Weekly updates - October 2003

Greetings and welcome to another weekly update. It's been another cracking week on the cobbles so without any further ado, here we go with this week's Coronation Street update.

There's angst and anger between Todd and Nick after the kiss on the sofa last week. Nick steers clear of Todd with a sneering: "I've had to disappoint better blokes than you in the past" and Sarah moves in with grandma Brenda. After much tears and attempts at clearing up confusion, Sarah moves back in with Todd although Nick's not happy about the arrangement and lets them both know. With the seething tension, bubbling passion and barely concealed anger hanging over her kids this week, Gail knows there's something going on but isn't sure what. In the corner shop, Todd finds a confidante in Sunita. I mention this only because there were gratuitous shots of Tunnocks tea-cakes this week and I wanted to give them a mention.

It's Ken's 64th birthday and a card arrives via Ciaran from Peter, who's still in communicado (I think it's somewhere in Spain). At the bookies, Sally hands in her notice and the keys to Shelly, saying she's not running the place for Peter while he's away. Shelly and Lucy decide to run the place themselves and put Sally back in charge. Lucy reckons that because she's his wife, she's entitled to 50% of everything Peter owns and she helps herself and Shelly to the takings which they go out and spend. Lucy's lapping this up but Shelly's unsure. When Ken finds out what's going on, he tells Ciaran to tell Peter and soon a For Sale sign goes up at the bookies.

Roy and Hayley reckon they've been more than patient with Tracy and think the time's right for her to tell her parents she's pregnant. However, Tracy has plans of her own and shocks the Croppers when they find out she's started work as a Streetcars cab driver, and worse, they find her drinking in the Rovers as she celebrates her divorce. Anyway, there's a showdown in the sitting room when Roy and Hayley wait with Ken and Deirdre for Tracy to return before letting the Barlow's know about the baby. There's screaming and yelling and a line of dialogue at which I did a quick intake of breath when Deirdre said to her daughter: "That kidney was wasted on you". Tracy calls Roy a freak and Deirdre calls Tracy a monster and an evil little cow, all part of a good healthy discussion then. When the crying stops and the yelling ends, Deirdre and Ken tell Tracy they'll support her because she's carrying their grandchild. Which means they're somewhat surprised to hear Tracy, bless her isn't she kind, say that she plans to give the baby to the Croppers when its born. Hormones being what they are and making her clearly confused, she forgets to tell her parents that in exchange for the baby they're paying her sixty million pounds and free barm cakes for life.

Since Nick returned from Canada, he and Maria have done a good job of pretending to themselves that they no longer care for each other. So when Maria says she doesn't want anything to do with Nick, Candice takes her chances and asks Nick out on a date. When Candice goes to the flat at lunchtime to try on her outfit for the date (which couldn't have taken long because there's never a lot to Candice's clothes), Nick follows her in there to find out where she wants to go on the date that evening. Anyway, you can probably guess what happens next. Maria comes in just as Nick and Candice are coming out of the bedroom, after you know, and pretends not to be jealous while Candice gloats and Nick makes a quick escape. It's just like the teen Big Brother house really.

Dev dons a pair of specs and affects a mannerism which he hopes will get him a date with the lady solicitor he's got his eye on, but which manages only to make him look like an Asian Eric Morecambe. He didn't get the date although he did get a few laughs in our house.

And finally this week, Norris loses his patience with Rosie, David, Craig and a cheeky little monkey of their mate who play football in the street, kicking the football against the Kabin walls. With his Pentel swinging, he strides out on the cobbles and takes their ball away, not once but twice and when they go in the shop to complain, he punctures it with scissors, right in front of their eyes. Later in the Rovers, Tommy has a go at Norris and tells him he wants a tenner for each ball. Norris, Rita and Emily pay up and leave, muttering about kids and no manners these days and have you seen the price of fish?

And that's just about that for this week.

Glenda

At the Barlow's Ken wonders if the baby's really Roy's and when he shares his doubts with the Croppers they storm round to see Tracy. Hayley to Tracy: "Ken has just told us about this Wally bloke!" Tracy to Hayley: "Roy, you mean?" Roy goes to see Wally, who's tending a widow's garden, trimming her box, tidying her bush and flexing his dibber (stop me now, I'm a gardener, these bad jokes could go on all night!). The widow, Wally says, has a face like a horse: "It's very hard to look her in the face without offering her a carrot." Roy wants to know if Wally slept with Tracy and at first Wally's all bravado and macho but when Roy tells him she's pregnant, he swears he didn't touch her. Roy tells him the reason he needs to know the truth and Wally replies there's no chance that he could be the father - having lost the family allowance when he caught the mumps at 15.   So, thinking he's the true father there's only one way now for Roy to have legal claim on the baby - he has to marry Tracy, or so Hayley tells him. When Roy proposes to Tracy, she laughs in his face and Hayley gets stroppy: "Murry Roy or the deal's off!". And so the ball is in Tracy's corner - does Tracy need the money more than the Croppers want a baby? Will Deidre and Ken bring up the baby with her if she decides to keep it? And is it our new widescreen telly or is Deirdre getting, like, really fat?

Gail seethes as she sees Nick dating Candice although Audrey's ok about it and soothes her daughter in the street. Gail still hasn't got a clue about Nick and Todd's kiss and they're both doing their best to ignore each other this week.

It turned rather Hitchcockian in the Kabin this week when Norris hears the thump, thump, thump of a football against the Kabin wall. "I don't like it... " he says as the camera pans to his fear stricken face. "I don't like it at all".   Craig, David, Rosie and their mate (who's name I've forgotten but Rita said his brother used to deliver papers for her once. He had a lazy eye with a personality to match, you know the type) have picked easy targets in Rita and Norris to torment with a bit of out-of-school angst.

