There's tension this week in the Platt household, voices are
raised and nostrils are flared. Alf rings Martin on holiday with
the news that Nick is missing and Martin comes straight home to
Alf and Audrey, giving them both a right earful for not calling
him sooner. Gail and the other children arrive home later and
Gail calls the police who start a campaign to find Nick but admit
there's little chance of finding him if he doesn't want to be
found and yes, he HAS taken his passport!
Audrey is trying to help, she really is, but she's being of little
use and Gail argues with her mother and tells her to leave the
house. Audrey goes straight round to the Rovers and demands a
double brandy to steady herself as she prepares for another argument
with Don. She tells him it's all his fault that Nick has walked
off. Audrey blames Don for the disappearance and they both have
a good argument in Don's house after she accuses Don of telling
lies to the police, claiming he said that Martin is a cruel stepfather
and that Nick had an unsettled home life.
Kevin has a new job at the same garage where Tony works. Sally
has now been promoted to supervisor in Baldwin's factory (much
to Ida's disgust, as she was expecting the promotion!) as the
firm branches out into making ice- hockey team uniforms. Sally
isn't sure she wants the job, which involves looking after the
factory while Mike takes his son away on holiday for a few days,
and especially when Ida tells Sally she has to buy the round of
drinks in the Rovers as she's earning more than the other girls.
Trisha doesn't want Baldwin to know she's pregnant as she's afraid
that he'll think she's slacking off work and give her the sack.
Trisha isn't sure what to do about baby Duckworth. She tells Vera
that she wants to have an abortion and Vera tells Jack the news.
Unbeknown to Vera, Jack goes to see Trisha, and he clumsily offers
to pay for an abortion for her, if that is what she's decided.
Later, Vera sneaks round to see Trisha, intent on offering her
words of support but Trisha jumps down Vera's throat before she
can say anything.. "so you think you can soften me up with
your money, do ya? Well.. I'm telling ya, I'm keeping this baby,
I am!" and who should walk in then but young Jamie who hears
it all. He's been wondering for a while now what's up with his
mother and when he finds out this news, he brings her breakfast
in bed (burned toast and cold tea) and tells her he hopes it's
a boy. Trish goes to see Jack and Vera in the Rovers the next
day and apologies for shouting at them but tells them she has
made a decision to keep the baby after all and Jack and Vera offer
their support. However, Vera tries to warn Trish about Terry without
actually telling her that as soon as the baby's born, Terry will
most likely run out of the delivery room with it in his arms offering
the poor little thing to the highest bidder he can find. Jack
tells Vera not to get too used to the idea of being a grandmother,
just in case anything should happen, like Terry returning.
Liz and Jim are still fighting with each other over the sale of
the house. Liz can't get a mortgage to buy it and as Jim already
holds the mortgage on the house, he can't get a second mortgage
to buy Liz out, and she won't sell him his half of it (confused?
you will be!). "You're vindictive, Elizabeth, so you are"
he tells her.
Nick's disappearance has caused Rita some problems - she doesn't
have a paper boy any longer! So she gets her number one employee
to deliver the papers but when Mavis starts complaining of aches
and pains Derek protests to Rita on Mavis' behalf. Good old Rita
then gets Derek to deliver the papers instead before recruiting
another paper boy. Both Mavis and Derek are now complaining of
aches and pains and Rita sends them both home, to lie down with
their hot water bottles and complain to each other instead of
complaining to her.
Andy asks Ann if there are any vacancies going at Firmans (not
Bettabuys as I wrongly said last week!) and she tells him he can
start next week stacking shelves for some cash, even though Curly,
as manager, said there was nothing Andy could do there.
And that's about it for this week. I just wish Jim and Liz would
get themselves sorted out, that story line has ran too long for
my liking, but I suppose in real life, this sort of thing would
drag on for months too.
It's Derek's birthday and he can cry if he wants to, yes, cry
if he wants to. You would cry too if you were married to Mavis!
Derek hits the big 6-0 and he is so certain that Mavis has arranged
a surprise party for him that he happily goes off to work, telling
Mavis he'll be back in time to meet all his friends he's sure
she will have rallied round to drink a birthday toast to him.
