Written by Chris Fewtrell, directed by Kay Patrick
Liz reminds Steve that he passed out in the hall, and Becky had to carry him upstairs. Liz asks what happened last night, but Steve avoids the question. Becky is out with Claire and while Claire is wittering on about bananas, or something (I don't really listen when she speaks half the time), Becky tells her that she's "up the stick." Is that what I think it means? Becky tells Claire that no one knows but them, and Steve. Claire encourages her to go through with the baby, or at least think hard about it since she doesn't want to have regrets. Steve finally talks to Becky and she tells him she's at least one month pregnant. Steve wonders why they always have to do things the hard way. That's because you're hard-headed. Becky tells him she's not sure she wants to keep the baby. After much back and forth between the two Becky tells Steve she's going to have this baby after all.
In the pub, Betty talks about her birthday coming up and how she never counts them to stay young. Liz reckons to Michelle that Betty must be the oldest barmaid in Manchester. Liz called the Gazette for them to do up a little article on Betty to drum up publicity for the Rovers. The reporter comes in and interviews Betty for the article and asks her when she pulled her first pint. Betty tells him "1969" then the reporter asks if Liz was working here then. OUCH. Betty lets him know there's never a dull moment behind the bar. Indeed!
Leanne is preparing for her "Hard Hat Party" and she's got no staff, only half the RSVP's, and a small banner. Leanne is most upset that she doesn't have a chef. In the street, Ken stops Peter to have a word, but Peter tells him that he's already made the decision - Simon's going to private school. Later, Leanne and Peter are having a meal at a new restaurant, when they're waiting ages for their food. They witness the chef come out in a huff with management and Peter recognizes a familiar face: Ciaran McCarthy! Ciaran resigns on the spot and orders a scotch to sit down with. Ciaran tells Leanne about the time he and Peter went to the Virgin Islands, and by time they shipped out, they had to rename them. Oh lord.
Later, Ciaran and Peter go to the Rovers and Ciaran tries to push alcohol on Peter. Is this going to be how he falls off the wagon? Ciaran immediately notices Michelle behind the bar and loses interest in Peter. He sees Carla walk in with Leanne, and turns his attentions to her soon after. He manages to get shot down by two women in all of 10 minutes, in all of 30 minutes he's graced us with his presence. This should be a good.
Leanne and Carla have a girls night in with wine, and Deirdre joining them. They go into the new bar to check it out and have a few drinks. The place is rather a "work in progress" but Carla thinks all it needs is some male eye-candy. Carla says she doesn't want a pretty boy, she wants a man she can't have, and that's never coming back. Poor Carla. Peter and Ciaran show up and Ciaran tries his best on Carla, but his best isn't good enough. Later, Peter tells Leanne to go home and he'll clean up the mess they made in the bar. As he's cleaning up he sees some un-finished wine in a glass and takes a gulp. He almost drinks from the bottle, but bins in and leaves. Close call!
Janice is posting an ad for a lodger in the Kabin since Leanne moved out. Janice complains she's only had one interested party, and it was some crazy woman in leggings who wanted to feng shui the place and said there was too much negative energy! Well, that can't be possible. Janice gets a call from a fella to be the lodger but her friends warn her against strange men. Where would Janice be without strange men? Janice's inquirer for the flat comes in, and he's the rather handsome bin-man she was fighting with the other day. Janice quickly takes him up to see the flat. The bin-man takes a look around, and Janice finds out that he's single. He thinks the flat is a good space for him since he wants a fresh start. Janice is pouring herself all over bin-man Trevor. Good for her, since he's agreed to move in tomorrow.
Mary notices that her yoghurt is "live." Molly was going to attempt to correct her, but decided against it. Molly's in the Kabin looking for a get-well card for Sally Webster. That's a turn of cheek.
Sally is doing well with her radiotherapy, but wants to go back to work and back to normal. Molly stops by to drop off her "get well" card and has a quick chat with Rosie who tells her she doesn't blame her for leaving Tyrone since she wouldn't want to wake him to him either. Kevin comes in and sees her and asks what she's playing at when Tyrone walks in with something for Sally at the same time. Tyrone is eating all of Sally's cookies and Rosie looks disgusted at watching him eat.
