Coronation Street double episode review, Monday 30 September

Great to have Steve occupying a decent length of screen time. Not so great that the talk he had with Ryan resulted in Ryan needing a loan to buy a plane ticket to Ibiza. Steve was doing his best for Ryan, becoming a little philosophical, talking to Ryan about the purpose of life, but Ryan wasn't really very receptive immediately, only genuinely interested in the beer on offer.

Michelle had told Ryan that he would be paying board by the end of the week. Steve does his best and pretty impressive it is too. He points out to Ryan that he lives with his mother, has a boring job, messes with drugs and has to borrow money frequently. Steve tells Ryan that he understands that Ryan needs something to get him out of bed and that he must be wondering what life is all about. If Ryan was doing something he enjoyed, he'd be more satisfied with life. Ryan says,'Do you mean I'd hate my mum less and very cleverly Steve turns that round and says,'No , you'd hate you less.'

Steve thinks Michelle is upset because she no longer works at Underworld, which no doubt she is, though she is also upset that her 21 year old son winds her up and is a waste of space. Brilliant and totally convincing acting from Kym Marsh as the mother of a young man who lacks direction, but who, when he tells her he is going abroad, the idea of him not being near breaks her heart. She wouldn't hide his passport though, because as she says, it's not up to her what Ryan does. Objection is pointless, as Michelle knows, and she shows that she, like most women is able to find things, the reason being that she actually looks - thoroughly. As she says, 'You can't find your own backside with two hands.'

Naturally, Kylie is upset after the harsh way David spoke to her in the last episode and this anger is there for us to witness.'Nick's going through hell and he still manages to be nice to his wife,' she points out. But really Gail, what are you doing interfering? Listening carefully to David and Kylie's row, Gail edges closer and closer and then tries to persuade Kylie to let David out of the dog house. Kylie agrees to let his front paws out, but David is becoming a desperate man and when he tries to talk to Tina she seems to have lost sympathy, saying that he has brought it all upon himself. He tries to sow the seed of the idea of an escape, but Kylie doesn't seem keen. Still, they enjoy the park walk and seem to have settled their differences.

Gail and Audrey produced a beautiful mother/child scene. Audrey was comforting Gail who was in tears of desperation about Nick. The acting was wholly convincing in its execution and both proved themselves in those few minutes to be very skilled actresses. How many years must they have worked together? It would be great to find out if anybody knows.

Gail, with a very excited  Leanne at the hospital, was chewing toffee bonbons which was not making conversation easy. 'They're going to stick my jaw together,' she states at which point Leanne starts laughing because Nick had squeezed her hand, no doubt hoping his mother may lose the power of speech. Nick is winning back the power of speech and makes it very clear that David is on his mind. Gail rings David but he ignores it so Gail rings Kylie and David goes to the hospital. The final scene tonight sees David begging his brother not to say anything to anyone about what happened as they both have too much to lose. It will be very interesting to see what happens there...

Another touching two person scene involved Carla and Michelle. They can't fall out can they? No, because there is still a lot of affection between them as manifested in the hand holding as they end their chat.

The other two person scene was the delightfully, tender one with Roy and Hayley and how they related their relationship to the musical they were watching. Hayley decides she'll keep a journal and that she'd like to go to Blackpool, The Dales and The Lakes. Then she realises that she is happiest at home and heart-breakingly hopes that her final credits will roll when she's at home.      

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