Problem is, Mavis thinks Derek is only 59 and hasn't arranged
anything for his birthday so when he comes home to an empty house,
he's rather upset, as you can imagine.
Jack and Vera can no longer keep Terry's awful secret from Trisha
and tell her that he sold little Tommy not once, but twice, to
the Hortons. But, Trisha is so desperate for a man in her life
that she chooses to believe that Terry had little Tommy's interests
at heart when he sold his own son and vows to track him down and
tell him about baby duck-egg.
Nick Platt is still missing and Gail is pulling some amazing facial
expressions as she gets upset and wonders what's become of her
son. The bank tell Martin that Nick has used his card to withdraw
money from a cash machine in Leeds and both Ken and Don distribute
posters around the area hoping that someone will recognise Nick.
While Gail is at home crying and fretting, she gets Roy Cropper
to work in the cafe for her.. and he reveals to Audrey his secret
lottery syndicate theory. Which, my husband tells me, has every
chance of succeeding but I just didn't understand it (although
I didn't admit it, of course).
Alf gets a private visit from a fellow council member, who asks
Alf if he's still interested in having Coronation Street renamed
after him. When Alf says he is, the council chap confides to Alf
about the plan to build a ring road around Weatherfield - one
that will go right through the middle of Coronation Street, which
will of course, have to be crushed to the ground!. He advises
Alf that if he wants a street in the area named after him for
eternity, he'd be better off choosing one that wasn't planned
to be demolished in the future. But what does this mean for the
residents of our favourite programme? Will they too, go when the
bulldozers come roaring in? Or will they mount a campaign to save
their cobbles and stone cladding?
When a leading member of the Square Dealers passes on to the great
rectangle in the sky, a vacancy in the Masons er.. sorry... Square
Dealers opens up for prospective members. Both Derek and Jack
are hoping to be the person to fill that cubic space, and Fred
Elliot is the one who will decide which one of them becomes a
member. "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours"
he tells Jack. Fred isn't too keen on Derek as he doesn't eat
enough red meat, so Jack is the more likely looking candidate
so far.
Hooray! At last! Liz has decided to sell the house to Jim. Thank
goodness for that.
Josie comes back to the Street after seeing posters in town appealing
for help in tracking down Nick. She comforts Gail before popping
round to see Don, who is absolutely legless (sorry, couldn't resist
that one!). He's blind drunk and offers Josie a can of beer, spraying
it all over himself before slumping down into his chair. Josie
asks what has happened to the garage as she noticed it was closed,
but Don is too drunk to tell her.
Des and Claire set sail on their holiday, with one problem - Becky!
She was supposed to be staying with her grandparents but instead
joined them on the boat, which isn't big enough to swing a cat
never mind a teenager. Des' cosy sleeping arrangements are disrupted
when Becky wants to sleep with her mum, and Des gets relegated
to the broom cupboard with a sleeping bag.
Gary Mallett takes Samantha out for a ride on his motorbike while
Judy is at work. When Judy comes into the Rovers, Samantha almost
tells her that she'd been out with Gary on the bike but before
she can spill the beans and risk a thump round the lug hole from
Judy, Gary swiftly dances Judy out of the Rovers and they go for
a curry.
Mike has left Sally in charge of the factory and the office while
he goes on holiday for a few days, much to Ida Clough's disgust.
Sally revels in her new position, but all Kevin can do is have
a good moan to her when she comes home from work. Now you'd think
that after Sally has looked after him and pandered to Kevin's
every whim for the last few hundred episodes, that Kevin would
at least try to understand and support Sally, but, alas not. So
then, if the spoiler I've heard this week is true, then it's no
surprise to learn that Sally...
read on only if you have nerves of steel for a BIG spoiler......
is set to HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH MIKE BALDWIN!!!
