Des and his girlfriend Claire are finding it difficult to find
time to spend together for err.. intimate things, as Claire can't
leave her daughter, Rebecca, overnight. So when Claire's got a
spare half hour she pops into the Rovers and drags Des away from
his hotpot for a snogging session back at his place. All goes
well until Rebecca almost catches them in the act when she's supposed
to be at Guides, it's obvious she's not best pleased with the
way her mam is carrying on.
Betty walks out of the Rovers after she thinks Vera and Jack are
accusing her of fiddling the books while they were on holiday
in Spain. When they tell her that the Rovers has actually made
a profit in their absence, they apologise to Betty and she comes
back to work. Betty tells them she's not surprised the pub made
more money as Vera and Jack are always dipping into the till to
pay for personal expenses.
Vicky can't take any more of people feeling sorry for her and
is deciding what to do with her future, far away from the Street.
Alec tells Vicky of a training course for travel agents in Switzerland
which she's interested in.
Norris turns up at Derek and Mavis' house with a bottle of wine
declaring he wants to talk about "sex and rock and roll"
and wants to get drunk. Turns out he's going through a bad patch
with Angela and although she doesn't want to, Mavis lets Norris
stay in their house after she finds him sleeping in his car in
the Street. She tells Norris he can stay with them as long as
Derek and Norris don't compare notes about Angela all of the time.
Percy thinks he's made a new friend in Joyce Smedley after she
sits chatting to him in the Rovers a few times and also has lunch
in Jim's cafe with him. He'll be devastated when he finds out
the truth - that she's befriending him only in the hope that he'll
put in a word for her in the British legion where she's after
bar work and where Percy is on the committee.
The McDonald clan visit Steve in prison but he's too busy feeling
sorry for himself. Jim turns up late and Steve picks an argument
with him but they all end up telling each other how much they
love each other. Steve asks Liz to ask Fiona to visit him. Fiona,
finally, decides she will visit Steve but can't decide whether
or not to tell Tony, her boyfriend, about the visit.
At Baldwin's factory, Mike takes Trisha on to work as a machinist
and puts her with Ida. Ida tells Trisha she's slowed her down
and accuses her of being Mike's fancy piece. Trisha says the only
reason she's working there is so she can pay Baldwin his rent
and eventually, Ida feels sorry for her. Jamie turns up on Trish's
first day at work as it's half-term and when he asks for some
lunch money, she gives him 4 stamps and tells him to give them
to Roy (who's helping out in the cafe) as "they have the
Queen's head on them, he'll have to accept them" as payment
for his lunch. There's an excellent comic scene in the cafe between
Roy and Jamie, which ends with Jamie fainting on the floor. Roy
wins Alma over with his naivet after renting Jamie's hat off him
for the afternoon in payment for his lunch. "This way I can
find out if I like wearing a hat before I buy one" he says.
Raquel and Curly are still trying to make babies but obviously
without any success as yet. In the Rovers, she says to Betty "your
Billy is quite virile isn't he.... and he's got a son... what
kind of underpants does he wear?" Raquel asks Fiona if she
can practise her aromatherapy techniques in the hair salon, and
Fiona agrees, taking a 50% cut from Raquel's profit.
Poor Andy. As if having a jailbird brother, a violent tempered
father and a mother who wears skirts shorter than some of my belts,
his girlfriend Ann has now dumped him. (perhaps it's his hideous
new haircut?). Ann's parents don't approve of Andy, the reputation
of his family goes before him and colours their judgement of him.
When Ann asks if Andy can visit for tea, they say no, they don't
want anything to do with him. Andy wants to visit her parents,
to tell them he's different to his brother and father, but Ann
doesn't want him to go anywhere near her parents. Despite this,
Andy does visit her parents and seems to have won them both over.
However, Ann arrives back at the house while Andy is still there.
She tells him he has gone against her wishes and she doesn't want
anything more to do with him. Ouch.
Josie brings Mike's messages and a fax to the cafe for Alma to
pass on to Mike. As any self-respecting wife would do, Alma reads
Mike's messages only to be shocked by the news in the fax. It's
from Canada, from Steven, and he's coming over next week! On-cue
as ever, Audrey walks in only to find out that Steven will be
visiting, but he hasn't been in contact with Audrey to let her
know! Audrey is furious and says "perhaps he's only informing
those people with whom he's had a particular relationship!".
