Oh what a tangled web we weave ... and they certainly have their fair share of webs around Weatherfield this week, mostly down to the fact that Frank lied and told the police he was driving the car which ran down Stella.
While Carla is coming round from the accident in one part of the hospital, Stella is lying in a coma in another. David Cameron's cuts have clearly had even more of an effect on Weatherfield General than the rest of the beleaguered NHS put together because they appear to be the only two patients in the hospital. This is just as well as the hospital also seems to be down to one member of staff: a doctor who has to break the various updates to Leanne, Peter, Eva and Karl who are keeping vigil in the corridor outside. First Stella might lose her spleen and then she might never wake up. There's nothing like the threat of losing someone to make people realise how much they're going to miss them and Leanne is no exception, desperately hoping that the mother she has only just met is going to pull through. Her wish is granted and Stella eventually opens her eyes, Leanne begs her forgiveness for saying that she never wanted to see her again, Stella is overcome with joy that Leanne cares after all and Eva is overcome with jealousy.
When Carla discovers what Frank has done she's wracked with guilt and almost spills the beans but he persuades her to keep quiet because if the police find out the truth they'll both go to prison and of course that wouldn't do at all because we've had far too many prison scenes lately what with Fiz and all. However, Carla can't live with herself and tries to go and visit Stella. Karl refuses to let her anywhere near her so Peter intervenes which gives Carla the opportunity to confess all to him. He is appalled by her dirty secret and sends her packing.
Frank then discovers that Carla has told Peter and is furious, reminding her again that they have to stick to their story, or rather his story which Carla had no choice but to go along with. One wonders, of course, why nobody questioned the fact that Frank walked away from the accident without a hair out of place when Carla ended up in hospital and the bookies was so badly damaged by the impact that Peter and Leanne had to go and stay with Deirdre and Ken until the flat was declared safe enough to go back to. However, even the court is convinced because he gets away with a £500 fine and 8 points on his licence. He sees this as a cause for celebration and brazenly takes Carla for a drink in the Rovers before whisking her away to spring a surprise on her: a large, family-sized house which will very soon be theirs. Carla is well and truly trapped and one senses that she does not share Frank's desire either for her or the babies he wants them to have together.
Over at Eileen's, Sean and Marcus are distraught because Violet is finally better and little Dillon is returning to London. At least Marcus is distraught. So distraught, in fact, that he comes up with a bright idea. He and Sean should adopt a child – one of their own which they can keep and they don't have to send back! What a novel idea; there haven't been any new adoptions on Coronation Street for at least two weeks. So, as a birthday treat, Marcus arranges for him and Sean to go to a talk on the subject. Except Sean would far rather celebrate with several double vodkas with his friends in the Rovers which he does before eventually winding up late at the talk, embarrassing Marcus and not exactly creating the perfect first impression required for such an occasion.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting over at Lloyd and Cheryl's where Chris has discovered that the memory loss caused by his brain tumour has its uses. Having wormed his way back into Cheryl's affections he pretends to forget that Lloyd is going to surprise Cheryl with two tickets to a concert and instead talks her into a trip to the cinema with Russ, leaving Lloyd fuming with frustration at the unfairness of it all.
School term has started and Steve wants to know where Amy and Tracy have got to. It's a bit like a scene from a pantomime because just as he's standing with Deirdre by her front door, threatening to call the police to track them down, Tracy and Amy pop up from behind a flower bed on the other side of the street and it was all I could do to stop myself calling out "they're behind you".
Of course Tracy never does anything without an ulterior motive and it's not long before we discover her reason for returning to Weatherfield. She's pregnant. And, not just with any Tom Dick or Harry's baby (although, being Tracy, one imagines that Tom, Dick or Harry could quite easily be the father). No, according to Tracy, the person responsible is none other than Steve. Except that she hasn't told him and doesn't intend to after she goes round to see him and he throws her out of the Rovers. In less time than it takes for Ken to close his library book Tracy has made an appointment at the clinic for a termination and Deirdre decides to take matters into her own hands and break the news to Steve. But she soon wishes she hasn't when she discovers Steve wants nothing to do with the baby, beyond offering the services of Street Cars to drive Tracy to the clinic. Tracy reacts by threatening to leave forever, taking Amy with her.
And that's just about it from the cobbles for another seven days.
The writers of this week's episodes were Chris Fewtrell, Julie Jones, Debbie Oates, Ellen Taylor, Peter Whalley and David Lane. You can find out more about the Coronation Street writing team at:
http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/2008/11/exclusive-all-current-corrie-writers.html
Karen Jankel