On the good ship Lollipop Cap'n Des is cruising through the illey-alley-oh
while there's mutiny down below and the crew is revolting. Especially
Becky, who in the guise of being a troubled teenager, this week
gets away with throwing a camera overboard and kicking her mother
in the bottom when she sees her lying on the riverbank kissing
Des. (Kids today eh? If I'd done this when I was her age, I'd
have been slapped round the legs so hard they would sting for
days, sent to my room without any tea and had my pocket money
stopped for a fortnight). Despite calm words from both Claire
and Des, Becky is still rocking their love boat with accusations
that Des is trying to take her father's place. Back on dry land,
and with Becky out of sight at camp with the girl-guides, Des
wants Claire to stay overnight with him and is angry when she
tells him she can't because of her duty to her parents-in-law.
The police tell Gail and Martin that the bank security camera
has taped someone taking money from Nick's bank account at a cashpoint
machine, and the police ask Gail to watch the video to see if
it's Nick. Gail and Martin get their hopes raised, it could be
Nick on the tape but when Gail watches it, she doesn't think it's
Nick after all, which makes them worry even more now. It could
mean that someone has stolen Nick's money and his cash-card....
Don has finally sobered up and he tells Josie the truth about
the garage. She's furious, of course, and realising that she has
nothing to gain from keeping the garage running herself, she goes
round to see Kevin and Sally and offers them the garage for sale
at only £25,000. Sally and Kev want the garage and at such
a discount, it's a steal. When Kevin tells Tony about the deal,
he's interested in it too. Champagne corks are flying in the Webster
household later and Sally wants to drink a toast to her's and
Kev's future but the fizzy stuff leaves a strange taste in her
mouth when Kevin announces that the garage won't be the Webster
family business she envisages, but that he's going into partnership
with Tony."So what you're saying Kevin, is that you need
him to hold your hand!" she shouts, and then, I have to admit,
Kevin gives a great speech about why he hasn't the confidence
to go it alone in business.
Jim moves into his old house on the Street and Liz has found herself
a little flat somewhere that she's moved into. Ann has decided
to buy her own place now that she's a frozen food executive and
asks Andy if he wants to move in with her (as a lodger...). They
decide to tell Jim that they are looking for somewhere else to
live, but find it difficult when Jim assumes that Andy will be
staying on in the house with him. Jim gets a hair cut (it looks
like it's been done by Bill and his junior hack-saw) and visits
Steve in prison. He tells him that he's building up the business
with Bill so that Steve can have a decent job when he gets released.
Later, when the inmates are taken for walkies, Steve chats to
that chap (I can't remember his name right now - the one he bought
the stolen whisky from [Malcolm Fox - Graham]) and he tells Steve
he might want to "do some business" with him.. whatever
that means.
Andy is working at Firman's Freezers under the watchful eye of
his boss - Ann, er, sorry, Ms. Malone. She wants Andy to respect
her authority at work and when he playfully hits her on the bottom
beside the frozen gateaux, she isn't best pleased. (This girl
needs feeding up, send her your left- overs now!).
Roy is helping out in the cafe and cooks a fry-up for Gail to
cheer her up. He ends up confiding in Gail and tells her that
his father walked out when he was just a child and he still feels
the pain of it today. Later, both Roy and Mavis feel the sharp
end of Audrey's tongue when she snaps at both of them as they
try to offer words of support about her missing grandson. Audrey
tells them both they can't possibly know what Gail feels because
neither of them have children. Roy, subtle as ever, asks Mavis
"no children eh? - so was it internal problems then, or did
you just not get around to it?".
It's Judy Mallett's birthday and Gary buys her a pair of ear-
rings, and her mam gives her a new outfit she's bought from the
catalogue. But these can't take her mind off the fact that Gary
has taken Samantha out on his bike, she's jealous and angry. Gary
tells Samantha to pretend to Judy that she was interested in buying
the bike from him. Later in the Rovers, Samantha spins this yarn
to Judy in front of Gary, and then knits the whole thing up by
giving Gary a wad of cash to buy his bike from him (at a discount
price), money which he promises Judy he'll buy a dishwashing machine
with. Gary has been stitched up good and proper, but Samantha
still seems keen on ripping this marriage apart, so stay tuned.
