Mavis chickened out of meeting Angela on Derek's business trip at the last minute, instead fretting in the Kabin that she would seduce him. They clinched the deal with Hawthornes though, leading to Victor putting Derek personally in charge of the account and dealing with his ex-wife. Curly resolved to get Kimberley out from under her parent's thumb but his encouragements fell on deaf ears. She threw his ring back at him and broke off the engagement. Reg - or as Vera called him, the Groping Grocer - continued to smarm around Rita, sending her flowers, and for some reason she seemed to be into it. It may have been to annoy a disapproving Mavis, it may have been because she was lonely and liked the attention. I sincerely hope it wasn't because she fancied him. And in news that will have those of us who saw this programme the first time round rubbing our hands with glee, Des went to a boat show...
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 11th and 14th January 1991
Moira Lomax used to work on the button counter at Woolworth's. She got home the night before and found that her husband had flogged all their furniture and run off with a sixteen year old. You might not know who they are, but they were the subject of Bet's scandalous gossip, and they were far more interesting than anything that happened in the actual show. They were certainly more fun than the twittering Wiltons, who were further driven apart by a sneaky Victor implying to Mavis that Derek wanted to spend his time wining and dining Angela. She sat in the dark, sulking, and refused to listen to his explanations or his quite reasonable assertion that Victor was a slimy gossip. Mark turned up at one of Jenny's promo events and spotted her with a strange bloke. When he asked who he was, she panicked, and lied that Steph was seeing him behind Des's back. Curly tried to get back with Kimberley - though why he bothered is a mystery because they have zero chemistry - but she remained determined, and asked Reg for a transfer to another store to escape his harassment.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 16th and 18th January 1991
It was bad news all round for Mark as he discovered everyone was lying to him. He tried to be nice to Des and told him his wife was sleeping around. They had a bit of a barney and he stormed off to the department store to confront Steph. Jenny confessed she was the traitorous trollop to him, and then, to Angie, admitted that her new boyfriend Robert was married. Kevin, meanwhile, was using Mark's garage for foreigners. When he discovered him there after dark, they argued, and Kevin told him he should keep a closer eye on Jenny. She broke things off with him and he stormed around accusing everyone of laughing at him behind his back. But it was worse for Kev, who went on another foreigner with George Jackson out of Brookside, and ended up driving his car off the road when a boy racer pulled out in front of him. Elsewhere, Curly hid Kimberley's transfer request so she couldn't escape his clutches, Rita went to the races with Reg in a quite astonishing yellow and black oufit, Ken and Alma circled a little closer to one another, and Mavis revealed that she thinks dunking soldiers in your boiled egg is common.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 21st and 23rd January 1991
Alf was at his worst in today's episodes. He bored Audrey with endless lectures on how to run a shop and dismissed Ken's complaints about the state of the shop flat. When he finally got a plumber in to fix the boiler he discovered it'd cost him £300. Kevin and Sally were also experiencing money troubles, as the estimate for fixing the smashed up car was £1250 and Kevin wasn't insured. He tried to persuade Mark to put it on the garage insurance but he refused, still convinced that everyone was laughing at him over Jenny, and when Kevin wouldn't play darts with him in the pub Mark sacked him. Bettabuys revealed itself to be an absolutely terrible place to work. First Curly ripped up Kimberley's transfer request, demanding that she get back with him, then Reg told him to persuade Miss Bettabuy to wear a skimpy bathing suit during the big trolley dash. (Miss Bettabuy, incidentally, was a certain Raquel Wolstenhulme, who made her first appearance in the background of one shot). When Kimberley's mum demanded she get the transfer, Reg said he'd see to it, but delayed it for a week after Curly threatened to tell Rita the truth about Mrs Holdsworth. It seemed her jaunt to New Zealand wasn't quite as permanent as he'd implied...
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 25th and 28th January 1991
It was the day of the Bettabuys Trolley Dash. An uncomfortable looking Raquel in a teeny swimming costume picked out the winning raffle ticket. It turned out number 986 was being held by Rita. She ran the dash then donated the lot to the hospital because she knew something was dodgy. Reg admitted he'd fixed the draw and she told him to back off. Phyllis, meanwhile, was loudly declaring the raffle was fixed, and said she'd heard it from Vera. Holdsworth immediately sacked poor Vera on a flimsy pretence. Ken had Alma over for a romantic dinner, even though Alf still hadn't fixed his list of complaints. Alf told him the flat was perfectly fine then promptly tripped on the dodgy riser and plunged down the stairs. (I wonder if former stuntman Bryan Mosley did the fall himself?). Mark had replaced Kevin already, so he was forced to take another job at a different garage and try to find a way to pay back George Jackson. (That was the end of Mark as a full-time character, by the way - he'd return for a guest appearance later in the year, and then, twenty four years later, as the granddad of Faye's baby Miley). Curly went round to Kimberley's and discovered she had another fella already, a mortgage advisor called Adrian. He went ballistic and started stalking her through Piccadilly Gardens. Kimberley is well shot of him.
@merseytart actually cheered when he spotted Raquel for the first time.
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2 comments:
Curly certainly comes across as an obsessive creep in these episodes.
I’ve been puzzled why Rita went out with Reg considering he wasn’t her type. I suppose it was loneliness and probably explains her relationships with Ted, Fred, Alec and Anthony in later years?
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