Welcome to trial week! That actually started last week! Let's just say trial couple of days. Anna is quietly (noisily) optimistic after Seb went from prosecution to defence witness. Roy is on the stand, telling the court that Anna is
Gemma is organising a fancy dress party for the caddish Henry and the other residents discuss their costumes. Steve is going as himself because the party is pub themed and he used to run a pub, which is even less effort than putting a sheet over your head on Hallowe'en. Toyah reminisces about the time she went to a student party as a fish without a bicycle (pity that feminist sentiment didn't come into play last week, Battersby!). (Queen) Liz even cleans out the pumps in honour of the honourable Henry (didn't she get out of dirty work with the fake Ridley story a few month's back?) and the birthday boy, despite being a bounder, enjoys himself and gets into the swing of things. Could it be that in rom-com style, our 'Enry will fall for Gemini for realsies?
TBH, I thought Toyah was already in fancy dress; she appears to be wearing the fleeced pelt of a black swan. Miss Swan-Killer asks Peter if he's going to AA today. Funny how there's always a meeting when Peter needs one. Talking about the upcoming baby-by-surrogate, Peter says it's been a long time since he was up at 3 a.m. with a bottle. I don't think Peter was ever up at 3 a.m. with a bottle! Lucy left for Australia by the time Simon's baby bottles were involved, as I remember. Unfortunately, this is all moot as Jacqui, the surrogate, has lost the baby. Toyah tells Eva (not Leanne?) about this sad state of affairs and her step-step-sister comforts her, which makes me wonder where this is going:- will Eva give up her baby to Toyah, but then take it and run off with Aidan?
Anyway, Toyah turns up to Peter's AA meeting but can't tell him about the baby, because he says he's feeling stressed and he doesn't want to crack and turn back to the booze. He tells the group that he wants to call the baby Suzie Barlow, and that she's going to be a lifebelt, not a dead weight and Toyah can't bear to tell Peter the truth.
Oh god, we're back to "Tassels". The club must be making 50% of its income from cobbles residents turning up looking for Bethany or Sam. Gary follows the latter in but finds his sort of step-daughter, but is beaten up and thrown out by Scott, the bouncer. I thought Gary was private security, he should have some better moves. Bethany confesses all to Sarah, who goes off to visit Gary in the first of this week's hospital scenes. Gary and Sarah seem to be getting back together (for the 867th time), but Bethany threatens to move out if they do so.
Billy, ever helpful, is shelving books in the community centre. He falls from his chair and is in a lot of pain. Adam turns up and Billy asks him to get his pain-killers. Later on, Adam comes round to the Phelan's to offer stronger painkillers and takes a pic of Billy's actual pills for some nefarious plan. But Billy later reveals that Todd has phoned him and they are all going to go away together. Hmmm.
Rachel Stevenson - on twitter.
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13 comments:
Omg Corrie was brilliant tonight! Loved the ed music at end too
Sorry not to be impressed with the episodes tonight. Horribly deja vu moment of Deirdre being bundled out of the stand, screaming: 'I didn't do any of it.' Strange days at Corrie. Dean Fagan's play is on for a week in February. He could return after that and be on our screens again in May. That is, of course, if his sister isn't coming back for his funeral. Sweet moment between Gemma and Henry. Back in November, Peter threw Niall out of the pub for playing the same prank on Gemma as Henry is doing now. Wonder if Henry, Hugo (on the mobile) and Niall are friends, taking turns at the bet.
Now I'm pretty much expecting Seb to get his brains bashed in and shoved into the pond with Andy and Vinny. He's the last loose end that needs getting rid of, at least until Steph comes back.
Here's hoping he gives Phelan HIV via blood splatter in his eyes before he goes.
The ending last night was cringeworthy.
Not sure why Anna going down is being billed as a big shock twist - Corrie has a long tradition of sending people to prison for crimes they did not commit, and since Debbie Rush was known to be leaving imminently with no other plausible exit (beyond perhaps murder by Phelan) having been lined up, her conviction was always the most likely outcome. I'd have been more surprised if she wasn't sent down!
