Father Ted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 Corrie Episode Review

Written by John Kerr (7:30) and Debbie Oates (8:30), directed by Tim Dowd

Nick’s worried about the factory and wonders what he’s going to do to fulfill Paul Stoke’s order.  Janice too is worried, about her job, since the factory is up in smoke.  Nick thinks he’s got the solution and shows up at the Bookies to ask Peter if he can rent Turner’s Joinery for his temporary factory space.  Peter gives him a firm negative, since it’s Granddad George’s place and he’ll have nothing to do with it.  Leanne thinks he could at least just give Nick George’s contact info and be done with it. 

The factory girls have a meeting at the pub, and Julie coos over Ciaran and his accent asking him to saying something very Irish, to which he says “Father Ted.”  While Julie dreams of Father Ted and Ciaran, the girls want to know where their drinks are – and where their jobs are at.  Since, Nick’s just met with Paul Stokes who has laid eyes on the crispy factory and Paul calls the deal off since Nick clearly doesn’t have the premises.  Well, Nick heads to the pub rather defeated, to tell the girls that they’re jobs are off, and this is indeed the end of Underworld.  The factory girls bully him that Carla wouldn’t just roll over, like he did, she’d fight for their jobs.  Well, not so much, because Nick goes to Carla and she lays it firm: she wants nothing to do with Underworld, end of.  Nick’s on his own now. 

Worried about Janice’s job, Leanne wonders if she should put Nick in contact with George behind Peter’s back.  Nick helps her make that decision when he gives her a woe-is-me story in the burnt down factory.  After, of course, she tells him how she’s give anything up for Peter Barlow.  Let’s be clear – there are no romantic sentiments here, just old times sake.  Nick apologizes to what he’s put Leanne through, but I’m not 100% it’s sincere.  Maybe it’s 51% sincere, maybe.

The factory girls are all wondering about their jobs and Hayley volunteers to track Nick down and find out what’s going on.   Meanwhile, Roy is up to planning a secret dinner for Hayley.  You know, a secret he tells Anna Windass.  Anna thinks it’s dead romantic of him, and says she’s lucky to get a cup of tea and a biscuit when Eddie’s after a bit of the ‘other.  Roy cringes with the rest of us.  Anna thinks Roy’s romantic setup is gorgeous and tries to help him pick the right salsa music.  I don’t know what he’s listening too, but it sounds more like musak (the stuff you hear in elevators and grocery stores).  Roy certainly doesn’t have an ear for this genre of music.  Roy and Hayley are both in panic-mode, as Roy panics when he hasn’t heard from Hayley in an hour’s time, and Hayley panics that there is another fire again when Roy burns his apple cake.  Roy’s dinner ends up being a ruined, but the night wasn’t a total loss as Roy gets down on one knee and proposes to Hayley, for real this time.  Cheers to the happy couple. 

Meanwhile, Gail has received Joe’s “box of items” and doesn’t know how to handle it.  The nightmare never seems to end for Gail as she now has to pilfer through her late husbands belongings.  This is always the hardest part, as so many of us, including Deirdre, know.  She finds Joe’s watch and how it was stopped and wonders if that was the time of his dead.  Well, water-resistant doesn’t mean waterproof, so it’s highly probable.  David suggests that he can get rid of Joe’s things if it’s upsetting her, but Gail says it’s not just junk and Tina might want these things.  Gail isn’t read to give up on Tina yet.  David goes to get rid of the boat, at least out of Gail’s sight, and enlists in Graeme and Eddie’s help.  Of course, Eddie’s help cost him a fiver, but nonetheless.

Gail arrives at Tina’s with Joe’s box o’ stuff and Tina actually lets her in.  Tina says she doesn’t really want any of his stuff and that the watch he was last wearing isn’t the watch that she wanted.  She wanted the watch that she gave him as a girl, a child’s dinosaur watch.  She gave him the watch as a joke and forced him to wear it, and it became a running joke in her childhood.  She wants that watch, not the new one.  Later, Gail arrives with dinosaur watch in hand saying she’d seen it around their place, but put it in a cupboard thinking it was an old watch of David’s.  Tina’s delighted to see the watch and tells Gail that she believes her that she didn’t kill her father.  All in a day’s work for a deserved Gail. 