As Lucy and Shelley continue running the bookies, a beard appears with Peter Barlow behind it. He's back, he's defeated and he's not had a shave. Moving back in with his parents, he tells his missuses that he'll split the profits of the bookies with them when it's sold. He then declares undying love to Shelley and demands of Lucy to see his son. Lucy encourages, nay, badgers Shelley to return to the police station to give another statement to ensure that Peter will be sent to jail - but Shelley ends up wondering why she's there. It's clear Lucy's feeling bitter and using Shelley to get at Peter while all Shelley wants to do is put the whole sorry mess behind her.
(Best line of the week went to Peter, however, when he hears there's someone pregnant at the Barlow's and wrongly assumes it's Deirdre - then when Tracy walks in the room, the penny starts to drop: "Who? Her? No! Who? Oh no!")

In his shopkeeper specs, Dev finally gets a date with the solictor lady, and oh, dear me, is that Sunita feeling sorry for herself as she watches Dev get smoochy with someone other than her?   With her red sports convertible and sharp mind, it doesn't take long for lady solicitor to realise she may be treading on Sunita's feelings.

More arguments this week with Tommy yelling at Angela when he sees her talking to Katy in the street. Trying to make an effort to be civil to her parents, Martin and Katy agree to meet Tommy and Angela in the Rovers but it turns into a punch-up once Les Battersby sticks his nose in. Later, Angela defies Tommy and turns up at the flat to speak to her daughter. After hugs on the sofa, they promise they'll keep in touch, whatever Tommy thinks.

And finally this week, for some reason best known at ITV but certainly not in our house, Les Battersby was given a storyline that had him making eyes at a barmaid in the Weatherfield Arms and spinning her a line that he's in the music business. She tells him she's called Lulu and he tells her he's called Clint - which is quite close to what we call him too.

And that's just about that for this week.

Glenda

Here I go again with another weekly update. Corrie has been pretty darn good for the last couple of months with strong, sharp and often funny dialogue that's bringing the best out of many of the cast - particularly Steve and Karen, although Les could have dialogue written by Alan Bennett and still make a pig's ear of it. Anyway, without any further ado here we go, here we go, here we go with this week's Coronation Steet update.

Fred returns from his sausage sojourn to unsurpassable Scottish slaughter houses to find Norris' tongue wagging in the Kabin. Norris tells Fred that Claire stayed overnight, he saw her taking in the milk and that can only mean one thing as far as Norris is concerned - passion not porridge. What really happened was that Claire stayed in the spare room after Ashley persuaded her to stay rather than go home late at night. So Fred's thinking there's summat going on between them both, and tells Ashley he's right pleased. When Ashley laughs about this to Claire later, they end up kissing on the sofa before pulling away from each other, embarrassed and shy. Ashley thinks he's been unfaithful to Maxine and Claire's not sure what to think: "I took advantage of a vulnerable widower!". They clearly like each other and after much blaming of selves "It were my fault", "No, it were mine," (repeat to fade), Claire agrees to stay on as the babbie's nanny as if nothing has changed, when everything has.

Peter's relieved that he won't be prosecuted although his wives aren't best pleased he's been left off with a caution: Never run with scissors in your hand. In that great tradition of scorned blondes, Lucy turns Loopy and seethes with anger at both Shelley and Peter, convinced they're going to get back together again. Shelley's tolerating Peter in the Rovers as long as he stays yon side of the bar, where Bev growls at him often from t'other. Lucy's mate comes round and finds a poison-pen letter (and I do hope it was written in green ink) that she's intending to send to Peter but manages to persuade her not to send it. Well, not until she's sorted out the spelling errors anyway.

Les (Clint), has another date with Lulu (Cilla) and turns out to be the mother of (Fiz). "Mum!" she screams when Fiz sees Cilla with Les. "Mum?" says Les as Kirk chuckles by the bar at the Weatherfield Arms. Anyway, when everyone comes clean about who they are and what they do, Les and Cilla put the punters off their beer by snogging in the Rovers while Fiz refuses to have anything to do with her mum. She says Cilla's a junkie prostitute who she can't stand the sight of, calls her a tart and a cow and says she hates her guts before storming out of the Rovers with Kirk the kennel king in tow.

Martin and Katy are having a drink in the Rovers when Sally drags Kev over to sit with them both. While Martin's at the bar, Sally tells Katy she's lucky to have a fella like Martin and Katy tells her, jokingly, to keep her hands off. "Been there, done that." replies Sally while Katy gets a face like a startled hen. You know, one of them brown ones. But the Websters have their own exciting news to share as Sally tells Kev that Rosie's been chosen to play a Rissole in Grease.

At the dinner table in the Barlow's, Tracy and Peter score points off each other trying to figure out just who's the worst. In the red corner is Peter: bigamist, liar and feckless ne'er do well. And in the blue corner is Tracy: a total waste of space and a really sorry mess. Anyway, with the help of much whisky, Tracy tells Peter everything - all about doping Roy, the baby's father being Steve and the Croppers paying her twenty grand to give the baby to them. Peter tells Tracy to come clean with Steve, see what his reaction is towards the baby being his and forget about the Croppers. And as all of this is going on, as Tracy tries to tell Steve at Streetcars the whole sordid truth, Roy and Hayley are with their bank manager, desperately trying to borrow more money to give to Tracy. Just as Tracy is going to tell Steve the truth, the Croppers storm in to hand over the cheque - which she takes, as if there could have ever been any doubt - and tells Steve all she wanted was to take over the switchboard so he could go home to Karen to plan their wedding some more.

And that's just about that for this week.

Glenda