Curly unveiled his latest brainwave: the Bettabuy Bus, a free shuttle to bring customers to the supermarket. Alf was livid, especially when he spotted Emily climbing on board, and he cornered Mr Holdsworth. He reminded Reg that he was his tenant, so it was in his interest to stop the Bettabuy bus from stealing his customers. Flick's sister Joanne arrived to stay and immediately fell under the spell of Andy McDonald. He took her on a tour of Weatherfield's glamour spots i.e. a canal towpath under a railway viaduct. Gail came out of hospital with instructions to take it easy. This was bad news for Alma who was putting up with Phyllis. She got so desperate she roped in Audrey to help, and you can imagine how much use she was.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 11th and 13th July 1990
Alf continued his war on the supermarket, jumping past a bored Miss Bettabuy and launching into a tirade against the passengers for being traitorous scum. He then chucked Reg out of his flat, tearing up his rent book and throwing his stuff out on the Street. Normally I'd be happy to see the lecherous gnome suffer but Alf was bang out of order. Curly was offered a promotion to the Hartlepool branch which put paid to his plans for a scandalous holiday in the Greek Islands with Kimberley. (Actress Suzanne Hall, incidentally, is very very pregnant at this point, and no amount of high stacks of baked beans can hide it). Phyllis flounced out of the cafe after a final disagreement with Audrey. Alma asked Gail to come back, but she had to rest, so Alma suggested to Mike that he buy Gail's share. He was extremely unenthusiastic and she realised he didn't want to get involved with her financially. Love's young dream was shattered as Steve seduced Joanne out from under Andy through a note under her door and a Coke in the cafe. The flighty minx was soon snogging him on the sofa, much to Flick's horror.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 16th and 18th July 1990
Steve, for some reason, continued to pursue the deathly dull Joanne, taking her to Heaton Park. Andy spotted them there and grassed them up to Flick, then the McDonald twins had a big old girlie fight in their bedroom, knocking over their stereo in the process. It was all for nothing though, because Steve told Joanne he loved her, starting a lifetime of getting overinvolved with women after knowing them for only five minutes. Alec asked Betty and Jack to witness his new will. He refused to tell them what was in it, so Betty told Bet about it, and she fretted that he was going to leave all his worldly goods to Vicky and she'd be destitute. For some reason the contents of her husband's will were considered to be sacred and not suitable for polite conversation between a married couple so she didn't just tell him she was worried. She felt free to gossip with Tina about it though.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 20th and 23rd July 1990
Bet crossed the line. In her quest to discover what was in Alec's will, she stole the key to his safety deposit box (!), forged his signature (!!) then lost her rag when she found the contents (!!!). Alec had decided to leave £20,000 from an endowment policy to Vicky, which she considered outrageous, and sulked because she thought she was being treated poorly. Curly's promotion to Hartlepool was cancelled. He blamed Vera, because she'd asked Reg to intervene so Kimberley wouldn't be left on her own, but Reg admitted he'd done it because they were introducing computers in the Weatherfield branch and Holdsworth didn't know how to operate a Speak and Spell. Distraught at having to return to Canterbury, Joanne ran away to the Lake District with Steve so their love could continue. A quick reminder that they met for the first time one week ago.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 25th and 27th July 1990
Curly decided to take control. He told Reg he wanted that job in Hartlepool, and, when he was told it was gone, he resigned. Reg panicked and gave him his job back with an extra £20 a week. He demanded Vera and Jack buck up their ideas with his accommodation, which hopefully means Jack will stop feeding his pigeon at the breakfast table, because he did that in the first episode and it made me sick. Curly then told Kimberley that he was a go-getter, and the new improved Norman Watts wouldn't dream of going on holiday to Barmouth with her and her parents. (I don't know why; Barmouth is lovely). She did the classic Corrie move of pouring a pint over his head which brought him back to his senses, and he was soon making her a quiche and agreeing to go on his hols to Wales after all. Alec bought a second endowment policy so that Bet would also get £20,000 when he died, but he warned her that gravy tomorrow would mean starvation rations today, and there'd need to be some belt tightening to pay for it. He also implied she was a money grabber, which is very much the pot-belly calling the lipsticked kettle black. Joanne and Steve got an unhealthy dose of realism into their romantic getaway. The bike broke down, they ran out of money, and they were forced to get jobs as pot washers in a hotel. Joanne bolted when she discovered they'd have to share a room and tried to hitchhike back to Weatherfield. A lonely girl walking the lanes of the Lake District after dark? That sounds like a clever plan.
@merseytart has never had a pint of beer poured over his head. He's clearly been doing pubs all wrong.
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Brilliant as always! I remembered Kimberley and parents being very annoying, well they still are but in a very funny way.
ReplyDeleteThe pay offer of £1.90 an hour was also amusing - was that the going rate in the early 90s?