Regardless of Eddie’s help earlier, David still manages to hurt his shoulder.  Graeme offers to massage him, and David takes him up on it.  Natasha walks in on them grunting and kneading and tells them she forgot they shared a cell together and wondered if they wanted to her wriggle her keys so they could pretend she was the prison guard to add to the ambiance.  Pretty funny scene, although I do think Natasha is stepping over her bounds a bit with the liberties she takes in Gail’s house simply because she’s sleeping with dating Nick.

Lewis arrives at the salon, looking rather worse for wear if you ask me, and encounters and unhappy Audrey.  She’s unhappy since he’s had an “overnight date” with one of his clients.  Oh, wasn’t Rita right?  It’ll all end in tears.  Not only that, but Lewis manages to flirt with Deirdre in the pub as well.  It would seem they have more in common (fags) than he and Audrey at the moment.  Our favourite cad confesses to Audrey later that he’s given up his job as an escort for her.  Yeah, and no prizes for guessing who’s going to foot his expenses now.  Really Lewis, you shouldn’t have. 

Down the street, Ches tells Fiz that his maths exam didn’t go well as expected.  She lightens his grief by telling him that he really only needs to be good at one thing to get through life, and he’s done well on his business exams.  Good thing there’s a lot of math in business, eh?  Later, Chesney tells John that he doesn’t need the hundred and fifty quid anymore, since he’s got it sorter.  Where has Chesney come up with the dosh? 

Trev is playing the model boyfriend as he makes Carla a fry-up at her place.  The police detectives arrive at Carla’s and ask for a word.  They’re there to tell her that she’s free now, they’re not pressing charges, and give her her passport back.  Trev’s not sure she’s ready to travel or not, but she says there’s nothing she could think of more right now.  On their way out of town, Trev sees Janice in the street and tells her that he and Carla are going to South Africa together now.  Poor Jan, as she’s clearly disappointed since Trev told her before that if there were any openings, she’d have first dibs.  Guess it doesn’t count where girlfriends are concerned. 

HIGHLIGHTS

- Anna candidly telling Roy that she’s lucky if she gets a cup of tea and a biscuit when Eddie’s after “a bit of the other”.  *CRINGE*

- Eddie saying he can’t help David move the boat cause of his back, but when offered a fiver for it, he’s suddenly burst into shape and gets his hands in!  It’s interesting to see Eddie and David be so cordial now, considering their history. 

- Graeme kneading out David’s shoulder and David moaning and groaning over it.  I love these random funny scenes in Corrie!

- Okay, how cute did Trev look in his toque (hat)?  And good for Carla putting hers on, so uncharacteristically! 

- Julie cooing over Ciaran and his accent.  I sometimes forget how great Julie is.  I’m glad she’s taken over the “maneater” bit that Kelly brought to the factory girls.  Although, they’re all kind of maneaters!

- Nick joking that no wholesaler is going to order a thousand units of “woodsmoked thongs in ash grey!” 

LOWLIGHTS

- Audrey so rudely chastising Natasha for being late for work.  Someone pissed in her cornflakes. 

- Smarmy Nick being so rude to Anna at the cafe.  Why is the Platt clan so easily bothered lately?  Gail’s out of jail, rejoice for a bit, THEN go back to your craptacular lives. 

- Julie talking about wanting her job nearby since she doesn’t want to go traipsing around Manchester each morning.  She takes the bus to work..how close could she possibly live? 

- That caddish Lewis sleeps over at a clients house, flirts with Deirdre, then tells Audrey he’s given up escorting.  Let’s hope Audrey doesn’t become a Nurse with a Purse, shall we?