Weatherfield was in the grip of a wild social whirl as the residents were all out and about. Vera went to the bingo with Maud Grimes, leaving Jack at home. It meant he couldn't go to the dogs with Don, so he took Josie instead, much to Vera's disgust. Jack was left looking after Jamie as Tricia was on a date with Curly, but they got on like a house on fire, and Jamie was soon helping him care for the pigeons after school. Reg, scared that he would be kicked out when Firman's was taken over, bought an expensive wig that made him look even more like a pervert than usual. He didn't tell Maureen though so Curly took great pleasure in winding him up. Alf told Audrey about Martin's Christmas indiscretion, but she dismissed it as nothing more than a festive snog... until Martin asked Alf to not tell anyone about it. That made her suspicious that there was more to it.
TUESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 6th and 8th March 1995
Reg kept his wig in the car so that Maureen wouldn't see it. When the shop van broke down, however, she had to use his car to drive the stock back, and when she pulled down the sun visor the wig fell into her lap. Terrified, Maureen drove the car off the road. Reg explained he was trying to recover his youth and she hugged him, though Maud thought he looked like a prat. Audrey warned Martin to treat Gail right, and told her daughter to keep an eye on her husband, though she didn't elaborate why. Alma's ex-husband Jim died and left her two thousand pounds. She asked Mike how to invest it, but he said it was her money so she should buy what she wanted... then complained when she bought a snazzy MG off a mate of Jon's. (Jon, incidentally, is in the early stages of a regrettable goatee). Steve and Fiona moved into the cafe flat, then he spent the £500 deposit from the Wethy Quays flat at the dogs, turning it into £800. Sean saw him there and took the money as payment towards his debts. Worse, when Steve took Fiona too a fancy restaurant, his credit card was returned cut in two by the snooty French waiter. Did they really do that in restaurants? It seems a bit much.
WEDNESDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 10th and 13th March 1995
Mike was causing havoc all round the Street. He refused to invest in Steve's latest deal (but made him grovel a bit first), he was furious to discover Alma's car was a sound purchase, and he lead the sniggering at Reg's wig in the Rovers. Mike's refusal to give Steve any money meant he had to go round begging Sean for his money back so he could pay off a different bookie, but Sean refused. But the real crisis point was at number 8. Martin confessed to Gail about his Christmas indiscretion, emphasising that it was a one off and didn't mean anything. That went down about as well as you'd expect and she clattered around the Street in a rage with everyone else. It reached boiling point when she discovered Alf and Audrey knew about it all along and she threw them out of her house for betraying her.
THURSDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 15th and 17th March 1995
Now unfortunately my Virgin box decided to have a hissy fit on Thursday so neither of my recordings worked. (Thank you Richard Branson). So here are some bullet points of what happened, shamelessly cribbed off Corriepedia:
- Gail and Martin continued to have problems, and she started to suspect he may have slept with Carmel after all. He accused her of blowing things out of proportion. Smart.
- Steve reported Sean to the police for robbing his money at the dog track, and dragged Des in as a witness. Panicked, Sean agreed to let him pay off his debt at £20 a week, so I think he's theoretically still paying for it now.
- Reg asked nobody to make a fuss of his birthday, so nobody did, so he sulked.
- Josie and Don agreed to be friends.
If I've got anything wrong, sorry, blame the beardy billionaire.
FRIDAY - Episodes originally broadcast 20th and 22nd March 1995
Rodney organised a karaoke night at the Rovers, which caused Betty to purse her lips and clasp her bosom, again. Bet returned halfway through, and was initially horrified, until the big old ham inside her took over and she belted out What Do You Wanna Make Those Eyes At Me For? while sat on the bar in a baseball hat. It was like something out of Funny Girls, Blackpool. (In a moment that should go down for the ages, there was a microphone and a music machine, and Rita didn't insist on crooning for their pleasure). Rodney fell for her, and turned up the next day with a bunch of flowers. Mike had Alma's car checked out with a credit agency; in revenge, she checked out his Merc, and discovered it was stolen. He was forced to put it up for sale. Nicky found out about Martin's indiscretion and was understandably livid. Martin told him it was his fault for being such an obnoxious brat before Christmas, so Nicky legged it to Don's and asked to stay there. Don refused, because of course he has a fancy woman now, though there was a slight problem with that. He was upset that she'd befriended Denise and confessed about his dirty phone calls to her. Josie was unimpressed.
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I'm glad you didn't miss that classic karaoke moment with Bet belting it out. It's so wonderful, I think I will keep it on my Sky box forever. These episodes, harking back to the golden age, are my daily joy now I'm 'working from home'. Though, admittedly, Martin and Gail are starting to annoy me, I can always fast forward. Thanks for the review, Scott.
ReplyDeleteI agree about Martin and Gail, I was thoroughly fed up with Gail’s weeping and wailing (which was rather overacted at times).
ReplyDeleteThe karaoke scenes were wonderful!
ReplyDelete