Ivy has returned to the Street! Yes, the ghost of Ivy Brennan
has risen from the grave to haunt the residents of Coronation
Street.
Vera is organising a girl's night out. With Deidre, they both
meet with Don in his house to discuss hiring a bus with him as
driver. Vera excuses herself to go upstairs to use the bathroom
and there is a chilling scene when Vera feels an icy wind around
her and sees the ghost of Ivy on Don's landing. She is so upset
she can't speak and runs out of Don's house back to the Rovers
and a large brandy. Then, at Sarah-Louise's birthday party, which
is held at Don and Josie's house, Josie brings in the birthday
cake and the candles are mysteriously blown out as she places
the cake on the table, and strange noises are heard from upstairs.
Kevin isn't happy that Sally has been asked by Ken to look after
Danny, he thinks Ken is taking advantage of Sally as she has enough
to do with her own 2 children. Kevin tells Ken that he wants him
to make other arrangements for Danny. Then, Kevin tells Sally
that Ken has decided to make other arrangements for Danny and
Sally wonders if she has done something wrong for Ken to take
Danny away from her care.
Audrey arranges dinner at their house for Steven, and Gail's family
attend also. This gives Audrey and Steven a chance to have a heart
to heart and she wonders why he hasn't visited her on his previous
trips to England. Steven tells her that he didn't know if he would
be welcomed or not but Audrey tells him that he is welcome into
her home at any time.
Gail asks Alma what she thinks about her half-brother Steven.
Alma admits that she finds him very sexy indeed, to which Gail
replies "Sexy? Canadians aren't sexy, it's too cold there!"
Steven asks Alma if she will cater a buffet for a business presentation
he is giving. Alma is doubtful, she doesn't really want to do
it but Mike persuades her to take the work on and arranges for
her to have a business dinner at the Wheatsheaf pub with Steven
and orders them a bottle of champagne to help the business deal
along. Mike goes away for a couple of hours and leaves them to
discuss business, but it looks like they will become more than
just business partners....
All is not well in the hair salon. Now that Denise has gone, Fiona
is running the place and is having trouble with Maxine turning
in late on a morning. When Maxine doesn't turn up for work one
day after a night out on the town, and Fiona finds Phyllis knocking
on the door of the locked salon, Fiona has had enough, and sacks
Maxine. Which makes living with each other very difficult.
Jim still has his doubts about Liz and Des' affair and calls the
betting shop to make sure that Des is working, and that he's not
with Liz somewhere. Des answers the phone and then Jim hangs up.
Liz arrives back in the Street after spending time with her mother.
As soon as she comes back through the front door, she and Jim
are arguing and shouting at each other again. Liz goes to work
in the Rovers and Des comes in for a drink. She asks him to drink
somewhere else until things calm down between her and Jim.
The devil woman from hell has returned! (No, not Ivy Brennan,
that was last week). This week - not content with ruining poor
Ken's life, wrecking her sister's marriage, leaving Fiona alone
to manage the hair salon, and abandoning her baby, Denise has
the affrontery to come back to the Street. She worries whether
Ken's house will be empty, but as Ken should be teaching, and
Danny should be at Sally's house she thinks the coast will be
clear for her to nip in and take her clothes before anyone sees
her. She gets quite a surprise then to find Ken and Danny there,
along with a new childminder, Kelly, that Ken has employed. Ken
is furious! Denise starts crying when she sees Danny, sobbing
"I've come back for a few of my things.... " but you
know her eyes are on little Danny.
Josie is cleaning the downstairs front window of her house and
sees Sarah-Lou waving at her, so she waves back. Josie thinks
it strange that Sarah-Lou is gazing at the upstairs window instead
of directly at her....until Sarah-Lou starts telling everyone
she saw granny Ivy waving at her from the upstairs window. Gail
and Martin tell Sarah that ghosts don't exist and not to mention
it again. However, Vera tells Sarah if she sees Ivy again she
is to tell no one but her. Gail gives Vera a telling off for frightening
Sarah Lou. Maude jokes about performing an exorcism in the house.
Alma goes to a business meeting with Steven in his hotel room
and is disappointed when he's not there, but meets with his female
colleague instead. Steven arrives later and they both have a drink
in the Rovers with Alf and Audrey. Audrey insists that the whole
family be present at her house for a family photograph as a momento
of Steven's visit. They are all posing for the camera when Alma
turns up at the door, asking for a business appointment with Steven.
They go off together to the Wheatsheaf pub once more as the menu
has changed and Alma wants Steven to sample her delights.... (mind
you, he *is* the best looking bloke that's ever been on the Street).
Steven is in the garment business and has come to England to seek
out a manufacturing base for his line of sportswear. Mike Baldwin
meets with Steven and tells him that although he's been out of
the rag trade for a few years, he's keen to get started again.
