It was a historic episode of Corrie, as the show went three episodes a week. While today they'd have the Rovers explode in a ball of flame to make you tune in to the first regular Friday episode, in the Eighties they just carried on with the usual nonsense. Martin was still ill, though Ivy was pleased to see he was actually nice to Nicky (I suppose someone has to be); Ken was still squiring Wendy Crozier, ignoring Deirdre and her picnic lunch of two cans of lager and some sarnies; and Audrey was still trying to get Alf to flog number 9 to move into Weatherfield Quays. At the show's end, however, Alan Bradley turned up on Rita's doorstep and forced his way in. He then spent half the next episode sitting across the sitting room from her, glowering, and accusing her of being the kind of woman who likes being beaten up. Fortunately Bet arrived and he vanished out the back. He went to see Jenny, and gave her the usual load of flannel to convince her that he was a nice guy. Jenny returned home and accused Rita of being over-dramatic just because the man who tried to murder her forced his way into her home.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 25th and 27th October 1989
Oh Christ, it's Reg Holdsworth. Curly's got a job as a trainee manager at Bettabuys, and so the gnomish weirdo pops up with his comedy glasses to give him the benefit of his wisdom. This mostly seems to be telling future Curly girlfriend Kimberly how to stack loo rolls. There's more new faces at number 11, as Liz and Jim McDonald make their debuts. Jim tells Audrey "everyone calls me Mac," which is a big fat lie, while Liz comments on how cosy the house is. It's odd to think that (a) Eileen is living in her best mate's old house and (b) Liz bought it off Audrey, and none of them ever mention this. Alan was still skulking about, looming over Mavis in the Kabin and trying to get Mike Baldwin to invest in a brand new security business. Rita was understandably terrified while Jenny continued to blithely whitter on about how great her dad was and people just needed to give him a chance. I have a high tolerance for Jenny Bradley's nonsense but Rita would've been absolutely justified in belting her.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 30th October and 1st November 1989
I'm all for treating former prisoners with respect and giving them a second chance. But the folk of Coronation Street were a little bit too friendly towards Alan Bradley for my liking. He put Rita, resident of over twenty years, in hospital, and yet everyone's chatting to him and serving him pints. He was working on the building site and periodically staring nastily in Rita's direction. Vera was noisily making her mark at Bettabuy, laughing like a hyena and getting into rows with the store detective. Reg Holdsworth passed down an order that she needed to wear less make up, like he was running some kind of upmarket establishment rather than a poor man's Kwik Save. And the saga of number 11's sale rumbled on, with Alf taking it off the market and Audrey threatening to leave as a result.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 3rd and 6th November 1989
Jim McDonald was back, so he was, and he was rightly furious about being messed about by Alf and Audrey. I'm not sure why he's pressing it - the house is a poky little hole and they're not even getting a bargain, because they're paying the asking price. Finally the Roberts agree to sell the house and move to a nice semi somewhere. At the Rovers, Tina was being sexually harassed by the builders. She told them to get lost, but they carried on, eventually trying to feel her up while she collected glasses. Kevin stepped in to help, only to get thumped for his trouble, as did Curly in the crossfire. Meanwhile, the Kabin was broken into and trashed; naturally, Rita grassd up Alan Bradley, but it turns out to have been the fault of some random kids who wanted the videos. Alan took this as well as you'd expect i.e. forced his way into Rita's house and verbally abused her. He was probably feeling confident after he went in the pub and Alec welcomed him back with a little speech about how he'd paid his debt and he was most welcome. In a shockingly unrealistic turn of events, Bet stood by his side and let him spout all this nonsense.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 8th and 10th November 1989
Pretty much everyone in these episodes behaves appallingly. I was furious watching it. Alec was angry about the fight the night before, so he naturally turned on the culprits. Not the rowdy builders - the nice bloke who's drunk in the Rovers for years and the girl who was sexually assaulted. The Websters were barred, while Tina was ordered to be nicer to the men trying to grope her while she worked and to stop leading them on if she wasn't going to put out. Bet wasn't much help either, telling an appalling story of when she got beer poured down her top "to see which way it went", and saying the only rational response would be to go in the back and get changed and then go out again. The Eighties were a different time, folks. Bet did at least get some money out of Maurice Jones for the broken furniture, and he suggested a five a side match between the two groups to smooth things over. At number seven, Alan's gaslighting was starting to properly affect Rita's mind, as he let himself into her kitchen and left out the biscuit barrel of documents he'd stolen the deeds from all those months ago. Reet phoned the police, but they took one look at her empty whisky glass and decided she was just a lush. It didn't help that all her friends were taking Alan's side. Jenny kept shouting that Rita was obsessed with him and just needed to get over it - once again, for the people at the back, the man who tried to murder her is now working literally over the road and constantly forcing his way into her house - while even Bet seemed to think Alan wasn't all bad after he intervened in the pub fight. BET. Everyone in this episode needed to be sat down and subjected to a lecture about "victim blaming."
@merseytart still can't believe that even Bet took Alan's side. Outrageous.
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