SPOILER from the UK Press
Steven from Canada will embark on a torrid affair with one of
the Street's women but it WON'T be Alma. Who will it be? Look
down here for the answer...
Deirdre! (it just might put a smile on her face)
We've got new storylines popping up all over the place this week
and I'll try my best to remember as many as possible!
Guess who's back on the Street? None other than bad boy Terry
Duckworth who arrives with little Tommy under his arm. He walks
straight in to Jack and Vera's old house, (he doesn't know they
now have The Rovers) and interrupts Judy and Gary Mallet canoodling
over their noodles..."Just don't talk about babies"
Judy tells Gary "it puts me off". Jack and Vera are
delighted to see little Tommy but can't forgive Terry for his
past even though Terry insists he has changed.
Another (welcome) return to the Street is Canadian Steven who
turned up this week on a business visit to see Mike and the Kbec
factory. When Alma finds out, she's straight out to the shops
to buy new clothes for his visit and admits to Gail that she still
has feelings for Steven. Of course, Audrey is upset and jealous
when she hears this and has an argument with Alma in the Rovers,
telling her to lay off her son. Mike wants Alma to attend a business
lunch with himself and Steven but Alma is still reeling from making
a fool of herself last time with Steven and fakes a dentist appointment
to get out of the lunch date.
Fiona goes to visit Steve in prison but she tells Maxine she went
to visit her parents, and doesn't let Tony know where she's been
either. Steve tells Fiona that it's only the thought of her that
gets him through his prison ordeal each day and asks if she will
visit him again.
Vicky has left the Street, she's gone off to Switzerland on a
travel agent training course which Alec has arranged for her.
Alec wants to take her for a posh meal before she goes to the
airport but Vicky wants to go to the Rovers instead. It's champagne
all round in the Rovers and Betty gives Vicky her recipe for hot
pot. Raquel convinces Vicky she'd be more relaxed on the flight
if she had an aromatherapy message and Vicky agrees. She's shocked
to find out that Raquel's massage parlour is in the back of Fiona's
shop and doesn't know if she can face Fiona before she leaves,
but Raquel convinces her it's the best thing to do. Vicky and
Fiona have an awkward conversation about Steve and while Vicky
has washed her hands of the slime ball, it's obvious that Fiona
still has feelings for him.
What's Norris up to then? He's left Angela, and she hasn't been
seen for a few days in the office so Derek goes off to Angela's
house to see if she's there. He snoops around the house and finds
her car parked in the drive but no sign of Angela anywhere. He
tells Mavis that while he was looking around the house he got
a cold clammy feeling down his spine (I knew he shouldn't have
worn that old vest) and feels that something "just isn't
right". Norris is still living with Mavis and Derek and irritating
them to death. He goes off to Derek's allotment and digs a hole
deep enough to build an out of town shopping centre in. We all
want to know what he's buried in the hole.... could it be Angela?!?
Looks like Anne and Andy are friends once more when she comes
round to see him on the Street.
Raquel starts her aromatherapy massages and to get her business
off to a good start, she offers a free massage to Andy (who declines)
and then Tony (who doesn't). The lads in the Rovers are full of
innuendo about her massage business but she takes it all in her
stride. However, Curly isn't too pleased when he finds out what
the lads are saying about his wife, especially when Gary Mallett
offers Des up as a potential customer for Raquel. Percy pipes
up "They had aromatherapy in my day, you know. It was called
a camphor rub".
Percy knows the truth now about Joyce Smedley, that she was only
using him to get the bar maid's job in the legion. Like the old
soldier he is, he hides his feelings when he realises his friendship
has been abused, he just turns away from Joyce and says "I'll
bid you good-day, Mrs. Smedley". Poor old thing.
Alec pops into the Kabin to tell Rita that he may be her new neighbour.
Looks like he is buying Reg's old flat.