Steven asks Mike to put some figures down on paper for him to
look at. But, Mike has competition for Steven's business from
none other than Steve McDonald! Ida Clough made a reappearance
this week also and Vera tells her all about seeing the ghost of
their mate Ivy.
Fiona's boyfriend thinks she is treating him like Steve McDonald
as she won't trust him and they argue. Fiona goes home to bed
and has a good cry, and then Maxine returns from the Rovers and
comforts her friend. Fiona agrees to take Maxine back on in the
salon after they make up and Maxine apologises. Later, Fiona and
her boyfriend make up. Remember John, the hairdresser? Well, he's
back too with bad news for Fiona. Denise has sold the hair salon
to John. John tells Fiona that as his wife will be working at
the salon with him, they won't be able to afford to keep Fiona
on their staff full-time.
Liz and Diedre go on a girls night out to a new pub called the
Hourglass, where they run into Tricia with a bloke who is out
with his friends on a stag night. Liz and Diedre have a few dances
with these blokes. Unbeknown to Liz, Jim has followed her to make
sure she isn't with Des. Liz obviously enjoyed herself at the
Hourglass, so much so that she goes for an interview as Manager
the next day. Jim follows her again and is enraged when she's
not there, and the bar staff know nothing about any interviews.
Jim is ready to face Liz for an argument when she arrives home
but she tells him that the interviews were held at another pub.
You may already know this, but for those of you who don't:
ITV Television has announced plans to air Coronation Street
four times a week, and I'll let you know when this happens. The
updates lately have been longer and contained more detail than
at first, and this is because more things are happening in each
episode, and new characters are being introduced, in readiness
for the extra episode each week.
Vera is determined to make contact with Ivy so when Maude Grimes
offers to conduct a seance in Don and Josie's house, Vera jumps
at the chance. However, Josie isn't so keen when she finds out
their plans but she finally gives in as she feels sorry for Vera
who believes that Ivy's spirit is in torment. Don comes home from
work to find Vera and Maude trying to raise the spirit of Ivy
and throws them both out onto the street. In an effort to keep
Vera quiet once and for all, Don calls in an old friend who poses
as a priest and `exorcises' the house. With his candle, crucifix
and chants of "nintendo, omnibus, trolleybus" you know
he's not for real! But Vera's happy now that she thinks Ivy's
spirit is put to rest. The priest and Don have a drink in the
Rovers afterwards and when they leave, he forgets to take his
bag with him which he's used for the exorcism. Jack decides to
open it up and breaks a crucifix so Vera takes this as a sign
that Ivy has been let loose and is floating around the Rovers.
(Well at least it'll keep the beer chilled).
Kelly, Ken's childminder, seems to be doing okay despite Emily
and Percy's well meaning but irritating interference.
Audrey's son Steven gives a presentation at the town hall to promote
his line of sportswear in England. All goes well and Gail is on
hand to help Alma with the buffet luncheon while Martin looks
after the Cafe. Kerry, Steven's business colleague, visits Steve
and Vicky in the print shop to have a look around their business
after they put in a bid for the contract, but she isn't impressed
by what she sees and tells Steven this. She also found out that
the last contract Steve McDonald worked on was given to him because
of Mike Baldwin and she tells Steven this news. Later, in the
Rovers, Steven announces his decision to award Mike Baldwin the
contract to manufacture his clothing in England and announces
to everyone that he thinks Alma is marvellous for all the help
she has given him. The next day, Alma and Mike meet with Steven
in his hotel. They arrive late and Steven gives Alma his room
key so she can get changed in there. After the meeting, everyone
is having a drink in the hotel reception, everyone except Alma
and Steven.... Alma is in Steven's room when he comes in, he tells
her how much he appreciates her help. Alma tells him that she
hasn't met anyone quite like Steven before and he returns the
compliment. Then, Alma starts snogging Steven! He's confused,
it looks like this isn't what he wants and Alma realises she's
made a fool of herself and runs out of the hotel room, straight
into Audrey who has come to collect the two of them as the taxi
is waiting to take them all home. "What's going on?"
asks Audrey. Steven shouts at Audrey to go downstairs, Alma runs
into the elevator but by the time Audrey gets there, Alma is already
on her way downstairs. Will Audrey find out that her best friend
snogged her son?
Fiona pays Denise a visit to let her know how hurt she is that
Denise has sold the salon to John (thereby making her unemployed)
just after she had made Fiona Manager of the place and left her
in sole control. Denise tells Fiona that the sale of the salon
isn't final yet and urges Fiona to find the 4,500 pounds to buy
it herself. Fiona is stunned, she doesn't know what to do but
after a stiff drink in the Rovers she decides to go for it. She
tries the bank but they're not interested and then she really
upsets Rita by asking her for the money. Rita refuses, saying
"Does everyone round here think I'm just an old biddy with
more money than sense?" Finally, Fiona's brother, Ashleigh,
makes an appearance on the Street. He takes a look around the
salon, looks at the books, and tells Fiona he'd be happy to lend
her the money. Ashleigh seems to be `something in computers' and
tells Fiona she is lucky to live in a place with such a community
spirit when he spends his time in the city "helping out some
Internet anorak who's pressed the wrong key" (does he mean
us?!)
