Steve, pretending he has
done nothing wrong.
Audrey receives a letter from her son Steven who now lives in
Canada. He tells her he is coming to England on business and will
be calling to see her. (Now... I can't remember Audrey,s son,
so if anyone would like to enlighten me, please do). Maud reads
Phyllis' tea leaves in the back of the corner shop. She tells
Phyllis that a man will be coming into her life, not just any
man, but the man of her dreams. Phyllis, of course, believes this
to be Percy! It is only later when Phyllis has gone does Maud
realise that she has in fact read the wrong tea cup. The cup revealing
the mystery man, actually belongs to her!
I have to thank fellow Street fans Janice Gaffney, Paul Baker
and Paul Burton for filling me in with some of the details for
this week's update, as my VCR has broken down.
Poor Percy! After reading in the tea-leaves about the man of her
dreams, both Maud and Phyllis realise their one true love is Percy.
Maud reminds him they almost got married once, and asks Percy
to marry her now. Percy says he'll have to think about it and
goes into the Rovers for a drink, where Phyllis corners him and
asks him to marry her! Percy thinks it's a joke that Maud and
Phyllis are having at his expense and storms out of the Rovers.
The corner shop is broken into as Maud couldn't put the burglar
alarm on so she left it off one evening. Maud and Maureen are
blaming each other for the break-in and arguing in the shop when
a prospective buyer comes in to have a look around. He tells them
he will come back when it's more convenient.
Jim and Bill decide to hand out some flyers advertising their
building business. Jim goes into the betting shop (where Liz used
to work) to hand out some flyers and notices a new girl working
there. He asks Sean Skinner why he got rid of Liz and appointed
a new person so soon. Sean tells Jim he's the wrong person to
ask, he should be asking Des the real reason she was sacked. Jim
asks Liz to tell him the truth but he loses his temper with her
and they end up shouting at each other once more. Liz tells Jim
that she didn't have an affair with Des, although they "were
close". Liz McDonald is now working as a barmaid in the Rovers,
and this makes things difficult when both Des and Jim come in
at the same time, after Liz and Jim's argument. Now it appears
that Liz has gone to stay with her mother for a while until things
settle down.
In the Rovers, Alf, Audrey and Fred the butcher start chatting
about Audrey's son who is coming to visit. After a couple of double
gins, Audrey starts fabricating stories about her past husbands
much to Fred's amusement and Alf's horror. Audrey's son Steven
arrives from Canada and Audrey meets him at the airport. Audrey
puts her foot in it when she mistakes Steven's business colleague
to be his girlfriend and then makes a fuss when he announces he
will be staying in an hotel. In the end, he gives in and goes
to stay with Alf and Audrey. Alf gets on well with Steven and
Audrey invites Gail and they all have dinner together. Steven
asks Gail how the "exclusive restaurant" she owns is
running, and they both laugh when Gail tells him it's only a greasy
spoon caff. Seems like Audrey has been telling white lies again!
Ken is left holding the baby. Gail recommends a childminder but
when Ken rings her, she doesn't have any places left so he asks
Sally if she can look after Daniel and Sally takes Daniel in with
instructions from Ken not to hand him over to Denise if Sally
should see her. Denise's sister Alison (me: could this be the
worst actress ever to appear on the Street?) calls to see Ken,
begging him to take Denise back so that Brian will come back to
her. Ken tells her he will never take Denise back. Alma goes to
see Ken to find out what has happened between him and Denise.
Mike Baldwin starts laughing when he finds out what Ken is going
through and says "He could never keep a woman", to which
Alma replies "At least he kept his son - unlike you!"
and that shuts Mike up. In the Rovers, Deidre is having a drink
with Alma and Mike and Mike tells her that Denise and Ken have
split up so Deidre goes to see Ken and offers him her help.
Racquel and Curly invite Ann (Curly's assistant from Bettabuys)
to dinner, along with Andy MacDonald. Andy and Anne don't get
on very well at first and things are strained between them until
Racquel tells Andy that Anne likes romantic literature, Bronte
etc., so Andy starts talking all flowery, which seems to impress
Ann. Vera and Jack are talking to Don and Josie in the Rovers
about Ivy. They are all having a laugh about Ivy when Vera gets
a shock, the necklace which Ivy had left her in her will opens
and falls down into her blouse. Jack, of course, offers to get
it out for her. Tricia gets out of prison, and there is quite
a heart warming scene when Deidre takes Jamie to meet her when
she is set free. Tricia is distraught after her experience in
jail and collapses, sobbing, into Deidre's arms.
