It was Valentine's Day, and Mavis got a huge romantic card. When she thanked Derek, he admitted he hadn't sent one, meaning it could only have been from Victor Pendlebury. Derek was about to confront him at a vegetarian restaurant when Victor gave him a promotion to keep him quiet. While he was out on the road, Victor took Mavis out for lunch in the Rovers and tried to reminisce about old times. There was another bit of Corrie history made, as the programme's first Asian regular Flick Khan made her debut. She turned up at the Kabin to ask Rita for help with Jenny, who'd become quiet and withdrawn, but Reet pointed out that she was the last person Jenny wanted to hear from. Mike's sweatshop had come together above the cafe, much to Gail's horror, as she worried about the dust and the noise. It turned out to be even worse as Alma was roped into supervising, and since Martin was going for a job as hospital porter, that left Gail dishing up egg and chips on her own. She told Alma that she'd bought into the cafe as a partnership and she wasn't interested in doing everything herself.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 19th and 21st February 1990
Rita chased after Jenny at the Poly, and threatened to hang around outside her door until she let her in. Jenny finally relented and the two of them had a tearful reunion. Things were soon back to normal, and Rita offered Jenny and Flick number 7 as a student house once she moved above the new Kabin. Victor's nefarious plans to seduce Mavis continued apace. He trapped Derek in the warehouse with a ravenous Alsatian (owned by Joe from The Royle Family) while he nipped round for tea with Mrs Wilton; then he sent Derek on an overnight trip to Bedford with devious ulterior motives. Alf and Audrey decided to buy a semi in glittering Grasmere Drive - until Jack convinced him Mr Patel round the corner was going to open a late night shop in the vacant unit and Alf decided the shop would have to be open 24/7 to compete. And Tina's wastrel boyfriend Eddie was causing trouble again as his ex-girlfriend (and her bolshy brother) turned up to claim the baby back. I could not give less of a monkeys about him or his brat. Tina's far too good for him.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 23rd and 26th February 1990
Jack finally confessed that he'd made up the story about Mr Patel meaning that Alf could finally relax and buy the house on Grasmere Drive. Audrey berated him for believing any old rumour - "You know what they're like round here; someone sneezes in Rosamund Street and next thing they're collecting for a wreath in the Rovers." They celebrated in the shop flat with a slice of melon and a Dover Sole and Mrs Roberts pressuring Alf to drop his penny pinching ways. Tina took control of Eddie's baby and stowed him in the back of the Rovers, away from his ex's grasping hands. This all seems like way too much hassle for a flighty type like Tina. The Kabin flat was a hotbed of illicit passions as Derek came home early from Bedford and found Victor practising his reflexology on Mavis's stockinged feet. It was of course entirely innocent - at least on Mavis's part - but Derek accused her of being an adulterer and stormed off to the Rovers in a huff. He got hammered on double whiskeys - although let's be honest, what with it being Derek it was probably just one mouthful of a double whiskey - and went home and made it up with Mavis, telling her she was too innocent to exist in the world of predatory men like Victor. In fact, he compared her to Marilyn Monroe, which shows you just how drunk he was.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 28th February and 2nd March 1990
The cafe was visited by a man from Health & Safety, but he wasn't inspecting the age of the baps; he was following up a report about the Baldwin sweatshop. He demanded that it be shut down, and a furious Mike and Alma ran around accusing half the Street of reporting them. Gail finally confessed and closed down the cafe, not sure if it would ever reopen. Derek went to Pendlebury Paper Products in a fury to resign, but instead got lathered on elderflower wine with Victor, because he is the most spineless creature in the universe: there are amoeba with more backbone. Victor ran off to Darlington to give the Wiltons space and left Derek in charge of the plant. This meant that Mavis could finally buy the house of her dreams, or rather, number 4 Coronation Street. Tracy went out on her first access trip with Ken. She was surprised to find Wendy Crozier in the front seat of the Vauxhall, but not as surprised as Deirdre, who dragged Tracy out of the car. With Marie begging to see her baby again, Eddie decided he needed to offer a stable home for Jamie, so he proposed to Tina. She actually accepted too, much to Bet's horror.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 5th and 7th March 1990
The romance of the century between Tina and Eddie ended in tears, as we all knew it would, when he decided to marry Jamie's real mum instead. He naturally waited until the eve of the wedding to tell her this, ruining her hen night in the process. Gail and Alma were at each other's throats in the cafe until Mike got a sniff of a job with Peter Ingram. They assumed it was a partnership, so Alma got all giddy and made it up with Gail before breaking out the champagne; turned out Peter was only offering a sales job, but because Mike was so short on funds, he had to take it. Tracy went round to see Ken, but the only person home was Wendy Flamin' Crozier. She had a glass of squash with the scarlet woman then went back to Deirdre and said she quite liked her. Traitor!
@merseytart is thrilled that Eddie has left the show to go and write Made in Dagenham.
Please read our advice for leaving comments on the Coronation Street Blog
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
2 comments:
And one of the girls working in Mike's sweatshop was the sadly-recently departed Emma Chambers. One of the joys of Classic Corrie is chancing upon actors in bit-parts who went on to greater things. I'd completely forgotten the great Siobhan Finneran played Josie Phillips for best part of a year.
I checked and the actress was actually called Julia Booth although she does look a lot like Emma Chambers.
Post a Comment