It was the end of an era - sort of - as the producers realised having two competing mechanics in the same street was uninteresting, dramatically, and they closed down Jim's workshop. He did get told he could go full time at the security firm in a few weeks so he suggested a holiday in Ireland to Liz. At the Rovers, Boris the spider still hadn't been discovered, so Alec sent Jack out to buy a mouse to tempt him. The mouse promptly escaped as well. To add to his troubles, the VAT man told him he'd underpaid by £3500, and Vicky wanted to spend more time with Steve on her return from school than with the Gilroys. Secrets started to spill out elsewhere in the Street. Ivy confessed to Gail that Don no longer wanted to know, and she told Audrey. Meanwhile, Boring Ted was slurring his words and shaking, so Derek leapt to the conclusion he was an alcoholic. Rita begged him to let her tell them about his condition but he refused - it was his business and no-one else's.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 27th and 29th July 1992
With still no sign of the spider, Alec pretended he'd found it dead in the yard alongside the corpse of the mouse. This was good news for Raquel because Angie'd had her fill of her at number 7 and called her a bimbo. Unfortunately Boris then turned up, right in the middle of an inspection from the Health Inspector, and Alec had to surreptitiously kill it with his bare hands. The Health Inspector also demanded that Liz cover her lustrous perm with a hat when she was working in the kitchen which is a crime. Ted finally agreed to tell the Wiltons about his brain tumour. Mavis was upset and concerned for her friend, while Derek worked out Rita would come back to the Kabin when Ted died and he'd be out of a job. Don spoke to a social worker and refused to return to Coronation Street. When he was discharged, Ivy assumed he'd hooked up with Julie, but his taxi driver mate told her Don was in a bedsit. She consoled herself with a sherry - or two...
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 31st July and 3rd August 1992
Between Boring Ted and Miserable Don the show is full of unpleasant men undergoing medical and mental crises and it's all a bit hard going. Ted was having spasms and headaches and had to have his pills upped to cope. He refused to take them because he was worried he'd become dependent. Ivy went to visit Don at the bedsit and he once again told her he wasn't interested. She broke down with her friends, prompting Gail to go to the bedsit and tell Don he needed people around him. He decided "people" meant "Julie" and got on the phone. Vicky was short of cash because apparently fifty quid a month allowance wasn't enough. This may have had something to do with Steve loitering around her the whole time. He even refused to go to Ireland with Liz and Jim so he could hang around her all the more. She managed to persuade her solicitor to let her have an extra twenty pound a month from her trust fund. Alec was angered she'd gone behind his back, but he was generally furious throughout the pair of episodes, especially when he contacted the Natural History Museum and discovered there was no such thing as a Mexican mouse-eating spider. When Harry turned up wanting his five hundred pounds Alec sent him away with a flea in his ear, demanding he "stop peddling arachnids of dubious pedigree to respectable publicans" which is the kind of line you only get in Classic Corrie. And with Raquel boasting about her new boyfriend Wayne, a footballer at Wethy County, Curly went to a dating agency in search of a new love.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 5th and 7th August 1992
Vera persuaded Ivy to come out of herself, first returning to work, then for a drink in the Rovers. She was greeted sympathetically, with Bet being particularly warm and welcoming. Don meanwhile was entertaining Julie. She admitted she was blaming herself for his accident. The show did a bit of location filming in St Peter's Square and got its money's worth by sending two storylines that way. Curly met his computer date "Miss Shaw" outside the Central Library. She turned out to be Kimberley, his drippy fiance from a couple of years back, and they had a pint and agreed to start seeing each other again. Meanwhile, Steve and Vicky were at the old Odeon on Oxford Road. When she got back Alec accused her of snogging her boyfriend on the sofa at number eleven. Alec told Steve he didn't trust him and he wasn't good enough for Vicky. His suspicions were misplaced; he should've been keeping an eye on her bank account, as she'd flogged her horse Saracen for a thousand pounds. She offered to take care of Steve over the summer with the money but he preferred to take a temporary job in the cafe. Alec also received a call from the cruise company in Southampton. Bet told him he'd better not be thinking about going on another cruise.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 10th and 12th August 1992
Kimberley and Curly got closer until she met the magnificent Angie. She was disturbed to find Curly had a female lodger, though she should've been more disturbed that she was so dull next to the awesome Ange. Angie assured her that she didn't fancy him whatsoever. Sally struggled to cope with all Gail's evil children. Nicky showed the early signs of the demonic personality that recently asserted itself in the regular show, smashing a lamp with his football then telling his mum that Kev had nipped round in his filthy overalls. Sally had made him sit on newspaper but Audrey tried to convince Gail there was oil on her soft furnishings. Vicky cooked Steve spag bol at home, though she resisted his more animalistic urges on the sofa. Alec returned from Southampton with news: he'd been offered a job down south running the entertainment for Sunliners. Bet and Vicky were both horrified at the idea. Bet thought he'd get over the idea, but then Vicky admitted she'd flogged Saracen for pin money, and he became determined to get away from Weatherfield and more especially Steve McDonald.
@merseytart knows where this Bet and Alec storyline is heading, and he doesn't like it ONE. BIT.
Classic Corrie is on ITV3 every weekday at 14:50, with a repeat the following morning from 6am.
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1 comment:
I'd forgotten how bitchy Angie Freeman was.
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