Women of a certain age have all kinds of problems. One of Alma's
is being married to Mike. She decides to tell Mike about her crush
on Steven before Mike hears the sordid version from Audrey, and
what's Mike's reaction to the news that his wife fancies another
man and she would've slept with him, if he'd asked her to? He's
not bothered! He tells Alma he doesn't care what she does, as
long as it doesn't affect business! Gail jokes about a duel between
Steven and Mike, and Alma says "A duel for Mike means cheque
books at dawn". Alma's feeling pretty low because Steven
isn't paying her any attention, and neither is Mike so she decides
to take a few days away from the cafe and have a break. So who
is Steven paying attention to, if not Alma? Good old Deidre! Mike
invites Deidre along on a business dinner with himself, Alma and
Steven and it looks like romance could be in the air for Deidre
once more.
Vera truly believes her Terry has changed for the better but Jack
reckons Terry has only turned up because he heard about the Rovers
and thinks his parents have got some spare cash these days. Things
look bad for Terry when the Ortons turn up from Blackpool to take
little Tommy back with them but Terry refuses. It turns out that
the Ortons had been paying Terry a few thousand pounds a year
to keep little Tommy and when they miss a payment, Terry is straight
in there to get his son back. The Ortons plead and offer more
money to Terry but he says he wants to keep his son, much to Vera's
delight. Vera wants Terry and Tommy to live at the Rovers and
has plans to hand the pub onto Terry when they retire but Jack
says he doesn't want Terry around, he's not convinced he has changed
at all. Jack gets some bother in the bar from a real thug who
starts complaining about his pint. Jack tries to calm him down
but this bloke pulls Jack's head to the bar and looks ready to
start punching him. Just then, Terry jumps in and rescues his
dad from the yobbo (who's built like a brick out house). The Rovers
is in an uproar, everyone saw that Terry saved his dad from a
good hiding, so he must be a good lad, mustn't he? Not quite...
he then rushes out of the pub and pays the stooge £20 for
his little stunt.
Someone else happy that Terry is around these days is Trish Armstrong.
Being as subtle as ever, she flings herself at Terry (much to
Vera's dismay) as often as she can in the Rovers.
Mavis and Derek rush off to their allotment thinking the worst
about Norris. They hear from Billy Williams about the huge hole
Norris was digging there, and truly expect to unearth Angela's
body from the ground. However, in the most serious act of defiance
against his overbearing wife, he did in fact bury Angela's golf
clubs there. "What did you expect to find, Dirk?" Norris
asks, all innocent and wide-eyed. Norris is back with Angela now,
things are hunky dory between them and he's been polishing her
new golf clubs for her. Derek is dismayed that his pal has once
again crawled back to Angela.
Andy takes Anne to the flat above Jim's cafe and asks her if she
will move in there with him. She's taken aback, she never expected
this and gives him another ear-bashing about taking her for granted.
When she calms down, she doesn't give him an answer about moving
in the flat with him until she's seen all of the flat and slowly
leads Andy by the hand into the bedroom.....
Don Brennan's got problems again. The welder machine has broken
down in the garage and Tony reckons a second-hand one will cost
Don around £1,000. Don knows he can't afford this and is
in a grumpy mood which doesn't improve when Mike Baldwin comes
knocking at his front door later that evening with some work he
wants to discuss with Josie. Don throws Mike out of the house
and tells him not to bother Josie after hours. When Mike leaves,
Josie turns on Don and tells him never to interfere again like
that in her business.
A wonderful new character has appeared in the Street. She's a
neighbour of Phyllis' who helps Percy with the shopping in the
corner shop. She's a real old gossip and busy body and looks set
to ruffle a few feathers with her eager eyes, big mouth and loose
tongue (a bit like our dog). In fact, she's only been in the show
about 5 minutes and has already upset Audrey, great stuff! I'm
being vague about this person's name because I can't remember
it (and I only watched the show half an hour ago!) [Lily Dempsey,
just in case you were wondering - Graham].
He's only been back 5 minutes and he's causing problems every
where he goes. Who else but Terry Duckworth? Vera, still overjoyed
to be playing granny with little Tommy, gets upset when Terry
tells her it's time he was moving on again back to Sheffield.