More marital disharmony between Jim and Liz. Andy is in arrears
to the tune of 50 pounds which he owes to Des for rent. Liz gives
Andy the money, telling him that she'd much prefer him to be in
debt to her than to Des. When Jim finds out she's done this, he
is really mad with her, and thinks she has done it to be nice
to Des, rather than to help Andy out. Liz confides in Deidre that
things are going badly wrong between her and Jim.
Still reeling from making a fool of herself, Alma is embarrassed
when Steven pays her a visit. She apologises profusely for her
actions and Steven tells Alma that it's okay (but it's obvious
he isn't interested in her). Audrey is confused at first, she
wonders what's been going on between her friend and her son but
then she realises that Alma must have made a pass at Steven, because
"she's all big eyes and come on". Audrey goes to see
Steven in his hotel to find out what happened but Steven defends
Alma's honour and he tells Audrey that Alma ran out of his room
distressed when HE made a pass at HER Alma tells Gail what has
happened, and wonders if she should tell Mike but Gail advises
Alma to keep quiet. Audrey confronts Alma and tells her that she
knows what happened but is dumbfounded when Alma tells her the
truth.
Andy isn't doing very well in his relationship with Ann. They
go to the Rovers together but when Curly comes in, Ann is more
interested in talking to Curly about work than in talking to Andy.
When Des stays out all night, Andy assumes that Ann will want
to stay overnight with him but Ann goes home, complaining that
Andy is taking her for granted.
Mike Baldwin pays a visit to the print shop. Vicky and Steve are
prepared for Mike to tell them that he's throwing them out when
he opens his new clothing factory but he tells them they can stay.
He wants them to think he's being nice to them, when really, he
already has plans for opening a new factory because of the grants
and incentives that are available from the local council. Mike
finds an old file which has details of his past employees in it,
he plans to contact the ones he would like working again for him
in his new factory.
Mavis complains about Kelly's attitude to child-rearing after
Kelly jokes that she gives Danny chocolate and crisps at mealtimes.
In the Rovers, Betty tells Jack a story about a haunted pub she
visited that drew guests in to see the ghost. Jack thinks he might
cash in on the fact that Ivy's ghost is floating around the place
by selling his story to a local paper in the hope that it will
bring more customers into the pub. Jack contacts the local paper
and 2 reporters come around to write a feature on the haunted
Rovers. Not one to miss an opportunity, Jack then has Vicky and
Steve print some t-shirts which say "Rovers Return - try
our spirits" on the front, complete with pictures of 2 ghosts,
and on the back it reads "And our beers are out of this world
too!" Don thinks things have gone too far and tells Jack
that the exorcism wasn't real. Jack says he knows it wasn't real
of course, but Vera still believes that Ivy is floating around
the pub and so Don and Josie have to break the news to Vera aswell,
who takes it badly.
Judy Mallet's mother makes an appearance on the street this week.
She's from Gable Street - the gasworks end. She finds out there
is a cleaning job going in the Rovers and is interviewed by Vera
(who uses her poshest voice ever!) and then given the job. Trisha
is also after the cleaning job and is furious with Jack when she
hears that someone else has the job after she promised "she'd
make it worth his while" to give her a job. When she said
this, she placed her hand firmly over Jack's own, and you know
exactly what she meant!
Denise pays one last visit to the salon as Fiona takes over her
business. On her way out, Denise sees Kelly with baby Danny and
there is a tearful farewell to her baby before she finally leaves.
More problems in the McDonald household. Jim is working with Bill
on an old people's home but leaves Bill on his own as he goes
home early to check up on Liz - he doesn't trust her enough and
still thinks that she has something going on with Des. When he
arrives home unexpectedly, Deidre is in the house but Liz is nowhere
to be seen, she is out shopping, but Jim won't believe this. He
sits and waits for Liz to return, his thoughts tormenting him,
so by the time she does come back home, he is uncontrollable.
He starts ranting and raving, accusing Liz of adultery implies
that she has been to see Des instead of going shopping. Liz tries
to calm Jim but he won't have it. Finally, Liz tells Jim exactly
where she has been, to a travel agent to book a break for them
both to visit Jim's mother in Belfast and she gives Jim the tickets
as proof of where she has been. Jim realises what a fool he has
been and breaks down sobbing into Liz's arms, telling her how
sorry he is..
