With Adam arrested for Ken’s attempted murder, Ken thinks he’s safe with Daniel in his flat. Daniel’s decorating, and there’s a sharp knife too close to hand, as secrets unfurl between father and son. Unable to take any more of Ken’s condescension, Daniel reveals all about pushing Ken down the stairs. And as the news sinks in, furious, hurt, Ken demands to know why Daniel didn’t just finish him off. Daniel’s eyes flick to the knife. Was he actually thinking of stabbing Ken with it and killing him? We’ll never know because just at that moment there was a knock at the door and in walks Daniel’s mum, Denise Osbourne, last seen in Weatherfield many moons ago. Reunited with the parents who deserted him, Daniel can’t cope and locks himself in the bathroom, causing himself pain. It’s horrid to watch, and we all feel his pain.
“You should kick the door down!” Denise yells at Ken.
“I’m 77!” he replied.
Meanwhile, back on the Street, Sinead’s in Daniel’s flat where she drops coffee on the floor. Mopping up, she notices the carpet lifting at the edge, she peels it back and sees a loose floorboard. Lifting that she finds the blood-stained poetry book, that Daniel hit Ken with on the stairs. Chesney takes it upon himself to look after Sinead and she moves back in to Beth and Kirk’s house after ringing the cops. The Weatherfield police storm round to Daniel’s flat where he’s arrested for Ken’s attempted murder. But Ken can’t prosecute his own son and tells the cops he simply fell. They know it’s not true, but have to let Daniel go home. “Where’s home?” a broken Daniel asks as Ken leads him out of the cop shop.
The second big story was Nick Tilsley leaving Weatherfield, this time for good as the actor left the show. A family day on the beach is arranged for Nick and Leanne, Toyah and Peter, Steve, Simon and baby Olly. Happy families it ain’t but at least they all try. That is, until Leanne finds out that Nick knew Peter was innocent of Ken’s attack but kept quiet about it because he hates Peter so much. Leanne tells Nick she wants nowt to do with him. Nick ponders on this and goes for a walk where he gets stuck in quicksand. On paper this sounded silly, but on screen it really worked. Nick’s phone won’t work and he gets pulled slowly down until only his ears and eyes are visible above the water. He’s rescued of course, a quicksand death would be too grisly to show for Coronation Street, but he does leave the Street after he’s back on dry land. He hugs mum Gail, takes his passport from the drawer and drives himself away. I can’t say I’ll miss him, can you?
And the third massive story this week has been the grooming of Bethany, which reached its darkest point. It was horrible, stomach-turning stuff but it marked a change in the storyline from which Bethany can recover, although it’s going to take some time. Nathan pimps her out to three men at the same time. They all pay Nathan and we see the men follow Bethany into the bedroom at one of Nathan’s parties. There’s an even younger girl at the party too, just in case you thought Nathan wasn’t evil enough. Nathan drugs Bethany by spiking her drinks and stubs a cigarette out on her arm too. Nasty stuff indeed.
But there’s some hope of the story coming to an end. Shona found out from Craig that Bethany’s boyfriend Nathan runs a tanning salon. She puts two and two together and knows it’s the same Nathan from her troubled past. She storms round to the salon and tells Nathan to leave Bethany alone. Nathan gets her beaten up by his thugs and she’s in a bad way. It’s Craig who finds her, of course, and takes her to hospital from where she does a runner, intent on telling David the truth about his niece. David, Gary and Sarah jump into the car and speed over to Nathan’s flat to rescue Bethany, but someone has called the cops who tip off Nathan there’s going to be a raid. Men scatter and run but the cops catch Nathan. He mouths ‘I Love You’ to Bethany as he’s taken away by the fuzz.
Sarah’s beside herself with worry after finding out what’s gone on and hugs her daughter tightly, relieved she’s all right. But Bethany’s confused, angry and hurt that Nathan’s been arrested. She cries undying love for her fella, brainwashed into believing that he’s done no wrong. It’s going to be a long time before this storyline is through and the scales fall from Bethany’s eyes.
And finally, elsewhere on the Street this week there were, thankfully, more lighthearted moments. Brian and Cathy finally got together after Cathy collared Brian for a kiss under a ladder. Anna celebrated her 50th birthday with a party in the house and Chesney finally grew a pair as he protected Sinead from Daniel.
And that’s just about that for this week.
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This week’s writers were Jayne Hollinson (Monday); Owen Lloyd-Fox (Tuesday); Debbie Oates (Wednesday and Thursday); Jan McVerry (Friday). Find out all about the Coronation Street writing team at Coronation Street Blog: Exclusive: All Current Corrie writers online
Glenda Young
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This is where Bethany's story could become fascinating. The Stockholm syndrome doesn't only relate to kidnappings, but can also be seen in abusive relationships where victims form close attachments to their abusers. In this case, Bethany sees her family as the oppressors and Nathan as her rescuer. Nathan previously reminded Mel that he had 'rescued' her. I'll be interested to see how the story develops from here.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think the aftermath of all this will be interesting to watch.
DeleteI think I would've preferred to see Nick drown in quicksand rather than the tearful self pitying goodbye with his mother.
ReplyDeleteWe've seen that goodbye scene before and death by quicksand would have been more original and dramatic.
Self centered to the end,Nick shown no concern for his sister or niece,couldn't be bothered to say a proper goodbye to David or Leanne who he instead blames for his sudden departure as he did when he took off for Canada.It's always someone else's fault never his!
it's totally ridiculous isn't it, that he wouldn't bother to say goodbye to either of his siblings, or to find out what was happening with bethany before running off. i'm glad to see the back of his whining, self pitying, breathy monologues, personally!
DeleteI COMPLETELY agree that Nick's oblivion to the goings-on in the Platt household is ridiculous. But what was maybe as ridiculous was the previous notion that all of these people and all of these entangled dramas were happening under a single roof in a single family. Under the new producer, what I see is an attempt to disentangle the mess and pursue its individual strands. How long has it been since we've seen Gail alone in her own home. Yes, it's a contrivance to put the focus on her good-byes with Nick, but it should also be what reality looks like. What's unreal is to have so many people living in a common space with no privacy... ever. Now, under Kate Oates' direction, we're starting to see David participate in separate dialogues from his mother, his sister, et al. Sarah is building a life around Gary, separate from Gail and David. It's a healthful turn, imo. What's still worrisome, however, is that all of the threads of this expanding set of stories return to the same Platt-onic source:/
ReplyDeleteWhy would Nick know about Bethany? Until a few hours before, David and Gail who still lived with her just weeks ago, knew as little as he did.
DeleteActually,Gail is in David's home. I do agree that it's unrealistic that all these adult people are together under the same cramped roof. Gail would have friends and a life of her own if she moved out. Perhaps Nick's flat will be available though it would mean running into Leanne.
While the Platts are spreading out Sally's house is now filling up so I don't know how much any of this is about production decisions. Corrie families get stuffed together then spread out like the Windass or Brown families depending on storylines.
i'm not surprised the plays get on each other's nerves, all cramped in the one house! it's a very good point, and i do hope that at some point sarah and gary (and bethany) will move into their own flat like they've been planning, which would make the situation a lot more realistic, with just david and his kids living in the house with his mother the annexe
ReplyDelete*platts
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