Terry wants to stay, Vera wants him to stay but Jack takes some
convincing. Finally, an exhausted Jack gives in to Vera's nagging
and pleading and lets Terry stay on at the Rovers. Vera loves
settling back into her motherly role and won't hear anything bad
against her lad, she even sides with Terry when he convinces her
that Raquel is an unreliable barmaid and should be sacked. When
Terry makes remarks about Raquel in the Rovers, Curly and Raquel
walk out in disgust, Raquel tells Vera that the Rovers hasn't
been the same since the Duckworths took it over and she's glad
to be leaving. Terry wants Raquel's job for himself, but instead
of helping out in the bar when Raquel quits, he goes round to
see Trisha (he tells Vera he's gone out with the lads for a drink).
Terry & Trisha - the terrible two. For the first time since
Trisha joined the show, I feel sorry for her. She has fallen head
over heels in love with Terry, and thinks he's the best thing
since sliced bread but you just know it's going to end in tears.
Terry tells her he'll take her out for dinner and she gets all
dolled up (she even asks Liz McDonald if she can borrow one of
her lycra string outfits). When Terry arrives at Trish's flat,
he tells her he wants to stay in and get a take-away meal instead
and then spends all night moaning about Vera while Trish massages
his weary shoulders.
There's trouble at t'factory again. Mike is like a bear with a
sore head after Alma tells him to "drop dead". He roars
into the factory, shouting and snapping at the women. One woman
in particular gets a right earful - Josie. Josie comments on the
fact that the machinists are working too hard, they're going over
their quota per hour of garments they should be making for Kbec.
Turns out that Mike has been manufacturing some on the side so
he can sell Kbec their goods and have some left for him to sell
himself - a right fiddle! When Josie complains on behalf of the
girls, Mike pulls her into his office. He tells her to mind her
own business and not to interfere in what he's up to. They argue
for ages (great stuff, this!) and it ends up with the truth about
the garage coming out. When Josie read the letter on Mike's desk
saying the garage had been valued at £50,000, Josie thought
she was getting a bargain when Mike sold the garage to her and
Don for £43,000. The letter was a fake. Josie resigns and
huffs and pants all the way home to Don and another argument.
Not even baking a fruit cake for him can put Don in a better mood,
he blames Josie for getting him deep in debt and forcing him into
buying the garage when he didn't want to. Josie ends up walking
out on Don, screaming "I never thought I would feel sorry
for Ivy!". Oh, and Alma and Mike make up after all of this
- it is their wedding anniversary after all! More bad news for
Mike comes when Steven does his rounds at the factory, inspecting
the work done so far. He's appalled at the work he sees and refuses
to take the order. He extends his deadline a few more days and
Mike has to sub-contract all of the work out, so he makes less
money but keeps Kbec happy. When Alma finds out that Steven has
refused the order she's convinced it's because she made a fool
of herself with Steven and that he's punishing Mike because of
this. So, she meets Steven and asks him straight out if this is
the case - he denies it.
Alf finds out from the Council that they are naming a public building
after him, in his honour. Audrey is delighted, she can't wait
to find out what the building is - a hospital? a library? She's
embarrassed when she finds out it's a sheltered housing project
for the elderly but this doesn't stop her blurting it out all
over the Rovers even though Alf has told her not to say anything
until the official press release is printed.
Liz asks Fiona if she will be visiting Steve in prison next week
on his birthday. When Fiona tells Liz she won't be going to visit
her son, Liz goes all moody with Fiona, who takes her bad mood
out on Raquel in the Rovers and trashes her over the advertising
poster she's made for her aromatherapy sessions. What is it with
this week, everyone has been shouting at everyone else... except
for Trish and Terry who haven't come up for air yet.....
Judy Mallett's secret looks set to be exposed - she's addicted
to catalogues and the pusher is her mother. Gary's been finding
stuff all over the house that Judy has been buying from her mum's
catalogue and he's not best pleased.
Ken and Deirdre have a quiet drink in the Rovers together, but
this isn't half as entertaining as when Deidre is playing monopoly
with little Jamie while Trisha is out boozing. Jamie asks Deirdre
for advice on what girls look for in boys "Oh, kindness"
she says "and a bit of respect, that sort of thing".
Jamie thinks about this for a bit and then says "that's not
what I've heard!".