Kevin stops by Molly's flat, for some reason. The place is a dump as Molly tries to quickly tidy up. Kevin asks her what she was doing around his house. Molly said she was simply delivering a card to a sick neighbor, but Kev told her she couldn't. Molly asks him if he thinks she's a heartless cow or not. Molly said she genuinely wanted to support Sally. Kevin half-heartedly believes her, then leaves in a flash.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- When Steve flops down on the chair in the morning Liz says "If I ever doubted we descended from apes!"
- Liz in her rollers! That's a sight you rarely see!
- Janice asking Julie if she'd like to be her lodger, and Julie laughing out loud as though Janice was joking.
- Becky telling Claire that she's pregnant with Steve's baby, and that "there's two things Steve and I do well, and one of them is rowing..." The look on Claire's face when thinking about what the "other" thing was.
- Janice thanking God for bringing her a man, and a bin-man at that!
- Deirdre arriving home completely bladdered with Ken having to hold her up. Why was he holding Eccles too then? Aren't you supposed to take a dog for a walk? Not a carry.
LOWLIGHTS:
- Mary eating lunch in front of customers. Gross.
- Leanne telling Peter that Ken seemed disappointed, and Peter telling her that Ken's spent his whole life being disappointed, and it's usually at him. Aw, their relationship is so sad.
- Granddad George managed to get his goal: Simon into private school. When is this control going to go all wrong?
- Steve and Becky going on and on and on back and forth all the episode about Becky's pregnancy. I'm bloody bored of it already!
One of the highlights had to be when the reporter asked Liz if she was working behind the bar in 1969 when Betty started!
ReplyDeleteLowlight (sorry) is Cieran's return, such a lame character not well acted and far too contrived that they "bumped into him" in a restaurant out of town, exactly the same way as Peter met up again with Leeane.
To be fair, Peter didn't just bump into Leanne, he found out where she worked from Janice.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ken was afraid Deirdre would trip over Eccles lol That was a funny scene, drunk Deirdre!
ReplyDeleteAnyone think Norris will beg Rita to work at the Kabin again, just to be rid of Mary? And if so, there would could be plenty of mileage in Norris believing he is the boss!
ReplyDeleteWhat I found funny that Tyrone was in the Kabin one scene and then two scenes later: he'd had a haircut!
ReplyDeleteNice to see Betty having a storyline and I do hope that Emily, Ken and Deirdre will be in her party as they're her most faithful punters.
And I'm looking forward to seeing Mary's face when Rita returns, as I feel she's quite jealous of Norris' fondness of her.
I'm sick to death of Becky's pregnancy as well - just like I was with their wedding(s). I REALLY can't be doing with this "Becky has a heart of gold hidden under a hardbitten exterior and has been rehabilitated by Roy and "Ayles"" rubbish - Becky was fine as the thief - really good actually - they should have left it at that.
ReplyDeleteI want more of drunk Deidre. Carla and Leanne broke her!
ReplyDelete@ Ena's Hairnet - Did I not include that? How did that get by me? Yes, that was HILARIOUS! I'm not the biggest fan of Ciaran YET, but I love that accent of his!
ReplyDelete@ TVOR - That drunken scene was SO funny.
@ John - This is possible. Although, I'm quite enjoying Mary working at the Kabin. She's so strangely quirky, I think her and Norris are well suited as partners. They both make you ask "who DOES that?" for different reasons.
@ CSC - I love Betty too!
@ Seapenguin - I can't for the life of me understand WHY they drag out Becky and Steve's issues. Why couldn't they have just made the decision to keep the baby in the first episode, then spent the rest celebrating and having a laugh instead?
@ Clare - Me too. Deirdre's one of my fave characters, and she plays a great drunk!
Deirdre was brilliant, especially the cackle at the end!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything said about Becky. I thought that once the tedious fall outs had finished, things would be more interesting. But it looks like we're in for more tedious, going round in circles about Becky's pregnancy.