Corrie Review - Monday 28 November 2011

Writer: David Lane
Director: Tony Prescott

Michelle and Carla are on their way to Underworld for Carla's first day back in charge after her holiday in LA. Carla has a brand new Alfa Romeo and has finally had her license back to drive. She asks Michelle whether she is up to working after her tragic break up with Ciaran. Michelle replies that she'd rather be working than stay in doing nothing. Carla tells her she'll be the centre of attention and she's not wrong. The second they emerge from the car, Michelle is embraced by Julie who informs her that if she needs to talk that they're there for her. In the factory Michelle is called by her Mum who is trying to get her to come to live with her and Barry in Ireland telling her that the 'only blessing was that he didn't leave her with child' much to Michelle's obvious disapproval. Julie again tries to offer sympathy but Carla rescues her by offering her the job as an office manager, due to Michelle's brilliance while she was away running the factory.

Owen has popped around to see Anna while Faye (aka The Devil Child!) is having her breakfast and offers her a lift to school. Faye decides she's had enough of her breakfast and that she'd rather have crisps. Owen tells her that she shouldn't be filling herself up on crisps however Faye prances out declaring she's meeting her friends at the bus stop instead.

With Steve setting off on holiday with Tracy & Amy, Becky tries to look to the future with the help of Roy who recommends she invest the money wisely. Lloyd arrives (looking like Albert Tatlock in his flat cap!) and asks Becky how she is and jokes that she should use the money to go to Brighton to spoil Steve & Tracy's holiday. As she walks past the salon she is shellshocked by what she sees. Max has arrived on the street ready to start living with Kylie, David and Gail. When Max seems to be rather quiet, the social worker reassures Kylie that he's just feeling overwhelmed. However as soon as he is out of car and sees Becky, he runs up to her hugging her. Kylie takes him off her and David gently explains that Max has come to live with them and that they want him settled and happy with them, leaving Becky close to tears. In work Becky is vague and distant, using wrong materials and when she is spoken to by Sally, she explains everything that's happened to her recently. Sally fully understands and when Becky throws away the rejects and is tackled by Anne, Sally jumps to her defence.

Nick has secured a large booking at the Bistro but with Ian's wine order down the swanee he is worrying how he is going to cater for them. He explains to Eva the predicament he's in thanks to her ex. He's 'three grand down' and has no wine. When Eva is serving later in the bar, their ordeal becomes painfully obvious, they now don't have the wine to even serve at a normal lunchtime. At that moment Ian arrives and Eva and Nick go straight to talk to him. He explains that their wine was ready to be loaded ready for dispatch when security evicted him from the building. His company is bankrupt. Nick tells Eva that he'll take respsonsibilty for future buying and that she's effectively demoted back to bar staff and she'll only keep the job as bar manager if the impossible happens - he gets either his £3,000 back or his wine. Eva immediately accepts the challenge, stating she's off to the warehouse to get either. Nick decides to go with her, in order to safeguard his van.

Kylie has been settling Max into his new home. David decides that Max should go to the same primary school as he did and they all joke about Brian being the headteacher there now. When Gail points out that David is acting like a stepfather, he is pleased saying that after what him and Kylie have been through to get custody they're going to give him the best life possible. Kylie looks thoughtful. Later while David is playing on his games console, Kylie finds a football and David agrees with play outside with Max. Kylie however has to go out for a pre-booked nail appointment and that she won't be long.

Sophie is wanting to go to the cinema but Sian has a mountain of coursework to finish so can't go with her so she heads off to work. Sunita is there and is taking crisps for the kids, telling Amber about Aadi's 'traumatic' golf tournament the previous day when he finished in third. Despite Sunita being thrilled it apparently wasn't good enough for Dev, who expected his son to win. Amber decides to comfort a miserable Sophie and offers to join her at the cinema.

Sally has been looking at possible contracts for Frank and has suggested that suggests that by subcontracting smaller firms they can get more business. She has done costings, leaving Frank and Anne impressed. They tell her that the figures are well worked out and makes good business sense and thay they are able to to arrange a face to face business meeting with Laydon's, a firm they are keen to do business with. Anne points out that quality control is vital with the expensive materials, referring to Becky's recent mistakes.

Nick and Eva have arrived at Ian's wine warehouse and Eva reveals her plan is to sweet talk the security guard to let them in. Her persuasion appears not to work but she's distracted him enough so he has forgot to lock the gate and a window is open. Nick can't believe what he's doing as Eva wriggles through the open toilet window and into the warehouse. He brings the van around and Eva lets him in through the fire door. Nick reminds Eva that they are purely there to retreive their order but as they collect their order together Nick sees the security guard coming back and him and Eva rush to hide.

Owen has again called around to see Anna and has bought some shopping including some ice cream for Faye who soon comes in from outside with a huge cut in her foot. She reveals to Owen and Anna that the floor in the shed broke and her foot went through it.

David is worn out from football and being 'ten nil' down to Max and before they go out to play some more and goes to prepare some pizza for tea. He tells Gail, who too is off out, that it's not a chore looking after Max and that he's enjoying it. As he puts the pizza in the oven Max comes running in close to tears. He says that man next door has taken his football off him and David tells him that he'll go and speak to him and sort it out and for Max to stay in the living room. He goes out to tackle Owen who reveals that Max had been 'purposefully' kicking the ball over the fence into Anna's garden. David argues with Owen about it and Anna comes out and finds the two men at loggerheads and promptly returns the ball. David returns inside with the ball and finds Max is not in the living room. He shouts upstairs that he's not in any trouble but Max isn't there. Panicking David runs out onto the street shouting for him. He asks Sunita and Amber if they've seen him but they reply in the negative. He sees Kylie returning and rushes to tell her that Max is missing and they need to ring the police. Kylie says that calling the police is out of the question as social services will clearly take Max back into care. Remembering seeing Becky with him before she states that she knows full well where Max is.

Highlights

It's lovely to see how much David has grown up from being a hateful teenager hell bent on making people's lives hell to a responsible stepdad for Max.

Eva: It must get so boring all on your own.
Security guard: No, I like my own company.

Lowlights

The devil child. How horrible is she? She's already driven away the legendary Eddie. Owen is clearly making an massive effort with yet she spitefully throws everything back in his face with such glee.