Coronation Street Weekly Update - Christmas and New Year 2007/8

Happy New Year greetings from the first weekly update of 2008. This update is a bit of a bumper edition covering two weeks. It takes in Christmas 2007 and welcomes 2008. I hope everyone reading this had a good Christmas and New Year and it’s with a fresh start and a new fluffy pair of slippers that we head into a new year with the first of 2008’s weekly Corrie updates. And so, without any further ado, here we go with this week’s, and last week’s, Coronation Street update.

There were three huge storylines running across the last two weeks and I’ll deal with these in the order they happened, because I like to keep things neat and tidy here in the weekly update office. And so ladies, and gentlemen, who like this sort of thing, hang onto your hats as the weekly update brings you Commando Sam the stripper from Liz McDonald’s hen night in the Rovers Return. He was butch, big and black and might have had his boyfriend waiting for him in the back room of the pub but Commando Sam had the Street’s women in thrall. As Liz straddled the stripper, Vernon went off with the stags of the Street – er, Dev, Steve and Bill, for a night of Northern Soul at Rochdale Town Hall. And throughout all the wedding planning, the stag and hen shenanigans was Jim McDonald, lurking and biding his time, so he was, hoping to get back into Elizabeth’s good books and under her duvet. And he almost succeeded, almost. Confused about her feelings for her fellas, Liz was ready to call off the wedding to Vern and sent Deirdre ahead to the Register Office to tell everyone to go home. As Deirdre took on the task, Liz bumped into Jim in the back yard at the pub and all hell broke loose. Vernon overhead Jim telling Liz he wanted her back and still considered her to be his missus so he rushed outside to find out what was going on. And that, my friends, was Vernon’s mistake number one. Mistake number two was for Vernon’s wedding outfit to be white, yes all white, for white showed up the blood and gristle that Jim smashed out of Vernon’s skull when he gave him what for, as you knew he would the minute he set foot back on the Street. Not only did Jim beat up the groom, he also knocked out Bob the best man and did for Dev too. With a bloodied Vernon in her arms, Liz’s pity for the poor bloke changed her mind and she decided to go through with the wedding after all and told Steve to stop Deirdre from calling it all off. But she already had and the guests were ready to leave, full of gossip and wonder as to what had gone on. Steve turned up and ushered everyone back inside for the ceremony which left poor Deirdre’s head spinning, she didn’t know what was happening - and neither did Liz. With Vernon covered in blood and Liz in a right state, the pair of them were pronounced Mr and Mrs Tomlin as the newlyweds headed back to the Rovers to celebrate with champagne before the Street regulars celebrated the New Year with champagne and 250 vol-au-vents, made by Betty’s fair hands.

And so, as one couple tied the knot and Elizabeth Jane McDonald married feckless Vern, another Street regular set off for pastures new. Yes, this was the week when Sarah-Lou-Platt-Grimshaw left her newly wed husband for a new life overseas. Jason was ready to leave the Street with Sarah until she admitted she’d planted drugs on David. David had already tried to warn Jason about Sarah: “I’m telling you this,” David told Jason, “because you’re too thick to see it coming.” And so Jason let Sarah leave with Bethany as mother and daughter boarded the train (Engine No 323225) to Manchester airport to fly to Milan to start their new life. Back on the Street it didn’t take much to cheer up Jason when Becky started flirting. And as the twelve bells struck on New Years Eve, Becky had a smile on her face, a bottle of champagne in one hand and Jason Grimshaw in t’other. Gratuitous picture of Jason Grimshaw below.

Now then, as if all of the above wasn’t enough excitement for one update, there’s plenty more to come. Let’s just do a quick rewind to Christmas Day (I know I said I’d do the big stories in order, but I lied) and see what’s going on in the Webster house. I’d been looking forward to this storyline ending for a long time, primarily so that it’s over and done with but also because the climax of it all was hyped as the Christmas day Corrie treat. Did it work as well as I hoped? Well, sort of. What did you make of it all? First off, Rosie demanded to see John on Christmas Day so he lied to Fiz that he needed to pop out to buy some nutmeg.

Nutmeg? No-one buys nutmeg! (repeat ad infinitum every time someone mentioned John’s seasonal shopping habits). Well, it wasn’t nutmeg he was after but something more spicy and he handed Rosie her Christmas present in his little car. Rosie’s face dropped when she opened up the parcel to reveal a pair of Fiz-sized flannelette pyjamas - but John was more shocked. If Rosie had the jim-jams, then that meant Fiz had Rosie’s frillies! John raced back to the flat to see Fiz but she’d already stormed over to the Webster house after opening the scanty panties, assuming John had bought them for Sal. After a stand-off over the sprouts at the Webster Christmas dinner, Sally convinced Fiz and Kev that she and John weren’t having an affair and the frillies weren’t for her. Just when it couldn’t get any more confused, in walked Rosie with the pair of pyjamas in her hand and the penny dropped. And then it dropped again. A huge fight broke out (brilliant stuff!) and Sally slapped Rosie hard across the chops. Kev stormed out and beat up John on the cobbles, kicking him and doing him some serious harm. As Fiz stood and watched we shouted at the telly: “Kick him, Fiz! Kick him!” However, Kev’s kicking was so serious that he’s up in court later this month for assault - but with a clean record and no previous convictions, he’ll surely escape prison, won’t he?

Anyway, elsewhere over the festive season in Weatherfield, Maria was feeling unsettled when she found out that Liam and robo-Carla had once shared a snog. Carla’s doing her best to cause problems for LiaMaria and she’s got Determined Look No. 15 on her face that makes me think she’ll succeed. That woman’s face runs the gamut of emotions all the way from A to B. (Thanks to Corriestreet for the picture).

Over at Roy’s Rolls there was a Christmas dinner with a difference when Roy invited Becky, Chesney and Kirk to have dinner in the caff. In between murder games and turkey with stuffing, the phone in the caff kept on ringing, it was Hayely calling from t’other side of world in Africa, but she seemed destined never to speak to her soulmate. Every time Roy tried to answer the phone, something would stop him from making the connection with Hayley. But finally, at the end of the dinner when everyone had left, the phone rang and Roy answered. As he sat down to wish his beloved a very Merry Christmas, the lights in the café dimmed and the credits started to roll. And I think I’d had too much sweet sherry at that point, as my eyes filled with tears right then.

And that’s just about that for the last two weeks. There were lots of lovely little touches that made the Christmas and New Year episodes so special and one of the best was Fiz in the Rovers on New Year’s Eve. Drinking to get over what happened between her and John, she got very drunk indeed. “I’m ok,” she told Marcus at the bar, “I’ve got a qually fullified medical professional next to me” and then she fell sideways to the floor in one of the best comic moments that Corrie’s had in a long time.

See you next week. All the very best to you and yours for 2008.

Glenda

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