Coronation Street double episode review, Monday 22 June

Poor Faye and poor baby Miley. What a situation this is. However difficult, however demanding, however time-consuming, baby Miley must be properly cared for and loved. Maybe in time Faye will come to love her child. Love is a baby’s birthright.

Today is Miley’s christening and Gary and Anna are making sandwiches to feed an army while Tim is entertaining Miley. He is clearly smitten by the child. Faye though is impatient with Miley. When she cries, Faye yells, ‘What! I’ve fed you, changed you, what else do you want me to do?’

At least the family scrubs up well and turns out in force for Faye and baby Miley, for Miley’s christening. Alya turns up, which pleases Gary though he realizes she lied to him when she said she was working with Carla all day, then hears from Izzy that Carla has gone to Birmingham. Jackson sits awkwardly with his parents while Faye appears vague. Tim is perhaps the only one who is delighted about Miley’s arrival. He is very emotional when he does his reading about his own mum, which is really beautiful, but he cannot hold back the tears, so Anna steps up saying, ‘Give it here you soft beggar,’ and continues to read it.  Maybe it is this which provokes Faye’s running out of the church, unable to take any more. She tells Tim, ‘I don’t feel any of those things you’re supposed to feel.’

Tim is a terrific character and demonstrates real understanding of his daughter.  As they face the grave yard, Tim says, ‘It’s a bit dead round here.’ He comforts her and tells her that they will get through it somehow. He is honest in saying he doesn’t know how, but that they will. 

Later Jackson's parents offer to take in baby Miley, but when Tim tells Anna, she is set against it.

In the gym Dev makes a fool of himself by lifting heavy weights and referring to his biceps. ‘Gotta keep these guns firing.’ He boasts until Zeedan comes along and tells him to ‘Chill out bro.’ He then hands Dev some much smaller weights. Dev points out, for Talisa’s ears that his last assessment put him at age 32.  Mary says that if that is the case she must be aged between Justin Bieber and a teenage  Russian gymnast. Talisa  suggests Yogalates classes. Dev tells her he will help to get the classes on and she calls him her ‘hero’ – then Dev drops a weight.

At Dev’s his harem is gathered and Dev asks Talisa for a Personal Nutrition Plan. Mary then causes trouble with his cup of tea and tells Talisa that he is very easily distracted. Mary is firmly on his case. 

What on earth is Dev doing? Has he left his marbles in India? There he is in the gym, showing off to Talisa, as if he’s 16 years old. Mary witnesses his boyish attempts to impress Talisa and is more than a little concerned for Julie. This aspect of Mary’s character is surely admirable. She is genuinely concerned for a woman who has become her friend. No sign of madness here.

It is remarkable that Julie has not asked Dev straight out who Talisa is and why she is living in their house. It is also remarkable that Julie hasn’t noticed Dev’s infatuation with Talisa, though she did try to get Talisa fixed up with a job out of Weatherfield. Something else remarkable is that Dev himself has not been man enough to tell Julie that it is over. The unmissable irony is that Julie is turning Brian down, telling him that she is now with Dev and that her relationship with Brian is over. What a mess!

There is a touching scene between Julie and Mary, in which Mary tells Julie how fond she has grown of Julie. She speaks of her own personal heartbreak brought about by a plumber from Huddersfield, called Nigel. They had a few things in common. ‘Avant garde knitwear, sherbert lemons, and the dramatic arts.’ Nigel though had commitment issues and a tetchy cocker spaniel. How great that would be if in a future episode Nigel plus tetchy cocker spaniel were to arrive on the street.

Another family turns out in force – this time it’s the Platts. Gail, Nick, Audrey and David are all there to support Kylie as she continues her bid to remain drug-free. Michael comes too. He says that Kylie has always been straight with him. Unlike… Audrey is keen that Michael understands that she knew nothing of the Gavin/Michael situation. David suggests that the session should be renamed An Audience with Gail Platt. She is dressed in a sweatshirt from Lost Property at The Bistro, after a soaking in the men’s toilets, and the counsellor mistakenly thought that Gail was the drug addict. The counsellor works away asking people to say what they like about people. At the end the counsellor says, ‘I think we’ve had some success today.’ Nick comments, ‘I’d hate to see what failure looks like.’

Callum gives Sarah a huge, metallic bag, which she loves and is almost as big as her. Clearly, he is continuing his  ‘profession’ and it is paying well. At least Kylie stands up to him, by telling him that he can’t just walk into number 8 whenever he feels like it. It’s good to have Kylie back.

It’s great to see Tracy irritated. ‘You still here then?’ she asks. As Brian continues his stay at Ken’s, Tracy is disgusted to see Brian sporting Ken’s kimono which does Ken no favours and does even fewer for Brian.  She tells her dad that Brian looks like ‘Summat out of Basic Instinct.’ Brian informs Ken and Tracy that he, ‘Likes the feel of satin against bare skin,’ which is too much for us all. Tracy also adds that it’s like Miss Saigon with boiled eggs.

Later, Brian cooks for Ken and Roy. Amy and Tracy are present and I can’t help but feel sorry for Ken with a daughter and granddaughter like Tracy and Amy. Brian though bites back. ‘Why do you feel the need to disparage anything you don’t understand?’ Too much for Tracy is coq au vin, so she and Amy go to the chip shop.

Cathy seems on edge and it is kind of Fiz and Tyrone to ask her to come for a drink with them. Fiz’s expression seems to suggest that she thought Cathy was a romantic interest for Roy, but she’s barking up the wrong tree isn’t she?

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