Is it just me, but is there something wrong with this being the end of Debbie Rush's storyline? What, she's not going to be allowed any visitors while she is in jail? Gary's just going to sit back and take this??? I thought it was a very poor ending after all of this other evidence. And we still have Rosie who could suddenly remember Phelan's visit to the office. Ugh.
Jeanie (anon):
Not surprising at all that Anna was sent down. Clearly, the producer wants to milk the Phelan saga for all it's worth--so, there will be a number of times that he will seem about to be caught, only to escape scot-free.
What's interesting is what will happen after Phelan is eventually exposed...surely, Anna's conviction will then be over-turned? Will she come back to the street once she's free? I'm wondering if her exit is actually permanent, or if they're expecting her back in six months' time.
The loose end is that she's not guilty of pushing Seb and when Phelan's doings are uncovered, surely that's going to negate her conviction. However, she is certainly guilty of bashing Eileen on the skull. It feels like there should be some closure yet to come. Perhaps once she's found innocent after all, she takes Faye and leave town to start fresh somewhere else.
I gather from what Debbie Rush was reported as saying on Instagram that she does not intend to return. However, as with Alison King who plays Carla Connor she might change her mind if she is unable to get any other work!
I also agree that surely Anna would be allowed visitors whilst in prison, and that at least Faye and Gary would visit her regularly and mention her from time to time as long as they are still in the show. I feel it is more likely that she will simply be forgotten. Also, as Anna has been wrongly convicted surely she would at least look into the possibility of lodging an appeal?
It could be that if and when Phelan is eventually convicted for his other crimes her name will be cleared and she will be released from prison offscreen to go and live elsewhere, possibly taking Faye with her. Possibly the time she had already served in prison would be deemed a sufficient penalty for the attack on Eileen.
However, it is equally possible that even if Phelan was eventually convicted for the murders of Andy Carver, Vinny Ashford and Luke Britton there would be nothing to prove that he had framed Anna and he would certainly not confess to it, meaning that Anna's name would never be cleared and that there would be never be any satisfactory conclusion to her storyline. Equally, he would never confess to letting Michael Rodwell die.
It would not surprise me if when the writers eventually run out of ideas for Phelan they simply have him killed off without anyone discovering his previous crimes. Possibly he might fall foul of another crook and end up at the bottom of the river himself without anyone even finding out what happened to him, leaving his widow Eileen still thinking that the sun shone out of his rear end!!!!
Whatever happens, I have a nasty feeling that we will never hear anything about Anna again, unless Debbie Rush is persuaded to reprise the role at some point. If Faye and Gary were to leave the show before Phelan does and Debbie Rush never returns there would be little need to mention Anna again, therefore saving the writers the trouble of having to conceive of a scenario in which her name is cleared.
I wonder if it is even possible that she eventually dies in prison offscreen, perhaps by suicide due to depression or an attack by another prisoner, in the same kind of way that Katy Armstrong was killed off offscreen in Portugal?
Anna deserves bettter than simply disappearing from the face of the earth. I hope she is eventually cleared even if she does not appear in person again.
It is also possible that if things eventually get too hot for Phelan in Weatherfield he might simply do a runner and never be seen or heard of again!
OMG, don't even think such things! If Phelan never gets found out and Eileen continues to think the sun shines out of his rear end, I will lose my rag!
I want justice for Andy and Luke, I want Eileen to know what kind of person she is married to. I want Alya to know what happened. If they go the route of killing Phelan off or him doing a runner, so that he never gets his come-uppance, it will be so unfair.
I would like Eddie to reappear, somehow find out the truth, get Anna released and take her away with him to live in Germany or wherever he now resides.
Yes, me too! I want Phelan punished for letting Michael die, for framing Anna and for killing Andy, Vinny and Luke, I want Eileen to know exactly what sort of monster she married and that he watched Michael, her former partner, die, and I want all the residents of Coronation Street to see him for what he really is; an incredibly evil man, possibly the most evil person the street has ever known in its long history.
I will not be watching Coronation Street again unless this happens. Whether it does or not remains to be seen.
I may write to Debbie Rush care of her agent expressing the disappointment of myself and many other people with Anna's exit story and ask her to consider returning briefly to the show at some point in the future so that Anna's innocence may be proved.
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