(I warned you she was trouble!).
With Derek's birthday last week, President Clinton and Judy Mallett's
birthday this week, I'm in good company! In a shameless attempt
to get birthday email from people I've never met, I hereby declare
that it's my birthday too - on Friday 23rd August... :-) (so if
you don't get an update next Tuesday, it means I'm still hungover!!).
Before I start the update this week, I want to thank each
and every person who sent me a birthday greeting last week. I
had to stop counting when the greetings totalled more than 200,
I was overwhelmed. Your messages made me realise how important
the weekly updates are to many of you without access to the show,
and for some in far flung places, reading the update via the internet
is your only link to England. Yes, I had a great birthday. Yes
I'm a year older. No, I'm none the wiser. And so, here we go again.....
He's back! Nicky Platt saunters in through the front door of Gail
and Martin's house as casually as if he'd only returned after
popping out to the chip shop. Gail is ecstatic of course, especially
after she was called to the local hospital to identify a boy's
body which she feared could be Nick. Martin is less enthusiastic
about Nick's return, and he wonders what his motive was for returning.
He wants to know the full details about Nick's disappearance and
so do the police.
Kevin and Tony are celebrating their partnership with dinner at
the Webster's house when in walks Don, bitter and furious (as
usual). He tells them both he hopes they'll lose all of their
money, their homes, everything, after investing in the garage.
Sally is also still unhappy about the partnership and sulks more
than usual this week.
Anne (the Ice Maiden) announces to Andy, at work, that she's found
her ideal house in her lunch break and is going to buy it. Andy
tells her that if she is going to make decisions like this without
consulting him, then he doesn't want to be a part of the relationship.
However, they make up later on and tell Jim they're moving in
together.
Alec takes Joyce off to the Lake District for the Bank Holiday
Weekend but tells her to keep it quiet, he doesn't want the rest
of the street to know. After leaving Joyce's dog, Scamper, with
Judy and Gary, they set off for a really posh hotel in the Lakes.
Joyce is taking advantage of Alec at the hotel, she puts in her
dry cleaning and clothes mending, and phones Australia a couple
of times from her room. With Joyce wearing her petticoat (funny
how middle age women wear petticoats isn't it, guess I've got
it to look forward to) she opens her bedroom door and it's Alec,
they both get a bit embarrassed. Alec tells her "If I wanted
to get my leg over, I'd have borrowed your Gary's motorbike".
Judy and Gary are having problems in the bedroom and I don't think
they're arguing about the curtains.... Judy thinks that Gary is
eyeing up Samantha as a reaction to the fact that he is keen to
have and she doesn't want to have a baby. Judy confides in Vera,
after Vera calls time on a fight that was brewing between Judy
and Samantha behind the bar of the Rovers. When Gary complains
to Vera that Judy makes more of a fuss over Scamper than she does
over him, Vera tells him that Judy is probably getting out her
paternal instincts (!) by fussing over the dog.
Ken Barlow is clearly enjoying his 6 week vacation from teaching
over the summer - we only see him either walking to or walking
from the Kabin to buy his newspaper.
Claire tells Des she needs space. Oh dear. Des has had enough
experience of being dumped to know that when a woman asks for
space, it's the end. Sean Skinner calls in to see Des and offers
his words of wisdom about women, but this from a man who was chatting
up Liz McDonald in the Rovers this week? Des calls round to see
Claire at her parents-in- law's house and of course, Claire isn't
there so he gets chatting to her parents in law who seem really
nice people and they tell Des all about Claire's husband (their
son) who died. Claire comes in, and is rather upset when she sees
Des there and is really nasty to him and he walks out, which I
can't blame him for doing, I would have done the same thing. Later,
Des storms home in a bad mood only to find Claire and Becky at
his doorstep with their suitcases, ready to move in with him.
As Claire flings her arms round Des' neck and Becky shouts an
exasperated "Mu-hum!", ITV did that thing, you know,
when they start the Coronation Street theme earlier than they
normally do, to signal an important event, and my eyes just welled
up with tears.
